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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bat Wing
+
+Author: Sax Rohmer
+
+
+Release Date: August, 2004  [EBook #6382]
+This file was first posted on December 4, 2002
+Last Updated: October 12, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAT WING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BAT WING
+
+By Sax Rohmer
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: “_When the woman raised her arms in a peculiar fashion,
+the shadow on the blind was remarkably like that of a bat_”]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+
+CHAPTER     I. PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE
+    II. THE VOODOO SWAMP
+   III. THE VAMPIRE BAT
+    IV. CRAY’S FOLLY
+     V. VAL BEVERLEY
+    VI. THE BARRIER
+   VII. AT THE LAVENDER ARMS
+  VIII. THE CALL OF M’KOMBO
+    IX. OBEAH
+     X. THE NIGHT WALKER
+    XI. THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND
+   XII. MORNING MISTS
+  XIII. AT THE GUEST HOUSE
+   XIV. YSOLA CAMBER
+    XV. UNREST
+   XVI. RED EVE
+  XVII. NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON
+ XVIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET HILTON
+   XIX. COMPLICATIONS.
+    XX. A SPANISH CIGARETTE
+   XXI. THE WING OF A BAT
+  XXII. COLIN CAMBER’S SECRET
+ XXIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+  XXIV. AN OFFICIAL MOVE
+   XXV. AYLESBURY’S THEORY
+  XXVI. IN MADAME’S ROOM
+ XXVII. AN INSPIRATION
+XXVIII. MY THEORY OF THE CRIME  XXIX. A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE
+   XXX. THE SEVENTH YEW TREE
+  XXXI. YSOLA CAMBER’S CONFESSION
+ XXXII. PAUL HARLEY’S EXPERIMENT
+XXXIII. PAUL HARLEY’S EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED XXXIV. THE CREEPING SICKNESS
+  XXXV. AN AFTERWORD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE
+
+
+
+Toward the hour of six on a hot summer’s evening Mr. Paul Harley was
+seated in his private office in Chancery Lane reading through a number
+of letters which Innes, his secretary, had placed before him for
+signature. Only one more remained to be passed, but it was a long,
+confidential report upon a certain matter, which Harley had prepared for
+His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.
+He glanced with a sigh of weariness at the little clock upon his table
+before commencing to read.
+
+“Shall detain you only a few minutes, now, Knox,” he said.
+
+I nodded, smiling. I was quite content to sit and watch my friend at
+work.
+
+Paul Harley occupied a unique place in the maelstrom of vice and
+ambition which is sometimes called London life. Whilst at present he
+held no official post, some of the most momentous problems of British
+policy during the past five years, problems imperilling inter-state
+relationships and not infrequently threatening a renewal of the world
+war, had owed their solution to the peculiar genius of this man.
+
+No clue to his profession appeared upon the plain brass plate attached
+to his door, and little did those who regarded Paul Harley merely as a
+successful private detective suspect that he was in the confidence
+of some who guided the destinies of the Empire. Paul Harley’s work in
+Constantinople during the feverish months preceding hostilities with
+Turkey, although unknown to the general public, had been of a
+most extraordinary nature. His recommendations were never adopted,
+unfortunately. Otherwise, the tragedy of the Dardanelles might have been
+averted.
+
+His surroundings as he sat there, gaze bent upon the typewritten pages,
+were those of any other professional man. So it would have seemed to the
+casual observer. But perhaps there was a quality in the atmosphere of
+the office which would have told a more sensitive visitor that it was
+the apartment of no ordinary man of business. Whilst there were filing
+cabinets and bookshelves laden with works of reference, many of them
+legal, a large and handsome Burmese cabinet struck an unexpected note.
+
+On closer inspection, other splashes of significant colour must have
+been detected in the scheme, notably a very fine engraving of Edgar
+Allan Poe, from the daguerreotype of 1848; and upon the man himself lay
+the indelible mark of the tropics. His clean-cut features had that hint
+of underlying bronze which tells of years spent beneath a merciless sun,
+and the touch of gray at his temples only added to the eager, almost
+fierce vitality of the dark face. Paul Harley was notable because of
+that intellectual strength which does not strike one immediately,
+since it is purely temperamental, but which, nevertheless, invests its
+possessor with an aura of distinction.
+
+Writing his name at the bottom of the report, Paul Harley enclosed the
+pages in a long envelope and dropped the envelope into a basket which
+contained a number of other letters. His work for the day was ended, and
+glancing at me with a triumphant smile, he stood up. His office was a
+part of a residential suite, but although, like some old-time burgher of
+the city, he lived on the premises, the shutting of a door which led to
+his private rooms marked the close of the business day. Pressing a bell
+which connected with the public office occupied by his secretary, Paul
+Harley stood up as Innes entered.
+
+“There’s nothing further, is there, Innes?” he asked.
+
+“Nothing, Mr. Harley, if you have passed the Home Office report?”
+
+Paul Harley laughed shortly.
+
+“There it is,” he replied, pointing to the basket; “a tedious and
+thankless job, Innes. It is the fifth draft you have prepared and it
+will have to do.”
+
+He took up a letter which lay unsealed upon the table. “This is the
+Rokeby affair,” he said. “I have decided to hold it over, after all,
+until my return.”
+
+“Ah!” said Innes, quietly glancing at each envelope as he took it from
+the basket. “I see you have turned down the little job offered by the
+Marquis.”
+
+“I have,” replied Harley, smiling grimly, “and a fee of five hundred
+guineas with it. I have also intimated to that distressed nobleman that
+this is a business office and that a laundry is the proper place to take
+his dirty linen. No, there’s nothing further to-night, Innes. You can
+get along now. Has Miss Smith gone?”
+
+But as if in answer to his enquiry the typist, who with Innes made up
+the entire staff of the office, came in at that moment, a card in her
+hand. Harley glanced across in my direction and then at the card, with a
+wry expression.
+
+“Colonel Juan Menendez,” he read aloud, “Cavendish Club,” and glanced
+reflectively at Innes. “Do we know the Colonel?”
+
+“I think not,” answered Innes; “the name is unfamiliar to me.”
+
+“I wonder,” murmured Harley. He glanced across at me. “It’s an awful
+nuisance, Knox, but just as I thought the decks were clear. Is it
+something really interesting, or does he want a woman watched? However,
+his name sounds piquant, so perhaps I had better see him. Ask him to
+come in, Miss Smith.”
+
+Innes and Miss Smith retiring, there presently entered a man of most
+striking and unusual presence. In the first place, Colonel Menendez must
+have stood fully six feet in his boots, and he carried himself like a
+grandee of the golden days of Spain. His complexion was extraordinarily
+dusky, whilst his hair, which was close cropped, was iron gray. His
+heavy eyebrows and curling moustache with its little points were equally
+black, so that his large teeth gleamed very fiercely when he smiled. His
+eyes were large, dark, and brilliant, and although he wore an admirably
+cut tweed suit, for some reason I pictured him as habitually wearing
+riding kit. Indeed I almost seemed to hear the jingle of his spurs.
+
+He carried an ebony cane for which I mentally substituted a crop, and
+his black derby hat I thought hardly as suitable as a sombrero. His age
+might have been anything between fifty and fifty-five.
+
+Standing in the doorway he bowed, and if his smile was Mephistophelean,
+there was much about Colonel Juan Menendez which commanded respect.
+
+“Mr. Harley,” he began, and his high, thin voice afforded yet
+another surprise, “I feel somewhat ill at ease to--how do you say
+it?--appropriate your time, as I am by no means sure that what I have to
+say justifies my doing so.”
+
+He spoke most fluent, indeed florid, English. But his sentences at times
+were oddly constructed; yet, save for a faint accent, and his frequent
+interpolation of such expressions as “how do you say?”--a sort of
+nervous mannerism--one might have supposed him to be a Britisher who had
+lived much abroad. I formed the opinion that he had read extensively,
+and this, as I learned later, was indeed the case.
+
+“Sit down, Colonel Menendez,” said Harley with quiet geniality.
+“Officially, my working day is ended, I admit, but if you have no
+objection to the presence of my friend, Mr. Knox, I shall be most happy
+to chat with you.”
+
+He smiled in a way all his own.
+
+“If your business is of a painfully professional nature,” he added,
+“I must beg you to excuse me for fourteen days, as I am taking a badly
+needed holiday with my friend.”
+
+“Ah, is it so?” replied the Colonel, placing his hat and cane upon the
+table, and sitting down rather wearily in a big leathern armchair which
+Harley had pushed forward. “If I intrude I am sorry, but indeed my
+business is urgent, and I come to you on the recommendation of my
+friend, Senor Don Merry del Val, the Spanish Ambassador.”
+
+He raised his eyes to Harley’s face with an expression of peculiar
+appeal. I rose to depart, but:
+
+“Sit down, Knox,” said Harley, and turned again to the visitor. “Please
+proceed,” he requested. “Mr. Knox has been with me in some of the most
+delicate cases which I have ever handled, and you may rely upon his
+discretion as you may rely upon mine.” He pushed forward a box of
+cigars. “Will you smoke?”
+
+“Thanks, no,” was the answer; “you see, I rarely smoke anything but my
+cigarettes.”
+
+Colonel Menendez extracted a slip of rice paper from a little packet
+which he carried, next, dipping two long, yellow fingers into his coat
+pocket, he brought out a portion of tobacco, laid it in the paper, and
+almost in the twinkling of an eye had made, rolled, and lighted a very
+creditable cigarette. His dexterity was astonishing, and seeing my
+surprise he raised his heavy eyebrows, and:
+
+“Practice makes perfect, is it not said?” he remarked.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders and dropped the extinguished match in an ash
+tray, whilst I studied him with increasing interest. Some dread, real or
+imaginary, was oppressing the man’s mind, I mused. I felt my presence to
+be unwelcome, but:
+
+“Very well,” he began, suddenly. “I expect, Mr. Harley, that you will be
+disposed to regard what I have to tell you rather as a symptom of what
+you call nerves than as evidence of any agency directed against me.”
+
+Paul Harley stared curiously at the speaker. “Do I understand you to
+suspect that someone is desirous of harming you?” he enquired.
+
+Colonel Menendez slowly nodded his head.
+
+“Such is my meaning,” he replied.
+
+“You refer to bodily harm?”
+
+“But yes, emphatically.”
+
+“Hm,” said Harley; and taking out a tin of tobacco from a cabinet beside
+him he began in leisurely manner to load a briar. “No doubt you have
+good reasons for this suspicion?”
+
+“If I had not good reasons, Mr. Harley, nothing could have induced me to
+trouble you. Yet, even now that I have compelled myself to come here, I
+find it difficult, almost impossible, to explain those reasons to you.”
+
+An expression of embarrassment appeared upon the brown face, and now
+Colonel Menendez paused and was plainly at a loss for words with which
+to continue.
+
+Harley replaced the tin in the cupboard and struck a match. Lighting his
+pipe he nodded good humouredly as if to say, “I quite understand.” As a
+matter of fact, he probably thought, as I did, that this was a familiar
+case of a man of possibly blameless life who had become subject to
+that delusion which leads people to believe themselves threatened by
+mysterious and unnameable danger.
+
+Our visitor inhaled deeply.
+
+“You, of course, are waiting for the facts,” he presently resumed,
+speaking with a slowness which told of a mind labouring for the right
+mode of expression. “These are so scanty, I fear, of so, shall I say,
+phantom a kind, that even when they are in your possession you will
+consider me to be merely the victim of a delusion. In the first place,
+then, I have reason to believe that someone followed me from my home to
+your office.”
+
+“Indeed,” said Paul Harley, sympathetically, for this I perceived
+was exactly what he had anticipated, and merely tended to confirm his
+suspicion. “Some member of your household?”
+
+“Certainly not.”
+
+“Did you actually see this follower?”
+
+“My dear sir,” cried Colonel Menendez, excitement emphasizing his
+accent, “if I had seen him, so much would have been made clear, so
+much! I have never seen him, but I have heard him and felt him--felt his
+presence, I mean.”
+
+“In what way?” asked Harley, leaning back in his chair and studying the
+fierce face.
+
+“On several occasions on turning out the light in my bedroom and
+looking across the lawn from my window I have observed the shadow of
+someone--how do you say?--lurking in the garden.”
+
+“The shadow?”
+
+“Precisely. The person himself was concealed beneath a tree. When he
+moved his shadow was visible on the ground.”
+
+“You were not deceived by a waving branch?”
+
+“Certainly not. I speak of a still, moonlight night.”
+
+“Possibly, then, it was the shadow of a tramp,” suggested Harley. “I
+gather that you refer to a house in the country?”
+
+“It was not,” declared Colonel Menendez, emphatically; “it was not. I
+wish to God I could believe it had been. Then there was, a month ago, an
+attempt to enter my house.”
+
+Paul Harley exhibited evidence of a quickening curiosity. He had
+perceived, as I had perceived, that the manner of the speaker differed
+from that of the ordinary victim of delusion, with whom he had become
+professionally familiar.
+
+“You had actual evidence of this?” he suggested.
+
+“It was due to insomnia, sleeplessness, brought about, yes, I will admit
+it, by apprehension, that I heard the footsteps of this intruder.”
+
+“But you did not see him?”
+
+“Only his shadow”
+
+“What!”
+
+“You can obtain the evidence of all my household that someone had
+actually entered,” declared Colonel Menendez, eagerly. “Of this, at
+least, I can give you the certain facts. Whoever it was had obtained
+access through a kitchen window, had forced two locks, and was coming
+stealthily along the hallway when the sound of his footsteps attracted
+my attention.”
+
+“What did you do?”
+
+“I came out on to the landing and looked down the stairs. But even the
+slight sound which I made had been sufficient to alarm the midnight
+visitor, for I had never a glimpse of him. Only, as he went swiftly
+back in the direction from which he had come, the moonlight shining in
+through a window in the hall cast his shadow on the carpet.”
+
+“Strange,” murmured Harley. “Very strange, indeed. The shadow told you
+nothing?”
+
+“Nothing at all.”
+
+Colonel Menendez hesitated momentarily, and glanced swiftly across at
+Harley.
+
+“It was just a vague--do you say blur?--and then it was gone. But--”
+
+“Yes,” said Harley. “But?”
+
+“Ah,” Colonel Menendez blew a cloud of smoke into the air, “I come now
+to the matter which I find so hard to explain.”
+
+He inhaled again deeply and was silent for a while.
+
+“Nothing was stolen?” asked Harley.
+
+“Nothing whatever.”
+
+“And no clue was left behind?”
+
+“No clue except the filed fastening of a window and two open doors which
+had been locked as usual when the household retired.”
+
+“Hm,” mused Harley again; “this incident, of course, may have been an
+isolated one and in no way connected with the surveillance of which you
+complain. I mean that this person who undoubtedly entered your house
+might prove to be an ordinary burglar.”
+
+“On a table in the hallway of Cray’s Folly,” replied Colonel Menendez,
+impressively--“so my house is named--stands a case containing
+presentation gold plate. The moonlight of which I have spoken was
+shining fully upon this case, and does the burglar live who will pass
+such a prize and leave it untouched?”
+
+“I quite agree,” said Harley, quietly, “that this is a very big point.”
+
+“You are beginning at last,” suggested the Colonel, “to believe that my
+suspicions are not quite groundless?”
+
+“There is a distinct possibility that they are more than suspicions,”
+ agreed Harley; “but may I suggest that there is something else? Have you
+an enemy?”
+
+“Who that has ever held public office is without enemies?”
+
+“Ah, quite so. Then I suggest again that there is something else.”
+
+He gazed keenly at his visitor, and the latter, whilst meeting the look
+unflinchingly with his large dark eyes, was unable to conceal the fact
+that he had received a home thrust.
+
+“There are two points, Mr. Harley,” he finally confessed, “almost
+certainly associated one with the other, if you understand, but both
+these so--shall I say remote?--from my life, that I hesitate to mention
+them. It seems fantastic to suppose that they contain a clue.”
+
+“I beg of you,” said Harley, “to keep nothing back, however remote it
+may appear to be. It is sometimes the seemingly remote things which
+prove upon investigation to be the most intimate.”
+
+“Very well,” resumed Colonel Menendez, beginning to roll a second
+cigarette whilst continuing to smoke the first, “I know that you are
+right, of course, but it is nevertheless very difficult for me to
+explain. I mentioned the attempted burglary, if so I may term it, in
+order to clear your mind of the idea that my fears were a myth. The next
+point which I have concerns a man, a neighbour of mine in Surrey. Before
+I proceed I should like to make it clear that I do not believe for a
+moment that he is responsible for this unpleasant business.”
+
+Harley stared at him curiously. “Nevertheless,” he said, “there must be
+some data in your possession which suggest to your mind that he has some
+connection with it.”
+
+“There are, Mr. Harley, but they belong to things so mystic and far
+away from ordinary crime that I fear you will think me,” he shrugged
+his great shoulders, “a man haunted by strange superstitions. Do you say
+‘haunted?’ Good. You understand. I should tell you, then, that although
+of pure Spanish blood, I was born in Cuba. The greater part of my
+life has been spent in the West Indies, where prior to ‘98 I held an
+appointment under the Spanish Government. I have property, not only in
+Cuba, but in some of the smaller islands which formerly were Spanish,
+and I shall not conceal from you that during the latter years of my
+administration I incurred the enmity of a section of the population. Do
+I make myself clear?”
+
+Paul Harley nodded and exchanged a swift glance with me. I formed a
+rapid mental picture of native life under the governorship of Colonel
+Juan Menendez and I began to consider his story from a new viewpoint.
+Seemingly rendered restless by his reflections, he stood up and began
+to pace the floor, a tall but curiously graceful figure. I noticed the
+bulldog tenacity of his chin, the intense pride in his bearing, and I
+wondered what kind of menace had induced him to seek the aid of Paul
+Harley; for whatever his failings might be, and I could guess at the
+nature of several of them, that this thin-lipped Spanish soldier knew
+the meaning of fear I was not prepared to believe.
+
+“Before you proceed further, Colonel Menendez,” said Harley, “might I
+ask when you left Cuba?”
+
+“Some three years ago,” was his reply. “Because--” he hesitated
+curiously--“of health motives, I leased a property in England, believing
+that here I should find peace.”
+
+“In other words, you were afraid of something or someone in Cuba?”
+
+Colonel Menendez turned in a flash, glaring down at the speaker.
+
+“I never feared any man in my life, Mr. Harley,” he said, coldly.
+
+“Then why are you here?”
+
+The Colonel placed the stump of his first cigarette in an ash tray and
+lighted that which he had newly made.
+
+“It is true,” he admitted. “Forgive me. Yet what I said was that I never
+feared any man.”
+
+He stood squarely in front of the Burmese cabinet, resting one hand upon
+his hip. Then he added a remark which surprised me.
+
+“Do you know anything of Voodoo?” he asked.
+
+Paul Harley took his pipe from between his teeth and stared at the
+speaker silently for a moment. “Voodoo?” he echoed. “You mean negro
+magic?”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“My studies have certainly not embraced it,” replied Harley, quietly,
+“nor has it hitherto come within my experience. But since I have lived
+much in the East, I am prepared to learn that Voodoo may not be a
+negligible quantity. There are forces at work in India which we in
+England improperly understand. The same may be true of Cuba.”
+
+“The same _is_ true of Cuba.”
+
+Colonel Menendez glared almost fiercely across the room at Paul Harley.
+
+“And do I understand,” asked the latter, “that the danger which you
+believe to threaten you is associated with Cuba?”
+
+“That, Mr. Harley, is for you to decide when all the facts shall be in
+your possession. Do you wish that I proceed?”
+
+“By all means. I must confess that I am intensely interested.”
+
+“Very well, Mr. Harley. I have something to show you.”
+
+From an inside breast pocket Colonel Menendez drew out a gold-mounted
+case, and from the case took some flat, irregularly shaped object
+wrapped in a piece of tissue paper. Unfolding the paper, he strode
+across and laid the object which it had contained upon the blotting pad
+in front of my friend.
+
+Impelled by curiosity I stood up and advanced to inspect it. It was of
+a dirty brown colour, some five or six inches long, and appeared to
+consist of a kind of membrane. Harley, his elbow on the table, was
+staring down at it questioningly.
+
+“What is it?” I said; “some kind of leaf?”
+
+“No,” replied Harley, looking up into the dark face of the Spanish
+colonel; “I think I know what it is.”
+
+“I, also, know what it is.” declared Colonel Menendez, grimly. “But tell
+me what to you it seems like, Mr. Harley?”
+
+Paul Harley’s expression was compounded of incredulity, wonder, and
+something else, as, continuing to stare at the speaker, he replied:
+
+“It is the wing of a bat.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE VOODOO SWAMP
+
+
+
+Often enough my memory has recaptured that moment in Paul Harley’s
+office, when Harley, myself, and the tall Spaniard stood looking down at
+the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+
+My brilliant friend at times displayed a sort of prescience, of which
+I may have occasion to speak later, but I, together with the rest of
+pur-blind humanity, am commonly immune from the prophetic instinct.
+Therefore I chronicle the fact for what it may be worth, that as I gazed
+with a sort of disgust at the exhibit lying upon the table I became
+possessed of a conviction, which had no logical basis, that a door had
+been opened through which I should step into a new avenue of being; I
+felt myself to stand upon the threshold of things strange and terrible,
+but withal alluring. Perhaps it is true that in the great crises of life
+the inner eye becomes momentarily opened.
+
+With intense curiosity I awaited the Colonel’s next words, but, a
+cigarette held nervously between his fingers, he stood staring at
+Harley, and it was the latter who broke that peculiar silence which had
+fallen upon us.
+
+“The wing of a bat,” he murmured, then touched it gingerly. “Of what
+kind of bat, Colonel Menendez? Surely not a British species?”
+
+“But emphatically not a British species,” replied the Spaniard. “Yet
+even so the matter would be strange.”
+
+“I am all anxiety to learn the remainder of your story, Colonel
+Menendez.”
+
+“Good. Your interest comforts me very greatly, Mr. Harley. But when
+first I came, you led me to suppose that you were departing from
+London?”
+
+“Such, at the time, was my intention, sir.” Paul Harley smiled slightly.
+“Accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, I had proposed to indulge in a
+fortnight’s fishing upon the Norfolk Broads.”
+
+“Fishing?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“A peaceful occupation, Mr. Harley, and a great rest-cure for one who
+like yourself moves much amid the fiercer passions of life. You were
+about to make holiday?”
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+“It is cruel of me to intrude upon such plans,” continued Colonel
+Menendez, dexterously rolling his cigarette around between his fingers.
+“Yet because of my urgent need I dare to do so. Would yourself and your
+friend honour me with your company at Cray’s Folly for a few days? I
+can promise you good entertainment, although I regret that there is no
+fishing; but it may chance that there will be other and more exciting
+sport.”
+
+Harley glanced at me significantly.
+
+“Do I understand you to mean, Colonel Menendez,” he asked, “that you
+have reason to believe that this conspiracy directed against you is
+about to come to a head?”
+
+Colonel Menendez nodded, at the same time bringing his hand down sharply
+upon the table.
+
+“Mr. Harley,” he replied, his high, thin voice sunken almost to a
+whisper, “Wednesday night is the night of the full moon.”
+
+“The full moon?”
+
+“It is at the full moon that the danger comes.”
+
+Paul Harley stood up, and watched by the Spanish colonel paced slowly
+across the office. At the outer door he paused and turned.
+
+“Colonel Menendez,” he said, “that you would willingly waste the time of
+a busy man I do not for a moment believe, therefore I shall ask you as
+briefly as possible to state your case in detail. When I have heard it,
+if it appears to me that any good purpose can be served by my friend
+and myself coming to Cray’s Folly I feel sure that he will be happy to
+accept your proffered hospitality.”
+
+“If I am likely to be of the slightest use I shall be delighted,” said
+I, which indeed was perfectly true.
+
+Whilst I had willingly agreed to accompany Harley to Norfolk I had
+none of his passion for the piscatorial art, and the promise of novel
+excitement held out by Colonel Menendez appealed to me more keenly than
+the lazy days upon the roads which Harley loved.
+
+“Gentlemen”--the Colonel bowed profoundly--“I am honoured and delighted.
+When you shall have heard my story I know what your decision will be.”
+
+He resumed his seat, and began, it seemed almost automatically, to roll
+a fresh cigarette.
+
+“I am all attention,” declared Harley, and his glance strayed again in a
+wondering fashion to the bat wing lying on his table.
+
+“I will speak briefly,” resumed our visitor, “and any details which
+may seem to you to be important can be discussed later when you are
+my guests. You must know then that I first became acquainted with the
+significance belonging to the term ‘Bat Wing’ and to the object itself
+some twenty years ago.”
+
+“But surely,” interrupted Harley, incredulously, “you are not going
+to tell me that the menace of which you complain is of twenty years’
+standing?”
+
+“At your express request, Mr. Harley,” returned the Colonel a trifle
+brusquely, “I am dealing with possibilities which are remote, because
+in your own words it is sometimes the remote which proves to be the
+intimate. It was then rather more than twenty years ago, at a time when
+great political changes were taking place in the West Indies, that my
+business interests, which are mainly concerned with sugar, carried me
+to one of the smaller islands which had formerly been under--my
+jurisdiction, do you say? Here I had a house and estate, and here in the
+past I had experienced much trouble with the natives.
+
+“I do not disguise from you that I was unpopular, and on my return I
+met with unmistakable signs of hostility. My native workmen were
+insubordinate. In fact, it was the reports from my overseers which had
+led me to visit the island. I made a tour of the place, believing it to
+be necessary to my interests that I should get once more in touch
+with negro feeling, since I had returned to my home in Cuba after the
+upheavals in ‘98. Very well.
+
+“The manager of my estate, a capable man, was of opinion that
+there existed a secret organization amongst the native labourers
+operating--you understand?--against my interests. He produced certain
+evidences of this. They were not convincing; and all my enquiries and
+examinations of certain inhabitants led to no definite results. Yet I
+grew more and more to feel that enemies surrounded me.”
+
+He paused to light his third cigarette, and whilst he did so I conjured
+up a mental picture of his “examinations of certain inhabitants.” I
+recalled hazily those stories of Spanish mismanagement and cruelty which
+had directly led to United States interferences in the islands. But
+whilst I could well believe that this man’s life had not been safe in
+those bad old days in the West Indies, I found it difficult to suppose
+that a native plot against his safety could have survived for more than
+twenty years and have come to a climax in England. However, I realized
+that there was more to follow, and presently, having lighted his
+cigarette, the Colonel resumed:
+
+“In the neighbourhood of the hacienda which had once been my official
+residence there was a belt of low-lying pest country--you understand
+pest country?--which was a hot-bed of poisonous diseases. It followed
+the winding course of a nearly stagnant creek. From the earliest
+times the Black Belt--it was so called--had been avoided by European
+inhabitants, and indeed by the coloured population as well. Apart from
+the malaria of the swampy ground it was infested with reptiles and with
+poisonous insects of a greater variety and of a more venomous character
+than I have ever known in any part of the world.
+
+“I must explain that what I regarded as a weak point in my manager’s
+theory was this: Whilst he held that the native labourers to a man were
+linked together under some head, or guiding influence, he had never
+succeeded in surprising anything in the nature of a negro meeting.
+Indeed, he had prohibited all gatherings of this kind. His answer to
+my criticism was a curious one. He declared that the members of this
+mysterious society met and received their instructions at some place
+within the poison area to which I have referred, believing themselves
+there to be safe from European interference.
+
+“For a long time I disputed this with poor Valera--for such was my
+manager’s name; when one night as I was dismounting from my horse before
+the veranda, having returned from a long ride around the estate, a shot
+was fired from the border of the Black Belt which at one point crept up
+dangerously close to the hacienda.
+
+“The shot was a good one. I had caught my spur in the stirrup in
+dismounting, and stumbled. Otherwise I must have been a dead man. The
+bullet pierced the crown of my hat, only missing my skull by an inch or
+less. The alarm was given. But no search-party could be mustered, do you
+say?--which was prepared to explore the poison swamp--or so declared
+my native servants. Valera, however, seized upon this incident to
+illustrate his theory that there were those in the island who did not
+hesitate to enter the Black Belt popularly supposed to cast up noxious
+vapours at dusk of a sort fatal to any traveller.
+
+“That night over our wine we discussed the situation, and he pointed
+out to me that now was the hour to test his theory. Orders had evidently
+been given for my assassination and the attempt had failed.
+
+“‘There will be a meeting,’ said Valera, ‘to discuss the next move. And
+it will take place to-morrow night!’
+
+“I challenged him with a glance and I replied:
+
+“‘To-morrow night is a full moon, and if you are agreeable we will make
+a secret expedition into the swamp, and endeavour to find the clearing
+which you say is there, and which you believe to be the rendezvous of
+the conspirators.’
+
+“Even in the light of the lamp I saw Valera turn pale, but he was a
+Spaniard and a man of courage.
+
+“‘I agree, señor,’ he replied. ‘If my information is correct we shall
+find the way.’
+
+“I must explain that the information to which he referred had been
+supplied by a native girl who loved him. That this clearing was a
+meeting-place she had denied. But she had admitted that it was possible
+to obtain access to it, and had even described the path.” He paused.
+“She died of a lingering sickness.”
+
+Colonel Menendez spoke these last words with great deliberation and
+treated each of us to a long and significant stare.
+
+“Presently,” he added, “I will tell you what was nailed to the wall of
+her hut on the night that she fell ill. But to continue my narrative.
+On the following evening, suitably equipped, Valera and myself set out,
+leaving by a side door and striking into the woods at a point east of
+the hacienda, where, according to his information, a footpath existed,
+which would lead us to the clearing we desired to visit. Of that
+journey, gentlemen, I have most terrible memories.
+
+“Imagine a dense and poisonous jungle, carpeted by rotten vegetation
+in which one’s feet sank deeply and from which arose a visible and
+stenching vapour. Imagine living things, slimy things, moving beneath
+the tread, sometimes coiling about our riding boots, sometimes making
+hissing sounds. Imagine places where the path was overgrown, and we must
+thrust our way through bushes where great bloated spiders weaved
+their webs, where clammy night things touched us as we passed, where
+unfamiliar and venomous insects clung to our garments.
+
+“We proceeded onward for more than half an hour guided by the moonlight,
+but this, although tropically brilliant, at some places scarcely
+penetrated the thick vapour which arose from the jungle. In those days I
+was a young and vigorous man; my companion was several years my senior;
+and his sufferings were far greater than my own. But if the jungle was
+horrible, worse was yet to come.
+
+“Presently we stumbled upon an open space almost quite bare of
+vegetation, a poisonous green carpet spread in the heart of the woods.
+Here the vapour was more dense than ever, but I welcomed the sight of
+open ground after the reptile-infested thicket. Alas! it was a snare, a
+death-trap, a sort of morass, in which we sank up to our knees. Pah!
+it was filthy--vile! And I became aware of great--lassitude, do you
+say?--whilst Valera’s panting breath told that he had almost reached the
+end of his resources.
+
+“A faint breeze moved through the clearing and for a few moments we
+were enabled to perceive one another more distinctly. I uttered an
+exclamation of horror.
+
+“My companion’s garments were a mass of strange-looking patches.
+
+“Even as I noticed them I glanced rapidly down--and found myself in
+similar condition. As I did so one of these patches upon the sleeve of
+my tunic intruded coldly upon my bare wrist. At that I cried out aloud
+in fear. Valera and I commenced what was literally a fight for life.
+
+“Gentlemen, we were attacked by some kind of blood-red leeches, which
+came out of the slime! In detaching them one detached patches of skin,
+and they swarmed over our bodies like ants upon carrion.
+
+“They penetrated beneath our garments, these swollen, lustful, unclean
+things; and it was whilst we staggered on through the swamp in agony of
+mind and body that we saw the light of many torches amid the trees ahead
+of us, and in their smoky glare witnessed the flight of hundreds
+of bats. The moonlight creeping dimly through the mist, and the
+torchlight--how do you say?--enflaming the vegetation, created a scene
+like that of Inferno, in which naked figures danced wildly, uttering
+animal cries.
+
+“Above the shrieking and howling, which rose and fell in a sort of
+unholy chorus, I heard one long, wailing sound, repeated and repeated.
+It was an African word. But I knew its meaning.
+
+“It was ‘_Bat Wing_!’
+
+“My doubts were dispersed. This was a meeting-place of
+Devil-worshippers, or devotees of the cult of Voodoo! One man only could
+I see clearly so as to remember him, a big negro employed upon one of
+my estates. He seemed to be a sort of high priest or president of the
+orgies. Attached to his arms were giant imitations of bat wings which he
+moved grotesquely as if in flight. There were many women in the throng,
+which numbered fully I should think a hundred people. But the final
+collapse of my brave, unhappy Valera at this point brought home to me
+the nature of the peril in which I stood.
+
+“He lay at my feet, moving convulsively, and sinking ever deeper in
+the swamp, red leeches moving slowly, slowly over his fast-disappearing
+body.”
+
+Colonel Menendez paused in his appalling narrative and wiped his moist
+forehead with a silk handkerchief. Neither Harley nor I spoke. I knew
+not if my friend believed the Spaniard’s story. For my own part I found
+it difficult to do so. But that the narrator was deeply moved was a fact
+beyond dispute.
+
+He suddenly commenced again:
+
+“My next recollection is of awakening in my own bed at the hacienda. I
+had staggered back as far as the veranda, in raving delirium, and in the
+grip of a strange fever which prostrated me for many months, and which
+defied the knowledge of all the specialists who could be procured from
+Cuba and the United States. My survival was due to an iron constitution;
+but I have never been the same man. I was ordered to leave the West
+Indies directly it became possible for me to be moved. I arranged my
+affairs accordingly, and did not return for many years.
+
+“Finally, however, I again took up my residence in Cuba, and for a time
+all went well, and might have continued to do so, but for the following
+incident. One night, being troubled by insomnia--sleeplessness--and the
+heat, I walked out on to the balcony in front of my bedroom window. As
+I did so, a figure which had been--you say lurking?--somewhere under the
+veranda ran swiftly off; but not so swiftly that I failed to obtain a
+glimpse of the uplifted face.
+
+“It was the big negro! Although many years had elapsed since I had seen
+him wearing the bat wings at those unholy rites, I knew him instantly.
+
+“On a little table close behind me where I stood lay a loaded revolver.
+I snatched it in a flash and fired shot after shot at the retreating
+figure.”
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders and selected a fresh cigarette
+paper.
+
+“Gentlemen,” he continued, “from that moment until this I have gone
+in hourly peril of my life. Whether I hit my man or missed him, I have
+never known to this day. If he lives or is dead I cannot say. But--” he
+paused impressively--“I have told you of something that was nailed to
+the hut of a certain native girl? Before she died I knew that it was a
+death-token.
+
+“On the morning after the episode which I have just related attached to
+the main door of the hacienda was found that same token.”
+
+“And it was??” said Harley, eagerly.
+
+“It was the wing of a bat!
+
+“I am perhaps a hasty man. It is in my blood. I tore the unclean thing
+from the panel and stamped it under my feet. No one of the servants
+who had drawn my attention to its presence would consent to touch
+it. Indeed, they all shrank from me as though I, too, were unclean. I
+endeavoured to forget it. Who was I to be influenced by the threats of
+natives?
+
+“That night, just at the hour of sunset, a shot was fired at me from a
+neighbouring clump of trees, only missing me I think by the fraction of
+an inch. I realized that the peril was real, and was one against which I
+could not fight.
+
+“Permit me to be brief, gentlemen. Six attempts of various kinds
+were made upon my life in Cuba. I crossed to the United States. In
+Washington, the political capital of the country, an assassin gained
+access to my hotel apartment and but for the fact that a friend chanced
+to call me up on the telephone at that late hour of the night, thereby
+awakening me, I should have received a knife in my heart. I saw the
+knife in the dim light; I saw the shadowy figure. I leapt out on the
+opposite side of the bed, seized a table-lamp which stood there, and
+hurled it at my assailant.
+
+“There was a crash, a stifled exclamation, shuffling, the door opened,
+and my would-be assassin was gone. But I had learned something, and to
+my old fears a new one was added.”
+
+“What had you learned?” asked Harley, whose interest in the narrative
+was displayed by the fact that his pipe had long since gone out.
+
+“Vaguely, vaguely, you understand, for there was little light, I had
+seen the face of the man. He wore some kind of black cloak doubtless
+to conceal his movements. His silhouette resembled that of a bat. But,
+gentlemen, he was neither a negro nor even a half-caste; he was of the
+white races, to that I could swear.”
+
+Colonel Menendez lighted the cigarette which he had been busily rolling,
+and fixed his dark eyes upon Harley.
+
+“You puzzle me, sir,” said the latter. “Do you wish me to believe that
+this cult of Voodoo claims European or American devotees?”
+
+“I wish you to believe,” returned the Colonel, “that although as
+the result of the alarm which I gave the hotel was searched and the
+Washington police exerted themselves to the utmost, no trace was ever
+found of the man who had tried to murder me, except”--he extended a
+long, yellow forefinger, and pointed to the wing of the bat lying upon
+Harley’s table--“a bat wing was found pinned to my bedroom door.”
+
+Silence fell for a while; an impressive silence. Truly this was the
+strangest story to which I had ever listened.
+
+“How long ago was that?” asked Harley.
+
+“Only two years ago. At about the time that the great war terminated. I
+came to Europe and believed that at last I had found security. I lived
+for a time in London amidst a refreshing peace that was new to me. Then,
+chancing to hear of a property in Surrey which was available, I leased
+it for a period of years, installing--is it correct?--my cousin, Madame
+de Stämer, as housekeeper. Madame, alas, is an invalid, but”--he kissed
+his fingers--“a genius. She has with her, as companion, a very
+charming English girl, Miss Val Beverley, the orphaned daughter of a
+distinguished surgeon of Edinburg. Miss Beverley was with my cousin in
+the hospital which she established in France during the war. If you will
+honour me with your presence at Cray’s Folly to-morrow, gentlemen, you
+will not lack congenial company, I can assure you.”
+
+He raised his heavy eyebrows, looking interrogatively from Harley to
+myself.
+
+“For my own part,” said my friend, slowly, “I shall be delighted. What
+do you say, Knox?”
+
+“I also.”
+
+“But,” continued Harley, “your presence here today, Colonel Menendez,
+suggests to my mind that England has not proved so safe a haven as you
+had anticipated?”
+
+Colonel Menendez crossed the room and stood once more before the Burmese
+cabinet, one hand resting upon his hip; a massive yet graceful figure.
+
+“Mr. Harley,” he replied, “four days ago my butler, who is a Spaniard,
+brought me--” He pointed to the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+“He had found it pinned to an oaken panel of the main entrance door.”
+
+“Was it prior to this discovery, or after it,” asked Harley, “that you
+detected the presence of someone lurking in the neighbourhood of the
+house?”
+
+“Before it.”
+
+“And the burglarious entrance?”
+
+“That took place rather less than a month ago. On the eve of the full
+moon.”
+
+Paul Harley stood up and relighted his pipe.
+
+“There are quite a number of other details, Colonel,” he said, “which I
+shall require you to place in my possession. Since I have determined
+to visit Cray’s Folly, these can wait until my arrival. I particularly
+refer to a remark concerning a neighbour of yours in Surrey.”
+
+Colonel Menendez nodded, twirling his cigarette between his long, yellow
+fingers.
+
+“It is a delicate matter, gentlemen,” he confessed.
+
+“I must take time to consider how I shall place it before you. But I may
+count upon your arrival tomorrow?”
+
+“Certainly. I am looking forward to the visit with keen interest.”
+
+“It is important,” declared our visitor; “for on Wednesday is the full
+moon, and the full moon is in some way associated with the sacrificial
+rites of Voodoo.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE VAMPIRE BAT
+
+
+
+An hour had elapsed since the departure of our visitor, and Paul Harley
+and I sat in the cosy, book-lined study discussing the strange story
+which had been related to us. Harley, who had a friend attached to
+the Spanish Embassy, had succeeded in getting in touch with him at his
+chambers, and had obtained some few particulars of interest concerning
+Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, for such were the full names and
+titles of our late caller.
+
+He was apparently the last representative of a once great Spanish
+family, established for many generations in Cuba. His wealth was
+incalculable, although the value of his numerous estates had depreciated
+in recent years. His family had produced many men of subtle intellect
+and powerful administrative qualities; but allied to this they had all
+possessed traits of cruelty and debauchery which at one time had made
+the name of Menendez a by-word in the West Indies. That there were many
+people in that part of the world who would gladly have assassinated
+the Colonel, Paul Harley’s informant did not deny. But although this
+information somewhat enlarged our knowledge of my friend’s newest
+client, it threw no fresh light upon that side of his story which
+related to Voodoo and the extraordinary bat wing episodes.
+
+“Of course,” said Harley, after a long silence, “there is one
+possibility of which we must not lose sight.”
+
+“What possibility is that?” I asked.
+
+“That Menendez may be mad. Remorse for crimes of cruelty committed in
+his youth, and beyond doubt he has been guilty of many, may have led to
+a sort of obsession. I have known such cases.”
+
+“That was my first impression,” I confessed, “but it faded somewhat as
+the Colonel’s story proceeded. I don’t think any such explanation would
+cover the facts.”
+
+“Neither do I,” agreed my friend; “but it is distinctly possible that
+such an obsession exists, and that someone is deliberately playing upon
+it for his own ends.”
+
+“You mean that someone who knows of these episodes in the earlier life
+of Menendez is employing them now for a secret purpose of his own?”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“It renders the case none the less interesting.”
+
+“I quite agree, Knox. With you, I believe, that even if the Colonel is
+not quite sane, at the same time his fears are by no means imaginary.”
+
+He gingerly took up the bat wing from the arm of his chair where he had
+placed it after a detailed examination.
+
+“It seems to be pretty certain,” he said, “that this thing is the wing
+of a Desmodus or Vampire Bat. Now, according to our authority”--he
+touched a work which lay open on the other arm of his chair--“these are
+natives of tropical America, therefore the presence of a living vampire
+bat in Surrey is not to be anticipated. I am personally satisfied,
+however, that this unpleasant fragment has been preserved in some way.”
+
+“You mean that it is part of a specimen from someone’s collection?”
+
+“Quite possibly. But even a collection of such bats would be quite a
+novelty. I don’t know that I can recollect one outside the Museums. To
+follow this bat wing business further: there was one very curious point
+in the Colonel’s narrative. You recollect his reference to a native girl
+who had betrayed certain information to the manager of the estate?”
+
+I nodded rapidly.
+
+“A bat wing was affixed to the wall of her hut and she died, according
+to our informant, of a lingering sickness. Now this lingering sickness
+might have been anæmia, and anæmia may be induced, either in man or
+beast, by frequent but unsuspected visits of a Vampire Bat.”
+
+“Good heavens, Harley!” I exclaimed, “what a horrible idea.”
+
+“It _is_ a horrible idea, but in countries infested by these creatures
+such things happen occasionally. I distinctly recollect a story which
+I once heard, of a little girl in some district of tropical America
+falling into such a decline, from which she was only rescued in the nick
+of time by the discovery that one of these Vampire Bats, a particularly
+large one, had formed the habit of flying into her room at night and
+attaching itself to her bare arm which lay outside the coverlet.”
+
+“How did it penetrate the mosquito curtains?” I enquired, incredulously.
+
+“The very point, Knox, which led to the discovery of the truth. The
+thing, exhibiting a sort of uncanny intelligence, used to work its way
+up under the edge of the netting. This disturbance of the curtains was
+noticed on several occasions by the nurse who occupied an adjoining
+room, and finally led to the detection of the bat!”
+
+“But surely,” I said, “such a visitation would awaken any sleeper?”
+
+“On the contrary, it induces deeper sleep. But I have not yet come to my
+point, Knox. The vengeance of the High Priest of Voodoo, who figured in
+the Colonel’s narrative, was characteristic in the case of the native
+woman, since her symptoms at least simulated those which would result
+from the visits of a Vampire Bat, although of course they may have been
+due to a slow poison. But you will not have failed to note that the
+several attacks upon the Colonel personally were made with more ordinary
+weapons. On two occasions at least a rifle was employed.”
+
+“Yes,” I replied, slowly. “You are wondering why the lingering sickness
+did not visit him?”
+
+“I am, Knox. I can only suppose that he proved to be immune. You recall
+his statement that he made an almost miraculous recovery from the fever
+which attacked him after his visit to the Black Belt? This would seem to
+point to the fact that he possesses that rare type of constitution which
+almost defies organisms deadly to ordinary men.”
+
+“I see. Hence the dagger and the rifle?”
+
+“So it would appear.”
+
+“But, Harley,” I cried, “what appalling crime can the man have committed
+to call down upon his head a vengeance which has survived for so many
+years?”
+
+Paul Harley shrugged his shoulders in a whimsical imitation of the
+Spaniard.
+
+“I doubt if the feud dates any earlier,” he replied, “than the time of
+Menendez’s last return to Cuba. On that occasion he evidently killed the
+High Priest of Voodoo.”
+
+I uttered an exclamation of scorn.
+
+“My dear Harley,” I said, “the whole thing is too utterly fantastic. I
+begin to believe again that we are dealing with a madman.”
+
+Harley glanced down at the wing of the bat.
+
+“We shall see,” he murmured. “Even if the only result of our visit is to
+make the acquaintance of the Colonel’s household our time will not have
+been wasted.”
+
+“No,” said I, “that is true enough. I am looking forward to meeting
+Madame de Stämer--”
+
+“The Colonel’s invalid cousin,” added Harley, tonelessly.
+
+“And her companion, Miss Beverley.”
+
+“Quite so. Nor must we forget the Spanish butler, and the Colonel
+himself, whose acquaintance I am extremely anxious to renew.”
+
+“The whole thing is wildly bizarre, Harley.”
+
+“My dear Knox,” he replied, stretching himself luxuriously in the long
+lounge chair, “the most commonplace life hovers on the edge of the
+bizarre. But those of us who overstep the border become preposterous
+in the eyes of those who have never done so. This is not because the
+unusual is necessarily the untrue, but because writers of fiction have
+claimed the unusual as their particular province, and in doing so have
+divorced it from fact in the public eye. Thus I, myself, am a myth, and
+so are you, Knox!”
+
+He raised his hand and pointed to the doorway communicating with the
+office.
+
+“We owe our mythological existence to that American genius whose
+portrait hangs beside the Burmese cabinet and who indiscreetly
+created the character of C. Auguste Dupin. The doings of this amateur
+investigator were chronicled by an admirer, you may remember, since
+when no private detective has been allowed to exist outside the pages of
+fiction. My most trivial habits confirm my unreality.
+
+“For instance, I have a friend who is good enough sometimes to record
+my movements. So had Dupin. I smoke a pipe. So did Dupin. I investigate
+crime, and I am sometimes successful. Here I differ from Dupin. Dupin
+was always successful. But my argument is this--you complain that the
+life of Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, on his own showing,
+has been at least as romantic as his name. It would not be accounted
+romantic by the adventurous, Knox; it is only romantic to the prosaic
+mind. In the same way his name is only unusual to our English ears. In
+Spain it would pass unnoticed.”
+
+“I see your point,” I said, grudgingly; “but think of I Voodoo in the
+Surrey Hills.”
+
+“I am thinking of it, Knox, and it affords me much delight to think of
+it. You have placed your finger I upon the very point I was endeavouring
+to make. Voodoo in the Surrey Hills! Quite so. Voodoo in some island
+of the Caribbean Seas, yes, but Voodoo in the Surrey Hills, no. Yet, my
+dear fellow, there is a regular steamer service between South America
+and England. Or one may embark at Liverpool and disembark in the Spanish
+Main. Why, then, may not one embark in the West Indies and disembark
+at Liverpool? This granted, you will also grant that from Liverpool to
+Surrey is a feasible journey. Why, then, should you exclaim, ‘but Voodoo
+in the Surrey Hills!’ You would be surprised to meet an Esquimaux in
+the Strand, but there is no reason why an Esquimaux should not visit the
+Strand. In short, the most annoying thing about fact is its resemblance
+to fiction. I am looking forward to the day, Knox, when I can retire
+from my present fictitious profession and become a recognized member
+of the community; such as a press agent, a theatrical manager, or some
+other dealer in Fact!”
+
+He burst out laughing, and reaching over to a side-table refilled my
+glass and his own.
+
+“There lies the wing of a Vampire Bat,” he said, pointing, “in Chancery
+Lane. It is impossible. Yet,” he raised his glass, “‘Pussyfoot’ Johnson
+has visited Scotland, the home of Whisky!”
+
+We were silent for a while, whilst I considered his remarks.
+
+“The conclusion to which I have come,” declared Harley, “is that nothing
+is so strange as the commonplace. A rod and line, a boat, a luncheon
+hamper, a jar of good ale, and the peculiar peace of a Norfolk
+river--these joys I willingly curtail in favour of the unknown things
+which await us at Cray’s Folly. Remember, Knox,” he stared at me
+queerly, “Wednesday is the night of the full moon.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CRAY’S FOLLY
+
+
+
+Paul Harley lay back upon the cushions and glanced at me with a
+quizzical smile. The big, up-to-date car which Colonel Menendez had
+placed at our disposal was surmounting a steep Surrey lane as though no
+gradient had existed.
+
+“Some engine!” he said, approvingly.
+
+I nodded in agreement, but felt disinclined for conversation, being
+absorbed in watching the characteristically English scenery. This,
+indeed, was very beautiful. The lane along which we were speeding was
+narrow, winding, and over-arched by trees. Here and there sunlight
+penetrated to spread a golden carpet before us, but for the most part
+the way lay in cool and grateful shadow.
+
+On one side a wooded slope hemmed us in blackly, on the other lay dell
+after dell down into the cradle of the valley. It was a poetic corner of
+England, and I thought it almost unbelievable that London was only some
+twenty miles behind. A fit place this for elves and fairies to
+survive, a spot in which the presence of a modern automobile seemed a
+desecration. Higher we mounted and higher, the engine running strongly
+and smoothly; then, presently, we were out upon a narrow open road with
+the crescent of the hills sweeping away on the right and dense woods
+dipping valleyward to the left and behind us.
+
+The chauffeur turned, and, meeting my glance:
+
+“Cray’s Folly, sir,” he said.
+
+He jerked his hand in the direction of a square, gray-stone tower
+somewhat resembling a campanile, which uprose from a distant clump of
+woods cresting a greater eminence.
+
+“Ah,” murmured Harley, “the famous tower.”
+
+Following the departure of the Colonel on the previous evening, he had
+looked up Cray’s Folly and had found it to be one of a series of houses
+erected by the eccentric and wealthy man whose name it bore. He had
+had a mania for building houses with towers, in which his rival--and
+contemporary--had been William Beckford, the author of “Vathek,” a work
+which for some obscure reason has survived as well as two of the three
+towers erected by its writer.
+
+I became conscious of a keen sense of anticipation. In this, I think,
+the figure of Miss Val Beverley played a leading part. There was
+something pathetic in the presence of this lonely English girl in so
+singular a household; for if the menage at Cray’s Folly should prove
+half so strange as Colonel Menendez had led us to believe, then truly we
+were about to find ourselves amid unusual people.
+
+Presently the road inclined southward somewhat and we entered the fringe
+of the trees. I noticed one or two very ancient cottages, but no trace
+of the modern builder. This was a fragment of real Old England, and
+I was not sorry when presently we lost sight of the square tower; for
+amidst such scenery it was an anomaly and a rebuke.
+
+What Paul Harley’s thoughts may have been I cannot say, but he preserved
+an unbroken silence up to the very moment that we came to the gate
+lodge.
+
+The gates were monstrosities of elaborate iron scrollwork, craftsmanship
+clever enough in its way, but of an ornate kind more in keeping with the
+orange trees of the South than with this wooded Surrey countryside.
+
+A very surly-looking girl, quite obviously un-English (a daughter of
+Pedro, the butler, I learned later), opened the gates, and we entered
+upon a winding drive literally tunnelled through the trees. Of the house
+we had never a glimpse until we were right under its walls, nor should
+I have known that we were come to the main entrance if the car had not
+stopped.
+
+“Looks like a monastery,” muttered Harley.
+
+Indeed that part of the building--the north front--which was visible
+from this point had a strangely monastic appearance, being built of
+solid gray blocks and boasting only a few small, heavily barred windows.
+The eccentricity of the Victorian gentleman who had expended thousands
+of pounds upon erecting this house was only equalled, I thought, by that
+of Colonel Menendez, who had chosen it for a home. An out-jutting wing
+shut us in on the west, and to the east the prospect was closed by the
+tallest and most densely grown box hedge I had ever seen, trimmed most
+perfectly and having an arched opening in the centre. Thus, the entrance
+to Cray’s Folly lay in a sort of bay.
+
+But even as we stepped from the car, the great church-like oaken doors
+were thrown open, and there, framed in the monkish porch, stood the
+tall, elegant figure of the Colonel.
+
+“Gentlemen,” he cried, “welcome to Cray’s Folly.”
+
+He advanced smiling, and in the bright sunlight seemed even more
+Mephistophelean than he had seemed in Harley’s office.
+
+“Pedro,” he called, and a strange-looking Spanish butler who wore his
+side-whiskers like a bull fighter appeared behind his master; a sallow,
+furtive fellow with whom I determined I should never feel at ease.
+
+However, the Colonel greeted us heartily enough, and conducted us
+through a kind of paved, covered courtyard into a great lofty hall.
+Indeed it more closely resembled a studio, being partly lighted by a
+most curious dome. It was furnished in a manner quite un-English, but
+very luxuriously. A magnificent oaken staircase communicated with a
+gallery on the left, and at the foot of this staircase, in a mechanical
+chair which she managed with astonishing dexterity, sat Madame de
+Stämer.
+
+She had snow-white hair crowning the face of a comparatively young
+woman, and large, dark-brown eyes which reminded me strangely of the
+eyes of some animal although in the first moment of meeting I could not
+identify the resemblance. Her hands were very slender and beautiful, and
+when, as the Colonel presented us, she extended her fingers, I was not
+surprised to see Harley stoop and kiss them in Continental fashion;
+for this Madame evidently expected. I followed suit; but truth to tell,
+after that first glance at the masterful figure in the invalid chair I
+had had no eyes for Madame de Stämer, being fully employed in gazing at
+someone who stood beside her.
+
+This was an evasively pretty girl, or such was my first impression. That
+is to say, that whilst her attractiveness was beyond dispute, analysis
+of her small features failed to detect from which particular quality
+this charm was derived. The contour of her face certainly formed a
+delightful oval, and there was a wistful look in her eyes which was half
+appealing and half impish. Her demure expression was not convincing, and
+there rested a vague smile, or promise of a smile, upon lips which were
+perfectly moulded, and indeed the only strictly regular feature of a
+nevertheless bewitching face. She had slightly curling hair and the line
+of her neck and shoulder was most graceful and charming. Of one thing I
+was sure: She was glad to see visitors at Cray’s Folly.
+
+“And now, gentlemen,” said Colonel Menendez, “having presented you to
+Madame, my cousin, permit me to present you to Miss Val Beverley, my
+cousin’s companion, and our very dear friend.”
+
+The girl bowed in a formal English fashion, which contrasted sharply
+with the Continental manner of Madame. Her face flushed slightly, and as
+I met her glance she lowered her eyes.
+
+“Now M. Harley and M. Knox,” said Madame, vivaciously, “you are quite at
+home. Pedro will show you to your rooms and lunch will be ready in half
+an hour.”
+
+She waved her white hand coquettishly, and ignoring the proffered aid
+of Miss Beverley, wheeled her chair away at a great rate under a sort
+of arch on the right of the hall, which communicated with the domestic
+offices of the establishment.
+
+“Is she not wonderful?” exclaimed Colonel Menendez, taking Harley’s
+left arm and my right and guiding us upstairs followed by Pedro and
+the chauffeur, the latter carrying our grips. “Many women would be
+prostrated by such an affliction, but she--” he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+Harley and I had been placed in adjoining rooms. I had never seen such
+rooms as those in Cray’s Folly. The place contained enough oak to have
+driven a modern builder crazy. Oak had simply been lavished upon it. My
+own room, which was almost directly above the box hedge to which I have
+referred, had a beautiful carved ceiling and a floor as highly polished
+as that of a ballroom. It was tastefully furnished, but the foreign note
+was perceptible everywhere.
+
+“We have here some grand prospects,” said the Colonel, and truly enough
+the view from the great, high, wide window was a very fine one.
+
+I perceived that the grounds of Cray’s Folly were extensive and
+carefully cultivated. I had a glimpse of a Tudor sunken garden, but the
+best view of this was from the window of Harley’s room, which because
+it was the end room on the north front overlooked another part of the
+grounds, and offered a prospect of the east lawns and distant park land.
+
+When presently Colonel Menendez and I accompanied my friend there I
+was charmed by the picturesque scene below. Here was a real old herbal
+garden, gay with flowers and intersected by tiled moss-grown paths.
+There were bushes exhibiting fantastic examples of the topiary art, and
+here, too, was a sun-dial. My first impression of this beautiful spot
+was one of delight. Later I was to regard that enchanted demesne with
+something akin to horror; but as we stood there watching a gardener
+clipping the bushes I thought that although Cray’s Folly might be
+adjudged ugly, its grounds were delightful.
+
+Suddenly Harley turned to our host. “Where is the famous tower?” he
+enquired. “It is not visible from the front of the house, nor from the
+drive.”
+
+“No, no,” replied the Colonel, “it is right out at the end of the east
+wing, which is disused. I keep it locked up. There are four rooms in
+the tower and a staircase, of course, but it is inconvenient. I cannot
+imagine why it was built.”
+
+“The architect may have had some definite object in view,” said Harley,
+“or it may have been merely a freak of his client. Is there anything
+characteristic about the topmost room, for instance?”
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his massive shoulders. “Nothing,” he replied.
+“It is the same as the others below, except that there is a stair
+leading to a gallery on the roof. Presently I will take you up, if you
+wish.”
+
+“I should be interested,” murmured Harley, and tactfully changed the
+subject, which evidently was not altogether pleasing to our host. I
+concluded that he had found the east wing of the house something of a
+white elephant, and was accordingly sensitive upon the point.
+
+Presently, then, he left us and I returned to my own room, but before
+long I rejoined Harley. I did not knock but entered unceremoniously.
+
+“Halloa!” I exclaimed. “What have you seen?”
+
+He was standing staring out of the window, nor did he turn as I entered.
+
+“What is it?” I said, joining him.
+
+He glanced at me oddly.
+
+“An impression,” he replied; “but it has gone now.”
+
+“I understand,” I said, quietly.
+
+Familiarity with crime in many guises and under many skies had developed
+in Paul Harley a sort of sixth sense. It was a fugitive, fickle
+thing, as are all the powers which belong to the realm of genius or
+inspiration. Often enough it failed him entirely, he had assured me,
+that odd, sudden chill as of an abrupt lowering of the temperature,
+which, I understood, often advised him of the nearness of enmity
+actively malignant.
+
+Now, standing at the window, looking down into that old-world garden, he
+was “sensing” the atmosphere keenly, seeking for the note of danger. It
+was sheer intuition, perhaps, but whilst he could never rely upon its
+answering his summons, once active it never misled him.
+
+“You think some real menace overhangs Colonel Menendez?”
+
+“I am sure of it.” He stared into my face. “There is something very,
+very strange about this bat wing business.”
+
+“Do you still incline to the idea that he has been followed to England?”
+
+Paul Harley reflected for a moment, then:
+
+“That explanation would be almost too simple,” he said. “There is
+something bizarre, something unclean--I had almost said unholy--at work
+in this house, Knox.”
+
+“He has foreign servants.”
+
+Harley shook his head.
+
+“I shall make it my business to become acquainted with all of them,”
+ he replied, “but the danger does not come from there. Let us go down to
+lunch.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+VAL BEVERLEY
+
+
+
+The luncheon was so good as to be almost ostentatious. One could not
+have lunched better at the Carlton. Yet, since this luxurious living was
+evidently customary in the colonel’s household, a charge of ostentation
+would not have been deserved. The sinister-looking Pedro proved to be
+an excellent servant; and because of the excitement of feeling myself
+to stand upon the edge of unusual things, the enjoyment of a perfectly
+served repast, and the sheer delight which I experienced in watching the
+play of expression upon the face of Miss Beverley, I count that luncheon
+at Cray’s Folly a memorable hour of my life.
+
+Frankly, Val Beverley puzzled me. It may or may not have been curious,
+that amidst such singular company I selected for my especial study a
+girl so freshly and typically English. I had thought at the moment of
+meeting her that she was provokingly pretty; I determined, as the lunch
+proceeded, that she was beautiful. Once I caught Harley smiling at me in
+his quizzical fashion, and I wondered guiltily if I were displaying an
+undue interest in the companion of Madame.
+
+Many topics were discussed, I remember, and beyond doubt the colonel’s
+cousin-housekeeper dominated the debate. She possessed extraordinary
+force of personality. Her English was not nearly so fluent as that
+spoken by the colonel, but this handicap only served to emphasize the
+masculine strength of her intellect. Truly she was a remarkable woman.
+With her blanched hair and her young face, and those fine, velvety eyes
+which possessed a quality almost hypnotic, she might have posed for the
+figure of a sorceress. She had unfamiliar gestures and employed her long
+white hands in a manner that was new to me and utterly strange.
+
+I could detect no family resemblance between the cousins, and I wondered
+if their kinship were very distant. One thing was evident enough: Madame
+de Stämer was devoted to the Colonel. Her expression when she looked at
+him changed entirely. For a woman of such intense vitality her eyes were
+uncannily still; that is to say that whilst she frequently moved her
+head she rarely moved her eyes. Again and again I found myself wondering
+where I had seen such eyes before. I lived to identify that memory, as I
+shall presently relate.
+
+In vain I endeavoured to define the relationship between these three
+people, so incongruously set beneath one roof. Of the fact that Miss
+Beverly was not happy I became assured. But respecting her exact
+position in the household I was reduced to surmises.
+
+The Colonel improved on acquaintance. I decided that he belonged to an
+order of Spanish grandees now almost extinct. I believed he would have
+made a very staunch friend; I felt sure he would have proved a most
+implacable enemy. Altogether, it was a memorable meal, and one notable
+result of that brief companionship was a kind of link of understanding
+between myself and Miss Beverley.
+
+Once, when I had been studying Madame de Stämer, and again, as I removed
+my glance from the dark face of Colonel Menendez, I detected the girl
+watching me; and her eyes said, “You understand; so do I.”
+
+Some things perhaps I did understand, but how few the near future was to
+show.
+
+The signal for our departure from table was given by Madame de Stämer.
+She whisked her chair back with extraordinary rapidity, the contrast
+between her swift, nervous movements and those still, basilisk eyes
+being almost uncanny.
+
+“Off you go, Juan,” she said; “your visitors would like to see the
+garden, no doubt. I must be away for my afternoon siesta. Come, my
+dear”--to the girl--“smoke one little cigarette with me, then I will let
+you go.”
+
+She retired, wheeling herself rapidly out of the room, and my glance
+lingered upon the graceful figure of Val Beverley until both she and
+Madame were out of sight.
+
+“Now, gentlemen,” said the Colonel, resuming his seat and pushing the
+decanter toward Paul Harley, “I am at your service either for business
+or amusement. I think”--to Harley--“you expressed a desire to see the
+tower?”
+
+“I did,” my friend replied, lighting his cigar, “but only if it would
+amuse you to show me.”
+
+“Decidedly. Mr. Knox will join us?”
+
+Harley, unseen by the Colonel, glanced at me in a way which I knew.
+
+“Thanks all the same,” I said, smiling, “but following a perfect
+luncheon I should much prefer to loll upon the lawn, if you don’t mind.”
+
+“But certainly I do not mind,” cried the Colonel. “I wish you to be
+happy.”
+
+“Join you in a few minutes, Knox,” said Harley as he went out with our
+host.
+
+“All right,” I replied, “I should like to take a stroll around the
+gardens. You will join me there later, no doubt.”
+
+As I walked out into the bright sunshine I wondered why Paul Harley had
+wished to be left alone with Colonel Menendez, but knowing that I should
+learn his motive later, I strolled on through the gardens, my mind
+filled with speculations respecting these unusual people with whom Fate
+had brought me in contact. I felt that Miss Beverley needed protection
+of some kind, and I was conscious of a keen desire to afford her that
+protection. In her glance I had read, or thought I had read, an appeal
+for sympathy.
+
+Not the least mystery of Cray’s Folly was the presence of this girl.
+Only toward the end of luncheon had I made up my mind upon a point which
+had been puzzling me. Val Beverley’s gaiety was a cloak. Once I had
+detected her watching Madame de Stämer with a look strangely like that
+of fear.
+
+Puffing contentedly at my cigar I proceeded to make a tour of the house.
+It was constructed irregularly. Practically the entire building was
+of gray stone, which created a depressing effect even in the blazing
+sunlight, lending Cray’s Folly something of an austere aspect. There
+were fine lofty windows, however, to most of the ground-floor rooms
+overlooking the lawns, and some of those above had balconies of the same
+gray stone. Quite an extensive kitchen garden and a line of glasshouses
+adjoined the west wing, and here were outbuildings, coach-houses and a
+garage, all connected by a covered passage with the servants’ quarters.
+
+Pursuing my enquiries, I proceeded to the north front of the building,
+which was closely hemmed in by trees, and which as we had observed on
+our arrival resembled the entrance to a monastery.
+
+Passing the massive oaken door by which we had entered and which was now
+closed again, I walked on through the opening in the box hedge into a
+part of the grounds which was not so sprucely groomed as the rest. On
+one side were the yews flanking the Tudor garden and before me uprose
+the famous tower. As I stared up at the square structure, with its
+uncurtained windows, I wondered, as others had wondered before me, what
+could have ever possessed any man to build it.
+
+Visible at points for many miles around, it undoubtedly disfigured an
+otherwise beautiful landscape.
+
+I pressed on, noting that the windows of the rooms in the east wing were
+shuttered and the apartments evidently disused. I came to the base of
+the tower, To the south, the country rose up to the highest point in
+the crescent of hills, and peeping above the trees at no great distance
+away, I detected the red brick chimneys of some old house in the woods.
+North and east, velvet sward swept down to the park.
+
+As I stood there admiring the prospect and telling myself that no
+Voodoo devilry could find a home in this peaceful English countryside,
+I detected a faint sound of voices far above. Someone had evidently come
+out upon the gallery of the tower. I looked upward, but I could not see
+the speakers. I pursued my stroll, until, near the eastern base of the
+tower, I encountered a perfect thicket of rhododendrons. Finding no
+path through this shrubbery, I retraced my steps, presently entering
+the Tudor garden; and there strolling toward me, a book in her hand, was
+Miss Beverley.
+
+“Holloa, Mr. Knox,” she called; “I thought you had gone up the tower?”
+
+“No,” I replied, laughing, “I lack the energy.”
+
+“Do you?” she said, softly, “then sit down and talk to me.”
+
+She dropped down upon a grassy bank, looking up at me invitingly, and I
+accepted the invitation without demur.
+
+“I love this old garden,” she declared, “although of course it is really
+no older than the rest of the place. I always think there should be
+peacocks, though.”
+
+“Yes,” I agreed, “peacocks would be appropriate.”
+
+“And little pages dressed in yellow velvet.”
+
+She met my glance soberly for a moment and then burst into a peal of
+merry laughter.
+
+“Do you know, Miss Beverley,” I said, watching her, “I find it hard to
+place you in the household of the Colonel.”
+
+“Yes?” she said simply; “you must.”
+
+“Oh, then you realize that you are--”
+
+“Out of place here?”
+
+“Quite.”
+
+“Of course I am.”
+
+She smiled, shook her head, and changed the subject.
+
+“I am so glad Mr. Paul Harley has come down,” she confessed.
+
+“You know my friend by name, then?”
+
+“Yes,” she replied, “someone I met in Nice spoke of him, and I know he
+is very clever.”
+
+“In Nice? Did you live in Nice before you came here?”
+
+Val Beverley nodded slowly, and her glance grew oddly retrospective.
+
+“I lived for over a year with Madame de Stämer in a little villa on
+the Promenade des Anglaise,” she replied. “That was after Madame was
+injured.”
+
+“She sustained her injuries during the war, I understand?”
+
+“Yes. Poor Madame. The hospital of which she was in charge was bombed
+and the shock left her as you see her. I was there, too, but I luckily
+escaped without injury.”
+
+“What, you were there?”
+
+“Yes. That was where I first met Madame de Stämer. She used to be very
+wealthy, you see, and she established this hospital in France at her own
+expense, and I was one of her assistants for a time. She lost both her
+husband and her fortune in the war, and as if that were not bad enough,
+lost the use of her limbs, too.”
+
+“Poor woman,” I said. “I had no idea her life had been so tragic. She
+has wonderful courage.”
+
+“Courage!” exclaimed the girl, “if you knew all that I know about her.”
+
+Her face grew sweetly animated as she bent toward me excitedly and
+confidentially.
+
+“Really, she is simply wonderful. I learned to respect her in those days
+as I have never respected any other woman in the world; and when, after
+all her splendid work, she, so vital and active, was stricken down like
+that, I felt that I simply could not leave her, especially as she asked
+me to stay.”
+
+“So you went with her to Nice?”
+
+“Yes. Then the Colonel took this house, and we came here, but--”
+
+She hesitated, and glanced at me curiously.
+
+“Perhaps you are not quite happy?”
+
+“No,” she said, “I am not. You see it was different in France. I knew so
+many people. But here at Cray’s Folly it is so lonely, and Madame is--”
+
+Again she hesitated.
+
+“Yes?”
+
+“Well,” she laughed in an embarrassed fashion, “I am afraid of her at
+times.”
+
+“In what way?”
+
+“Oh, in a silly, womanish sort of way. Of course she is a wonderful
+manager; she rules the house with a rod of iron. But really I haven’t
+anything to do here, and I feel frightfully out of place sometimes. Then
+the Colonel--Oh, but what am I talking about?”
+
+“Won’t you tell me what it is that the Colonel fears?”
+
+“You know that he fears something, then?”
+
+“Of course. That is why Paul Harley is here.”
+
+A change came over the girl’s face; a look almost of dread.
+
+“I wish I knew what it all meant.”
+
+“You are aware, then, that there is something wrong?”
+
+“Naturally I am. Sometimes I have been so frightened that I have made up
+my mind to leave the very next day.”
+
+“You mean that you have been frightened at night?” I asked with
+curiosity.
+
+“Dreadfully frightened.”
+
+“Won’t you tell me in what way?”
+
+She looked up at me swiftly, then turned her head aside, and bit her
+lip.
+
+“No, not now,” she replied. “I can’t very well.”
+
+“Then at least tell me why you stayed?”
+
+“Well,” she smiled rather pathetically, “for one thing, I haven’t
+anywhere else to go.”
+
+“Have you no friends in England?”
+
+She shook her head.
+
+“No. There was only poor daddy, and he died over two years ago. That was
+when I went to Nice.”
+
+“Poor little girl,” I said; and the words were spoken before I realized
+their undue familiarity.
+
+An apology was on the tip of my tongue, but Miss Beverley did not seem
+to have noticed the indiscretion. Indeed my sympathy was sincere, and I
+think she had appreciated the fact.
+
+She looked up again with a bright smile.
+
+“Why are we talking about such depressing things on this simply heavenly
+day?” she exclaimed.
+
+“Goodness knows,” said I. “Will you show me round these lovely gardens?”
+
+“Delighted, sir!” replied the girl, rising and sweeping me a mocking
+curtsey.
+
+Thereupon we set out, and at every step I found a new delight in some
+wayward curl, in a gesture, in the sweet voice of my companion. Her
+merry laugh was music, but in wistful mood I think she was even more
+alluring.
+
+The menace, if menace there were, which overhung Cray’s Folly, ceased to
+exist--for me, at least, and I blessed the lucky chance which had led to
+my presence there.
+
+We were presently rejoined by Colonel Menendez and Paul Harley, and I
+gathered that my surmise that it had been their voices which I had heard
+proceeding from the top of the tower to have been only partly accurate.
+
+“I know you will excuse me, Mr. Harley,” said the Colonel, “for
+detailing the duty to Pedro, but my wind is not good enough for the
+stairs.”
+
+He used idiomatic English at times with that facility which some
+foreigners acquire, but always smiled in a self-satisfied way when he
+had employed a slang term.
+
+“I quite understand, Colonel,” replied Harley. “The view from the top
+was very fine.”
+
+“And now, gentlemen,” continued the Colonel, “if Miss Beverley will
+excuse us, we will retire to the library and discuss business.”
+
+“As you wish,” said Harley; “but I have an idea that it is your custom
+to rest in the afternoon.”
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders. “It used to be,” he admitted,
+“but I have too much to think about in these days.”
+
+“I can see that you have much to tell me,” admitted Harley; “and
+therefore I am entirely at your service.”
+
+Val Beverley smiled and walked away swinging her book, at the same time
+treating me to a glance which puzzled me considerably. I wondered if I
+had mistaken its significance, for it had seemed to imply that she had
+accepted me as an ally. Certainly it served to awaken me to the fact
+that I had discovered a keen personal interest in the mystery which hung
+over this queerly assorted household.
+
+I glanced at my friend as the Colonel led the way into the house. I
+saw him staring upward with a peculiar expression upon his face, and
+following the direction of his glance I could see an awning spread over
+one of the gray-stone balconies. Beneath it, reclining in a long cane
+chair, lay Madame de Stämer. I think she was asleep; at any rate,
+she gave no sign, but lay there motionless, as Harley and I walked in
+through the open French window followed by Colonel Menendez.
+
+Odd and unimportant details sometimes linger long in the memory. And
+I remember noticing that a needle of sunlight, piercing a crack in the
+gaily-striped awning rested upon a ring which Madame wore, so that the
+diamonds glittered like sparks of white-hot fire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE BARRIER
+
+
+
+Colonel Menendez conducted us to a long, lofty library in which might
+be detected the same note of un-English luxury manifested in the other
+appointments of the house. The room, in common with every other which
+I had visited in Cray’s Folly, was carried out in oak: doors, window
+frames, mantelpiece, and ceiling representing fine examples of this
+massive woodwork. Indeed, if the eccentricity of the designer of Cray’s
+Folly were not sufficiently demonstrated by the peculiar plan of the
+building, its construction wholly of granite and oak must have remarked
+him a man of unusual if substantial ideas.
+
+There were four long windows opening on to a veranda which commanded a
+view of part of the rose garden and of three terraced lawns descending
+to a lake upon which I perceived a number of swans. Beyond, in the
+valley, lay verdant pastures, where cattle grazed. A lark hung carolling
+blithely far above, and the sky was almost cloudless. I could hear a
+steam reaper at work somewhere in the distance. This, with the more
+intimate rattle of a lawn-mower wielded by a gardener who was not
+visible from where I stood, alone disturbed the serene silence, except
+that presently I detected the droning of many bees among the roses.
+Sunlight flooded the prospect; but the veranda lay in shadow, and that
+long, oaken room was refreshingly cool and laden with the heavy perfume
+of the flowers.
+
+From the windows, then, one beheld a typical English summer-scape, but
+the library itself struck an altogether more exotic note. There were
+many glazed bookcases of a garish design in ebony and gilt, and these
+were laden with a vast collection of works in almost every European
+language, reflecting perhaps the cosmopolitan character of the colonel’s
+household. There was strange Spanish furniture upholstered in perforated
+leather and again displaying much gilt. There were suits of black armour
+and a great number of Moorish ornaments. The pictures were fine but
+sombre, and all of the Spanish school.
+
+One Velasquez in particular I noted with surprise, reflecting that,
+assuming it to be an authentic work of the master, my entire worldly
+possessions could not have enabled me to buy it. It was the portrait
+of a typical Spanish cavalier and beyond doubt a Menendez. In fact, the
+resemblance between the haughty Spanish grandee, who seemed about
+to step out of the canvas and pick a quarrel with the spectator, and
+Colonel Don Juan himself was almost startling. Evidently, our host had
+imported most of his belongings from Cuba.
+
+“Gentlemen,” he said, as we entered, “make yourselves quite at home, I
+beg. All my poor establishment contains is for your entertainment and
+service.”
+
+He drew up two long, low lounge chairs, the arms provided with
+receptacles to contain cooling drinks; and the mere sight of these
+chairs mentally translated me to the Spanish Main, where I pictured them
+set upon the veranda of that hacienda which had formerly been our host’s
+residence.
+
+Harley and I became seated and Colonel Menendez disposed himself upon a
+leather-covered couch, nodding apologetically as he did so.
+
+“My health requires that I should recline for a certain number of hours
+every day,” he explained. “So you will please forgive me.”
+
+“My dear Colonel Menendez,” said Harley, “I feel sure that you are
+interrupting your siesta in order to discuss the unpleasant business
+which finds us in such pleasant surroundings. Allow me once again to
+suggest that we postpone this matter until, shall we say, after dinner?”
+
+“No, no! No, no,” protested the Colonel, waving his hand deprecatingly.
+“Here is Pedro with coffee and some curaçao of a kind which I can really
+recommend, although you may be unfamiliar with it.”
+
+I was certainly unfamiliar with the liqueur which he insisted we must
+taste, and which was contained in a sort of square, opaque bottle
+unknown, I think, to English wine merchants. Beyond doubt it was potent
+stuff; and some cigars which the Spaniard produced on this occasion and
+which were enclosed in little glass cylinders resembling test-tubes and
+elaborately sealed, I recognized to be priceless. They convinced me, if
+conviction had not visited me already, that Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento
+Menendez belonged to that old school of West Indian planters by whom
+the tradition of the Golden Americas had been for long preserved in the
+Spanish Main.
+
+We discussed indifferent matters for a while, sipping this wonderful
+curaçao of our host’s. The effect created by the Colonel’s story faded
+entirely, and when, the latter being unable to conceal his drowsiness,
+Harley stood up, I took the hint with gratitude; for at that moment I
+did not feel in the mood to discuss serious business or indeed business
+of any kind.
+
+“Gentlemen,” said the Colonel, also rising, in spite of our protests, “I
+will observe your wishes. My guests’ wishes are mine. We will meet the
+ladies for tea on the terrace.”
+
+Harley and I walked out into the garden together, our courteous host
+standing in the open window, and bowing in that exaggerated fashion
+which in another might have been ridiculous but which was possible in
+Colonel Menendez, because of the peculiar grace of deportment which was
+his.
+
+As we descended the steps I turned and glanced back, I know not why. But
+the impression which I derived of the Colonel’s face as he stood there
+in the shadow of the veranda was one I can never forget.
+
+His expression had changed utterly, or so it seemed to me. He no longer
+resembled Velasquez’ haughty cavalier; gone, too, was the debonnaire
+bearing, I turned my head aside swiftly, hoping that he had not detected
+my backward glance.
+
+I felt that I had violated hospitality. I felt that I had seen what I
+should not have seen. And the result was to bring about that which no
+story of West Indian magic could ever have wrought in my mind.
+
+A dreadful, cold premonition claimed me, a premonition that this was a
+doomed man.
+
+The look which I had detected upon his face was an indefinable, an
+indescribable look; but I had seen it in the eyes of one who had been
+bitten by a poisonous reptile and who knew his hours to be numbered. It
+was uncanny, unnerving; and whereas at first the atmosphere of Colonel
+Menendez’s home had seemed to be laden with prosperous security, now
+that sense of ease and restfulness was gone--and gone for ever.
+
+“Harley,” I said, speaking almost at random, “this promises to be the
+strangest case you have ever handled.”
+
+“Promises?” Paul Harley laughed shortly. “It _is_ the strangest case,
+Knox. It is a case of wheels within wheels, of mystery crowning mystery.
+Have you studied our host?”
+
+“Closely.”
+
+“And what conclusion have you formed?”
+
+“None at the moment; but I think one is slowly crystalizing.”
+
+“Hm,” muttered Harley, as we paced slowly on amid the rose trees. “Of
+one thing I am satisfied.”
+
+“What is that?”
+
+“That Colonel Menendez is not afraid of Bat Wing, whoever or whatever
+Bat Wing may be.”
+
+“Not afraid?”
+
+“Certainly he is not afraid, Knox. He has possibly been afraid in the
+past, but now he is resigned.”
+
+“Resigned to what?”
+
+“Resigned to death!”
+
+“Good God, Harley, you are right!” I cried. “You are right! I saw it in
+his eyes as we left the library.”
+
+Harley stopped and turned to me sharply.
+
+“You saw this in the Colonel’s eyes?” he challenged.
+
+“I did.”
+
+“Which corroborates my theory,” he said, softly; “for _I_ had seen it
+elsewhere.”
+
+“Where do you mean, Harley?”
+
+“In the face of Madame de Stämer.”
+
+“What?”
+
+“Knox”--Harley rested his hand upon my arm and looked about him
+cautiously--“_she knows._”
+
+“But knows what?”
+
+“That is the question which we are here to answer, but I am as sure
+as it is humanly possible to be sure of anything that whatever Colonel
+Menendez may tell us to-night, one point at least he will withhold.”
+
+“What do you expect him to withhold?”
+
+“The meaning of the sign of the Bat Wing.”
+
+“Then you think he knows its meaning?”
+
+“He has told us that it is the death-token of Voodoo.”
+
+I stared at Harley in perplexity.
+
+“Then you believe his explanation to be false?”
+
+“Not necessarily, Knox. It may be what he claims for it. But he is
+keeping something back. He speaks all the time from behind a barrier
+which he, himself, has deliberately erected against me.”
+
+“I cannot understand why he should do so,” I declared, as he looked
+at me steadily. “Within the last few moments I have become definitely
+convinced that his appeal to you was no idle one. Therefore, why should
+he not offer you every aid in his power?”
+
+“Why, indeed?” muttered Harley.
+
+“The same thing,” I continued, “applies to Madame de Stämer. If ever I
+have seen love-light in a woman’s eyes I have seen it in hers, to-day,
+whenever her glance has rested upon Colonel Menendez. Harley, I believe
+she literally worships the ground he walks upon.”
+
+“She does, she does!” cried my companion, and emphasized the words with
+beats of his clenched fist. “It is utterly, damnably mystifying. But I
+tell you, she knows, Knox, she knows!”
+
+“You mean she knows that he is a doomed man?”
+
+Harley nodded rapidly.
+
+“They both know,” he replied; “but there is something which they dare
+not divulge.”
+
+He glanced at me swiftly, and his bronzed face wore a peculiar
+expression.
+
+“Have you had an opportunity of any private conversation with Miss Val
+Beverley?” he enquired.
+
+“Yes,” I said. “Surely you remember that you found me chatting with her
+when you returned from your inspection of the tower.”
+
+“I remember perfectly well, but I thought you might have just met. Now
+it appears to me, Knox, that you have quickly established yourself in
+the good books of a very charming girl. My only reason for visiting
+the tower was to afford you just this opportunity! Don’t frown. Beyond
+reminding you of the fact that she has been on intimate terms with
+Madame de Stämer for some years, I will not intrude in any way upon your
+private plans in that direction.”
+
+I stared at him, and I suppose my expression was an angry one.
+
+“Surely you don’t misunderstand me?” he said. “A cultured English
+girl of that type cannot possibly have lived with these people without
+learning something of the matters which are puzzling us so badly. Am I
+asking too much?”
+
+“I see what you mean,” I said, slowly. “No, I suppose you are right,
+Harley.”
+
+“Good,” he muttered. “I will leave that side of the enquiry in your very
+capable hands, Knox.”
+
+He paused, and began to stare about him.
+
+“From this point,” said he, “we have an unobstructed view of the tower.”
+
+We turned and stood looking up at the unsightly gray structure, with its
+geometrical rows of windows and the minaret-like gallery at the top.
+
+“Of course”--I broke a silence of some moments duration--“the entire
+scheme of Cray’s Folly is peculiar, but the rooms, except for a
+uniformity which is monotonous, and an unimaginative scheme of
+decoration which makes them all seem alike, are airy and well
+lighted, eminently sane and substantial. The tower, however, is quite
+inexcusable, unless the idea was to enable the occupant to look over the
+tops of the trees in all directions.”
+
+“Yes,” agreed Harley, “it is an ugly landmark. But yonder up the slope I
+can see the corner of what seems to be a very picturesque house of some
+kind.”
+
+“I caught a glimpse of it earlier to-day,” I replied. “Yes, from this
+point a little more of it is visible. Apparently quite an old place.”
+
+I paused, staring up the hillside, but Harley, hands locked behind
+him and chin lowered reflectively, was pacing on. I joined him, and we
+proceeded for some little distance in silence, passing a gardener who
+touched his cap respectfully and to whom I thought at first my companion
+was about to address some remark. Harley passed on, however, still
+occupied, it seemed, with his reflections, and coming to a gravel path
+which, bordering one side of the lawns, led down from terrace to terrace
+into the valley, turned, and began to descend.
+
+“Let us go and interview the swans,” he murmured absently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AT THE LAVENDER ARMS
+
+
+
+In certain moods Paul Harley was impossible as a companion, and I,
+who knew him well, had learned to leave him to his own devices at such
+times. These moods invariably corresponded with his meeting some problem
+to the heart of which the lance of his keen wit failed to penetrate.
+His humour might not display itself in the spoken word, he merely became
+oblivious of everything and everybody around him. People might talk to
+him and he scarce noted their presence, familiar faces appear and he
+would see them not. Outwardly he remained the observant Harley who
+could see further into a mystery than any other in England, but his
+observation was entirely introspective; although he moved amid the
+hustle of life he was spiritually alone, communing with the solitude
+which dwells in every man’s heart.
+
+Presently, then, as we came to the lake at the foot of the sloping
+lawns, where water lilies were growing and quite a number of swans had
+their habitation, I detected the fact that I had ceased to exist so
+far as Harley was concerned. Knowing this mood of old, I pursued my way
+alone, pressing on across the valley and making for a swing gate which
+seemed to open upon a public footpath. Coming to this gate I turned and
+looked back.
+
+Paul Harley was standing where I had left him by the edge of the lake,
+staring as if hypnotized at the slowly moving swans. But I would have
+been prepared to wager that he saw neither swans nor lake, but mentally
+was far from the spot, deep in some complex maze of reflection through
+which no ordinary mind could hope to follow him.
+
+I glanced at my watch and found that it was but little after two
+o’clock. Luncheon at Cray’s Folly was early. I therefore had some time
+upon my hands and I determined to employ it in exploring part of the
+neighbourhood. Accordingly I filled and lighted my pipe and strolled
+leisurely along the footpath, enjoying the beauty of the afternoon, and
+admiring the magnificent timber which grew upon the southerly slopes of
+the valley.
+
+Larks sang high above me and the air was fragrant with those wonderful
+earthy scents which belong to an English countryside. A herd of very
+fine Jersey cattle presently claimed inspection, and a little farther on
+I found myself upon a high road where a brown-faced fellow seated aloft
+upon a hay-cart cheerily gave me good-day as I passed.
+
+Quite at random I turned to the left and followed the road, so that
+presently I found myself in a very small village, the principal building
+of which was a very small inn called the “Lavender Arms.”
+
+Colonel Menendez’s curaçao, combined with the heat of the day, had made
+me thirsty; for which reason I stepped into the bar-parlour determined
+to sample the local ale. I wars served by the landlady, a neat, round,
+red little person, and as she retired, having placed a foam-capped mug
+upon the counter, her glance rested for a moment upon the only other
+occupant of the room, a man seated in an armchair immediately to the
+right of the door. A glass of whisky stood on the window ledge at his
+elbow, and that it was by no means the first which he had imbibed, his
+appearance seemed to indicate.
+
+Having tasted the cool contents of my mug, I leaned back against the
+counter and looked at this person curiously.
+
+He was apparently of about medium height, but of a somewhat fragile
+appearance. He was dressed like a country gentleman, and a stick and
+soft hat lay upon the ledge near his glass. But the thing about him
+which had immediately arrested my attention was his really extraordinary
+resemblance to Paul Harley’s engraving of Edgar Allan Poe.
+
+I wondered at first if Harley’s frequent references to the eccentric
+American genius, to whom he accorded a sort of hero-worship, were
+responsible for my imagining a close resemblance where only a slight one
+existed. But inspection of that strange, dark face convinced me of
+the fact that my first impression had been a true one. Perhaps, in my
+curiosity, I stared rather rudely.
+
+“You will pardon me, sir,” said the stranger, and I was startled to
+note that he spoke with a faint American accent, “but are you a literary
+man?”
+
+As I had judged to be the case, he was slightly bemused, but by no
+means drunk, and although his question was abrupt it was spoken civilly
+enough.
+
+“Journalism is one of the several occupations in which I have failed,” I
+replied, lightly.
+
+“You are not a fiction writer?”
+
+“I lack the imagination necessary for that craft, sir.”
+
+The other wagged his head slowly and took a drink of whisky.
+“Nevertheless,” he said, and raised his finger solemnly, “you were
+thinking that I resembled Edgar Allan Poe!”
+
+“Good heavens!” I exclaimed, for the man had really amazed me. “You
+clearly resemble him in more ways than one. I must really ask you to
+inform me how you deduced such a fact from a mere glance of mine.”
+
+“I will tell you, sir,” he replied. “But, first, I must replenish my
+glass, and I should be honoured if you would permit me to replenish
+yours.”
+
+“Thanks very much,” I said, “but I would rather you excused me.”
+
+“As you wish, sir,” replied the American with grave courtesy, “as you
+wish.”
+
+He stepped up to the counter and rapped upon it with half a crown, until
+the landlady appeared. She treated me to a pathetic glance, but refilled
+the empty glass.
+
+My American acquaintance having returned to his seat and having added a
+very little water to the whisky went on:
+
+“Now, sir,” said he, “my name is Colin Camber, formerly of Richmond,
+Virginia, United States of America, but now of the Guest House, Surrey,
+England, at your service.”
+
+Taking my cue from Mr. Camber’s gloomy but lofty manner, I bowed
+formally and mentioned my name.
+
+“I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Knox,” he assured me;
+“and now, sir, to answer your question. When you came in a few moments
+ago you glanced at me. Your eyes did not open widely as is the case
+when one recognizes, or thinks one recognizes, an acquaintance, they
+narrowed. This indicated retrospection. For a moment they turned aside.
+You were focussing a fugitive idea, a memory. You captured it. You
+looked at me again, and your successive glances read as follows: The
+hair worn uncommonly long, the mathematical brow, the eyes of a poet,
+the slight moustache, small mouth, weak chin; the glass at his elbow.
+The resemblance is complete. Knowing how complete it is myself, sir, I
+ventured to test my theory, and it proved to be sound.”
+
+Now, as Mr. Colin Camber had thus spoken in the serious manner of a
+slightly drunken man, I had formed the opinion that I stood in the
+presence of a very singular character. Here was that seeming mésalliance
+which not infrequently begets genius: a powerful and original mind
+allied to a weak will. I wondered what Mr. Colin Camber’s occupation
+might be, and somewhat, too, I wondered why his name was unfamiliar to
+me. For that the possessor of that brow and those eyes could fail to
+make his mark in any profession which he might take up I was unwilling
+to believe.
+
+“Your exposition has been very interesting, Mr. Camber,” I said. “You
+are a singularly close observer, I perceive.”
+
+“Yes,” he replied, “I have passed my life in observing the ways of my
+fellowmen, a study which I have pursued in various parts of the world
+without appreciable benefit to myself. I refer to financial benefit.”
+
+He contemplated me with a look which had grown suddenly pathetic.
+
+“I would not have you think, sir,” he added, “that I am an habitual
+toper. I have latterly been much upset by--domestic worries, and--er--”
+ He emptied his glass at a draught. “Surely, Mr. Knox, you are going
+to replenish? Whilst you are doing so, would you kindly request Mrs.
+Wootton to extend the same favour to myself?”
+
+But at that moment Mrs. Wootton in person appeared behind the counter.
+“Time, please, gentlemen,” she said; “it is gone half-past two.”
+
+“What!” exclaimed Mr. Camber, rising. “What is that? You decline to
+serve me, Mrs. Wootton?”
+
+“Why, not at all, Mr. Camber,” answered the landlady, “but I can serve
+no one now; it’s after time.”
+
+“You decline to serve me,” he muttered, his speech becoming slurred. “Am
+I, then, to be insulted?”
+
+I caught a glance of entreaty from the landlady. “My dear sir,” I said,
+genially, “we must bow to the law, I suppose. At least we are better off
+here than in America.”
+
+“Ah, that is true,” agreed Mr. Camber, throwing his head back and
+speaking the words as though they possessed some deep dramatic
+significance. “Yes, but such laws are an insult to every intelligent
+man.”
+
+He sat down again rather heavily, and I stood looking from him to the
+landlady, and wondering what I should do. The matter was decided for
+me, however, in a way which I could never have foreseen. For, hearing
+a light footfall upon the step which led up to the bar-parlour, I
+turned--and there almost beside me stood a wrinkled little Chinaman!
+
+ He wore a blue suit and a tweed cap, he wore queer, thick-soled
+slippers, and his face was like a smiling mask hewn out of very old
+ivory. I could scarcely credit the evidence of my senses, since the
+Lavender Arms was one of the last places in which I should have looked
+for a native of China.
+
+Mr. Colin Camber rose again, and fixing his melancholy eyes upon the
+newcomer:
+
+“Ah Tsong,” he said in a tone of cold anger, “what are you doing here?”
+
+Quite unmoved the Chinaman replied:
+
+“Blingee you chit, sir, vellee soon go back.”
+
+“What do you mean?” demanded Mr. Camber. “Answer me, Ah Tsong: who sent
+you?”
+
+“Lilly missee,” crooned the Chinaman, smiling up into the other’s face
+with a sort of childish entreaty. “Lilly missee.”
+
+“Oh,” said Mr. Camber in a changed voice. “Oh.”
+
+He stood very upright for a moment, his gaze set upon the wrinkled
+Chinese face. Then he looked at Mrs. Wootton and bowed, and looked at me
+and bowed, very stiffly.
+
+“I must excuse myself, sir,” he announced. “My wife desires my presence
+at home.”
+
+I returned his bow, and as he walked quite steadily toward the door,
+followed by Ah Tsong, he paused, turned, and said: “Mr. Knox, I should
+esteem it a friendly action if you would spare me an hour of your
+company before you leave Surrey. My visitors are few. Any one, any one,
+will direct you to the Guest House. I am persuaded that we have much in
+common. Good-day, sir.”
+
+He went down the steps, disappearing in company with the Chinaman,
+and having watched them go, I turned to Mrs. Wootton, the landlady, in
+silent astonishment.
+
+She nodded her head and sighed.
+
+“The same every day and every evening for months past,” she said. “I am
+afraid it’s going to be the death of him.”
+
+“Do you mean that Mr. Camber comes here every day and is always fetched
+by the Chinaman?”
+
+“Twice every day,” corrected the landlady, “and his poor wife sends here
+regularly.”
+
+“What a tragedy,” I muttered, “and such a brilliant man.”
+
+“Ah,” said she, busily removing jugs and glasses from the counter, “it
+does seem a terrible thing.”
+
+“Has Mr. Camber lived for long in this neighbourhood?” I ventured to
+inquire.
+
+“It was about three years ago, sir, that he took the old Guest House at
+Mid-Hatton. I remember the time well enough because of all the trouble
+there was about him bringing a Chinaman down here.”
+
+“I can imagine it must have created something of a sensation,” I
+murmured. “Is the Guest House a large property?”
+
+“Oh, no, sir, only ten rooms and a garden, and it had been vacant for a
+long time. It belongs to what is called the Crayland Park Estate.”
+
+“Mr. Camber, I take it, is a literary man?”
+
+“So I believe, sir.”
+
+Mrs. Wootton, having cleared the counter, glanced up at the clock and
+then at me with a cheery but significant smile.
+
+“I see that it is after time,” I said, returning the smile, “but the
+queer people who seem to live hereabouts interest me very much.”
+
+“I can’t wonder at that, sir!” said the landlady, laughing outright.
+“Chinamen and Spanish men and what-not. If some of the old gentry that
+lived here before the war could see it, they wouldn’t recognize the
+place, of that I am sure.”
+
+“Ah, well,” said I, pausing at the step, “I shall hope to see more of
+Mr. Camber, and of yourself too, madam, for your ale is excellent.”
+
+“Thank you, sir, I’m sure,” said the landlady much gratified, “but as
+to Mr. Camber, I really doubt if he would know you if you met him again.
+Not if he was sober, I mean.”
+
+“Really?”
+
+“Oh, it’s a fact, believe me. Just in the last six months or so he has
+started on the rampage like, but some of the people he has met in here
+and asked to call upon him have done it, thinking he meant it.”
+
+“And they have not been well received?” said I, lingering.
+
+“They have had the door shut in their faces!” declared Mrs. Wootton with
+a certain indignation. “He either does not remember what he says or does
+when he is in drink, or he pretends he doesn’t. Oh, dear, it’s a funny
+world. Well, good-day, sir.”
+
+“Good-day,” said I, and came out of the Lavender Arms full of sympathy
+with the views of the “old gentry,” as outlined by Mrs. Wootton; for
+certainly it would seem that this quiet spot in the Surrey Hills had
+become a rallying ground for peculiar people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CALL OF M’KOMBO
+
+
+
+Of tea upon the veranda of Cray’s Folly that afternoon I retain several
+notable memories. I got into closer touch with my host and hostess,
+without achieving anything like a proper understanding of either of
+them, and I procured a new viewpoint of Miss Val Beverley. Her repose
+was misleading. She deliberately subjugated her own vital personality to
+that of Madame de Stämer, why, I knew not, unless she felt herself under
+an obligation to do so. That her blue-gray eyes could be wistful was
+true enough, they could also be gay; and once I detected in them a
+look of sadness which dispelled the butterfly illusion belonging to her
+dainty slenderness, to her mobile lips, to the vagabond curling hair of
+russet brown.
+
+Paul Harley’s manner remained absent, but I who knew his moods so well
+recognized that this abstraction was no longer real. It was a pose
+which he often adopted when in reality he was keenly interested in
+his surroundings. It baffled me, however, as effectively as it baffled
+others, and whilst at one moment I decided that he was studying Colonel
+Menendez, in the next I became convinced that Madame de Stämer was the
+subject upon his mental dissecting table.
+
+That he should find in Madame a fascinating problem did not surprise me.
+She must have afforded tempting study for any psychologist. I could
+not fathom the nature of the kinship existing between herself and the
+Spanish colonel, for Madame de Stämer was French to her fingertips.
+Her expressions, her gestures, her whole outlook on life proclaimed the
+fashionable Parisienne.
+
+She possessed a vigorous masculine intelligence and was the most
+entertaining companion imaginable. She was daringly outspoken, and it
+was hard to believe that her gaiety was forced. Yet, as the afternoon
+wore on, I became more and more convinced that such was the case.
+
+I thought that before affliction visited her Madame de Stämer must have
+been a vivacious and a beautiful woman. Her vivacity remained and much
+of her beauty, so that it was difficult to believe her snow-white hair
+to be a product of nature. Again and again I found myself regarding it
+as a powdered coiffure of the Pompadour period and wondering why Madame
+wore no patches.
+
+That a deep and sympathetic understanding existed between herself and
+Colonel Menendez was unmistakable. More than once I intercepted glances
+from the dark eyes of Madame which were lover-like, yet laden with a
+profound sorrow. She was playing a rôle, and I was convinced that Harley
+knew this. It was not merely a courageous fight against affliction on
+the part of a woman of the world, versed in masking her real self from
+the prying eyes of society, it was a studied performance prompted by
+some deeper motive.
+
+She dressed with exquisite taste, and to see her seated there amid her
+cushions, gesticulating vivaciously, one would never have supposed that
+she was crippled. My admiration for her momentarily increased, the more
+so since I could see that she was sincerely fond of Val Beverley, whose
+every movement she followed with looks of almost motherly affection.
+This was all the more strange as Madame de Stämer whose age, I supposed,
+lay somewhere on the sunny side of forty, was of a type which expects,
+and wins, admiration, long after the average woman has ceased to be
+attractive.
+
+One endowed with such a temperament is as a rule unreasonably jealous
+of youth and good looks in another. I could not determine if Madame’s
+attitude were to be ascribed to complacent self-satisfaction or to a
+nobler motive. It sufficed for me that she took an unfeigned joy in the
+youthful sweetness of her companion.
+
+“Val, dear,” she said, presently, addressing the girl, “you should make
+those sleeves shorter, my dear.”
+
+She had a rapid way of speaking, and possessed a slightly husky but
+fascinatingly vibrant voice.
+
+“Your arms are very pretty. You should not hide them.”
+
+Val Beverley blushed, and laughed to conceal her embarrassment.
+
+“Oh, my dear,” exclaimed Madame, “why be ashamed of arms? All women have
+arms, but some do well to hide them.”
+
+“Quite right, Marie,” agreed the Colonel, his thin voice affording an
+odd contrast to the deeper tones of his cousin. “But it is the scraggy
+ones who seem to delight in displaying their angles.”
+
+“The English, yes,” Madame admitted, “but the French, no. They are too
+clever, Juan.”
+
+“Frenchwomen think too much about their looks,” said Val Beverley,
+quietly. “Oh, you know they do, Madame. They would rather die than be
+without admiration.”
+
+Madame shrugged her shoulders.
+
+“So would I, my dear,” she confessed, “although I cannot walk. Without
+admiration there is”--she snapped her fingers--“nothing. And who would
+notice a linnet when a bird of paradise was about, however sweet her
+voice? Tell me that, my dear?”
+
+Paul Harley aroused himself and laughed heartily.
+
+“Yet,” he said, “I think with Miss Beverley, that this love of elegance
+does not always make for happiness. Surely it is the cause of half the
+domestic tragedies in France?”
+
+“Ah, the French love elegance,” cried Madame, shrugging, “they cannot
+help it. To secure what is elegant a Frenchwoman will sometimes forget
+her husband, yes, but never forget herself.”
+
+“Really, Marie,” protested the Colonel, “you say most strange things!”
+
+“Is that so, Juan?” she replied, casting one of her queer glances in his
+direction; “but how would you like to be surrounded by a lot of drabs,
+eh? That man, Mr. Knox,” she extended one white hand in the direction of
+Colonel Menendez, the fingers half closed, in a gesture which curiously
+reminded me of Sarah Bernhardt, “that man would notice if a parlourmaid
+came into the room with a shoe unbuttoned. Poof! if we love elegance it
+is because without it the men would never love _us_.”
+
+Colonel Menendez bent across the table and kissed the white fingers in
+his courtier-like fashion.
+
+“My sweet cousin,” he said, “I should love you in rags.”
+
+Madame smiled and flushed like a girl, but withdrawing her hand she
+shrugged.
+
+“They would have to be _pretty_ rags!” she added.
+
+During this little scene I detected Val Beverley looking at me in a
+vaguely troubled way, and it was easy to guess that she was wondering
+what construction I should place upon it. However:
+
+“I am going into the town,” declared Madame de Stämer, energetically.
+“Half the things ordered from Hartley’s have never been sent.”
+
+“Oh, Madame, please let _me_ go,” cried Val Beverley.
+
+“My dear,” pronounced Madame, “I will not let you go, but I will let you
+come with me if you wish.”
+
+She rang a little bell which stood upon the tea-table beside the urn,
+and Pedro came out through the drawing room.
+
+“Pedro,” she said, “is the car ready?”
+
+The Spanish butler bowed.
+
+“Tell Carter to bring it round. Hurry, dear,” to the girl, “if you are
+coming with me. I shall not be a minute.”
+
+Thereupon she whisked her mechanical chair about, waved her hand to
+dismiss Pedro, and went steering through the drawing room at a great
+rate, with Val Beverley walking beside her.
+
+As we resumed our seats Colonel Menendez lay back with half-closed
+eyes, his glance following the chair and its occupant until both were
+swallowed up in the shadows of the big drawing room.
+
+“Madame de Stämer is a very remarkable woman,” said Paul Harley.
+
+“Remarkable?” replied the Colonel. “The spirit of all the old chivalry
+of France is imprisoned within her, I think.”
+
+He passed cigarettes around, of a long kind resembling cheroots
+and wrapped in tobacco leaf. I thought it strange that having thus
+emphasized Madame’s nationality he did not feel it incumbent upon him to
+explain the mystery of their kinship. However, he made no attempt to do
+so, and almost before we had lighted up, a racy little two-seater was
+driven around the gravel path by Carter, the chauffeur who had brought
+us to Cray’s Folly from London.
+
+The man descended and began to arrange wraps and cushions, and a few
+moments later back came Madame again, dressed for driving. Carter
+was about to lift her into the car when Colonel Menendez stood up and
+advanced.
+
+“Sit down, Juan, sit down!” said Madame, sharply.
+
+A look of keen anxiety, I had almost said of pain, leapt into her eyes,
+and the Colonel hesitated.
+
+“How often must I tell you,” continued the throbbing voice, “that you
+must not exert yourself.”
+
+Colonel Menendez accepted the rebuke humbly, but the incident struck
+me as grotesque; for it was difficult to associate delicacy with such a
+fine specimen of well-preserved manhood as the Colonel.
+
+However, Carter performed the duty of assisting Madame into her little
+car, and when for a moment he supported her upright, before placing
+her among the cushions, I noted that she was a tall woman, slender and
+elegant.
+
+All smiles and light, sparkling conversation, she settled herself
+comfortably at the wheel and Val Beverley got in beside her. Madame
+nodded to Carter in dismissal, waved her hand to Colonel Menendez, cried
+“Au revoir!” and then away went the little car, swinging around the
+angle of the house and out of sight.
+
+Our host stood bare-headed upon the veranda listening to the sound
+of the engine dying away among the trees. He seemed to be lost in
+reflection from which he only aroused himself when the purr of the motor
+became inaudible.
+
+“And now, gentlemen,” he said, and suppressed a sigh, “we have much to
+talk about. This spot is cool, but is it sufficiently private? Perhaps,
+Mr. Harley, you would prefer to talk in the library?”
+
+Paul Harley flicked ash from the end of his cigarette.
+
+“Better still in your own study, Colonel Menendez,” he replied.
+
+“What, do you suspect eavesdroppers?” asked the Colonel, his manner
+becoming momentarily agitated.
+
+He looked at Harley as though he suspected the latter of possessing
+private information.
+
+“We should neglect no possible precaution,” answered my friend. “That
+agencies inimical to your safety are focussed upon the house your own
+statement amply demonstrates.”
+
+Colonel Menendez seemed to be on the point of speaking again, but he
+checked himself and in silence led the way through the ornate library
+to a smaller room which opened out of it, and which was furnished as a
+study.
+
+Here the motif was distinctly one of officialdom. Although the Southern
+element was not lacking, it was not so marked as in the library or in
+the hall. The place was appointed for utility rather than ornament.
+Everything was in perfect order. In the library, with the blinds drawn,
+one might have supposed oneself in Trinidad; in the study, under similar
+conditions, one might equally well have imagined Downing Street to lie
+outside the windows. Essentially, this was the workroom of a man of
+affairs.
+
+Having settled ourselves comfortably, Paul Harley opened the
+conversation.
+
+“In several particulars,” said he, “I find my information to be
+incomplete.”
+
+He consulted the back of an envelope, upon which, I presumed during the
+afternoon, he had made a number of pencilled notes.
+
+“For instance,” he continued, “your detection of someone watching the
+house, and subsequently of someone forcing an entrance, had no visible
+association with the presence of the bat wing attached to your front
+door?”
+
+“No,” replied the Colonel, slowly, “these episodes took place a month
+ago.”
+
+“Exactly a month ago?”
+
+“They took place immediately before the last full moon.”
+
+“Ah, before the full moon. And because you associate the activities of
+Voodoo with the full moon, you believe that the old menace has again
+become active?”
+
+The Colonel nodded emphatically. He was busily engaged in rolling one of
+his eternal cigarettes.
+
+“This belief of yours was recently confirmed by the discovery of the bat
+wing?”
+
+“I no longer doubted,” said Colonel Menendez, shrugging his shoulders.
+“How could I?”
+
+“Quite so,” murmured Harley, absently, and evidently pursuing some
+private train of thought. “And now, I take it that your suspicions, if
+expressed in words would amount to this: During your last visit to Cuba
+you (_a_) either killed some high priest of Voodoo, or (_b_) seriously
+injured him? Assuming the first theory to be the correct one, your death
+was determined upon by the sect over which he had formerly presided.
+Assuming the second to be accurate, however, it is presumably the man
+himself for whom we must look. Now, Colonel Menendez, kindly inform me
+if you recall the name of this man?”
+
+“I recall it very well,” replied the Colonel. “His name was M’kombo, and
+he was a Benin negro.”
+
+“Assuming that he is still alive, what, roughly, would his age be
+to-day?”
+
+The Colonel seemed to meditate, pushing a box of long Martinique cigars
+across the table in my direction.
+
+“He would be an old man,” he pronounced. “I, myself, am fifty-two, and I
+should say that M’kombo if alive to-day would be nearer to seventy than
+sixty.”
+
+“Ah,” murmured Harley, “and did he speak English?”
+
+“A few words, I believe.”
+
+Paul Harley fixed his gaze upon the dark, aquiline face.
+
+“In short,” he said, “do you really suspect that it was M’kombo whose
+shadow you saw upon the lawn, who a month ago made a midnight entrance
+into Cray’s Folly, and who recently pinned a bat wing to the door?”
+
+Colonel Menendez seemed somewhat taken aback by this direct question. “I
+cannot believe it,” he confessed.
+
+“Do you believe that this order or religion of Voodooism has any
+existence outside those places where African negroes or descendents of
+negroes are settled?”
+
+“I should not have been prepared to believe it, Mr. Harley, prior to my
+experiences in Washington and elsewhere.”
+
+“Then you do believe that there are representatives of this cult to be
+met with in Europe and America?”
+
+“I should have been prepared to believe it possible in America, for in
+America there are many negroes, but in England----”
+
+Again he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“I would remind you,” said Harley, quietly, “that there are also quite a
+number of negroes in England. If you seriously believe Voodoo to follow
+negro migration, I can see no objection to assuming it to be a universal
+cult.”
+
+“Such an idea is incredible.”
+
+“Yet by what other hypothesis,” asked Harley, “are we to cover the facts
+of your own case as stated by yourself? Now,” he consulted his pencilled
+notes, “there is another point. I gather that these African sorcerers
+rely largely upon what I may term intimidation. In other words, they
+claim the power of wishing an enemy to death.”
+
+He raised his eyes and stared grimly at the Colonel.
+
+“I should not like to suppose that a man of your courage and culture
+could subscribe to such a belief.”
+
+“I do not, sir,” declared the Colonel, warmly. “No Obeah man could ever
+exercise his will upon _me!_”
+
+“Yet, if I may say so,” murmured Harley, “your will to live seems to
+have become somewhat weakened.”
+
+“What do you mean?”
+
+Colonel Menendez stood up, his delicate nostrils dilated. He glared
+angrily at Harley.
+
+“I mean that I perceive a certain resignation in your manner of which I
+do not approve.”
+
+“You do not _approve?_” said Colonel Menendez, softly; and I thought
+as he stood looking down upon my friend that I had rarely seen a more
+formidable figure.
+
+Paul Harley had roused him unaccountably, and knowing my friend for a
+master of tact I knew also that this had been deliberate, although I
+could not even dimly perceive his object.
+
+“I occupy the position of a specialist,” Harley continued, “and you
+occupy that of my patient. Now, you cannot disguise from me that your
+mental opposition to this danger which threatens has become slackened.
+Allow me to remind you that the strongest defence is counter-attack.
+You are angry, Colonel Menendez, but I would rather see you angry than
+apathetic. To come to my last point. You spoke of a neighbour in terms
+which led me to suppose that you suspected him of some association with
+your enemies. May I ask for the name of this person?”
+
+Colonel Menendez sat down again, puffing furiously at his cigarette,
+whilst beginning to roll another. He was much disturbed, was fighting to
+regain mastery of himself.
+
+“I apologize from the bottom of my heart,” he said, “for a breach of
+good behaviour which really was unforgivable. I was angry when I should
+have been grateful. Much that you have said is true. Because it is true,
+I despise myself.”
+
+He flashed a glance at Paul Harley.
+
+“Awake,” he continued, “I care for no man breathing, black or white; but
+_asleep_”--he shrugged his shoulders. “It is in sleep that these dealers
+in unclean things obtain their advantage.”
+
+“You excite my curiosity,” declared Harley.
+
+“Listen,” Colonel Menendez bent forward, resting his elbows upon his
+knees. Between the yellow fingers of his left hand he held the newly
+completed cigarette whilst he continued to puff vigorously at the old
+one. “You recollect my speaking of the death of a certain native girl?”
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+“The real cause of her death was never known, but I obtained evidence to
+show that on the night after the wing of a bat had been attached to her
+hut, she wandered out in her sleep and visited the Black Belt. Can you
+doubt that someone was calling her?”
+
+“Calling her?”
+
+“Mr. Harley, she was obeying the call of M’kombo!”
+
+“The _call_ of M’kombo? You refer to some kind of hypnotic suggestions?”
+
+“I illustrate,” replied the Colonel, “to help to make clear something
+which I have to tell you. On the night when last the moon was full--on
+the night after someone had entered the house--I had retired early to
+bed. Suddenly I awoke, feeling very cold. I awoke, I say, and where do
+you suppose I found myself?”
+
+“I am all anxiety to hear.”
+
+“On the point of entering the Tudor garden--you call it Tudor
+garden?--which is visible from the window of your room!”
+
+“Most extraordinary,” murmured Harley; “and you were in your night
+attire?”
+
+“I was.”
+
+“And what had awakened you?”
+
+“An accident. I believe a lucky accident. I had cut my bare foot upon
+the gravel and the pain awakened me.”
+
+“You had no recollection of any dream which had prompted you to go down
+into the garden?”
+
+“None whatever.”
+
+“Does your room face in that direction?”
+
+“It does not. It faces the lake on the south of the house. I had
+descended to a side door, unbarred it, and walked entirely around the
+east wing before I awakened.”
+
+“Your room faces the lake,” murmured Harley.
+
+“Yes.”
+
+Their glances met, and in Paul Harley’s expression there seemed to be a
+challenge.
+
+“You have not yet told me,” said he, “the name of your neighbour.”
+
+Colonel Menendez lighted his new cigarette.
+
+“Mr. Harley,” he confessed, “I regret that I ever referred to this
+suspicion of mine. Indeed it is hardly a suspicion, it is what I may
+call a desperate doubt. Do you say that, a desperate doubt?”
+
+“I think I follow you,” said Harley.
+
+“The fact is this, I only know of one person within ten miles of Cray’s
+Folly who has ever visited Cuba.”
+
+“Ah.”
+
+“I have no other scrap of evidence to associate him I with my shadowy
+enemy. This being so, you will pardon me if I ask you to forget that I
+ever referred to his existence.”
+
+He spoke the words with a sort of lofty finality, and accompanied them
+with a gesture of the hands which really left Harley no alternative but
+to drop the subject.
+
+Again their glances met, and it was patent to me that underlying all
+this conversation was something beyond my ken. What it was that Harley
+suspected I could not imagine, nor what it was that Colonel Menendez
+desired to conceal; but tension was in the very air. The Spaniard was on
+the defensive, and Paul Harley was puzzled, irritated.
+
+It was a strange interview, and one which in the light of after events
+I recognized to possess extraordinary significance. That sixth sense of
+Harley’s was awake, was prompting him, but to what extent he understood
+its promptings at that hour I did not know, and have never known to
+this day. Intuitively, I believe, as he sat there staring at Colonel
+Menendez, he began to perceive the shadow within a shadow which was the
+secret of Cray’s Folly, which was the thing called Bat Wing, which was
+the devilish force at that very hour alive and potent in our midst.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+OBEAH
+
+
+
+This conversation in Colonel Menendez’s study produced a very unpleasant
+impression upon my mind. The atmosphere of Cray’s Folly seemed to become
+charged with unrest. Of Madame de Stämer and Miss Beverley I saw nothing
+up to the time that I retired to dress. Having dressed I walked into
+Harley’s room, anxious to learn if he had formed any theory to account
+for the singular business which had brought us to Surrey.
+
+Harley had excused himself directly we had left the study, stating that
+he wished to get to the village post-office in time to send a telegram
+to London. Our host had suggested a messenger, but this, as well as the
+offer of a car, Harley had declined, saying that the exercise would aid
+reflection. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find his room empty, for I
+could not imagine why the sending of a telegram should have detained him
+so long.
+
+Dusk was falling, and viewed from the open window the Tudor garden below
+looked very beautiful, part of it lying in a sort of purplish shadow
+and the rest being mystically lighted as though viewed through a golden
+veil. To the whole picture a sort of magic quality was added by a speck
+of high-light which rested upon the face of the old sun-dial.
+
+I thought that here was a fit illustration for a fairy tale; then I
+remembered the Colonel’s account of how he had awakened in the act
+of entering this romantic plaisance, and I was touched anew by an
+unrestfulness, by a sense of the uncanny.
+
+I observed a book lying upon the dressing table, and concluding that it
+was one which Harley had brought with him, I took it up, glancing at the
+title. It was “Negro Magic,” and switching on the light, for there was a
+private electric plant in Cray’s Folly, I opened the book at random and
+began to read.
+
+“The religion of the negro,” said this authority, “is emotional, and
+more often than not associated with beliefs in witchcraft and in the
+rites known as Voodoo or Obi Mysteries. It has been endeavoured by
+some students to show that these are relics of the Fetish worship of
+equatorial Africa, but such a genealogy has never been satisfactorily
+demonstrated. The cannibalistic rituals, human sacrifices, and obscene
+ceremonies resembling those of the Black Sabbath of the Middle Ages,
+reported to prevail in Haiti and other of the islands, and by some among
+the negroes of the Southern States of America, may be said to rest on
+doubtful authority. Nevertheless, it is a fact beyond doubt that among
+the negroes both of the West Indies and the United States there is a
+widespread belief in the powers of the Obeah man. A native who believes
+himself to have come under the spell of such a sorcerer will sink into a
+kind of decline and sometimes die.”
+
+At this point I discovered several paragraphs underlined in pencil, and
+concluding that the underlining had been done by Paul Harley, I read
+them with particular care. They were as follows: “According to Hesketh
+J. Bell, the term Obeah is most probably derived from the substantive
+Obi, a word used on the East coast of Africa to denote witchcraft,
+sorcery, and fetishism in general. The etymology of Obi has been traced
+to a very antique source, stretching far back into Egyptian mythology.
+A serpent in the Egyptian language was called Ob or Aub. Obion is still
+the Egyptian name for a serpent. Moses, in the name of God, forbade the
+Israelites ever to enquire of the demon, Ob, which is translated in our
+Bible: Charmer or wizard, divinator or sorcerer. The Witch of Endor is
+called Oub or Ob, translated Pythonissa; and Oubois was the name of the
+basilisk or royal serpent, emblem of the Sun and an ancient oracular
+deity of Africa.”
+
+A paragraph followed which was doubly underlined, and pursuing my
+reading I made a discovery which literally caused me to hold my breath.
+This is what I read:
+
+“In a recent contribution to the _Occult Review_, Mr. Colin Camber, the
+American authority, offered some very curious particulars in support
+of a theory to show that whereas snakes and scorpions have always been
+recognized as sacred by Voodoo worshippers, the real emblem of their
+unclean religion is the bat, especially _the Vampire Bat of South
+America._
+
+“He pointed out that the symptoms of one dying beneath the spell of an
+Obeah man are closely paralleled in the cases of men and animals who
+have suffered from nocturnal attacks of blood-sucking bats.”
+
+I laid the open book down upon the bed. My brain was in a tumult.
+The several theories, or outlines of theories which hitherto I had
+entertained, were, by these simple paragraphs, cast into the utmost
+disorder. I thought of the Colonel’s covert references to a neighbour
+whom he feared, of his guarded statement that the devotees of Voodoo
+were not confined to the West Indies, of the attack upon him in
+Washington, of the bat wing pinned to the door of Cray’s Folly.
+
+Incredulously, I thought of my acquaintance of the Lavender Arms, with
+his bemused expression and his magnificent brow; and a great doubt and
+wonder grew up in my mind.
+
+I became increasingly impatient for the return of Paul Harley. I felt
+that a clue of the first importance had fallen into my possession; so
+that when, presently, as I walked impatiently up and down the room, the
+door opened and Harley entered, I greeted him excitedly.
+
+“Harley!” I cried, “Harley! I have learned a most extraordinary thing!”
+
+Even as I spoke and looked into the keen, eager face, the expression
+in Harley’s eyes struck me. I recognized that in him, too, intense
+excitement was pent up. Furthermore, he was in one of his irritable
+moods. But, full of my own discoveries:
+
+“I chanced to glance at this book,” I continued, “whilst I was waiting
+for you. You have underlined certain passages.”
+
+He stared at me queerly.
+
+“I discovered the book in my own library after you had gone last night,
+Knox, and it was then that I marked the passages which struck me as
+significant.”
+
+“But, Harley,” I cried, “the man who is quoted here, Colin Camber, lives
+in this very neighbourhood!”
+
+“I know.”
+
+“What! You know?”
+
+“I learned it from Inspector Aylesbury of the County Police half an hour
+ago.”
+
+Harley frowned perplexedly. “Then, why, in Heaven’s name didn’t you tell
+me?” he exclaimed. “It would have saved me a most disagreeable journey
+into Market Hilton.”
+
+“Market Hilton! What, have you been into the town?”
+
+“That is exactly where I have been, Knox. I ‘phoned through to Innes
+from the village post-office after lunch to have the car sent down.
+There is a convenient garage by the Lavender Arms.”
+
+“But the Colonel has three cars,” I exclaimed.
+
+“The horse has four legs,” replied Harley, irritably, “but although I
+have only two, there are times when I prefer to use them. I am still
+wondering why you failed to mention this piece of information when you
+had obtained it.”
+
+“My dear Harley,” said I, patiently, “how could I possibly be expected
+to attach any importance to the matter? You must remember that at the
+time I had never seen this work on negro sorcery.”
+
+“No,” said Harley, dropping down upon the bed, “that is perfectly true,
+Knox. I am afraid I have a liver at times; a distinct Indian liver.
+Excuse me, old man, but to tell you the truth I feel strangely inclined
+to pack my bag and leave for London without a moment’s delay.”
+
+“What!” I cried.
+
+“Oh, I know you would be sorry to go, Knox,” said Harley, smiling,
+“and so, for many reasons, should I. But I have the strongest possible
+objection to being trifled with.”
+
+“I am afraid I don’t quite understand you, Harley.”
+
+“Well, just consider the matter for a moment. Do you suppose that
+Colonel Menendez is ignorant of the fact that his nearest neighbour is a
+recognized authority upon Voodoo and allied subjects?”
+
+“You are speaking, of course, of Colin Camber?”
+
+“Of none other.”
+
+“No,” I replied, thoughtfully, “the Colonel must know, of course, that
+Camber resides in the neighbourhood.”
+
+“And that he knows something of the nature of Camber’s studies his
+remarks sufficiently indicate,” added Harley. “The whole theory to
+account for these attacks upon his life rests on the premise that agents
+of these Obeah people are established in England and America. Then, in
+spite of my direct questions, he leaves me to find out for myself that
+Colin Camber’s property practically adjoins his own!”
+
+“Really! Does he reside so near as that?”
+
+“My dear fellow,” cried Harley, “he lives at a place called the Guest
+House. You can see it from part of the grounds of Cray’s Folly. We were
+looking at it to-day.”
+
+“What! the house on the hillside?”
+
+“That’s the Guest House! What do you make of it, Knox? That Menendez
+suspects this man is beyond doubt. Why should he hesitate to mention his
+name?”
+
+“Well,” I replied, slowly, “probably because to associate practical
+sorcery and assassination with such a character would be preposterous.”
+
+“But the man is admittedly a student of these things, Knox.”
+
+“He may be, and that he is a genius of some kind I am quite prepared to
+believe. But having had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Colin Camber, I am
+not prepared to believe him capable of murder.”
+
+I suppose I spoke with a certain air of triumph, for Paul Harley
+regarded me silently for a while.
+
+“You seem to be taking this case out of my hands, Knox,” he said.
+“Whilst I have been systematically at work racing about the county in
+quest of information you would appear to have blundered further into the
+labyrinth than all my industry has enabled me to do.”
+
+He remained in a very evil humour, and now the cause of this suddenly
+came to light.
+
+“I have spent a thoroughly unpleasant afternoon,” he continued,
+“interviewing an impossible country policeman who had never heard of my
+existence!”
+
+This display of human resentment honestly delighted me. It was
+refreshing to know that the omniscient Paul Harley was capable of pique.
+
+“One, Inspector Aylesbury,” he went on, bitterly, “a large person
+bearing a really interesting resemblance to a walrus, but lacking that
+creature’s intelligence. It was not until Superintendent East had spoken
+to him from Scotland Yard that he ceased to treat me as a suspect. But
+his new attitude was almost more provoking than the old one. He adopted
+the manner of a regimental sergeant-major reluctantly interviewing
+a private with a grievance. If matters should so develop that we are
+compelled to deal with that fish-faced idiot, God help us all!”
+
+He burst out laughing, his good humour suddenly quite restored, and
+taking out his pipe began industriously to load it.
+
+“I can smoke while I am changing,” he said, “and you can sit there and
+tell me all about Colin Camber.”
+
+I did as he requested, and Harley, who could change quicker than any
+man I had ever known, had just finished tying his bow as I completed my
+story of the encounter at the Lavender Arms.
+
+“Hm,” he muttered, as I ceased speaking. “At every turn I realize that
+without you I should have been lost, Knox. I am afraid I shall have to
+change your duties to-morrow.”
+
+“Change my duties? What do you mean?”
+
+“I warn you that the new ones will be less pleasant than the old! In
+other words, I must ask you to tear yourself away from Miss Val
+Beverley for an hour in the morning, and take advantage of Mr. Camber’s
+invitation to call upon him.”
+
+“Frankly, I doubt if he would acknowledge me.”
+
+“Nevertheless, you have a better excuse than I. In the circumstances it
+is most important that we should get in touch with this man.”
+
+“Very well,” I said, ruefully. “I will do my best. But you don’t
+seriously think, Harley, that the danger comes from there?”
+
+Paul Harley took his dinner jacket from the chair upon which the man had
+laid it out, and turned to me.
+
+“My dear Knox,” he said, “you may remember that I spoke, recently, of
+retiring from this profession?”
+
+“You did.”
+
+“My retirement will not be voluntary, Knox. I shall be kicked out as
+an incompetent ass; for, respecting the connection, if any, between the
+narrative of Colonel Menendez, the bat wing nailed to the door of the
+house, and Mr. Colin Camber, I have not the foggiest notion. In this, at
+last, I have triumphed over Auguste Dupin. Auguste Dupin never confessed
+defeat.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE NIGHT WALKER
+
+
+
+If luncheon had seemed extravagant, dinner at Cray’s Folly proved to be
+a veritable Roman banquet. To associate ideas of selfishness with Miss
+Beverley was hateful, but the more I learned of the luxurious life of
+this queer household hidden away in the Surrey Hills the less I wondered
+at any one’s consenting to share such exile. I had hitherto counted an
+American freak dinner, organized by a lucky plunger and held at the Café
+de Paris, as the last word in extravagant feasting. But I learned now
+that what was caviare in Monte Carlo was ordinary fare at Cray’s Folly.
+
+Colonel Menendez was an epicure with an endless purse. The excellence of
+one of the courses upon which I had commented led to a curious incident.
+
+“You approve of the efforts of my chef?” said the Colonel.
+
+“He is worthy of his employer,” I replied.
+
+Colonel Menendez bowed in his cavalierly fashion and Madame de Stämer
+positively beamed upon me.
+
+“You shall speak for him,” said the Spaniard. “He was with me in Cuba,
+but has no reputation in London. There are hotels that would snap him
+up.”
+
+I looked at the speaker in surprise.
+
+“Surely he is not leaving you?” I asked.
+
+The Colonel exhibited a momentary embarrassment.
+
+“No, no. No, no,” he replied, waving his hand gracefully, “I was only
+thinking that he--” there was a scarcely perceptible pause--“might wish
+to better himself. You understand?”
+
+I understood only too well; and recollecting the words spoken by Paul
+Harley that afternoon, respecting the Colonel’s will to live, I became
+conscious of an uncomfortable sense of chill.
+
+If I had doubted that in so speaking he had been contemplating his own
+death, the behaviour of Madame de Stämer must have convinced me. Her
+complexion was slightly but cleverly made up, with all the exquisite
+art of the Parisienne, but even through the artificial bloom I saw her
+cheeks blanch. Her face grew haggard and her eyes burned unnaturally.
+She turned quickly aside to address Paul Harley, but I knew that the
+significance of this slight episode had not escaped him.
+
+He was by no means at ease. In the first place, he was badly puzzled;
+in the second place, he was angry. He felt it incumbent upon him to save
+this man from a menace which he, Paul Harley, evidently recognized to be
+real, although to me it appeared wildly chimerical, and the very person
+upon whose active coöperation he naturally counted not only seemed
+resigned to his fate, but by deliberate omission of important data added
+to Harley’s difficulties.
+
+How much of this secret drama proceeding in Cray’s Folly was appreciated
+by Val Beverley I could not determine. On this occasion, I remember,
+she was simply but perfectly dressed and, in my eyes, seemed the most
+sweetly desirable woman I had ever known. Realizing that I had already
+revealed my interest in the girl, I was oddly self-conscious, and a
+hundred times during the progress of dinner I glanced across at Harley,
+expecting to detect his quizzical smile. He was very stern, however, and
+seemed more reserved than usual. He was uncertain of his ground, I
+could see. He resented the understanding which evidently existed between
+Colonel Menendez and Madame de Stämer, and to which, although his aid
+had been sought, he was not admitted.
+
+It seemed to me, personally, that an almost palpable shadow lay upon
+the room. Although, save for this one lapse, our host throughout talked
+gaily and entertainingly, I was obsessed by a memory of the expression
+which I had detected upon his face that morning, the expression of a
+doomed man.
+
+What, in Heaven’s name, I asked myself, did it all mean? If ever I saw
+the fighting spirit looking out of any man’s eyes, it looked out of the
+eyes of Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez. Why, then, did he lie down to the
+menace of this mysterious Bat Wing, and if he counted opposition futile,
+why had he summoned Paul Harley to Cray’s Folly?
+
+With the passing of every moment I sympathized more fully with the
+perplexity of my friend, and no longer wondered that even his highly
+specialized faculties had failed to detect an explanation.
+
+Remembering Colin Camber as I had seen him at the Lavender Arms, it was
+simply impossible to suppose that such a man as Menendez could fear such
+a man as Camber. True, I had seen the latter at a disadvantage, and
+I knew well enough that many a genius has been also a drunkard. But
+although I was prepared to find that Colin Camber possessed genius, I
+found it hard to believe that this was of a criminal type. That such a
+character could be the representative of some remote negro society was
+an idea too grotesque to be entertained for a moment.
+
+I was tempted to believe that his presence in the neighbourhood of this
+haunted Cuban was one of those strange coincidences which in criminal
+history have sometimes proved so tragic for their victims.
+
+Madame de Stämer, avoiding the Colonel’s glances, which were
+pathetically apologetic, gradually recovered herself, and:
+
+“My dear,” she said to Val Beverley, “you look perfectly sweet to-night.
+Don’t you think she looks perfectly sweet, Mr. Knox?”
+
+Ignoring a look of entreaty from the blue-gray eyes:
+
+“Perfectly,” I replied.
+
+“Oh, Mr. Knox,” cried the girl, “why do you encourage her? She says
+embarrassing things like that every time I put on a new dress.”
+
+Her reference to a new dress set me speculating again upon the apparent
+anomaly of her presence at Cray’s Folly. That she was not a professional
+“companion” was clear enough. I assumed that her father had left her
+suitably provided for, since she wore such expensively simple gowns. She
+had a delightful trick of blushing when attention was focussed upon her,
+and said Madame de Stämer:
+
+“To be able to blush like that I would give my string of pearls--no,
+half of it.”
+
+“My dear Marie,” declared Colonel Menendez, “I have seen you blush
+perfectly.”
+
+“No, no,” Madame disclaimed the suggestion with one of those Bernhardt
+gestures, “I blushed my last blush when my second husband introduced me
+to my first husband’s wife.”
+
+“Madame!” exclaimed Val Beverley, “how can you say such things?” She
+turned to me. “Really, Mr. Knox, they are all fables.”
+
+“In fables we renew our youth,” said Madame.
+
+“Ah,” sighed Colonel Menendez; “our youth, our youth.”
+
+“Why sigh, Juan, why regret?” cried Madame, immediately. “Old age is
+only tragic to those who have never been young.”
+
+She directed a glance toward him as she spoke those words, and as I had
+felt when I had seen his tragic face on the veranda that morning I felt
+again in detecting this look of Madame de Stämer’s. The yearning yet
+selfless love which it expressed was not for my eyes to witness.
+
+“Thank God, Marie,” replied the Colonel, and gallantly kissed his hand
+to her, “we have both been young, gloriously young.”
+
+When, at the termination of this truly historic dinner, the ladies left
+us:
+
+“Remember, Juan,” said Madame, raising her white, jewelled hand, and
+holding the fingers characteristically curled, “no excitement, no
+billiards, no cards.”
+
+Colonel Menendez bowed deeply, as the invalid wheeled herself from the
+room, followed by Miss Beverley. My heart was beating delightfully, for
+in the moment of departure the latter had favoured me with a significant
+glance, which seemed to say, “I am looking forward to a chat with you
+presently.”
+
+“Ah,” said Colonel Menendez, when we three men found ourselves alone,
+“truly I am blessed in the autumn of my life with such charming
+companionship. Beauty and wit, youth and discretion. Is he not a happy
+man who possesses all these?”
+
+“He should be,” said Harley, gravely.
+
+The saturnine Pedro entered with some wonderful crusted port, and
+Colonel Menendez offered cigars.
+
+“I believe you are a pipe-smoker,” said our courteous host to Harley,
+“and if this is so, I know that you will prefer your favourite mixture
+to any cigar that ever was rolled.”
+
+“Many thanks,” said Harley, to whom no more delicate compliment could
+have been paid.
+
+He was indeed an inveterate pipe-smoker, and only rarely did he truly
+enjoy a cigar, however choice its pedigree. With a sigh of content
+he began to fill his briar. His mood was more restful, and covertly I
+watched him studying our host. The night remained very warm and one of
+the two windows of the dining room, which was the most homely apartment
+in Cray’s Folly, was wide open, offering a prospect of sweeping velvet
+lawns touched by the magic of the moonlight.
+
+A short silence fell, to be broken by the Colonel.
+
+“Gentlemen,” he said, “I trust you do not regret your fishing
+excursion?”
+
+“I could cheerfully pass the rest of my days in such ideal
+surroundings,” replied Paul Harley.
+
+I nodded in agreement.
+
+“But,” continued my friend, speaking very deliberately, “I have
+to remember that I am here upon business, and that my professional
+reputation is perhaps at stake.”
+
+He stared very hard at Colonel Menendez.
+
+“I have spoken with your butler, known as Pedro, and with some of the
+other servants, and have learned all that there is to be learned about
+the person unknown who gained admittance to the house a month ago, and
+concerning the wing of a bat, found attached to the door more recently.”
+
+“And to what conclusion have you come?” asked Colonel Menendez, eagerly.
+
+He bent forward, resting his elbows upon his knees, a pose which he
+frequently adopted. He was smoking a cigar, but his total absorption in
+the topic under discussion was revealed by the fact that from a pocket
+in his dinner jacket he had taken out a portion of tobacco, had laid
+it in a slip of rice paper, and was busily rolling one of his eternal
+cigarettes.
+
+“I might be enabled to come to one,” replied Harley, “if you would
+answer a very simple question.”
+
+“What is this question?”
+
+“It is this--Have you any idea who nailed the bat’s wing to your door?”
+
+Colonel Menendez’s eyes opened very widely, and his face became more
+aquiline than ever.
+
+“You have heard my story, Mr. Harley,” he replied, softly. “If I know
+the explanation, why do I come to you?”
+
+Paul Harley puffed at his pipe. His expression did not alter in the
+slightest.
+
+“I merely wondered if your suspicions tended in the direction of Mr.
+Colin Camber,” he said.
+
+“Colin Camber!”
+
+As the Colonel spoke the name either I became victim of a strange
+delusion or his face was momentarily convulsed. If my senses served me
+aright then his pronouncing of the words “Colin Camber” occasioned him
+positive agony. He clutched the arms of his chair, striving, I thought,
+to retain composure, and in this he succeeded, for when he spoke again
+his voice was quite normal.
+
+“Have you any particular reason for your remark, Mr. Harley?”
+
+“I have a reason,” replied Paul Harley, “but don’t misunderstand me. I
+suggest nothing against Mr. Camber. I should be glad, however, to know
+if you are acquainted with him?”
+
+“We have never met.”
+
+“You possibly know him by repute?”
+
+“I have heard of him, Mr. Harley. But to be perfectly frank, I have
+little in common with citizens of the United States.”
+
+A note of arrogance, which at times crept into his high, thin voice,
+became perceptible now, and the aristocratic, aquiline face looked very
+supercilious.
+
+How the conversation would have developed I know not, but at this
+moment Pedro entered and delivered a message in Spanish to the Colonel,
+whereupon the latter arose and with very profuse apologies begged
+permission to leave us for a few moments.
+
+When he had retired:
+
+“I am going upstairs to write a letter, Knox,” said Paul Harley. “Carry
+on with your old duties to-day, your new ones do not commence until
+to-morrow.”
+
+With that he laughed and walked out of the dining room, leaving me
+wondering whether to be grateful or annoyed. However, it did not take me
+long to find my way to the drawing room where the two ladies were seated
+side by side upon a settee, Madame’s chair having been wheeled into a
+corner.
+
+“Ah, Mr. Knox,” exclaimed Madame as I entered, “have the others
+deserted, then?”
+
+“Scarcely deserted, I think. They are merely straggling.”
+
+“Absent without leave,” murmured Val Beverley.
+
+I laughed, and drew up a chair. Madame de Stämer was smoking, but Miss
+Beverley was not. Accordingly, I offered her a cigarette, which she
+accepted, and as I was lighting it with elaborate care, every moment
+finding a new beauty in her charming face, Pedro again appeared and
+addressed some remark in Spanish to Madame.
+
+“My chair, Pedro,” she said; “I will come at once.”
+
+The Spanish butler wheeled the chair across to the settee, and lifting
+her with an ease which spoke of long practice, placed her amidst the
+cushions where she spent so many hours of her life.
+
+“I know you will excuse me, dear,” she said to Val Beverley, “because I
+feel sure that Mr. Knox will do his very best to make up for my absence.
+Presently, I shall be back.”
+
+Pedro holding the door open, she went wheeling out, and I found myself
+alone with Val Beverley.
+
+At the time I was much too delighted to question the circumstances which
+had led to this tête-à-tête, but had I cared to give the matter any
+consideration, it must have presented rather curious features. The call
+first of host and then of hostess was inconsistent with the courtesy of
+the master of Cray’s Folly, which, like the appointments of his home and
+his mode of life, was elaborate. But these ideas did not trouble me at
+the moment.
+
+Suddenly, however, indeed before I had time to speak, the girl started
+and laid her hand upon my arm.
+
+“Did you hear something?” she whispered, “a queer sort of sound?”
+
+“No,” I replied, “what kind of sound?”
+
+“An odd sort of sound, almost like--the flapping of wings.”
+
+I saw that she had turned pale, I saw the confirmation of something
+which I had only partly realised before: that her life at Cray’s Folly
+was a constant fight against some haunting shadow. Her gaiety, her
+lightness, were but a mask. For now, in those wide-open eyes, I read
+absolute horror.
+
+“Miss Beverley,” I said, grasping her hand reassuringly, “you alarm me.
+What has made you so nervous to-night?”
+
+“To-night!” she echoed, “to-night? It is every night. If you had not
+come--” she corrected herself--“if someone had not come, I don’t think I
+could have stayed. I am sure I could not have stayed.”
+
+“Doubtless the attempted burglary alarmed you?” I suggested, intending
+to sooth her fears.
+
+“Burglary?” She smiled unmirthfully. “It was no burglary.”
+
+“Why do you say so, Miss Beverley?”
+
+“Do you think I don’t know why Mr. Harley is here?” she challenged. “Oh,
+believe me, I know--I know. I, too, saw the bat’s wing nailed to the
+door, Mr. Knox. You are surely not going to suggest that this was the
+work of a burglar?”
+
+I seated myself beside her on the settee.
+
+“You have great courage,” I said. “Believe me, I quite understand all
+that you have suffered.”
+
+“Is my acting so poor?” she asked, with a pathetic smile.
+
+“No, it is wonderful, but to a sympathetic observer only acting,
+nevertheless.”
+
+I noted that my presence reassured her, and was much comforted by this
+fact.
+
+“Would you like to tell me all about it,” I continued; “or would this
+merely renew your fears?”
+
+“I should like to tell you,” she replied in a low voice, glancing about
+her as if to make sure that we were alone. “Except for odd people,
+friends, I suppose, of the Colonel’s, we have had so few visitors since
+we have been at Cray’s Folly. Apart from all sorts of queer happenings
+which really”--she laughed nervously--“may have no significance
+whatever, the crowning mystery to my mind is why Colonel Menendez should
+have leased this huge house.”
+
+“He does not entertain very much, then?”
+
+“Scarcely at all. The ‘County’--do you know what I mean by the
+‘County?’--began by receiving him with open arms and ended by sending
+him to Coventry. His lavish style of entertainment they labelled
+‘swank’--horrible word but very expressive! They concluded that they
+did not understand him, and of everything they don’t understand they
+disapprove. So after the first month or so it became very lonely
+at Cray’s Folly. Our foreign servants--there are five of them
+altogether--got us a dreadfully bad name. Then, little by little, a sort
+of cloud seemed to settle on everything. The Colonel made two visits
+abroad, I don’t know exactly where he went, but on his return from the
+first visit Madame de Stämer changed.”
+
+“Changed?--in what way?”
+
+“I am afraid it would be hopeless to try to make you understand, Mr.
+Knox, but in some subtle way she changed. Underneath all her vivacity
+she is a tragic woman, and--oh, how can I explain?” Val Beverley made a
+little gesture of despair.
+
+“Perhaps you mean,” I suggested, “that she seemed to become even less
+happy than before?”
+
+“Yes,” she replied, looking at me eagerly. “Has Colonel Menendez told
+you anything to account for it?”
+
+“Nothing,” I said, “He has left us strangely in the dark. But you say he
+went abroad on a second and more recent occasion?”
+
+“Yes, not much more than a month ago. And after that, somehow or
+other, matters seemed to come to a head. I confess I became horribly
+frightened, but to have left would have seemed like desertion, and
+Madame de Stämer has been so good to me.”
+
+“Did you actually witness any of the episodes which took place about a
+month ago?”
+
+Val Beverley shook her head.
+
+“I never saw anything really definite,” she replied.
+
+“Yet, evidently you either saw or heard something which alarmed you.”
+
+“Yes, that is true, but it is so difficult to explain.”
+
+“Could you try to explain?”
+
+“I will try if you wish, for really I am longing to talk to someone
+about it. For instance, on several occasions I have heard footsteps in
+the corridor outside my room.”
+
+“At night?”
+
+“Yes, at night.”
+
+“Strange footsteps?”
+
+She nodded.
+
+“That is the uncanny part of it. You know how familiar one grows with
+the footsteps of persons living in the same house? Well, these footsteps
+were quite unfamiliar to me.”
+
+“And you say they passed your door?”
+
+“Yes. My rooms are almost directly overhead. And right at the end of the
+corridor, that is on the southeast corner of the building, is Colonel
+Menendez’s bedroom, and facing it a sort of little smoke-room. It was in
+this direction that the footsteps went.”
+
+“To Colonel Menendez’s room?”
+
+“Yes. They were light, furtive footsteps.”
+
+“This took place late at night?”
+
+“Quite late, long after everyone had retired.”
+
+She paused, staring at me with a sort of embarrassment, and presently:
+
+“Were the footsteps those of a man or a woman?” I asked.
+
+“Of a woman. Someone, Mr. Knox,” she bent forward, and that look of fear
+began to creep into her eyes again, “with whose footsteps I was quite
+unfamiliar.”
+
+“You mean a stranger to the house?”
+
+“Yes. Oh, it was uncanny.” She shuddered. “The first time I heard it I
+had been lying awake listening. I was nervous. Madame de Stämer had
+told me that morning that the Colonel had seen someone lurking about
+the lawns on the previous night. Then, as I lay awake listening for
+the slightest sound, I suddenly detected these footsteps; and they
+paused--right outside my door.”
+
+“Good heavens!” I exclaimed. “What did you do?”
+
+“Frankly, I was too frightened to do anything. I just lay still with my
+heart beating horribly, and presently they passed on, and I heard them
+no more.”
+
+“Was your door locked?”
+
+“No.” She laughed nervously. “But it has been locked every night since
+then!”
+
+“And these sounds were repeated on other nights?”
+
+“Yes, I have often heard them, Mr. Knox. What makes it so strange is
+that all the servants sleep out in the west wing, as you know, and Pedro
+locks the communicating door every night before retiring.”
+
+“It is certainly strange,” I muttered.
+
+“It is horrible,” declared the girl, almost in a whisper. “For what can
+it mean except that there is someone in Cray’s Folly who is never seen
+during the daytime?”
+
+“But that is incredible.”
+
+“It is not so incredible in a big house like this. Besides, what other
+explanation can there be?”
+
+“There must be one,” I said, reassuringly. “Have you spoken of this to
+Madame de Stämer?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+Val Beverley’s expression grew troubled.
+
+“Had she any explanation to offer?”
+
+“None. Her attitude mystified me very much. Indeed, instead of
+reassuring me, she frightened me more than ever by her very silence.
+I grew to dread the coming of each night. Then--” she hesitated again,
+looking at me pathetically--“twice I have been awakened by a loud cry.”
+
+“What kind of cry?”
+
+“I could not tell you, Mr. Knox. You see I have always been asleep when
+it has come, but I have sat up trembling and dimly aware that what had
+awakened me was a cry of some kind.”
+
+“You have no idea from whence it proceeded?”
+
+“None whatever. Of course, all these things may seem trivial to you, and
+possibly they can be explained in quite a simple way. But this feeling
+of something pending has grown almost unendurable. Then, I don’t
+understand Madame and the Colonel at all.”
+
+She suddenly stopped speaking and flushed with embarrassment.
+
+“If you mean that Madame de Stämer is in love with her cousin, I agree
+with you,” I said, quietly.
+
+“Oh, is it so evident as that?” murmured Val Beverley. She laughed to
+cover her confusion. “I wish I could understand what it all means.”
+
+At this point our tête-à-tête was interrupted by the return of Madame de
+Stämer.
+
+“Oh, la la!” she cried, “the Colonel must have allowed himself to become
+too animated this evening. He is threatened with one of his attacks and
+I have insisted upon his immediate retirement. He makes his apologies,
+but knows you will understand.”
+
+I expressed my concern, and:
+
+“I was unaware that Colonel Menendez’s health was impaired,” I said.
+
+“Ah,” Madame shrugged characteristically. “Juan has travelled too much
+of the road of life on top speed, Mr. Knox.” She snapped her white
+fingers and grimaced significantly. “Excitement is bad for him.”
+
+She wheeled her chair up beside Val Beverley, and taking the girl’s hand
+patted it affectionately.
+
+“You look pale to-night, my dear,” she said. “All this bogey business is
+getting on your nerves, eh?”
+
+“Oh, not at all,” declared the girl. “It is very mysterious and
+annoying, of course.”
+
+“But M. Paul Harley will presently tell us what it is all about,”
+ concluded Madame. “Yes, I trust so. We want no Cuban devils here at
+Cray’s Folly.”
+
+I had hoped that she would speak further of the matter, but having thus
+apologized for our host’s absence, she plunged into an amusing account
+of Parisian society, and of the changes which five years of war had
+brought about. Her comments, although brilliant, were superficial, the
+only point I recollect being her reference to a certain Baron Bergmann,
+a Swedish diplomat, who, according to Madame, had the longest nose and
+the shortest memory in Paris, so that in the cold weather, “he even
+sometimes forgot to blow his nose.”
+
+Her brightness I thought was almost feverish. She chattered and laughed
+and gesticulated, but on this occasion she was overacting. Underneath
+all her vivacity lay something cold and grim.
+
+Harley rejoined us in half an hour or so, but I could see that he was
+as conscious of the air of tension as I was. All Madame’s high spirits
+could not enable her to conceal the fact that she was anxious to retire.
+But Harley’s evident desire to do likewise surprised me very greatly;
+for from the point of view of the investigation the day had been an
+unsatisfactory one. I knew that there must be a hundred and one things
+which my friend desired to know, questions which Madame de Stämer could
+have answered. Nevertheless, at about ten o’clock we separated for
+the night, and although I was intensely anxious to talk to Harley, his
+reticent mood had descended upon him again, and:
+
+“Sleep well, Knox,” he said, as he paused at my door. “I may be
+awakening you early.”
+
+With which cryptic remark and not another word he passed on and entered
+his own room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND
+
+
+
+Perhaps it was childish on my part, but I accepted this curt dismissal
+very ill-humouredly. That Harley, for some reason of his own, wished
+to be alone, was evident enough, but I resented being excluded from his
+confidence, even temporarily. It would seem that he had formed a theory
+in the prosecution of which my coöperation was not needed. And what
+with profitless conjectures concerning its nature, and memories of
+Val Beverley’s pathetic parting glance as we had bade one another
+good-night, sleep seemed to be out of the question, and I stood for a
+long time staring out of the open window.
+
+The weather remained almost tropically hot, and the moon floated in a
+cloudless sky. I looked down upon the closely matted leaves of the box
+hedge, which rose to within a few feet of my window, and to the left I
+could obtain a view of the close-hemmed courtyard before the doors of
+Cray’s Folly. On the right the yews began, obstructing my view of the
+Tudor garden, but the night air was fragrant, and the outlook one of
+peace.
+
+After a time, then, as no sound came from the adjoining room, I turned
+in, and despite all things was soon fast asleep.
+
+Almost immediately, it seemed, I was awakened. In point of fact, nearly
+four hours had elapsed. A hand grasped my shoulder, and I sprang up in
+bed with a stifled cry, but:
+
+“It’s all right, Knox,” came Harley’s voice. “Don’t make a noise.”
+
+“Harley!” I said. “Harley! what has happened?”
+
+“Nothing, nothing. I am sorry to have to disturb your beauty sleep, but
+in the absence of Innes I am compelled to use you as a dictaphone,
+Knox. I like to record impressions while they are fresh, hence my having
+awakened you.”
+
+“But what has happened?” I asked again, for my brain was not yet fully
+alert.
+
+“No, don’t light up!” said Harley, grasping my wrist as I reached out
+toward the table-lamp.
+
+His figure showed as a black silhouette against the dim square of the
+window.
+
+“Why not?”
+
+“Well, it’s nearly two o’clock. The light might be observed.”
+
+“Two o’clock?” I exclaimed.
+
+“Yes. I think we might smoke, though. Have you any cigarettes? I have
+left my pipe behind.”
+
+I managed to find my case, and in the dim light of the match which I
+presently struck I saw that Paul Harley’s face was very fixed and grim.
+He seated himself on the edge of my bed, and:
+
+“I have been guilty of a breach of hospitality, Knox,” he began. “Not
+only have I secretly had my own car sent down here, but I have had
+something else sent, as well. I brought it in under my coat this
+evening.”
+
+“To what do you refer, Harley?”
+
+“You remember the silken rope-ladder with bamboo rungs which I brought
+from Hongkong on one occasion?”
+
+“Yes--”
+
+“Well, I have it in my bag now.”
+
+“But, my dear fellow, what possible use can it be to you at Cray’s
+Folly?”
+
+“It has been of great use,” he returned, shortly.
+
+“It enabled me to descend from my window a couple of hours ago and to
+return again quite recently without disturbing the household. Don’t
+reproach me, Knox. I know it is a breach of confidence, but so is the
+behaviour of Colonel Menendez.”
+
+“You refer to his reticence on certain points?”
+
+“I do. I have a reputation to lose, Knox, and if an ingenious piece of
+Chinese workmanship can save it, it shall be saved.”
+
+“But, my dear Harley, why should you want to leave the house secretly at
+night?”
+
+Paul Harley’s cigarette glowed in the dark, then:
+
+“My original object,” he replied, “was to endeavour to learn if any one
+were really watching the place. For instance, I wanted to see if all
+lights were out at the Guest House.”
+
+“And were they?” I asked, eagerly.
+
+“They were. Secondly,” he continued, “I wanted to convince myself that
+there were no nocturnal prowlers from within or without.”
+
+“What do you mean by within or without?”
+
+“Listen, Knox.” He bent toward me in the dark, grasping my shoulder
+firmly. “One window in Cray’s Folly was lighted up.”
+
+“At what hour?”
+
+“The light is there yet.”
+
+That he was about to make some strange revelation I divined. I detected
+the fact, too, that he believed this revelation would be unpleasant to
+me; and in this I found an explanation of his earlier behaviour. He had
+seemed distraught and ill at ease when he had joined Madame de Stämer,
+Miss Beverley, and myself in the drawing room. I could only suppose that
+this and the abrupt parting with me outside my door had been due to
+his holding a theory which he had proposed to put to the test before
+confiding it to me. I remember that I spoke very slowly as I asked him
+the question:
+
+“Whose is the lighted window, Harley?”
+
+“Has Colonel Menendez taken you into a little snuggery or smoke-room
+which faces his bedroom in the southeast corner of the house?”
+
+“No, but Miss Beverley has mentioned the room.”
+
+“Ah. Well, there is a light in that room, Knox.”
+
+“Possibly the Colonel has not retired?”
+
+“According to Madame de Stämer he went to bed several hours ago, you may
+remember.”
+
+“True,” I murmured, fumbling for the significance of his words.
+
+“The next point is this,” he resumed. “You saw Madame retire to her own
+room, which, as you know, is on the ground floor, and I have satisfied
+myself that the door communicating with the servants’ wing is locked.”
+
+“I see. But to what is all this leading, Harley?”
+
+“To a very curious fact, and the fact is this: The Colonel is not
+alone.”
+
+I sat bolt upright.
+
+“What?” I cried.
+
+“Not so loud,” warned Harley.
+
+“But, Harley--”
+
+“My dear fellow, we must face facts. I repeat, the Colonel is not
+alone.”
+
+“Why do you say so?”
+
+“Twice I have seen a shadow on the blind of the smoke-room.”
+
+“His own shadow, probably.”
+
+Again Paul Harley’s cigarette glowed in the darkness.
+
+“I am prepared to swear,” he replied, “that it was the shadow of a
+woman.”
+
+“Harley----”
+
+“Don’t get excited, Knox. I am dealing with the strangest case of my
+career, and I am jumping to no conclusions. But just let us look at
+the circumstances judicially. The whole of the domestic staff we may
+dismiss, with the one exception of Mrs. Fisher, who, so far as I can
+make out, occupies the position of a sort of working housekeeper, and
+whose rooms are in the corner of the west wing immediately facing the
+kitchen garden. Possibly you have not met Mrs. Fisher, Knox, but I have
+made it my business to interview the whole of the staff and I may
+say that Mrs. Fisher is a short, stout old lady, a native of Kent, I
+believe, whose outline in no way corresponds to that which I saw upon
+the blind. Therefore, unless the door which communicates with the
+servants’ quarters was unlocked again to-night--to what are we reduced
+in seeking to explain the presence of a woman in Colonel Menendez’s
+room? Madame de Stämer, unassisted, could not possibly have mounted the
+stairs.”
+
+“Stop, Harley!” I said, sternly. “Stop.”
+
+He ceased speaking, and I watched the steady glow of his cigarette in
+the darkness. It lighted up his bronzed face and showed me the steely
+gleam of his eyes.
+
+“You are counting too much on the locking of the door by Pedro,” I
+continued, speaking very deliberately. “He is a man I would trust no
+farther than I could see him, and if there is anything dark underlying
+this matter you depend that he is involved in it. But the most natural
+explanation, and also the most simple, is this--Colonel Menendez has
+been taken seriously ill, and someone is in his room in the capacity of
+a nurse.”
+
+“Her behaviour was scarcely that of a nurse in a sick-room,” murmured
+Harley.
+
+“For God’s sake tell me the truth,” I said. “Tell me all you saw.”
+
+“I am quite prepared to do so, Knox. On three occasions, then, I saw
+the figure of a woman, who wore some kind of loose robe, quite clearly
+silhouetted upon the linen blind. Her gestures strongly resembled those
+of despair.”
+
+“Of despair?”
+
+“Exactly. I gathered that she was addressing someone, presumably Colonel
+Menendez, and I derived a strong impression that she was in a condition
+of abject despair.”
+
+“Harley,” I said, “on your word of honour did you recognize anything
+in the movements, or in the outline of the figure, by which you could
+identify the woman?”
+
+“I did not,” he replied, shortly. “It was a woman who wore some kind
+of loose robe, possibly a kimono. Beyond that I could swear to nothing,
+except that it was not Mrs. Fisher.”
+
+We fell silent for a while. What Paul Harley’s thoughts may have been
+I know not, but my own were strange and troubled. Presently I found my
+voice again, and:
+
+“I think, Harley,” I said, “that I should report to you something which
+Miss Beverley told me this evening.”
+
+“Yes?” said he, eagerly. “I am anxious to hear anything which may be of
+the slightest assistance. You are no doubt wondering why I retired so
+abruptly to-night. My reason was this: I could see that you were full of
+some story which you had learned from Miss Beverley, and I was anxious
+to perform my tour of inspection with a perfectly unprejudiced mind.”
+
+“You mean that your suspicions rested upon an inmate of Cray’s Folly?”
+
+“Not upon any particular inmate, but I had early perceived a distinct
+possibility that these manifestations of which the Colonel complained
+might be due to the agency of someone inside the house. That this
+person might be no more than an accomplice of the prime mover I also
+recognized, of course. But what did you learn to-night, Knox?”
+
+I repeated Val Beverley’s story of the mysterious footsteps and of the
+cries which had twice awakened her in the night.
+
+“Hm,” muttered Harley, when I had ceased speaking. “Assuming her account
+to be true----”
+
+“Why should you doubt it?” I interrupted, hotly.
+
+“My dear Knox, it is my business to doubt everything until I have
+indisputable evidence of its truth. I say, assuming her story to be
+true, we find ourselves face to face with the fantastic theory that some
+woman unknown is living secretly in Cray’s Folly.”
+
+“Perhaps in one of the tower rooms,” I suggested, eagerly. “Why, Harley,
+that would account for the Colonel’s marked unwillingness to talk about
+this part of the house.”
+
+My sight was now becoming used to the dusk, and I saw Harley vigorously
+shake his head.
+
+“No, no,” he replied; “I have seen all the tower rooms. I can swear that
+no one inhabits them. Besides, is it feasible?”
+
+“Then whose were the footsteps that Miss Beverley heard?”
+
+“Obviously those of the woman who, at this present moment, so far as I
+know, is in the smoking-room with Colonel Menendez.”
+
+I sighed wearily.
+
+“This is a strange business, Harley. I begin to think that the mystery
+is darker than I ever supposed.”
+
+We fell silent again. The weird cry of a night hawk came from somewhere
+in the valley, but otherwise everything within and without the great
+house seemed strangely still. This stillness presently imposed its
+influence upon me, for when I spoke again, I spoke in a low voice.
+
+“Harley,” I said, “my imagination is playing me tricks. I thought I
+heard the fluttering of wings at that moment.”
+
+“Fortunately, my imagination remains under control,” he replied, grimly;
+“therefore I am in a position to inform you that you did hear the
+fluttering of wings. An owl has just flown into one of the trees
+immediately outside the window.”
+
+“Oh,” said I, and uttered a sigh of relief.
+
+“It is extremely fortunate that my imagination is so carefully trained,”
+ continued Harley; “otherwise, when the woman whose shadow I saw upon the
+blind to-night raised her arms in a peculiar fashion, I could not well
+have failed to attach undue importance to the shape of the shadow thus
+created.”
+
+“What was the shape of the shadow, then?”
+
+“Remarkably like that of a bat.”
+
+He spoke the words quietly, but in that still darkness, with dawn yet a
+long way off, they possessed the power which belongs to certain chords
+in music, and to certain lines in poetry. I was chilled unaccountably,
+and I peopled the empty corridors of Cray’s Folly with I know not
+what uncanny creatures; nightmare fancies conjured up from memories of
+haunted manors.
+
+Such was my mood, then, when suddenly Paul Harley stood up. My eyes were
+growing more and more used to the darkness, and from something strained
+in his attitude I detected the fact that he was listening intently.
+
+He placed his cigarette on the table beside the bed and quietly crossed
+the room. I knew from his silent tread that he wore shoes with rubber
+soles. Very quietly he turned the handle and opened the door.
+
+“What is it, Harley?” I whispered.
+
+Dimly I saw him raise his hand. Inch by inch he opened the door. My
+nerves in a state of tension, I sat there watching him, when without
+a sound he slipped out of the room and was gone. Thereupon I arose and
+followed as far as the doorway.
+
+Harley was standing immediately outside in the corridor. Seeing me, he
+stepped back, and: “Don’t move, Knox,” he said, speaking very close to
+my ear. “There is someone downstairs in the hall. Wait for me here.”
+
+With that he moved stealthily off, and I stood there, my heart beating
+with unusual rapidity, listening--listening for a challenge, a cry, a
+scuffle--I knew not what to expect.
+
+Cavernous and dimly lighted, the corridor stretched away to my left.
+On the right it branched sharply in the direction of the gallery
+overlooking the hall.
+
+The seconds passed, but no sound rewarded my alert listening--until,
+very faintly, but echoing in a muffled, church-like fashion around that
+peculiar building, came a slight, almost sibilant sound, which I took to
+be the gentle closing of a distant door.
+
+Whilst I was still wondering if I had really heard this sound or merely
+imagined it:
+
+“Who goes there?” came sharply in Harley’s voice.
+
+I heard a faint click, and knew that he had shone the light of an
+electric torch down into the hall.
+
+I hesitated no longer, but ran along to join him. As I came to the head
+of the main staircase, however, I saw him crossing the hall below. He
+was making in the direction of the door which shut off the servants’
+quarters. Here he paused, and I saw him trying the handle. Evidently
+the door was locked, for he turned and swept the white ray all about the
+place. He tried several other doors, but found them all to be locked,
+for presently he came upstairs again, smiling grimly when he saw me
+there awaiting him.
+
+“Did you hear it, Knox?” he said.
+
+“A sound like the closing of a door?”
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+“It _was_ the closing of a door,” he replied; “but before that I had
+distinctly heard a stair creak. Someone crossed the hall then, Knox.
+Yet, as you perceive for yourself, it affords no hiding-place.”
+
+His glance met and challenged mine.
+
+“The Colonel’s visitor has left him,” he murmured. “Unless something
+quite unforeseen occurs, I shall throw up the case to-morrow.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MORNING MISTS
+
+
+
+The man known as Manoel awakened me in the morning. Although
+characteristically Spanish, he belonged to a more sanguine type than
+the butler and spoke much better English than Pedro. He placed upon the
+table beside me a tray containing a small pot of China tea, an apple, a
+peach, and three slices of toast.
+
+“How soon would you like your bath, sir?” he enquired.
+
+“In about half an hour,” I replied.
+
+“Breakfast is served at 9.30 if you wish, sir,” continued Manoel, “but
+the ladies rarely come down. Would you prefer to breakfast in your
+room?”
+
+“What is Mr. Harley doing?”
+
+“He tells me that he does not take breakfast, sir. Colonel Don Juan
+Menendez will be unable to ride with you this morning, but a groom will
+accompany you to the heath if you wish, which is the best place for a
+gallop. Breakfast on the south veranda is very pleasant, sir, if you are
+riding first.”
+
+“Good,” I replied, for indeed I felt strangely heavy; “it shall be the
+heath, then, and breakfast on the veranda.”
+
+Having drunk a cup of tea and dressed I went into Harley’s room, to
+find him propped up in bed reading the _Daily Telegraph_ and smoking a
+cigarette.
+
+“I am off for a ride,” I said. “Won’t you join me?”
+
+He fixed his pillows more comfortably, and slowly shook his head.
+
+“Not a bit of it, Knox,” he replied, “I find exercise to be fatal to
+concentration.”
+
+“I know you have weird theories on the subject, but this is a beautiful
+morning.”
+
+“I grant you the beautiful morning, Knox, but here you will find me when
+you return.”
+
+I knew him too well to debate the point, and accordingly I left him to
+his newspaper and cigarette, and made my way downstairs. A housemaid was
+busy in the hall, and in the courtyard before the monastic porch a negro
+groom awaited me with two fine mounts. He touched his hat and grinned
+expansively as I appeared. A spirited young chestnut was saddled for
+my use, and the groom, who informed me that his name was Jim, rode a
+smaller, Spanish horse, a beautiful but rather wicked-looking creature.
+
+We proceeded down the drive. Pedro was standing at the door of the
+lodge, talking to his surly-looking daughter. He saluted me very
+ceremoniously as I passed.
+
+Pursuing an easterly route for a quarter of a mile or so, we came to a
+narrow lane which branched off to the left in a tremendous declivity.
+Indeed it presented the appearance of the dry bed of a mountain torrent,
+and in wet weather a torrent this lane became, so I was informed by
+Jim. It was very rugged and dangerous, and here we dismounted, the groom
+leading the horses.
+
+Then we were upon a well-laid main road, and along this we trotted on to
+a tempting stretch of heath-land. There was a heavy mist, but the
+scent of the heather in the early morning was delightful, and there was
+something exhilarating in the dull thud of the hoofs upon the springy
+turf. The negro was a natural horseman, and he seemed to enjoy the ride
+every bit as much as I did. For my own part I was sorry to return. But
+the vapours of the night had been effectively cleared from my mind, and
+when presently we headed again for the hills, I could think more coolly
+of those problems which overnight had seemed well-nigh insoluble.
+
+We returned by a less direct route, but only at one point was the path
+so steep as that by which we had descended. This brought us out on a
+road above and about a mile to the south of Cray’s Folly. At one point,
+through a gap in the trees, I found myself looking down at the gray
+stone building in its setting of velvet lawns and gaily patterned
+gardens. A faint mist hovered like smoke over the grass.
+
+Five minutes later we passed a queer old Jacobean house, so deeply
+hidden amidst trees that the early morning sun had not yet penetrated to
+it, except for one upstanding gable which was bathed in golden light. I
+should never have recognized the place from that aspect, but because of
+its situation I knew that this must be the Guest House. It seemed very
+gloomy and dark, and remembering how I was pledged to call upon Mr.
+Colin Camber that day, I apprehended that my reception might be a cold
+one.
+
+Presently we left the road and cantered across the valley meadows, in
+which I had walked on the previous day, reentering Cray’s Folly on
+the south, although we had left it on the north. We dismounted in the
+stable-yard, and I noted two other saddle horses in the stalls, a pair
+of very clean-looking hunters, as well as two perfectly matched ponies,
+which, Jim informed me, Madame de Stämer sometimes drove in a chaise.
+
+Feeling vastly improved by the exercise, I walked around to the veranda,
+and through the drawing room to the hall. Manoel was standing there,
+and:
+
+“Your bath is ready, sir,” he said.
+
+I nodded and went upstairs. It seemed to me that life at Cray’s Folly
+was quite agreeable, and such was my mood that the shadowy Bat Wing
+menace found no place in it save as the chimera of a sick man’s
+imagination. One thing only troubled me: the identity of the woman who
+had been with Colonel Menendez on the previous night.
+
+However, such unconscious sun worshippers are we all that in the glory
+of that summer morning I realized that life was good, and I resolutely
+put behind me the dark suspicions of the night.
+
+I looked into Harley’s room ere descending, and, as he had assured
+me would be the case, there he was, propped up in bed, the _Daily
+Telegraph_ upon the floor beside him and the _Times_ now open upon the
+coverlet.
+
+“I am ravenously hungry,” I said, maliciously, “and am going down to eat
+a hearty breakfast.”
+
+“Good,” he returned, treating me to one of his quizzical smiles. “It is
+delightful to know that someone is happy.”
+
+Manoel had removed my unopened newspapers from the bedroom, placing
+them on the breakfast table on the south veranda; and I had propped the
+_Mail_ up before me and had commenced to explore a juicy grapefruit
+when something, perhaps a faint breath of perfume, a slight rustle of
+draperies, or merely that indefinable aura which belongs to the presence
+of a woman, drew my glance upward and to the left. And there was Val
+Beverley smiling down at me.
+
+“Good morning, Mr. Knox,” she said. “Oh, please don’t interrupt your
+breakfast. May I sit down and talk to you?”
+
+“I should be most annoyed if you refused.”
+
+She was dressed in a simple summery frock which left her round,
+sun-browned arms bare above the elbow, and she laid a huge bunch of
+roses upon the table beside my tray.
+
+“I am the florist of the establishment,” she explained. “These
+will delight your eyes at luncheon. Don’t you think we are a lot of
+barbarians here, Mr. Knox?”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Well, if I had not taken pity upon you, here you would have bat over a
+lonely breakfast just as though you were staying at a hotel.”
+
+“Delightful,” I replied, “now that you are here.”
+
+“Ah,” said she, and smiled roguishly, “that afterthought just saved
+you.”
+
+“But honestly,” I continued, “the hospitality of Colonel Menendez is
+true hospitality. To expect one’s guests to perform their parlour tricks
+around a breakfast table in the morning is, on the other hand, true
+barbarism.”
+
+“I quite agree with you,” she said, quietly. “There is a perfectly
+delightful freedom about the Colonel’s way of living. Only some horrid
+old Victorian prude could possibly take exception to it. Did you enjoy
+your ride?”
+
+“Immensely,” I replied, watching her delightedly as she arranged the
+roses in carefully blended groups.
+
+Her fingers were very delicate and tactile, and such is the character
+which resides in the human hand, that whereas the gestures of Madame de
+Stämer were curiously stimulating, there was something in the movement
+of Val Beverley’s pretty fingers amidst the blooms which I found most
+soothing.
+
+“I passed the Guest House on my return,” I continued. “Do you know Mr.
+Camber?”
+
+She looked at me in a startled way.
+
+“No,” she replied, “I don’t. Do you?”
+
+“I met him by chance yesterday.”
+
+“Really? I thought he was quite unapproachable; a sort of ogre.”
+
+“On the contrary, he is a man of great charm.”
+
+“Oh,” said Val Beverley, “well, since you have said so, I might as
+well admit that he has always seemed a charming man to me. I have never
+spoken to him, but he looks as though he could be very fascinating. Have
+you met his wife?”
+
+“No. Is she also American?”
+
+My companion shook her head.
+
+“I have no idea,” she replied. “I have seen her several times of course,
+and she is one of the daintiest creatures imaginable, but I know nothing
+about her nationality.”
+
+“She is young, then?”
+
+“Very young, I should say. She looks quite a child.”
+
+“The reason of my interest,” I replied, “is that Mr. Camber asked me to
+call upon him, and I propose to do so later this morning.”
+
+“Really?”
+
+Again I detected the startled expression upon Val Beverley’s face.
+
+“That is rather curious, since you are staying here.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Well,” she looked about her nervously, “I don’t know the reason, but
+the name of Mr. Camber is anathema in Cray’s Folly.”
+
+“Colonel Menendez told me last night that he had never met Mr. Camber.”
+
+Val Beverley shrugged her shoulders, a habit which it was easy to see
+she had acquired from Madame de Stämer.
+
+“Perhaps not,” she replied, “but I am certain he hates him.”
+
+“Hates Mr. Camber?”
+
+“Yes.” Her expression grew troubled. “It is another of those mysteries
+which seem to be part of Colonel Menendez’s normal existence.”
+
+“And is this dislike mutual?”
+
+“That I cannot say, since I have never met Mr. Camber.”
+
+“And Madame de Stämer, does she share it?”
+
+“Fully, I think. But don’t ask me what it means, because I don’t know.”
+
+She dismissed the subject with a light gesture and poured me out a
+second cup of coffee.
+
+“I am going to leave you now,” she said. “I have to justify my existence
+in my own eyes.”
+
+“Must you really go?”
+
+“I must really.”
+
+“Then tell me something before you go.”
+
+She gathered up the bunches of roses and looked down at me with a
+wistful expression.
+
+“Yes, what is it?”
+
+“Did you detect those mysterious footsteps again last night?”
+
+The look of wistfulness changed to another which I hated to see in her
+eyes, an expression of repressed fear.
+
+“No,” she replied in a very low voice, “but why do you ask the
+question?”
+
+Doubt of her had been far enough from my mind, but that something in the
+tone of my voice had put her on her guard I could see.
+
+“I am naturally curious,” I replied, gravely.
+
+“No,” she repeated, “I have not heard the sound for some time now.
+Perhaps, after all, my fears were imaginary.”
+
+There was a constraint in her manner which was all too obvious, and
+when presently, laden with the spoil of the rose garden, she gave me a
+parting smile and hurried into the house, I sat there very still for a
+while, and something of the brightness had faded from the coming, nor
+did life seem so glad a business as I had thought it quite recently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+AT THE GUEST HOUSE
+
+
+
+I presented myself at the Guest House at half-past eleven. My mental
+state was troubled and indescribably complex. Perhaps my own uneasy,
+thoughts were responsible for the idea, but it seemed to me that the
+atmosphere of Cray’s Folly had changed yet again. Never before had
+I experienced a sense of foreboding like that which had possessed me
+throughout the hours of this bright summer’s morning.
+
+Colonel Menendez had appeared about nine o’clock. He exhibiting no
+traces of illness that were perceptible to me. But this subtle change
+which I had detected, or thought I had detected, was more marked in
+Madame Stämer than in any one. In her strange, still eyes I had read
+what I can only describe as a stricken look. It had none of the heroic
+resignation and acceptance of the inevitable which had so startled me in
+the face of the Colonel on the previous day. There was a bitterness in
+it, as of one who has made a great but unwilling sacrifice, and again I
+had found myself questing that faint but fugitive memory, conjured up by
+the eyes of Madame de Stämer.
+
+Never had the shadow lain so darkly upon the house as it lay this
+morning with the sun blazing gladly out of a serene sky. The birds, the
+flowers, and Mother Earth herself bespoke the joy of summer. But beneath
+the roof of Cray’s Folly dwelt a spirit of unrest, of apprehension. I
+thought of that queer lull which comes before a tropical storm, and I
+thought I read a knowledge of pending evil even in the glances of the
+servants.
+
+I had spoken to Harley of this fear. He had smiled and nodded grimly,
+saying:
+
+“Evidently, Knox, you have forgotten that to-night is the night of the
+full moon.”
+
+It was in no easy state of mind, then, that I opened the gate and walked
+up to the porch of the Guest House. That the solution of the grand
+mystery of Cray’s Folly would automatically resolve these lesser
+mysteries I felt assured, and I was supported by the idea that a clue
+might lie here.
+
+The house, which from the roadway had an air of neglect, proved on close
+inspection to be well tended, but of an unprosperous aspect. The brass
+knocker, door knob, and letter box were brilliantly polished, whilst
+the windows and the window curtains were spotlessly clean. But the place
+cried aloud for the service of the decorator, and it did not need the
+deductive powers of a Paul Harley to determine that Mr. Colin Camber was
+in straitened circumstances.
+
+In response to my ringing the door was presently opened by Ah Tsong. His
+yellow face exhibited no trace of emotion whatever. He merely opened the
+door and stood there looking at me.
+
+“Is Mr. Camber at home?” I enquired.
+
+“Master no got,” crooned Ah Tsong.
+
+He proceeded quietly to close the door again.
+
+“One moment,” I said, “one moment. I wish, at any rate, to leave my
+card.”
+
+Ah Tsong allowed the door to remain open, but:
+
+“No usee palaber so fashion,” he said. “No feller comee here. Sabby?”
+
+“I savvy, right enough,” said I, “but all the same you have got to take
+my card in to Mr. Camber.”
+
+I handed him a card as I spoke, and suddenly addressing him in “pidgin,”
+ of which, fortunately, I had a smattering:
+
+“Belong very quick, Ah Tsong,” I said, sharply, “or plenty big trouble,
+savvy?”
+
+“Sabby, sabby,” he muttered, nodding his head; and leaving me standing
+in the porch he retired along the sparsely carpeted hall.
+
+This hall was very gloomily lighted, but I could see several pieces of
+massive old furniture and a number of bookcases, all looking incredibly
+untidy.
+
+Rather less than a minute elapsed, I suppose, when from some place at
+the farther end of the hallway Mr. Camber appeared in person. He wore a
+threadbare dressing gown, the silken collar and cuffs of which were very
+badly frayed. His hair was dishevelled and palpably he had not shaved
+this morning.
+
+He was smoking a corncob pipe, and he slowly approached, glancing from
+the card which he held in his hand in my direction, and then back again
+at the card, with a curious sort of hesitancy. In spite of his untidy
+appearance I could not fail to mark the dignity of his bearing, and the
+almost arrogant angle at which he held his head.
+
+“Mr--er--Malcolm Knox?” he began, fixing his large eyes upon me with a
+look in which I could detect no sign of recognition. “I am advised that
+you desire to see me?”
+
+“That is so, Mr. Camber,” I replied, cheerily. “I fear I have
+interrupted your work, but as no other opportunity may occur of renewing
+an acquaintance which for my part I found extremely pleasant--”
+
+“Of renewing an acquaintance, you say, Mr. Knox?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Quite.” He looked me up and down critically. “To be sure, we have met
+before, I understand?”
+
+“We met yesterday, Mr. Camber, you may recall. Having chanced to come
+across a contribution of yours of the _Occult Review_, I have availed
+myself of your invitation to drop in for a chat.”
+
+His expression changed immediately and the sombre eyes lighted up.
+
+“Ah, of course,” he cried, “you are a student of the transcendental.
+Forgive my seeming rudeness, Mr. Knox, but indeed my memory is of the
+poorest. Pray come in, sir; your visit is very welcome.”
+
+He held the door wide open, and inclined his head in a gesture of
+curious old-world courtesy which was strange in so young a man. And
+congratulating myself upon the happy thought which had enabled me to win
+such instant favour, I presently found myself in a study which I despair
+of describing.
+
+In some respects it resembled the lumber room of an antiquary, whilst
+in many particulars it corresponded to the interior of one of those
+second-hand bookshops which abound in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross
+Road. The shelves with which it was lined literally bulged with books,
+and there were books on the floor, books on the mantelpiece, and books,
+some open and some shut, some handsomely bound, and some having the
+covers torn off, upon every table and nearly every chair in the place.
+
+Volume seven of Burton’s monumental “Thousand Nights and a Night” lay
+upon a littered desk before which I presumed Mr. Camber had been seated
+at the time of my arrival. Some wet vessel, probably a cup of tea or
+coffee, had at some time been set down upon the page at which this
+volume was open, for it was marked with a dark brown ring. A volume of
+Fraser’s “Golden Bough” had been used as an ash tray, apparently, since
+the binding was burned in several places where cigarettes had been laid
+upon it.
+
+In this interesting, indeed unique apartment, East met West, unabashed
+by Kipling’s dictum. Roman tear-vases and Egyptian tomb-offerings stood
+upon the same shelf as empty Bass bottles; and a hideous wooden idol
+from the South Sea Islands leered on eternally, unmoved by the
+presence upon his distorted head of a soft felt hat made, I believe, in
+Philadelphia.
+
+Strange implements from early British barrows found themselves in the
+company of _Thugee_ daggers There were carved mammals’ tusks and snake
+emblems from Yucatan; against a Chinese ivory model of the Temple of Ten
+Thousand Buddhas rested a Coptic crucifix made from a twig of the Holy
+Rose Tree. Across an ancient Spanish coffer was thrown a Persian rug
+into which had been woven the monogram of Shah-Jehan and a text from
+the Koran. It was easy to see that Mr. Colin Camber’s studies must have
+imposed a severe strain upon his purse.
+
+“Sit down, Mr. Knox, sit down,” he said, sweeping a vellum-bound volume
+of Eliphas Levi from a chair, and pushing the chair forward. “The visit
+of a fellow-student is a rare pleasure for me. And you find me, sir,” he
+seated himself in a curious, carved chair which stood before the desk,
+“you find me engaged upon enquiries, the result of which will constitute
+chapter forty-two of my present book. Pray glance at the contents of
+this little box.”
+
+He placed in my hands a small box of dark wood, evidently of great age.
+It contained what looked like a number of shrivelled beans.
+
+Having glanced at it curiously I returned it to him, shaking my head
+blankly.
+
+“You are puzzled?” he said, with a kind of boyish triumph, which lighted
+up his face, which rejuvenated him and gave me a glimpse of another man.
+“These, sir,” he touched the shrivelled objects with a long, delicate
+forefinger “are seeds of the sacred lotus of Ancient Egypt. They were
+found in the tomb of a priest.”
+
+“And in what way do they bear upon the enquiry to which you referred,
+Mr. Camber?”
+
+“In this way,” he replied, drawing toward him a piece of newspaper
+upon which rested a mound of coarse shag. “I maintain that the vital
+principle survives within them. Now, I propose to cultivate these seeds,
+Mr. Knox. Do you grasp the significance, of this experiment?”
+
+He knocked out the corn-cob upon the heel of his slipper and began to
+refill the hot bowl with shag from the newspaper at his elbow.
+
+“From a physical point of view, yes,” I replied, slowly. “But I should
+not have supposed such an experiment to come within the scope of your
+own particular activities, Mr. Camber.”
+
+“Ah,” he returned, triumphantly, at the same time stuffing tobacco
+into the bowl of the corn-cob, “it is for this very reason that chapter
+forty-two of my book must prove to be the hub of the whole, and the
+whole, Mr. Knox, I am egotist enough to believe, shall establish a new
+focus for thought, an intellectual Rome bestriding and uniting the Seven
+Hills of Unbelief.”
+
+He lighted his pipe and stared at me complacently.
+
+Whilst I had greatly revised my first estimate of the man, my revisions
+had been all in his favour. Respecting his genius my first impression
+was confirmed. That he was ahead of his generation, perhaps a new
+Galileo, I was prepared to believe. He had a pride of bearing which I
+think was partly racial, but which in part, too, was the insignia of
+intellectual superiority. He stood above the commonplace, caring little
+for the views of those around and beneath him. From vanity he was
+utterly free. His was strangely like the egotism of true genius.
+
+“Now, sir,” he continued, puffing furiously at his corn-cob, “I observed
+you glancing a moment ago at this volume of the ‘Golden Bough.’” He
+pointed to the scarred book which I have already mentioned. “It is a
+work of profound scholarship. But having perused its hundreds of pages,
+what has the student learned? Does he know why the twenty-sixth
+chapter of the ‘Book of the dead’ was written upon lapis-lazuli, the
+twenty-seventh upon green felspar, the twenty-ninth upon cornelian, and
+the thirtieth upon serpentine? He does not. Having studied Part Four,
+has he learned the secret of why Osiris was a black god, although he
+typified the Sun? Has he learned why modern Christianity is losing its
+hold upon the nations, whilst Buddhism, so called, counts its disciples
+by millions? He has not. This is because the scholar is rarely the
+seer.”
+
+“I quite agree with you,” I said, thinking that I detected the drift of
+his argument.
+
+“Very well,” said he. “I am an American citizen, Mr. Knox, which is
+tantamount to stating that I belong to the greatest community of traders
+which has appeared since the Phoenicians overran the then known world.
+America has not produced the mystic, yet Judæa produced the founder of
+Christianity, and Gautama Buddha, born of a royal line, established
+the creed of human equity. In what way did these magicians, for a
+miracle-worker is nothing but a magician, differ from ordinary men? In
+one respect only: They had learned to control that force which we have
+to-day termed Will.”
+
+As he spoke those words Colin Camber directed upon me a glance from
+his luminous eyes which frankly thrilled me. The bemused figure of the
+Lavender Arms was forgotten. I perceived before me a man of power, a man
+of extraordinary knowledge and intellectual daring. His voice, which was
+very beautiful, together with his glance, held me enthralled.
+
+“What we call Will,” he continued, “is what the Ancient Egyptians called
+_Khu_. It is not mental: it is a property of the soul. At this
+point, Mr. Knox, I depart from the laws generally accepted by my
+contemporaries. I shall presently propose to you that the eye of the
+Divine Architect literally watches every creature upon the earth.”
+
+“Literally?”
+
+“Literally, Mr. Knox. We need no images, no idols, no paintings. All
+power, all light comes from one source. That source is the sun! The sun
+controls Will, and the Will is the soul. If there were a cavern in the
+earth so deep that the sun could never reach it, and if it were possible
+for a child to be born in that cavern, do you know what that child would
+be?”
+
+“Almost certainly blind,” I replied; “beyond which my imagination fails
+me.”
+
+“Then I will inform you, Mr. Knox. It would be a demon.”
+
+“What!” I cried, and was momentarily touched with the fear that this was
+a brilliant madman.
+
+“Listen,” he said, and pointed with the stem of his pipe. “Why, in all
+ancient creeds, is Hades depicted as below? For the simple reason that
+could such a spot exist and be inhabited, it must be _sunless_, when
+it could only be inhabited by devils; and what are devils but creatures
+without souls?”
+
+“You mean that a child born beyond reach of the sun’s influence would
+have no soul?”
+
+“Such is my meaning, Mr. Knox. Do you begin to see the importance of my
+experiment with the lotus seeds?”
+
+I shook my head slowly. Whereupon, laying his corn-cob upon the desk,
+Colin Camber burst into a fit of boyish laughter, which seemed to
+rejuvenate him again, which wiped out the image of the magus completely,
+and only left before me a very human student of strange subjects, and
+withal a fascinating companion.
+
+“I fear, sir,” he said, presently, “that my steps have led me farther
+into the wilderness than it has been your fate to penetrate. The whole
+secret of the universe is contained in the words Day and Night, Darkness
+and Light. I have studied both the light and the darkness, deliberately
+and without fear. A new age is about to dawn, sir, and a new age
+requires new beliefs, new truths. Were you ever in the country of the
+Hill Dyaks?”
+
+This abrupt question rather startled me, but:
+
+“You refer to the Borneo hill-country?”
+
+“Precisely.”
+
+“No, I was never there.”
+
+“Then this little magical implement will be new to you,” said he.
+
+Standing up, he crossed to a cabinet littered untidily with all sorts
+of strange-looking objects, carved bones, queer little inlaid boxes,
+images, untidy manuscripts, and what-not.
+
+He took up what looked like a very ungainly tobacco-pipe, made of some
+rich brown wood, and, handing it to me:
+
+“Examine this, Mr. Knox,” he said, the boyish smile of triumph returning
+again to his face.
+
+I did as he requested and made no discovery of note. The thing clearly
+was not intended for a pipe. The stem was soiled and, moreover, there
+was carving inside the bowl. So that presently I returned it to him,
+shaking my head.
+
+“Unless one should be informed of the properties of this little
+instrument,” he declared, “discovery by experiment is improbable. Now,
+note.”
+
+He struck the hollow of the bowl upon the palm of his hand, and it
+delivered a high, bell-like note which lingered curiously. Then:
+
+“Note again.”
+
+He made a short striking motion with the thing, similar to that which
+one would employ who had designed to jerk something out of the bowl.
+And at the very spot on the floor where any object contained in the bowl
+would have fallen, came a reprise of the bell note! Clearly, from almost
+at my feet, it sounded, a high, metallic ring.
+
+He struck upward, and the bell-note sounded on the ceiling; to the
+right, and it came from the window; in my direction, and the tiny bell
+seemed to ring beside my ear! I will honestly admit that I was startled,
+but:
+
+“Dyak magic,” said Colin Camber; “one of nature’s secrets not yet
+discovered by conventional Western science. It was known to the Egyptian
+priesthood, of course; hence the Vocal Memnon. It was known to Madame
+Blavatsky, who employed an ‘astral bell’; and it is known to me.”
+
+He returned the little instrument to its place upon the cabinet.
+
+“I wonder if the fact will strike you as significant,” said he, “that
+the note which you have just heard can only be produced between sunrise
+and sunset?”
+
+Without giving me time to reply:
+
+“The most notable survival of black magic--that is, the scientific
+employment of darkness against light--is to be met with in Haiti and
+other islands of the West Indies.”
+
+“You are referring to Voodooism?” I said, slowly.
+
+He nodded, replacing his pipe between his teeth.
+
+“A subject, Mr. Knox, which I investigated exhaustively some years ago.”
+
+I was watching him closely as he spoke, and a shadow, a strange shadow,
+crept over his face, a look almost of exaltation--of mingled sorrow and
+gladness which I find myself quite unable to describe.
+
+“In the West Indies, Mr. Knox,” he continued, in a strangely altered
+voice, “I lost all and found all. Have you ever realized, sir, that
+sorrow is the price we must pay for joy?”
+
+I did not understand his question, and was still wondering about it when
+I heard a gentle knock, the door opened, and a woman came in.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+YSOLA CAMBER
+
+
+
+I find it difficult, now, to recapture my first impression of that
+meeting. About the woman, hesitating before me, there was something
+unexpected, something wholly unfamiliar. She belonged to a type with
+which I was not acquainted. Nor was it wonderful that she should strike
+me in this fashion, since my wanderings, although fairly extensive,
+had never included the West Indies, nor had I been to Spain; and this
+girl--I could have sworn that she was under twenty--was one of those
+rare beauties, a golden Spaniard.
+
+That she was not purely Spanish I learned later.
+
+She was small, and girlishly slight, with slender ankles and exquisite
+little feet; indeed I think she had the tiniest feet of any woman I
+had ever met. She wore a sort of white pinafore over her dress, and her
+arms, which were bare because of the short sleeves of her frock, were of
+a child-like roundness, whilst her creamy skin was touched with a faint
+tinge of bronze, as though, I remember thinking, it had absorbed
+and retained something of the Southern sunshine. She had the swaying
+carriage which usually belongs to a tall woman, and her head and neck
+were Grecian in poise.
+
+Her hair, which was of a curious dull gold colour, presented a mass of
+thick, tight curls, and her beauty was of that unusual character which
+makes a Cleopatra a subject of deathless debate. What I mean to say is
+this: whilst no man could have denied, for instance, that Val Beverley
+was a charmingly pretty woman, nine critics out of ten must have failed
+to classify this golden Spaniard correctly or justly. Her complexion was
+peach-like in the Oriental sense, that strange hint of gold underlying
+the delicate skin, and her dark blue eyes were shaded by really
+wonderful silken lashes.
+
+Emotion had the effect of enlarging the pupils, a phenomenon rarely met
+with, so that now as she entered the room and found a stranger present
+they seemed to be rather black than blue.
+
+Her embarrassment was acute, and I think she would have retired without
+speaking, but:
+
+“Ysola,” said Colin Camber, regarding her with a look curiously
+compounded of sorrow and pride, “allow me to present Mr. Malcolm Knox,
+who has honoured us with a visit.”
+
+He turned to me.
+
+“Mr. Knox,” he said, “it gives me great pleasure that you should meet my
+wife.”
+
+Perhaps I had expected this, indeed, subconsciously, I think I had.
+Nevertheless, at the words “my wife” I felt that I started. The analogy
+with Edgar Allan Poe was complete.
+
+As Mrs. Camber extended her hand with a sort of appealing timidity, it
+appeared to me that she felt herself to be intruding. The expression
+in her beautiful eyes when she glanced at her husband could only be
+described as one of adoration; and whilst it was impossible to doubt
+his love for her, I wondered if his colossal egotism were capable of
+stooping to affection. I wondered if he knew how to tend and protect
+this delicate Southern girl wife of his.
+
+Remembering the episode of the Lavender Arms, I felt justified in
+doubting her happiness, and in this I saw an explanation of the mingled
+sorrow and pride with which Colin Camber regarded her. It might betoken
+recognition of his own shortcomings as a husband.
+
+“How nice of you to come and see us. Mr. Knox,” she said.
+
+She spoke in a faintly husky manner which was curiously attractive,
+although lacking the deep, vibrant tones of Madame de Stämer’s memorable
+voice. Her English was imperfect, but her accent good.
+
+“Your husband has been carrying me to enchanted lands, Mrs. Camber,” I
+replied. “I have never known a morning to pass so quickly.”
+
+“Oh,” she replied, and laughed with a childish glee which I was glad to
+witness. “Did he tell you all about the book which is going to make the
+world good? Did he tell you it will make us rich as well?”
+
+“Rich?” said Camber, frowning slightly. “Nature’s riches are health and
+love. If we hold these the rest will come. Now that you have joined
+us, Ysola, I shall beg Mr. Knox, in honour of this occasion, to drink a
+glass of wine and break a biscuit as a pledge of future meetings.”
+
+I watched him as he spoke, a lean, unkempt figure invested with a
+curious dignity, and I found it almost impossible to believe that this
+was the same man who had sat in the bar of the Lavender Arms, sipping
+whisky and water. The resemblance to the portrait in Harley’s office
+became more marked than ever. There was an air of high breeding about
+the delicate features which, curiously enough, was accentuated by the
+unshaven chin. I recognized that refusal would be regarded as a rebuff,
+and therefore:
+
+“You are very kind,” I said.
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head gravely and courteously.
+
+“We are very glad to have you with us, Mr. Knox,” he replied.
+
+He clapped his hands, and, silent as a shadow, Ah Tsong appeared. I
+noted that although it was Camber who had summoned him, it was to Mrs.
+Camber that the Chinaman turned for orders. I had thought his yellow
+face incapable of expression, but as his oblique eyes turned in the
+direction of the girl I read in them a sort of dumb worship, such as one
+sees in the eyes of a dog.
+
+She spoke to him rapidly in Chinese.
+
+“Hoi, hoi,” he muttered, “hoi, hoi,” nodded his head, and went out.
+
+I saw that Colin Camber had detected my interest, for:
+
+“Ah Tsong is really my wife’s servant,” he explained.
+
+“Oh,” she said in a low voice, and looked at me earnestly, “Ah Tsong
+nursed me when I was a little baby so high.” She held her hand about
+four feet from the floor and laughed gleefully. “Can you imagine what a
+funny little thing I was?”
+
+“You must have been a wonder-child, Mrs. Camber,” I replied with
+sincerity; “and Ah Tsong has remained with you ever since?”
+
+“Ever since,” she echoed, shaking her head in a vaguely pathetic way.
+“He will never leave me, do you think, Colin?”
+
+“Never,” replied her husband; “you are all he loves in the world. A
+case, Mr. Knox,” he turned to me, “of deathless fidelity rarely met with
+nowadays and only possible, perhaps, in its true form in an Oriental.”
+
+Mrs. Camber having seated herself upon one of the few chairs which was
+not piled with books, her husband had resumed his place by the writing
+desk, and I sought in vain to interpret the glances which passed between
+them.
+
+The fact that these two were lovers none could have mistaken. But here
+again, as at Cray’s Folly, I detected a shadow. I felt that something
+had struck at the very root of their happiness, in fact, I wondered if
+they had been parted, and were but newly reunited for there was a sort
+of constraint between them, the more marked on the woman’s side than on
+the man’s. I wondered how long they had been married, but felt that it
+would have been indiscreet to ask.
+
+Even as the idea occurred to me, however, an opportunity arose of
+learning what I wished to know. I heard a bell ring, and:
+
+“There is someone at the door, Colin,” said Mrs. Camber.
+
+“I will go,” he replied. “Ah Tsong has enough to do.”
+
+Without another word he stood up and walked out of the room.
+
+“You see,” said Mrs. Camber, smiling in her naive way, “we only have one
+servant, except Ah Tsong, her name is Mrs. Powis. She is visiting her
+daughter who is married. We made the poor old lady take a holiday.”
+
+“It is difficult to imagine you burdened with household
+responsibilities, Mrs. Camber,” I replied. “Please forgive me but I
+cannot help wondering how long you have been married?”
+
+“For nearly four years.”
+
+“Really?” I exclaimed. “You must have been married very young?”
+
+“I was twenty. Do I look so young?”
+
+I gazed at her in amazement.
+
+“You astonish me,” I declared, which was quite true and no mere
+compliment. “I had guessed your age to be eighteen.”
+
+“Oh,” she laughed, and resting her hands upon the settee leaned forward
+with sparkling eyes, “how funny. Sometimes I wish I looked older. It is
+dreadful in this place, although we have been so happy here. At all the
+shops they look at me so funny, so I always send Mrs. Powis now.”
+
+“You are really quite wonderful,” I said. “You are Spanish, are you not,
+Mrs. Camber?”
+
+She slightly shook her head, and I saw the pupils begin to dilate.
+
+“Not really Spanish,” she replied, haltingly. “I was born in Cuba.”
+
+“In Cuba?”
+
+She nodded.
+
+“Then it was in Cuba that you met Mr. Camber?”
+
+She nodded again, watching me intently.
+
+“It is strange that a Virginian should settle in Surrey.”
+
+“Yes?” she murmured, “you think so? But really it is not strange at all.
+Colin’s people are so proud, so proud. Do you know what they are like,
+those Virginians? Oh! I hate them.”
+
+“You hate them?”
+
+“No, I cannot hate them, for he is one. But he will never go back.”
+
+“Why should he never go back, Mrs. Camber?”
+
+“Because of me.”
+
+“You mean that you do not wish to settle in America?”
+
+“I could not--not where he comes from. They would not have me.”
+
+Her eyes grew misty, and she quickly lowered her lashes.
+
+“Would not have you?” I exclaimed. “I don’t understand.”
+
+“No?” she said, and smiled up at me very gravely. “It is simple. I am a
+Cuban, one, as they say, of an inferior race--and of mixed blood.”
+
+She shook her golden head as if to dismiss the subject, and stood up, as
+Camber entered, followed by Ah Tsong bearing a tray of refreshments.
+
+Of the ensuing conversation I remember nothing. My mind was focussed
+upon the one vital fact that Mrs. Camber was a Cuban Creole. Dimly I
+felt that here was the missing link for which Paul Harley was groping.
+For it was in Cuba that Colin Camber had met his wife, it was from Cuba
+that the menace of Bat Wing came.
+
+What could it mean? Surely it was more than a coincidence that these
+two families, both associated with the West Indies, should reside within
+sight of one another in the Surrey Hills. Yet, if it were the result of
+design, the design must be on the part of Colonel Menendez, since the
+Cambers had occupied the Guest House before he had leased Cray’s Folly.
+
+I know not if I betrayed my absentmindedness during the time that I was
+struggling vainly with these maddening problems, but presently, Mrs.
+Camber having departed about her household duties, I found myself
+walking down the garden with her husband.
+
+“This is the summer house of which I was speaking, Mr. Knox,” he said,
+and I regret to state that I retained no impression of his having
+previously mentioned the subject. “During the time that Sir James
+Appleton resided at Cray’s Folly, I worked here regularly in the summer
+months. It was Sir James, of course, who laid out the greater part of
+the gardens and who rescued the property from the state of decay into
+which it had fallen.”
+
+I aroused myself from the profitless reverie in which I had become lost.
+We were standing before a sort of arbour which marked the end of the
+grounds of the Guest House. It overhung the edge of a miniature ravine,
+in which, over a pebbly course, a little stream pursued its way down the
+valley to feed the lake in the grounds of Cray’s Folly.
+
+From this point of vantage I could see the greater part of Colonel
+Menendez’s residence. I had an unobstructed view of the tower and of the
+Tudor garden.
+
+“I abandoned my work-shop,” pursued Colin Camber, “when the--er--the new
+tenant took up his residence. I work now in the room in which you found
+me this morning.”
+
+He sighed, and turning abruptly, led the way back to the house, holding
+himself very erect, and presenting a queer figure in his threadbare
+dressing gown.
+
+It was now a perfect summer’s day, and I commented upon the beauty of
+the old garden, which in places was bordered by a crumbling wall.
+
+“Yes, a quaint old spot,” said Camber. “I thought at one time, because
+of the name of the house, that it might have been part of a monastery
+or convent. This was not the case, however. It derives its name from a
+certain Sir Jaspar Guest, who flourished, I believe, under King Charles
+of merry memory.”
+
+“Nevertheless,” I added, “the Guest House is a charming survival of more
+spacious days.”
+
+“True,” returned Colin Camber, gravely. “Here it is possible to lead
+one’s own life, away from the noisy world,” he sighed again wearily.
+“Yes, I shall regret leaving the Guest House.”
+
+“What! You are leaving?”
+
+“I am leaving as soon as I can find another residence, suited both to my
+requirements and to my slender purse. But these domestic affairs can be
+of no possible interest to you. I take it, Mr. Knox, that you will grant
+my wife and myself the pleasure of your company at lunch?”
+
+“Many thanks,” I replied, “but really I must return to Cray’s Folly.”
+
+As I spoke the words I had moved a little ahead at a point where
+the path was overgrown by a rose bush, for the garden was somewhat
+neglected.
+
+“You will quite understand,” I said, and turned.
+
+Never can I forget the spectacle which I beheld.
+
+Colin Camber’s peculiarly pale complexion had assumed a truly ghastly
+pallor, and he stood with tightly clenched hands, glaring at me almost
+insanely.
+
+“Mr. Camber,” I cried, with concern, “are you unwell?”
+
+He moistened his dry lips, and:
+
+“You are returning--to Cray’s Folly?” he said, speaking, it seemed, with
+difficulty.
+
+“I am, sir. I am staying with Colonel Menendez.”
+
+“Ah!”
+
+He clutched the collar of his pyjama jacket and wrenched so strongly
+that the button was torn off. His passion was incredible, insane. The
+power of speech had almost left him.
+
+“You are a guest of--of Devil Menendez,” he whispered, and the
+speaking of the name seemed almost to choke him. “Of--Devil Menendez.
+You--you--are a spy. You have stolen my hospitality--you have obtained
+access to my house under false pretences. God! if I had known!”
+
+“Mr. Camber,” I said, sternly, and realized that I, too, had clenched
+my fists, for the man’s language was grossly insulting, “you forget
+yourself.”
+
+“Perhaps I do,” he muttered, thickly; “and therefore”--he raised a
+quivering forefinger--“go! If you have any spark of compassion in your
+breast, go! Leave my house.”
+
+Nostrils dilated, he stood with that quivering finger outstretched, and
+now having become as speechless as he, I turned and walked rapidly up to
+the house.
+
+“Ah Tsong! Ah Tsong!” came a cry from behind me in tones which I can
+only describe as hysterical--“Mr. Knox’s hat and stick. Quickly.”
+
+As I walked in past the study door the Chinaman came to meet me, holding
+my hat and cane. I took them from him without a word, and, the door
+being held open by Ah Tsong, walked out on to the road.
+
+My heart was beating rapidly. I did not know what to think nor what to
+do. This ignominious dismissal afforded an experience new to me. I was
+humiliated, mortified, but above all, wildly angry.
+
+How far I had gone on my homeward journey I cannot say, when the sound
+of quickly pattering footsteps intruded upon my wild reverie. I stopped,
+turned, and there was Ah Tsong almost at my heels.
+
+“Blinga chit flom lilly missee,” he said, and held the note toward me.
+
+I hesitated, glaring at him in a way that must have been very
+unpleasant; but recovering myself I tore open the envelope, and read the
+following note, written in pencil and very shakily:
+
+MR. KNOX. Please forgive him. If you knew what we have suffered from
+Senor Don Juan Menendez, I know you would forgive him. Please, for my
+sake. YSOLA CAMBER.
+
+The Chinaman was watching me, that strangely pathetic expression in his
+eyes, and:
+
+“Tell your mistress that I quite understand and will write to her,” I
+said.
+
+“Hoi, hoi.”
+
+Ah Tsong turned, and ran swiftly off, as I pursued my way back to Cray’s
+Folly in a mood which I shall not attempt to describe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+UNREST
+
+
+
+I sat in Paul Harley’s room. Luncheon was over, and although, as on the
+previous day, it had been a perfect repast, perfectly served, the sense
+of tension which I had experienced throughout the meal had made me
+horribly ill at ease.
+
+That shadow of which I have spoken elsewhere seemed to have become
+almost palpable. In vain I had ascribed it to a morbid imagination:
+persistently it lingered.
+
+Madame de Stämer’s gaiety rang more false than ever. She twirled the
+rings upon her slender fingers and shot little enquiring glances all
+around the table. This spirit of unrest, from wherever it arose, had
+communicated itself to everybody. Madame’s several bon mots one and all
+were failures. She delivered them without conviction like an amateur
+repeating lines learned by heart. The Colonel was unusually silent,
+eating little but drinking much. There was something unreal, almost
+ghastly, about the whole affair; and when at last Madame de Stämer
+retired, bearing Val Beverley with her, I felt certain that the Colonel
+would make some communication to us. If ever knowledge of portentous
+evil were written upon a man’s face it was written upon his, as he sat
+there at the head of the table, staring straightly before him. However:
+
+“Gentlemen,” he said, “if your enquiries here have led to no result of,
+shall I say, a tangible character, at least I feel sure that you must
+have realized one thing.”
+
+Harley stared at him sternly.
+
+“I have realized, Colonel Menendez,” he replied, “that something is
+pending.”
+
+“Ah!” murmured the Colonel, and he clutched the edge of the table with
+his strong brown hands.
+
+“But,” continued my friend, “I have realized something more. You have
+asked for my aid, and I am here. Now you have deliberately tied my
+hands.”
+
+“What do you mean, sir?” asked the other, softly.
+
+“I will speak plainly. I mean that you know more about the nature of
+this danger than you have ever communicated to me. Allow me to proceed,
+if you please, Colonel Menendez. For your delightful hospitality I thank
+you. As your guest I could be happy, but as a professional investigator
+whose services have been called upon under most unusual circumstances, I
+cannot be happy and I do not thank you.”
+
+Their glances met. Both were angry, wilful, and self-confident.
+Following a few moments of silence:
+
+“Perhaps, Mr. Harley,” said the Colonel, “you have something further to
+say?”
+
+“I have this to say,” was the answer: “I esteem your friendship, but I
+fear I must return to town without delay.”
+
+The Colonel’s jaws were clenched so tightly that I could see the muscles
+protruding. He was fighting an inward battle; then:
+
+“What!” he said, “you would desert me?”
+
+“I never deserted any man who sought my aid.”
+
+“I have sought your aid.”
+
+“Then accept it!” cried Harley. “This, or allow me to retire from the
+case. You ask me to find an enemy who threatens you, and you withhold
+every clue which could aid me in my search.”
+
+“What clue have I withheld?”
+
+Paul Harley stood up.
+
+“It is useless to discuss the matter further, Colonel Menendez,” he
+said, coldly.
+
+The Colonel rose also, and:
+
+“Mr. Harley,” he replied, and his high voice was ill-controlled, “if I
+give you my word of honour that I dare not tell you more, and if, having
+done so, I beg of you to remain at least another night, can you refuse
+me?”
+
+Harley stood at the end of the table watching him.
+
+“Colonel Menendez,” he said, “this would appear to be a game in which my
+handicap rests on the fact that I do not know against whom I am pitted.
+Very well. You leave me no alternative but to reply that I will stay.”
+
+“I thank you, Mr. Harley. As I fear I am far from well, dare I hope to
+be excused if I retire to my room for an hour’s rest?”
+
+Harley and I bowed, and the Colonel, returning our salutations, walked
+slowly out, his bearing one of grace and dignity. So that memorable
+luncheon terminated, and now we found ourselves alone and faced with
+a problem which, from whatever point one viewed it, offered no single
+opening whereby one might hope to penetrate to the truth.
+
+Paul Harley was pacing up and down the room in a state of such nervous
+irritability as I never remembered to have witnessed in him before.
+
+I had just finished an account of my visit to the Guest House and of the
+indignity which had been put upon me, and:
+
+“Conundrums! conundrums!” my friend exclaimed. “This quest of Bat Wing
+is like the quest of heaven, Knox. A hundred open doors invite us,
+each one promising to lead to the light, and if we enter where do they
+lead?--to mystification. For instance, Colonel Menendez has broadly
+hinted that he looks upon Colin Camber as an enemy. Judging from your
+reception at the Guest House to-day, such an enmity, and a deadly
+enmity, actually exists. But whereas Camber has resided here for
+three years, the Colonel is a newcomer. We are, therefore, offered
+the spectacle of a trembling victim seeking the sacrifice. Bah! it is
+preposterous.”
+
+“If you had seen Colin Camber’s face to-day, you might not have thought
+it so preposterous.”
+
+“But I should, Knox! I should! It is impossible to suppose that Colonel
+Menendez was unaware when he leased Cray’s Folly that Camber occupied
+the Guest House.”
+
+“And Mrs. Camber is a Cuban,” I murmured.
+
+“Don’t, Knox!” my friend implored. “This case is driving me mad. I have
+a conviction that it is going to prove my Waterloo.”
+
+“My dear fellow,” I said, “this mood is new to you.”
+
+“Why don’t you advise me to remember Auguste Dupin?” asked Harley,
+bitterly. “That great man, preserving his philosophical calm, doubtless
+by this time would have pieced together these disjointed clues, and
+have produced an elegant pattern ready to be framed and exhibited to the
+admiring public.”
+
+He dropped down upon the bed, and taking his briar from his pocket,
+began to load it in a manner which was almost vicious. I stood watching
+him and offered no remark, until, having lighted the pipe, he began to
+smoke. I knew that these “Indian moods” were of short duration, and,
+sure enough, presently:
+
+“God bless us all, Knox,” he said, breaking into an amused smile, “how
+we bristle when someone tries to prove that we are not infallible! How
+human we are, Knox, but how fortunate that we can laugh at ourselves.”
+
+I sighed with relief, for Harley at these times imposed a severe strain
+even upon my easy-going disposition.
+
+“Let us go down to the billiard room,” he continued. “I will play you a
+hundred up. I have arrived at a point where my ideas persistently work
+in circles. The best cure is golf; failing golf, billiards.”
+
+The billiard room was immediately beneath us, adjoining the last
+apartment in the east wing, and there we made our way. Harley
+played keenly, deliberately, concentrating upon the game. I was less
+successful, for I found myself alternately glancing toward the door
+and the open window, in the hope that Val Beverley would join us. I was
+disappointed, however. We saw no more of the ladies until tea-time, and
+if a spirit of constraint had prevailed throughout luncheon, a veritable
+demon of unrest presided upon the terrace during tea.
+
+Madame de Stämer made apologies on behalf of the Colonel. He was
+prolonging his siesta, but he hoped to join us at dinner.
+
+“Is the Colonel’s heart affected?” Harley asked.
+
+Madame de Stämer shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, blankly.
+
+“It is mysterious, the state of his health,” she replied. “An old
+trouble, which began years and years ago in Cuba.”
+
+Harley nodded sympathetically, but I could see that he was not
+satisfied. Yet, although he might doubt her explanation, he had noted,
+and so had I, that Madame de Stämer’s concern was very real. Her slender
+hands were strangely unsteady; indeed her condition bordered on one of
+distraction.
+
+Harley concealed his thoughts, whatever they may have been, beneath that
+mask of reserve which I knew so well, whilst I endeavoured in vain to
+draw Val Beverley into conversation with me.
+
+I gathered that Madame de Stämer had been to visit the invalid, and
+that she was all anxiety to return was a fact she was wholly unable to
+conceal. There was a tired look in her still eyes, as though she had
+undertaken a task beyond her powers to perform, and, so unnatural a
+quartette were we, that when presently she withdrew I was glad, although
+she took Val Beverley with her.
+
+Paul Harley resumed his seat, staring at me with unseeing eyes. A
+sound reached us through the drawing room which told us that Madame de
+Stämer’s chair was being taken upstairs, a task always performed when
+Madame desired to visit the upper floors by Manoel and Pedro’s daughter,
+Nita, who acted as Madame’s maid. These sounds died away, and I thought
+how silent everything had become. Even the birds were still, and
+presently, my eye being attracted to a black speck in the sky above, I
+learned why the feathered choir was mute. A hawk was hovering loftily
+overhead.
+
+Noting my upward glance, Paul Harley also raised his eyes.
+
+“Ah,” he murmured, “a hawk. All the birds are cowering in their nests.
+Nature is a cruel mistress, Knox.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+RED EVE
+
+
+
+Over the remainder of that afternoon I will pass in silence. Indeed,
+looking backward now, I cannot recollect that it afforded one incident
+worthy of record. But because great things overshadow small, so it may
+be that whereas my recollections of quite trivial episodes are sharp
+enough up to a point, my memories from this point onward to the horrible
+and tragic happening which I have set myself to relate are hazy and
+indistinct. I was troubled by the continued absence of Val Beverley.
+I thought that she was avoiding me by design, and in Harley’s gloomy
+reticence I could find no shadow of comfort.
+
+We wandered aimlessly about the grounds, Harley staring up in a vague
+fashion at the windows of Cray’s Folly; and presently, when I stopped to
+inspect a very perfect rose bush, he left me without a word, and I found
+myself alone.
+
+Later, as I sauntered toward the Tudor garden, where I had hoped to
+encounter Miss Beverley, I heard the clicking of billiard balls; and
+there was Harley at the table, practising fancy shots.
+
+He glanced up at me as I paused by the open window, stopped to relight
+his pipe, and then bent over the table again.
+
+“Leave me alone, Knox,” he muttered; “I am not fit for human society.”
+
+Understanding his moods as well as I did, I merely laughed and withdrew.
+
+I strolled around into the library and inspected scores of books without
+forming any definite impression of the contents of any of them. Manoel
+came in whilst I was there and I was strongly tempted to send a message
+to Miss Beverley, but common sense overcame the inclination.
+
+When at last my watch told me that the hour for dressing was arrived,
+I heaved a sigh of relief. I cannot say that I was bored, my ill-temper
+sprang from a deeper source than this. The mysterious disappearance of
+the inmates of Cray’s Folly, and a sort of brooding stillness which lay
+over the great house, had utterly oppressed me.
+
+As I passed along the terrace I paused to admire the spectacle afforded
+by the setting sun. The horizon was on fire from north to south and the
+countryside was stained with that mystic radiance which is sometimes
+called the Blood of Apollo. Turning, I saw the disk of the moon coldly
+rising in the heavens. I thought of the silent birds and the hovering
+hawk, and I began my preparations for dinner mechanically, dressing as
+an automaton might dress.
+
+Paul Harley’s personality was never more marked than in his evil moods.
+His power to fascinate was only equalled by his power to repel. Thus,
+although there was a light in his room and I could hear Lim moving
+about, I did not join him when I had finished dressing, but lighting a
+cigarette walked downstairs.
+
+The beauty of the night called to me, although as I stepped out upon the
+terrace I realized with a sort of shock that the gathering dusk held a
+menace, so that I found myself questioning the shadows and doubting
+the rustle of every leaf. Something invisible, intangible yet potent,
+brooded over Cray’s Folly. I began to think more kindly of the
+disappearance of Val Beverley during the afternoon. Doubtless she, too,
+had been touched by this spirit of unrest and in solitude had sought to
+dispel it.
+
+So thinking. I walked on in the direction of the Tudor garden. The place
+was bathed in a sort of purple half-light, lending it a fairy air of
+unreality, as though banished sun and rising moon yet disputed for
+mastery over earth. This idea set me thinking of Colin Camber, of
+Osiris, whom he had described as a black god, and of Isis, whose silver
+disk now held undisputed sovereignty of the evening sky.
+
+Resentment of the treatment which I had received at the Guest House
+still burned hotly within me, but the mystery of it all had taken the
+keen edge off my wrath, and I think a sort of melancholy was the keynote
+of my reflections as, descending the steps to the sunken garden, I saw
+Val Beverley, in a delicate blue gown, coming toward me. She was the
+spirit of my dreams, and the embodiment of my mood. When she lowered her
+eyes at my approach, I knew by virtue of a sort of inspiration that she
+had been avoiding me.
+
+“Miss Beverley,” I said, “I have been looking for you all the
+afternoon.”
+
+“Have you? I have been in my room writing letters.”
+
+I paced slowly along beside her.
+
+“I wish you would be very frank with me,” I said.
+
+She glanced up swiftly, and as swiftly lowered her lashes again.
+
+“Do you think I am not frank?”
+
+“I do think so. I understand why.”
+
+“Do you really understand?”
+
+“I think I do. Your woman’s intuition has told you that there is
+something wrong.”
+
+“In what way?”
+
+“You are afraid of your thoughts. You can see that Madame de Stämer and
+Colonel Menendez are deliberately concealing something from Paul Harley,
+and you don’t know where your duty lies. Am I right?”
+
+She met my glance for a moment in a startled way, then: “Yes,” she said,
+softly; “you are quite right. How have you guessed?”
+
+“I have tried very hard to understand you,” I replied, “and so perhaps
+up to a point I have succeeded.”
+
+“Oh, Mr. Knox.” She suddenly laid her hand upon my arm. “I am oppressed
+with such a dreadful foreboding, yet I don’t know how to explain it to
+you.”
+
+“I understand. I, too, have felt it.”
+
+“You have?” She paused, and looked at me eagerly. “Then it is not
+just morbid imagination on my part. If only I knew what to do, what to
+believe. Really, I am bewildered. I have just left Madame de Stämer--”
+
+“Yes?” I said, for she had paused in evident doubt.
+
+“Well, she has utterly broken down.”
+
+“Broken down?”
+
+“She came to my room and sobbed hysterically for nearly an hour this
+afternoon.”
+
+“But what was the cause of her grief?”
+
+“I simply cannot understand.”
+
+“Is it possible that Colonel Menendez is dangerously ill?”
+
+“It may be so, Mr. Knox, but in that event why have they not sent for a
+physician?”
+
+“True,” I murmured; “and no one has been sent for?”
+
+“No one.”
+
+“Have you seen Colonel Menendez?”
+
+“Not since lunch-time.”
+
+“Have you ever known him to suffer in this way before?”
+
+“Never. It is utterly unaccountable. Certainly during the last few
+months he has given up riding practically altogether, and in other ways
+has changed his former habits, but I have never known him to exhibit
+traces of any real illness.”
+
+“Has any medical man attended him?”
+
+“Not that I know of. Oh, there is something uncanny about it all.
+Whatever should I do if you were not here?”
+
+She had spoken on impulse, and seeing her swift embarrassment:
+
+“Miss Beverley,” I said, “I am delighted to know that my company cheers
+you.”
+
+Truth to tell my heart was beating rapidly, and, so selfish is the
+nature of man, I was more glad to learn that my company was acceptable
+to Val Beverley than I should have been to have had the riddle of Cray’s
+Folly laid bare before me.
+
+Those sweetly indiscreet words, however, had raised a momentary barrier
+between us, and we walked on silently to the house, and entered the
+brightly lighted hall.
+
+The silver peal of a Chinese tubular gong rang out just when we reached
+the veranda, and as Val Beverley and I walked in from the garden, Madame
+de Stämer came wheeling through the doorway, closely followed by Paul
+Harley. In her the art of the toilette amounted almost to genius, and
+she had so successfully concealed all traces of her recent grief that I
+wondered if this could have been real.
+
+“My dear Mr. Knox,” she cried, “I seem to be fated always to apologize
+for other people. The Colonel is truly desolate, but he cannot join us
+for dinner. I have already explained to Mr. Harley.”
+
+Harley inclined his head sympathetically, and assisted to arrange Madame
+in her place.
+
+“The Colonel requests us to smoke a cigar with him after dinner, Knox,”
+ he said, glancing across to me. “It would seem that troubles never come
+singly.”
+
+“Ah,” Madame shrugged her shoulders, which her low gown left daringly
+bare, “they come in flocks, or not at all. But I suppose we should feel
+lonely in the world without a few little sorrows, eh, Mr. Harley?”
+
+I loved her unquenchable spirit, and I have wondered often enough what
+I should have thought of her if I had known the truth. France has bred
+some wonderful women, both good and bad, but none I think more wonderful
+than Marie de Stämer.
+
+If such a thing were possible, we dined more extravagantly than on
+the previous night. Madame’s wit was at its keenest; she was truly
+brilliant. Pedro, from the big bouffet at the end of the room,
+supervised this feast of Lucullus, and except for odd moments of silence
+in which Madame seemed to be listening for some distant sound, there was
+nothing, I think, which could have told a casual observer that a black
+cloud rested upon the house.
+
+Once, interrupting a tête-à-tête between Val Beverley and Paul Harley:
+
+“Do not encourage her, Mr. Harley,” said Madame, “she is a desperate
+flirt.”
+
+“Oh, Madame,” cried Val Beverley and blushed deeply.
+
+“You know you are, my dear, and you are very wise. Flirt all your
+life, but never fall in love. It is fatal, don’t you think so, Mr.
+Knox?”--turning to me in her rapid manner.
+
+I looked into her still eyes, which concealed so much.
+
+“Say, rather, that it is Fate,” I murmured.
+
+“Yes, that is more pretty, but not so true. If I could live my life
+again, M. Knox,” she said, for she sometimes used the French and
+sometimes the English mode of address, “I should build a stone wall
+around my heart. It could peep over, but no one could ever reach it.”
+
+Oddly enough, then, as it seems to me now, the spirit of unrest seemed
+almost to depart for awhile, and in the company of the vivacious
+Frenchwoman time passed very quickly up to the moment when Harley and I
+walked slowly upstairs to join the Colonel.
+
+During the latter part of dinner an idea had presented itself to me
+which I was anxious to mention to Harley, and:
+
+“Harley,” I said, “an explanation of the Colonel’s absence has occurred
+to me.”
+
+“Really!” he replied; “possibly the same one that has occurred to me.”
+
+“What is that?”
+
+Paul Harley paused on the stairs, turning to me.
+
+“You are thinking that he has taken cover from the danger which he
+believes particularly to threaten him to-night?”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“You may be right,” he murmured, proceeding upstairs.
+
+He led the way to a little smoke-room which hitherto I had never
+visited, and in response to his knock:
+
+“Come in,” cried the high voice of Colonel Menendez.
+
+We entered to find ourselves in a small and very cosy room. There was a
+handsome oak bureau against one wall, which was littered with papers
+of various kinds, and there was also a large bookcase occupied almost
+exclusively by French novels. It occurred to me that the Colonel spent a
+greater part of his time in this little snuggery than in the more formal
+study below. At the moment of our arrival he was stretched upon a
+settee near which stood a little table; and on this table I observed the
+remains of what appeared to me to have been a fairly substantial repast.
+For some reason which I did not pause to analyze at the moment I noted
+with disfavour the presence of a bowl of roses upon the silver tray.
+
+Colonel Menendez was smoking a cigarette, and Manoel was in the act of
+removing the tray.
+
+“Gentlemen,” said the Colonel, “I have no words in which to express
+my sorrow. Manoel, pull up those armchairs. Help yourself to port, Mr.
+Harley, and fill Mr. Knox’s glass. I can recommend the cigars in the
+long box.”
+
+As we seated ourselves:
+
+“I am extremely sorry to find you indisposed, sir,” said Harley.
+
+He was watching the dark face keenly, and probably thinking, as I was
+thinking, that it exhibited no trace of illness.
+
+Colonel Menendez waved his cigarette gracefully, settling himself amid
+the cushions.
+
+“An old trouble, Mr. Harley,” he replied, lightly; “a legacy from
+ancestors who drank too deep of the wine of life.”
+
+“You are surely taking medical advice?”
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged slightly.
+
+“There is no doctor in England who would understand the case,” he
+replied. “Besides, there is nothing for it but rest and avoidance of
+excitement.”
+
+“In that event, Colonel,” said Harley, “we will not disturb you for
+long. Indeed, I should not have consented to disturb you at all, if
+I had not thought that you might have some request to make upon this
+important night.”
+
+“Ah!” Colonel Menendez shot a swift glance in his direction. “You have
+remembered about to-night?”
+
+“Naturally.”
+
+“Your interest comforts me very greatly, gentlemen, and I am only
+sorry that my uncertain health has made me so poor a host. Nothing
+has occurred since your arrival to help you, I am aware. Not that I
+am anxious for any new activity on the part of my enemies. But almost
+anything which should end this deathly suspense would be welcome.”
+
+He spoke the final words with a peculiar intonation. I saw Harley
+watching him closely.
+
+“However,” he continued, “everything is in the hands of Fate, and
+if your visit should prove futile, I can only apologize for
+having interrupted your original plans. Respecting to-night”--he
+shrugged--“what can I say?”
+
+“Nothing has occurred,” asked Harley, slowly, “nothing fresh, I mean,
+to indicate that the danger which you apprehend may really culminate
+to-night?”
+
+“Nothing fresh, Mr. Harley, unless you yourself have observed anything.”
+
+“Ah,” murmured Paul Harley, “let us hope that the threat will never be
+fulfilled.”
+
+Colonel Menendez inclined his head gravely.
+
+“Let us hope so,” he said.
+
+On the whole, he was curiously subdued. He was most solicitous for our
+comfort and his exquisite courtesy had never been more marked. I often
+think of him now--his big but graceful figure reclining upon the settee,
+whilst he skilfully rolled his eternal cigarettes and chatted in that
+peculiar, light voice. Before the memory of Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento
+Menendez I sometimes stand appalled. If his Maker had but endowed him
+with other qualities of mind and heart equal to his magnificent courage,
+then truly he had been a great man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON
+
+
+
+I stood at Harley’s open window--looking down in the Tudor garden. The
+moon, like a silver mirror, hung in a cloudless sky. Over an hour had
+elapsed since I had heard Pedro making his nightly rounds. Nothing
+whatever of an unusual nature had occurred, and although Harley and I
+had listened for any sound of nocturnal footsteps, our vigilance had
+passed unrewarded. Harley, unrolling the Chinese ladder, had set out
+upon a secret tour of the grounds, warning me that it must be a long
+business, since the brilliance of the moonlight rendered it necessary
+that he should make a wide detour, in order to avoid possible
+observation from the windows. I had wished to join him, but:
+
+“I count it most important that one of us should remain in the house,”
+ he had replied.
+
+As a result, here was I at the open window, questioning the shadows to
+right and left of me, and every moment expecting to see Harley reappear.
+I wondered what discoveries he would make. It would not have surprised
+me to learn that there were lights in many windows of Cray’s Folly
+to-night.
+
+Although, when we had rejoined the ladies for half an hour, after
+leaving Colonel Menendez’s room, there had been no overt reference to
+the menace overhanging the house, yet, as we separated for the night, I
+had detected again in Val Beverley’s eyes that look of repressed fear.
+Indeed, she was palpably disinclined to retire, but was carried off by
+the masterful Madame, who declared that she looked tired.
+
+I wondered now, as I gazed down into the moon-bathed gardens, if Harley
+and I were the only wakeful members of the household at that hour. I
+should have been prepared to wager that there were others. I thought of
+the strange footsteps which so often passed Miss Beverley’s room, and I
+discovered this thought to be an uncomfortable one.
+
+Normally, I was sceptical enough, but on this night of the full moon
+as I stood there at the window, the horrors which Colonel Menendez
+had related to us grew very real in my eyes, and I thought that the
+mysteries of Voodoo might conceal strange and ghastly truths, “The
+scientific employment of darkness against light.” Colin Camber’s words
+leapt unbidden to my mind; and, such is the magic of moonlight, they
+became invested with a new and a deeper significance. Strange, that
+theories which one rejects whilst the sun is shining should assume a
+spectral shape in the light of the moon.
+
+Such were my musings, when suddenly I heard a faint sound as of
+footsteps crunching upon gravel. I leaned farther out of the window,
+listening intently. I could not believe that Harley would be guilty of
+such an indiscretion as this, yet who else could be walking upon the
+path below?
+
+As I watched, craning from the window, a tall figure appeared, and,
+slowly crossing the gravel path, descended the moss-grown steps to the
+Tudor garden.
+
+It was Colonel Menendez!
+
+He was bare-headed, but fully dressed as I had seen him in the
+smoking-room; and not yet grasping the portent of his appearance at that
+hour, but merely wondering why he had not yet retired, I continued to
+watch him. As I did so, something in his gait, something unnatural in
+his movements, caught hold of my mind with a sudden great conviction. He
+had reached the path which led to the sun-dial, and with short, queer,
+ataxic steps was proceeding in its direction, a striking figure in the
+brilliant moonlight which touched his gray hair with a silvery sheen.
+
+His unnatural, automatic movements told their own story. He was walking
+in his sleep! Could it be in obedience to the call of M’kombo?
+
+My throat grew dry and I knew not how to act. Unwillingly it seemed,
+with ever-halting steps, the figure moved onward. I could see that his
+fists were tightly clenched and that he held his head rigidly upright.
+All horrors, real and imaginary, which I had ever experienced,
+culminated in the moment when I saw this man of inflexible character,
+I could have sworn of indomitable will, moving like a puppet under the
+influence of some unnameable force.
+
+He was almost come to the sun-dial when I determined to cry out. Then,
+remembering the shock experienced by a suddenly awakened somnambulist,
+and remembering that the Chinese ladder hung from the window at my feet,
+I changed my mind. Checking the cry upon my lips, I got astride of the
+window ledge, and began to grope for the bamboo rungs beneath me. I had
+found the first of these, and, turning, had begun to descend, when:
+
+“Knox! Knox!” came softly from the opening in the box hedge, “what the
+devil are you about?”
+
+It was Paul Harley returned from his tour of the building.
+
+“Harley!” I whispered, descending, “quick! the Colonel has just gone
+into the Tudor garden!”
+
+“What!” There was a note of absolute horror in the exclamation. “You
+should have stopped him, Knox, you should have stopped him!” cried
+Harley, and with that he ran off in the same direction.
+
+Disentangling my foot from the rungs of the ladder which lay upon
+the ground, I was about to follow, when it happened--that strange and
+ghastly thing toward which, secretly, darkly, events had been tending.
+
+The crack of a rifle sounded sharply in the stillness, echoing and
+re-echoing from wing to wing of Cray’s Folly and then, more dimly, up
+the wooded slopes beyond! Somewhere ahead of me I heard Harley cry out:
+
+“My God, I am too late! They have got him!”
+
+Then, hotfoot, I was making for the entrance to the garden. Just as I
+came to it and raced down the steps I heard another sound the memory of
+which haunts me to this day.
+
+Where it came from I had no idea. Perhaps I was too confused to judge
+accurately. It might have come from the house, or from the slopes beyond
+the house, But it was a sort of shrill, choking laugh, and it set the
+ultimate touch of horror upon a _scène macabre_ which, even as I write
+of it, seems unreal to me.
+
+I ran up the path to where Harley was kneeling beside the sun-dial.
+Analysis of my emotions at this moment were futile; I can only say that
+I had come to a state of stupefaction. Face downward on the grass, arms
+outstretched and fists clenched, lay Colonel Menendez. I think I saw him
+move convulsively, but as I gained his side Harley looked up at me, and
+beneath the tan which he never lost his face had grown pale. He spoke
+through clenched teeth.
+
+“Merciful God,” he said, “he is shot through the head.”
+
+One glance I gave at the ghastly wound in the base of the Colonel’s
+skull, and then swayed backward in a sort of nausea. To see a man die
+in the heat of battle, a man one has known and called friend, is strange
+and terrible. Here in this moon-bathed Tudor garden it was a horror
+almost beyond my powers to endure.
+
+Paul Harley, without touching the prone figure, stood up. Indeed no
+examination of the victim was necessary. A rifle bullet had pierced his
+brain, and he lay there dead with his head toward the hills.
+
+I clutched at Harley’s shoulder, but he stood rigidly, staring up the
+slope past the angle of the tower, to where a gable of the Guest House
+jutted out from the trees.
+
+“Did you hear--that cry?” I whispered, “immediately after the shot?”
+
+“I heard it.”
+
+A moment longer he stood fixedly watching, and then:
+
+“Not a wisp of smoke,” he said. “You note the direction in which he was
+facing when he fell?”
+
+He spoke in a stern and unnatural voice.
+
+“I do. He must have turned half right when he came to the sun-dial.”
+
+“Where were you when the shot was fired?”
+
+“Running in this direction.”
+
+“You saw no flash?”
+
+“None.”
+
+“Neither did I,” groaned Harley; “neither did I. And short of throwing a
+cordon round the hills what can be done? How can I move?”
+
+He had somewhat relaxed, but now as I continued to clutch his arm, I
+felt the muscles grow rigid again.
+
+“Look, Knox!” he whispered--“look!”
+
+I followed the direction of his fixed stare, and through the trees on
+the hillside a dim light shone out. Someone had lighted a lamp in the
+Guest House.
+
+A faint, sibilant sound drew my glance upward, and there overhead a
+bat circled--circled--dipped--and flew off toward the distant woods. So
+still was the night that I could distinguish the babble of the little
+stream which ran down into the lake. Then, suddenly, came a loud
+flapping of wings. The swans had been awakened by the sound of the shot.
+Others had been awakened, too, for now distant voices became audible,
+and then a muffled scream from somewhere within Cray’s Folly.
+
+“Back to the house, Knox,” said Harley, hoarsely. “For God’s sake keep
+the women away. Get Pedro, and send Manoel for the nearest doctor.
+It’s useless but usual. Let no one deface his footprints. My worst
+anticipations have come true. The local police must be informed.”
+
+Throughout the time that he spoke he continued to search the moon-bathed
+landscape with feverish eagerness, but except for a faint movement
+of birds in the trees, for they, like the swans on the lake, had been
+alarmed by the shot, nothing stirred.
+
+“It came from the hillside,” he muttered. “Off you go, Knox.”
+
+And even as I started on my unpleasant errand, he had set out running
+toward the gate in the southern corner of the garden.
+
+For my part I scrambled unceremoniously up the bank, and emerged where
+the yews stood sentinel beside the path. I ran through the gap in the
+box hedge just as the main doors were thrown open by Pedro.
+
+He started back as he saw me.
+
+“Pedro! Pedro!” I cried, “have the ladies been awakened?”
+
+“Yes, yes! there is terrible trouble, sir. What has happened? What has
+happened?”
+
+“A tragedy,” I said, shortly. “Pull yourself together. Where is Madame
+de Stämer?”
+
+Pedro uttered some exclamation in Spanish and stood, pale-faced, swaying
+before me, a dishevelled figure in a dressing gown. And now in the
+background Mrs. Fisher appeared. One frightened glance she cast in my
+direction, and would have hurried across the hall but I intercepted her.
+
+“Where are you going, Mrs. Fisher?” I demanded. “What has happened
+here?”
+
+“To Madame, to Madame,” she sobbed, pointing toward the corridor which
+communicated with Madame de Stämer’s bedchamber.
+
+I heard a frightened cry proceeding from that direction, and recognized
+the voice of Nita, the girl who acted as Madame’s maid. Then I heard Val
+Beverley.
+
+“Go and fetch Mrs. Fisher, Nita, at once--and try to behave yourself. I
+have trouble enough.”
+
+I entered the corridor and pulled up short. Val Beverley, fully dressed,
+was kneeling beside Madame de Stämer, who wore a kimono over her
+night-robe, and who lay huddled on the floor immediately outside the
+door of her room!
+
+“Oh, Mr. Knox!” cried the girl, pitifully, and raised frightened eyes to
+me. “For God’s sake, what has happened?”
+
+Nita, the Spanish girl, who was sobbing hysterically, ran along to join
+Mrs. Fisher.
+
+“I will tell you in a moment,” I said, quietly, rendered cool, as one
+always is, by the need of others. “But first tell me--how did Madame de
+Stämer get here?”
+
+“I don’t know, I don’t know! I was startled by the shot. It has awakened
+everybody. And just as I opened my door to listen, I heard Madame cry
+out in the hall below. I ran down, turned on the light, and found her
+lying here. She, too, had been awakened, I suppose, and was endeavouring
+to drag herself from her room when her strength failed her and she
+swooned. She is too heavy for me to lift,” added the girl, pathetically,
+“and Pedro is out of his senses, and Nita, who was the first of the
+servants to come, is simply hysterical, as you can see.”
+
+I nodded reassuringly, and stooping, lifted the swooning woman. She was
+much heavier than I should have supposed, but, Val Beverley leading the
+way, I carried her into her apartment and placed her upon the bed.
+
+“I will leave her to you,” I said. “You have courage, and so I will tell
+you what has happened.”
+
+“Yes, tell me, oh, tell me!”
+
+She laid her hands upon my shoulders appealingly, and looked up into my
+eyes in a way that made me long to take her in my arms and comfort her,
+an insane longing which I only crushed with difficulty.
+
+“Someone has shot Colonel Menendez,” I said, in a low voice, for Mrs.
+Fisher had just entered.
+
+“You mean--”
+
+I nodded.
+
+“Oh!”
+
+Val Beverley opened and closed her eyes, clutching at me dizzily for a
+moment, then:
+
+“I think,” she whispered, “she must have known, and that was why she
+swooned. Oh, my God! how horrible.”
+
+I made her sit down in an armchair, and watched her anxiously, but
+although every speck of colour had faded from her cheeks, she was
+splendidly courageous, and almost immediately she smiled up at me, very
+wanly, but confidently.
+
+“I will look after her,” she said. “Mr. Harley will need your
+assistance.”
+
+When I returned to the hall I found it already filled with a number of
+servants incongruously attired. Carter the chauffeur, who lived at the
+lodge, was just coming in at the door, and:
+
+“Carter,” I said, “get a car out quickly, and bring the nearest doctor.
+If there is another man who can drive, send him for the police. Your
+master has been shot.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET HILTON
+
+
+
+“Now, gentlemen,” said Inspector Aylesbury, “I will take evidence.”
+
+Dawn was creeping grayly over the hills, and the view from the library
+windows resembled a study by Bastien-Lepage. The lamps burned yellowly,
+and the exotic appointments of the library viewed in that cold light for
+some reason reminded me of a stage set seen in daylight. The Velasquez
+portrait mentally translated me to the billiard room where something lay
+upon the settee with a white sheet drawn over it; and I wondered if
+my own face looked as wan and comfortless as did the faces of my
+companions, that is, of two of them, for I must except Inspector
+Aylesbury.
+
+Squarely before the oaken mantel he stood, a large, pompous man, but in
+this hour I could find no humour in Paul Harley’s description of him as
+resembling a walrus. He had a large auburn moustache tinged with
+gray, and prominent brown eyes, but the lower part of his face, which
+terminated in a big double chin, was ill-balanced by his small forehead.
+He was bulkily built, and I had conceived an unreasonable distaste for
+his puffy hands. His official air and oratorical manner were provoking.
+
+Harley sat in the chair which he had occupied during our last interview
+with Colonel Menendez in the library, and I had realized--a realization
+which had made me uncomfortable--that I was seated upon the couch
+on which the Colonel had reclined. Only one other was present, Dr.
+Rolleston of Mid-Hatton, a slight, fair man with a brisk, military
+manner, acquired perhaps during six years of war service. He was
+standing beside me smoking a cigarette.
+
+“I have taken all the necessary particulars concerning the position of
+the body,” continued the Inspector, “the nature of the wound, contents
+of pockets, etc., and I now turn to you, Mr. Harley, as the first person
+to discover the murdered man.”
+
+Paul Harley lay back in the armchair watching the speaker.
+
+“Before we come to what happened here to-night I should like to be quite
+clear about your own position in the matter, Mr. Harley. Now”--Inspector
+Aylesbury raised one finger in forensic manner--“now, you visited me
+yesterday afternoon, Mr. Harley, and asked for certain information
+regarding the neighbourhood.”
+
+“I did,” said Harley, shortly.
+
+“The questions which you asked me were,” continued the Inspector, slowly
+and impressively, “did I know of any negro or coloured people living
+in, or about, Mid-Hatton, and could I give you a list of the residents
+within a two-mile radius of Cray’s Folly. I gave you the information
+which you required, and now it is your turn to give me some. Why did you
+ask those questions?”
+
+“For this reason,” was the reply--“I had been requested by Colonel
+Menendez to visit Cray’s Folly, accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, in
+order that I might investigate certain occurrences which had taken place
+here.”
+
+“Oh,” said the Inspector, raising his eyebrows, “I see. You were here to
+make investigations?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“And these occurrences, will you tell me what they were?”
+
+“Simple enough in themselves,” replied Harley. “Someone broke into the
+house one night.”
+
+“Broke into the house?”
+
+“Undoubtedly.”
+
+“But this was never reported to us.”
+
+“Possibly not, but someone broke in, nevertheless. Secondly, Colonel
+Menendez had detected someone lurking about the lawns, and thirdly, the
+wing of a bat was nailed to the main door.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury lowered his eyebrows and concentrated a frowning
+glance upon the speaker.
+
+“Of course, sir,” he said, “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but you
+are not by any chance trying to be funny at a time like this?”
+
+“My sense of humour has failed me entirely,” replied Harley. “I am
+merely stating bald facts in reply to your questions.”
+
+“Oh, I see.”
+
+The Inspector cleared his throat.
+
+“Someone broke into Cray’s Folly, then, a fact which was not reported to
+me, a suspicious loiterer was seen in the grounds, again not reported,
+and someone played a silly practical joke by nailing the wing of a bat,
+you say, to the door. Might I ask, Mr. Harley, why you mention this
+matter? The other things are serious, but why you should mention the
+trick of some mischievous boy at a time like this I can’t imagine.”
+
+“No,” said Harley, wearily, “it does sound absurd, Inspector; I quite
+appreciate the fact. But, you see, Colonel Menendez regarded it as the
+most significant episode of them all.”
+
+“What! The bat wing nailed on the door?”
+
+“The bat wing, decidedly. He believed it to be the token of a negro
+secret society which had determined upon his death, hence my enquiries
+regarding coloured men in the neighbourhood. Do you understand,
+Inspector?”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury took a large handkerchief from his pocket and blew
+his nose. Replacing the handkerchief he cleared his throat, and:
+
+“Am I to understand,” he enquired, “that the late Colonel Menendez had
+expected to be attacked?”
+
+“You may understand that,” replied Harley. “It explains my presence in
+the house.”
+
+“Oh,” said the Inspector, “I see. It looks as though he might have done
+better if he had applied to me.”
+
+Paul Harley glanced across in my direction and smiled grimly.
+
+“As I had predicted, Knox,” he murmured, “my Waterloo.”
+
+“What’s that you say about Waterloo, Mr. Harley?” demanded the
+Inspector.
+
+“Nothing germane to the case,” replied Harley. “It was a reference to a
+battle, not to a railway station.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stared at him dully.
+
+“You quite understand that you are giving evidence?” he said.
+
+“It were impossible not to appreciate the fact.”
+
+“Very well, then. The late Colonel Menendez thought he was in danger
+from negroes. Why did he think that?”
+
+“He was a retired West Indian planter,” replied Harley, patiently,
+“and he was under the impression that he had offended a powerful native
+society, and that for many years their vengeance had pursued him.
+Attempts to assassinate him had already taken place in Cuba and in the
+United States.”
+
+“What sort of attempts?”
+
+“He was shot at, several times, and once, in Washington, was attacked by
+a man with a knife. He maintained in my presence and in the presence
+of my friend, Mr. Knox, here, that these various attempts were due to
+members of a sect or religion known as Voodoo.”
+
+“Voodoo?”
+
+“Voodoo, Inspector, also known as Obeah, a cult which has spread from
+the West Coast of Africa throughout the West Indies and to parts of the
+United States. The bat wing is said to be a sign used by these people.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+
+“Now let me get this thing clear,” said he: “Colonel Menendez believed
+that people called Voodoos wanted to kill him? Before we go any farther,
+why?”
+
+“Twenty years ago in the West Indies he had shot an important member of
+this sect.”
+
+“Twenty years ago?”
+
+“According to a statement which he made to me, yes.”
+
+“I see. Then for twenty years these Voodoos have been trying to kill
+him? Then he comes and settles here in Surrey and someone nails a bat
+wing to his door? Did you see this bat wing?”
+
+“I did. I have it upstairs in my bag if you would care to examine it.”
+
+“Oh,” said the Inspector, “I see. And thinking he had been followed to
+England he came to you to see if you could save him?”
+
+Paul Harley nodded grimly.
+
+“Why did he go to you in preference to the local police, the proper
+authorities?” demanded the Inspector.
+
+“He was advised to do so by the Spanish ambassador, or so he informed
+me.”
+
+“Is that so? Well, I suppose it had to be. Coming from foreign parts. I
+expect he didn’t know what our police are for.” He cleared his throat.
+“Very well, I understand now what you were doing here, Mr. Harley. The
+next thing is, what were you doing tonight, as I see that both you and
+Mr. Knox are still in evening dress?”
+
+“We were keeping watch,” I replied.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned to me ponderously, raising a fat hand.
+“One moment, Mr. Knox, one moment,” he protested. “The evidence of one
+witness at a time.”
+
+“We were keeping watch,” said Harley, deliberately echoing my words.
+
+“Why?”
+
+“More or less we were here for that purpose. You see, on the night
+of the full moon, according to Colonel Menendez, Obeah people become
+particularly active.”
+
+“Why on the night of the full moon?”
+
+“This I cannot tell you.”
+
+“Oh, I see. You were keeping watch. Where were you keeping watch?”
+
+“In my room.”
+
+“In which part of the house is your room?”
+
+“Northeast. It overlooks the Tudor garden.”
+
+“At what time did you retire?”
+
+“About half-past ten.”
+
+“Did you leave the Colonel well?”
+
+“No, he had been unwell all day. He had remained in his room.”
+
+“Had he asked you to sit up?”
+
+“Not at all; our vigil was quite voluntary.”
+
+“Very well, then, you were in your room when the shot was fired?”
+
+“On the contrary, I was on the path in front of the house.”
+
+“Oh, I see. The front door was open, then?”
+
+“Not at all. Pedro had locked up for the night.”
+
+“And locked you out?”
+
+“No; I descended from my window by means of a ladder which I had brought
+with me for the purpose.”
+
+“With a ladder? That’s rather extraordinary, Mr Harley.”
+
+“It is extraordinary. I have strange habits.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again and looked frowningly
+across at my friend.
+
+“What part of the grounds were you in when the shot was fired?” he
+demanded.
+
+“Halfway along the north side.”
+
+“What were you doing?”
+
+“I was running.”
+
+“Running?”
+
+“You see, Inspector, I regarded it as my duty to patrol the grounds of
+the house at nightfall, since, for all I knew to the contrary, some of
+the servants might be responsible for the attempts of which the Colonel
+complained. I had descended from the window of my room, had passed
+entirely around the house east to west, and had returned to my
+starting-point when Mr. Knox, who was looking out of the window,
+observed Colonel Menendez entering the Tudor garden.”
+
+“Oh. Colonel Menendez was not visible to you?”
+
+“Not from my position below, but being informed by my friend, who
+was hurriedly descending the ladder, that the Colonel had entered the
+garden, I set off running to intercept him.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“He had acquired a habit of walking in his sleep, and I presumed that he
+was doing so on this occasion.”
+
+“Oh, I see. So being told by the gentleman at the window that Colonel
+Menendez was in the garden, you started to run toward him. While you
+were running you heard a shot?”
+
+“I did.”
+
+“Where do you think it came from?”
+
+“Nothing is more difficult to judge, Inspector, especially when one is
+near to a large building surrounded by trees.”
+
+“Nevertheless,” said the Inspector, again raising his finger and
+frowning at Harley, “you cannot tell me that you formed no impression on
+the point. For instance, was it near, or a long way off?”
+
+“It was fairly near.”
+
+“Ten yards, twenty yards, a hundred yards, a mile?”
+
+“Within a hundred yards. I cannot be more exact.”
+
+“Within a hundred yards, and you have no idea from which direction the
+shot was fired?”
+
+“From the sound I could form none.”
+
+“Oh, I see. And what did you do?”
+
+“I ran on and down into the sunken garden. I saw Colonel Menendez lying
+upon his face near the sun-dial. He was moving convulsively. Running up
+to him, I that he had been shot through the head.”
+
+“What steps did you take?”
+
+“My friend, Mr. Knox, had joined me, and I sent him for assistance.”
+
+“But what steps did you take to apprehend the murderer?”
+
+Paul Harley looked at him quietly.
+
+“What steps should you have taken?” he asked.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again, and:
+
+“I don’t think I should have let my man slip through my fingers like
+that,” he replied. “Why! by now he may be out of the county.”
+
+“Your theory is quite feasible,” said Harley, tonelessly.
+
+“You were actually on the spot when the shot was fired, you admit that
+it was fired within a hundred yards, yet you did nothing to apprehend
+the murderer.”
+
+“No,” replied Harley, “I was ridiculously inactive. You see, I am a mere
+amateur, Inspector. For my future guidance I should be glad to know what
+the correct procedure would have been.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury blew his nose.
+
+“I know my job,” he said. “If I had been called in there might have been
+a different tale to tell. But he was a foreigner, and he paid for his
+ignorance, poor fellow.”
+
+Paul Harley took out his pipe and began to load it in a deliberate and
+lazy manner.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned his prominent eyes in my direction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+COMPLICATIONS
+
+
+
+“I am afraid of this man Aylesbury,” said Paul Harley. We sat in the
+deserted dining room. I had contributed my account of the evening’s
+happenings, Dr. Rolleston had made his report, and Inspector Aylesbury
+was now examining the servants in the library. Harley and I had obtained
+his official permission to withdraw, and the physician was visiting
+Madame de Stämer, who lay in a state of utter prostration.
+
+“What do you mean, Harley?”
+
+“I mean that he will presently make some tragic blunder. Good God,
+Knox, to think that this man had sought my aid, and that I stood by idly
+whilst he walked out to his death. I shall never forgive myself.” He
+banged the table with his fist. “Even now that these unknown fiends have
+achieved their object, I am helpless, helpless. There was not a wisp of
+smoke to guide me, Knox, and one man cannot search a county.”
+
+I sighed wearily.
+
+“Do you know, Harley,” I said, “I am thinking of a verse of Kipling’s.”
+
+“I know!” he interrupted, almost savagely.
+
+  “A Snider squibbed in the jungle.
+  Somebody laughed and fled--”
+
+“Oh, I know, Knox. I heard that damnable laughter, too.”
+
+“My God,” I whispered, “who was it? What was it? Where did it come
+from?”
+
+“As well ask where the shot came from, Knox. Out amongst all those
+trees, with a house that might have been built for a sounding-board, who
+could presume to say where either came from? One thing we know, that the
+shot came from the south.”
+
+He leaned upon a corner of the table, staring at me intently.
+
+“From the south?” I echoed.
+
+Harley glanced in the direction of the open door.
+
+“Presently,” he said, “we shall have to tell Aylesbury everything
+that we know. After all, he represents the law; but unless we can get
+Inspector Wessex down from Scotland Yard, I foresee a miscarriage of
+justice. Colonel Menendez lay on his face, and the line made by his
+recumbent body pointed almost directly toward--”
+
+I nodded, watching him.
+
+“I know, Harley--toward the Guest House.”
+
+Paul Harley inclined his head, grimly.
+
+“The first light which we saw,” he continued, “was in a window of the
+Guest House. It may have had no significance. Awakened by the sound of a
+rifle-shot near by, any one would naturally get up.”
+
+“And having decided to come downstairs and investigate,” I continued,
+“would naturally light a lamp.”
+
+“Quite so.” He stared at me very hard. “Yet,” he said, “unless Mr. Colin
+Camber can produce an alibi I foresee a very stormy time for him.”
+
+“So do I, Harley. A deadly hatred existed between these two men, and
+probably this horrible deed was done on the spur of the moment. It is
+of his poor little girl-wife that I am thinking. As though her troubles
+were not heavy enough already.”
+
+“Yes,” he agreed. “I am almost tempted to hold my tongue, Knox, until
+I have personally interviewed these people. But of course if our
+blundering friend directly questions me, I shall have no alternative. I
+shall have to answer him. His talent for examination, however, scarcely
+amounts to genius, so that we may not be called upon for further details
+at the moment. I wonder how I can induce him to requisition Scotland
+Yard?”
+
+He rested his chin in his hand and stared down reflectively at the
+carpet. I thought that he looked very haggard, as he sat there in the
+early morning light, dressed as for dinner. There was something pathetic
+in the pose of his bowed head.
+
+Leaning across, I placed my hand on his shoulder.
+
+“Don’t get despondent, old chap,” I said. “You have not failed yet.”
+
+“Oh, but I have, Knox!” he cried, fiercely, “I have! He came to me for
+protection. Now he lies dead in his own house. Failed? I have failed
+utterly, miserably.”
+
+I turned aside as the door opened and Dr. Rolleston came in.
+
+“Ah, gentlemen,” he said, “I wanted to see you before leaving. I have
+just been to visit Madame de Stämer again.”
+
+“Yes,” said Harley, eagerly; “how is she?”
+
+Dr. Rolleston lighted a cigarette, frowning perplexedly the while.
+
+“To be honest,” he replied, “her condition puzzles me.”
+
+He walked across to the fireplace and dropped the match, staring at
+Harley with a curious expression.
+
+“Has any one told her the truth?” he asked.
+
+“You mean that Colonel Menendez is dead?”
+
+“Yes,” replied Dr. Rolleston. “I understood that no one had told her?”
+
+“No one has done so to my knowledge,” said Harley.
+
+“Then the sympathy between them must have been very acute,” murmured the
+physician, “for she certainly knows!”
+
+“Do you really think she knows?” I asked.
+
+“I am certain of it. She must have had knowledge of a danger to be
+apprehended, and being awakened by the sound of the rifle shot, have
+realized by a sort of intuition that the expected tragedy had happened.
+I should say, from the presence of a small bruise which I found upon her
+forehead, that she had actually walked out into the corridor.”
+
+“Walked?” I cried.
+
+“Yes,” said the physician. “She is a shell-shock case, of course, and we
+sometimes find that a second shock counteracts the effect of the first.
+This, temporarily at any rate, seems to have happened to-night. She
+is now in a very curious state: a form of hysteria, no doubt, but very
+curious all the same.”
+
+“Miss Beverley is with her?” I asked.
+
+Dr. Rolleston nodded affirmatively.
+
+“Yes, a very capable nurse. I am glad to know that Madame de Stämer is
+in such good hands. I am calling again early in the morning, and I have
+told Mrs. Fisher to see that nothing is said within hearing of the room
+which could enable Madame de Stämer to obtain confirmation of the idea,
+which she evidently entertains, that Colonel Menendez is dead.”
+
+“Does she actually assert that he is dead?” asked Harley.
+
+“My dear sir,” replied Dr. Rolleston, “she asserts nothing. She sits
+there like Niobe changed to stone, staring straight before her. She
+seems to be unaware of the presence of everyone except Miss Beverley.
+The only words she has spoken since recovering consciousness have been,
+‘Don’t leave me!’”
+
+“Hm,” muttered Harley. “You have not attended Madame de Stämer before,
+doctor?”
+
+“No,” was the reply, “this is the first time I have entered Cray’s Folly
+since it was occupied by Sir James Appleton.”
+
+He was about to take his departure when the door opened and Inspector
+Aylesbury walked in.
+
+“Ah,” said he, “I have two more witnesses to interview: Madame de Stämer
+and Miss Beverley. From these witnesses I hope to get particulars of
+the dead man’s life which may throw some light upon the identity of his
+murderer.”
+
+“It is impossible to see either of them at present,” replied Dr.
+Rolleston briskly.
+
+“What’s that, doctor?” asked the Inspector. “Are they hysterical, or
+something?”
+
+“As a result of the shock, Madame de Stämer is dangerously ill,” replied
+the physician, “and Miss Beverley is remaining with her.”
+
+“Oh, I see. But Miss Beverley could come out for a few minutes?”
+
+“She could,” admitted the physician, sharply, “but I don’t wish her to
+do so.”
+
+“Oh, but the law must be served, doctor.”
+
+“Quite so, but not at the expense of my patient’s reason.”
+
+He was a resolute man, this country practitioner, and I saw Harley
+smiling in grim approval.
+
+“I have expressed my opinion,” he said, finally, walking out of the
+room; “I shall leave the responsibility to you, Inspector Aylesbury.
+Good morning, gentlemen.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+
+“That’s awkward,” he muttered. “The evidence of this woman is highly
+important.”
+
+He turned toward us, doubtingly, whereupon Harley stood up, yawning.
+
+“If I can be of any further assistance to you, Inspector,” said my
+friend, “command me. Otherwise, I feel sure you will appreciate the
+fact that both Mr. Knox and myself are extremely tired, and have passed
+through a very trying ordeal.”
+
+“Yes,” replied Inspector Aylesbury, “that’s all very well, but I find
+myself at a deadlock.”
+
+“You surprise me,” declared Harley.
+
+“I can see nothing to be surprised about,” cried the Inspector. “When I
+was called in it was already too late.”
+
+“Most unfortunate,” murmured Harley, disagreeably. “Come along, Knox,
+you look tired to death.”
+
+“One moment, gentlemen,” the Inspector insisted, as I stood up. “One
+moment. There is a little point which you may be able to clear up.”
+
+Harley paused, his hand on the door knob, and turned.
+
+“The point is this,” continued the Inspector, frowning portentously and
+lowering his chin so that it almost disappeared into the folds of his
+neck, “I have now interviewed all the inmates of Cray’s Folly except the
+ladies. It appears to me that four people had not gone to bed. There are
+you two gentlemen, who have explained why I found you in evening dress,
+Colonel Menendez, who can never explain, and there is one other.”
+
+He paused, looking from Harley to myself.
+
+It had come, the question which I had dreaded, the question which I had
+been asking myself ever since I had seen Val Beverley kneeling in the
+corridor, dressed as she had been when we had parted for the night.
+
+“I refer to Miss Val Beverley,” the police-court voice proceeded. “This
+lady had evidently not retired, and neither, it would appear, had the
+Colonel.”
+
+“Neither had I,” murmured Harley, “and neither had Mr. Knox.”
+
+“Your reason I understand,” said the Inspector, “or at least your
+explanation is a possible one. But if the party broke up, as you say it
+did, somewhere about half-past ten o’clock, and if Madame de Stämer
+had gone to bed, why should Miss Beverley have remained up?” He paused
+significantly. “As well as Colonel Menendez?” he added.
+
+“Look here, Inspector Aylesbury,” I interrupted, I speaking in a very
+quiet tone, I remember, “your insinuations annoy me.”
+
+“Oh,” said he, turning his prominent eyes in my direction, “I see. They
+annoy you? If they annoy you, sir, perhaps you can explain this point
+which is puzzling me?”
+
+“I cannot explain it, but doubtless Miss Beverley can do so when you ask
+her.”
+
+“I should like to have asked her now, and I can’t make out why she
+refuses to see me.”
+
+“She has not refused to see you,” replied Harley, smoothly. “She is
+probably unaware of the fact that you wish to see her.”
+
+“I don’t know so much,” muttered the Inspector. “In my opinion I am
+being deliberately baffled on all sides. You can throw no light on this
+matter, then?”
+
+“None,” I answered, shortly, and Paul Harley shook his head.
+
+“But you must remember, Inspector,” he explained, “that the entire
+household was in a state of unrest.”
+
+“In other words, everybody was waiting for this very thing to happen?”
+
+“Consciously, or subconsciously, everybody was.”
+
+“What do you mean by consciously or subconsciously?”
+
+ “I mean that those of us who were aware of the previous attempts on
+the life of the Colonel apprehended this danger. And I believe that
+something of this apprehension had extended even to the servants.”
+
+ “Oh, to the servants? Now, I have seen all the servants, except the
+chef, who lives at a house on the outskirts of Mid-Hatton, as you may
+know. Can you give me any information about this man?”
+
+“I have seen him,” replied Harley, “and have congratulated him upon his
+culinary art. His name, I believe, is Deronne. He is a Spaniard, and a
+little fat man. Quite an amiable creature,” he added.
+
+“Hm.” The Inspector cleared his throat noisily.
+
+“If that is all,” said Harley, “I should welcome an opportunity of a few
+hours’ sleep.”
+
+“Oh,” said the Inspector. “Well, I suppose that is quite natural, but I
+shall probably have a lot more questions to ask you later.”
+
+“Quite,” muttered Harley, “quite. Come on, Knox. Good-night, Inspector
+Aylesbury.”
+
+“Good-night.”
+
+Harley walked out of the dining room and across the deserted hall. He
+slowly mounted the stairs and I followed him into his room. It was now
+quite light, and as my friend dropped down upon the bed I thought that
+he looked very tired and haggard.
+
+“Knox,” he said, “shut the door.”
+
+I closed the door and turned to him.
+
+“You heard that question about Miss Beverley?” I began.
+
+“I heard it, and I am wondering what her answer will be when the
+Inspector puts it to her personally.”
+
+“Surely it is obvious?” I cried. “A cloud of apprehension had settled on
+the house last night, Harley, which was like the darkness of Egypt. The
+poor girl was afraid to go to bed. She was probably sitting up reading.”
+
+“Hm,” said Harley, drumming his feet upon the carpet. “Of course you
+realize that there is one person in Cray’s Folly who holds the clue to
+the heart of the mystery?”
+
+“Madame de Stämer?”
+
+He nodded grimly.
+
+“When the rifle cracked out, Knox, she knew! Remember, no one had told
+her the truth. Yet can you doubt that she knows?”
+
+“I don’t doubt it.”
+
+“Neither do I.” He clenched his teeth tightly and beat his fists upon
+the coverlet. “I was dreading that our friend the Inspector would ask a
+question which to my mind was very obvious.”
+
+“You mean?--”
+
+“Well, what investigator whose skull contained anything more useful than
+bubbles would have failed to ask if Colonel Menendez had an enemy in the
+neighbourhood?”
+
+“No one,” I admitted; “but I fear the poor man is sadly out of his
+depth.”
+
+“He is wading hopelessly, Knox, but even he cannot fail to learn about
+Camber to-morrow.”
+
+He stared at me in a curiously significant manner.
+
+“Do you mean, Harley,” I began, “that you really think----”
+
+“My dear Knox,” he interrupted, “forgetting, if you like, all that
+preceded the tragedy, with what facts are we left? That Colonel
+Menendez, at the moment when the bullet entered his brain, must have
+been standing facing directly toward the Guest House. Now, you have seen
+the direction of the wound?”
+
+“He was shot squarely between the eyes. A piece of wonderful
+marksmanship.”
+
+“Quite,” Harley nodded his head. “But the bullet came out just at the
+vertex of the spine.”
+
+He paused, as if waiting for some comment, and:
+
+“You mean that the shot came from above?” I said, slowly.
+
+“Obviously it came from above, Knox. Keep these two points in your mind,
+and then consider the fact that someone lighted a lamp in the Guest
+House only a few moments after the shot had been fired.”
+
+“I remember. I saw it.”
+
+“So did I,” said Harley, grimly, “and I saw something else.”
+
+“What was that?”
+
+“When you went off to summon assistance I ran across the lawn, scrambled
+through the bushes, and succeeded in climbing down into the little gully
+in which the stream runs, and up on the other side. I had proceeded
+practically in a straight line from the sun-dial, and do you know where
+I found myself?”
+
+“I can guess,” I replied.
+
+“Of course you can. You have visited the place. I came out immediately
+beside a little hut, Knox, which stands at the end of the garden of
+the Guest House. Ahead of me, visible through a tangle of bushes in the
+neglected garden, a lamp was burning. I crept cautiously forward,
+and presently obtained a view of the interior of a kitchen. Just as
+I arrived at this point of vantage the lamp was extinguished, but not
+before I had had a glimpse of the only occupant of the room--the man who
+had extinguished the lamp.”
+
+“Who was it?” I asked, in a low voice.
+
+“It was a Chinaman.”
+
+“Ah Tsong!” I cried.
+
+“Doubtless.”
+
+“Good heavens, Harley, do you think--”
+
+“I don’t know what to think, Knox. A possible explanation is that the
+household had been aroused by the sound of the shot, and that Ah Tsong
+had been directed to go out and see if he could learn what had happened.
+At any rate, I waited no longer, but returned by the same route. If our
+portly friend from Market Hilton had possessed the eyes of an Auguste
+Dupin, he could not have failed to note that my dress boots were caked
+with light yellow clay; which also, by the way, besmears my trousers.”
+
+He stooped and examined the garments as he spoke.
+
+“A number of thorns are also present,” he continued. “In short, from the
+point of view of an investigation, I am a most provoking object.”
+
+He sighed wearily, and stared out of the window in the direction of
+the Tudor garden. There was a slight chilliness in the air, which, or
+perhaps a sudden memory of that which lay in the billiard room beneath
+us, may have accounted for the fact that I shivered violently.
+
+Harley glanced up with a rather sad smile.
+
+“The morning after Waterloo,” he said. “Sleep well, Knox.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A SPANISH CIGARETTE
+
+
+
+Sleep was not for me, despite Harley’s injunction, and although I was
+early afoot, the big house was already astir with significant movements
+which set the imagination on fire, to conjure up again the moonlight
+scene in the garden, making mock of the song of the birds and of the
+glory of the morning.
+
+Manoel replied to my ring, and prepared my bath, but it was easy to see
+that he had not slept.
+
+No sound came from Harley’s room, therefore I did not disturb him, but
+proceeded downstairs in the hope of finding Miss Beverley about. Pedro
+was in the hall, talking to Mrs. Fisher, and:
+
+“Is Inspector Aylesbury here?” I asked.
+
+“No, sir, but he will be returning at about half-past eight, so he
+said.”
+
+“How is Madame de Stämer, Mrs. Fisher?” I enquired.
+
+“Oh, poor, poor Madame,” said the old lady, “she is asleep, thank God.
+But I am dreading her awakening.”
+
+“The blow is a dreadful one,” I admitted; “and Miss Beverley?”
+
+“She didn’t go to her room until after four o’clock, sir, but Nita tells
+me that she will be down any moment now.”
+
+“Ah,” said I, and lighting a cigarette, I walked out of the open doors
+into the courtyard.
+
+I dreaded all the ghastly official formalities which the day would
+bring, since I realized that the brunt of the trouble must fall upon the
+shoulders of Miss Beverley in the absence of Madame de Stämer.
+
+I wandered about restlessly, awaiting the girl’s appearance. A little
+two seater was drawn up in the courtyard, but I had not paid much
+attention to it, until, wandering through the opening in the box hedge
+and on along the gravel path, I saw unfamiliar figures moving in the
+billiard room, and turned, hastily retracing my steps. Officialdom was
+at work already, and I knew that there would be no rest for any of us
+from that hour onward.
+
+As I reëntered the hall I saw Val Beverley coming down the staircase.
+She looked pale, but seemed to be in better spirits than I could have
+hoped for, although there were dark shadows under her eyes.
+
+“Good morning, Miss Beverley,” I said.
+
+“Good morning, Mr. Knox. It was good of you to come down so early.”
+
+“I had hoped for a chat with you before Inspector Aylesbury returned,” I
+explained.
+
+She looked at me pathetically.
+
+“I suppose he will want me to give evidence?”
+
+“He will. We had great difficulty in persuading him not to demand your
+presence last night.”
+
+“It was impossible,” she protested. “It would have been cruel to make me
+leave Madame in the circumstances.”
+
+“We realized this, Miss Beverley, but you will have to face the ordeal
+this morning.”
+
+We walked through into the library, where a maid white-faced and
+frightened looking, was dusting in a desultory fashion. She went out as
+we entered, and Val Beverley stood looking from the open window out into
+the rose garden bathed in the morning sunlight.
+
+“Oh, Heavens,” she said, clenching her hands desperately, “even now I
+cannot realize that the horrible thing is true.” She turned to me. “Who
+can possibly have committed this cold-blooded crime?” she said in a low
+voice. “What does Mr. Harley think? Has he any idea, any idea whatever?”
+
+“Not that he has confided to me,” I said, watching her intently. “But
+tell me, does Madame de Stämer know yet?”
+
+“What do you mean?”
+
+“I mean has she been told the truth?”
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+“No,” she replied; “I am positive that no one has told her. I was with
+her all the time, up to the very moment that she fell asleep. Yet--”
+
+She hesitated.
+
+“Yes?”
+
+“She knows! Oh, Mr. Knox! to me that is the most horrible thing of all:
+that she knows, that she must have known all along--that the mere sound
+of the shot told her everything!”
+
+“You realize, now,” I said, quietly, “that she had anticipated the end?”
+
+“Yes, yes. This was the meaning of the sorrow which I had seen so often
+in her eyes, the meaning of so much that puzzled me in her words, the
+explanation of lots of little things which have made me wonder in the
+past.”
+
+I was silent for a while, then:
+
+“If she was so certain that no one could save him,” I said, “she must
+have had information which neither he nor she ever imparted to us.”
+
+“I am sure she had,” declared Val Beverley.
+
+“But can you think of any reason why she should not have confided in
+Paul Harley?”
+
+“I cannot, I cannot--unless--”
+
+“Yes?”
+
+“Unless, Mr. Knox,” she looked at me strangely, “they were both under
+some vow of silence. Oh! it sounds ridiculous, wildly ridiculous, but
+what other explanation can there be?”
+
+“What other, indeed? And now, Miss Beverley, I know one of the questions
+Inspector Aylesbury will ask you.”
+
+“What is it?”
+
+“He has learned, from one of the servants I presume, as he did not see
+you, that you had not retired last night at the time of the tragedy.”
+
+“I had not,” said Val Beverley, quietly. “Is that so singular?”
+
+“To me it is no more than natural.”
+
+“I have never been so frightened in all my life as I was last night.
+Sleep was utterly out of the question. There was mystery in the very
+air. I knew, oh, Mr. Knox, in some way I knew that a tragedy was going
+to happen.”
+
+“I believe I knew, too,” I said. “Good God, to think that we might have
+saved him!”
+
+“Do you think--” began Val Beverley, and then paused.
+
+“Yes?” I prompted.
+
+“Oh, I was going to say a strange thing that suddenly occurred to me,
+but it is utterly foolish, I suppose. Inspector Aylesbury is coming back
+at nine o’clock, is he not?”
+
+“At half-past eight, so I understand.”
+
+“I am afraid I have very little to tell him. I was sitting in my room
+in an appalling state of nerves when the shot was fired. I was not even
+reading; I was just waiting, waiting, for something to happen.”
+
+“I understand. My own experience was nearly identical.”
+
+“Then,” continued the girl, “as I unlocked my door and peeped out,
+feeling too frightened to venture farther in the darkness, I heard
+Madame’s voice in the hall below.”
+
+“Crying for help?”
+
+“No,” replied the girl, a puzzled frown appearing between her brows.
+“She cried out something in French. The intonation told me that it was
+French, although I could not detect a single word. Then I thought I
+heard a moan.”
+
+“And you ran down?”
+
+“Yes. I summoned up enough courage to turn on the light in the corridor
+and to run down to the hall. And there she was lying just outside the
+door of her room.”
+
+“Was her room in darkness?”
+
+“Yes. I turned on the light and succeeded in partly raising her, but
+she was too heavy for me to lift. I was still trying to revive her when
+Pedro opened the door of the servants’ quarters. Oh,” she closed her
+eyes wearily, “I shall never forget it.”
+
+I took her hand and pressed it reassuringly.
+
+“Your courage has been wonderful throughout,” I declared, “and I hope it
+will remain so to the end.”
+
+She smiled, and flushed slightly, as I released her hand again.
+
+“I must go and take a peep at Madame now,” she said, “but of course I
+shall not disturb her if she is still sleeping.”
+
+We turned and walked slowly back to the hall, and there just entering
+from the courtyard was Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+“Ah!” he exclaimed, “good morning, Mr. Knox. This is Miss Beverley, I
+presume?”
+
+“Yes, Inspector,” replied the girl. “I understand that you wish to speak
+to me?”
+
+“I do, Miss, but I shall not detain you for many minutes.”
+
+“Very well,” she said, and as she turned and retraced her steps, he
+followed her back into the library.
+
+I walked out to the courtyard, and avoiding the Tudor garden and the
+billiard room, turned in the other direction, passing the stables where
+Jim, the negro groom, saluted me very sadly, and proceeded round to the
+south side of the house.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury, I perceived, had wasted no time. I counted no
+fewer than four men, two of them in uniform, searching the lawns and the
+slopes beyond, although what they were looking for I could not imagine.
+
+Giving the library a wide berth, I walked along the second terrace,
+and presently came in sight of the east wing and the tower. There,
+apparently engaged in studying the rhododendrons, I saw Paul Harley.
+
+He signalled to me, and, crossing the lawn, I joined him where he stood.
+
+Without any word of greeting:
+
+“You see, Knox,” he said, speaking in the eager manner which betokened
+a rapidly working brain, “this is the path which the Colonel must have
+followed last night. Yonder is the door by which, according to his own
+account, he came out on a previous occasion, walking in his sleep. Do
+you remember?”
+
+“I remember,” I replied.
+
+“Well, Pedro found it unlocked this morning. You see it faces
+practically due south, and the Colonel’s bedroom is immediately above us
+where we stand.” He stared at me queerly. “I must have passed this door
+last night only a few moments before the Colonel came out, for I was
+just crossing the courtyard and could see you at my window at the moment
+when you saw poor Menendez enter the Tudor garden. He must have actually
+been walking around the east wing at the same time that I was walking
+around the west. Now, I am going to show you something, Knox, something
+which I have just discovered.”
+
+From his waistcoat pocket he took out a half-smoked cigarette. I stared
+at it uncomprehendingly.
+
+“Of course,” he continued, “the weather has been bone dry for more than
+a week now, and it may have lain there for a long time, but to me, Knox,
+to me it looks suspiciously fresh.”
+
+“What is the point?” I asked, perplexedly.
+
+“The point is that it is a hand-made cigarette, one of the Colonel’s.
+Don’t you recognize it?”
+
+“Good heavens!” I said; “yes, of course it is.”
+
+He returned it to his pocket without another word.
+
+“It may mean nothing,” he murmured, “or it may mean everything. And now,
+Knox, we are going to escape.”
+
+“To escape?” I cried.
+
+“Precisely. We are going to anticipate the probable movements of our
+blundering Aylesbury. In short, I wish you to present me to Mr. Colin
+Camber.”
+
+“What?” I exclaimed, staring at him incredulously.
+
+“I am going to ask you,” he began, and then, breaking off: “Quick, Knox,
+run!” he said.
+
+And thereupon, to my amazement, he set off through the rhododendron
+bushes in the direction of the tower!
+
+Utterly unable to grasp the meaning of his behaviour, I followed,
+nevertheless, and as we rounded the corner of the tower Harley pulled up
+short, and:
+
+“I am not mad,” he explained rather breathlessly, “but I wanted to avoid
+being seen by that constable who is prowling about at the bottom of the
+lawn making signals in the direction of the library. Presumably he is
+replying to Inspector Aylesbury who wants to talk to us. I am determined
+to interview Camber before submitting to further official interrogation.
+It must be a cross-country journey, Knox. I am afraid we shall be a
+very muddy pair, but great issues may hang upon the success of our
+expedition.”
+
+He set off briskly toward a belt of shrubbery which marked the edge of
+the little stream. Appreciating something of his intentions, I followed
+his lead unquestioningly; and, scrambling through the bushes:
+
+“This was the point at which I descended last night,” he said. “You will
+have to wade, Knox, but the water is hardly above one’s ankles.”
+
+He dropped into the brook, waded across, and began to climb up the
+opposite bank. I imitated his movements, and presently, having scrambled
+up on the farther side, we found ourselves standing on a narrow bank
+immediately under that summer house which Colin Camber had told me he
+had formerly used as a study.
+
+“We can scarcely present ourselves at the kitchen door,” murmured
+Harley; “therefore we must try to find a way round to the front. There
+is barbed wire here. Be careful.”
+
+I had now entered with zest into the business, and so the pair of us
+waded through rank grass which in places was waist high, and on through
+a perfect wilderness of weeds in which nettles dominated. Presently we
+came to a dry ditch, which we negotiated successfully, to find ourselves
+upon the high road some hundred yards to the west of the Guest House.
+
+“I predict an unfriendly reception,” I said, panting from my exertions,
+and surveying my friend, who was a mockery of his ordinarily spruce
+self.
+
+“We must face it,” he replied, grimly. “He has everything to gain by
+being civil to us.”
+
+We proceeded along the dusty high road, almost overarched by trees.
+
+“Harley,” I said, “this is going to be a highly unpleasant ordeal for
+me.”
+
+Harley stopped short, staring at me sternly.
+
+“I know, Knox,” he replied; “but I suppose you realize that a man’s life
+is at stake.”
+
+“You mean--?”
+
+“I mean that when we are both compelled to tell all we know, I doubt if
+there is a counsel in the land who would undertake the defence of Mr.
+Colin Camber.”
+
+“Good God! then you think he is guilty?”
+
+“Did I say so?” asked Harley, continuing on his way. “I don’t recollect
+saying so, Knox; but I do say that it will be a giant’s task to prove
+him innocent.”
+
+“Then you believe him to be innocent?” I cried, eagerly.
+
+“My dear fellow,” he replied, somewhat irritably, “I have not yet met
+Mr. Colin Camber. I will answer your question at the conclusion of the
+interview.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE WING OF A BAT
+
+
+
+For a long time our knocking and ringing elicited no response. The
+brilliant state of the door-brass afforded evidence of the fact that Ah
+Tsong had arisen, even if the other members of the household were still
+sleeping, and Harley, growing irritable, executed a loud tattoo upon the
+knocker. This had its effect. The door opened and Ah Tsong looked out.
+
+“Tell your master that Mr. Paul Harley has called to see him upon urgent
+business.”
+
+“Master no got,” replied Ah Tsong, and proceeded to close the door.
+
+Paul Harley thrust his hand against it and addressed the man rapidly
+in Chinese. I could not have supposed the face of Ah Tsong capable of
+expressing so much animation. At the sound of his native tongue his eyes
+lighted up, and:
+
+“_Tchée, tchée,_” he said, turned, and disappeared.
+
+Although he had studiously avoided looking at me, that Ah Tsong would
+inform his master of the identity of his second visitor I did not doubt.
+If I had doubted I should promptly have been disillusioned, for:
+
+“Tell them to go away!” came a muffled cry from somewhere within. “No
+spy of Devil Menendez shall ever pass my doors again!”
+
+The Chinaman, on retiring, had left the door wide open, and I could see
+right to the end of the gloomy hall. Ah Tsong presently re-appeared,
+shuffling along in our direction. Unemotionally:
+
+“Master no got,” he repeated.
+
+Paul Harley stamped his foot irritably.
+
+“Good God, Knox,” he said, “this unreasonable fool almost exhausts my
+patience.”
+
+Again he addressed Ah Tsong in Chinese, and although the man’s wrinkled
+ivory face exhibited no trace of emotion, a deep understanding was to
+be read in those oblique eyes; and a second time Ah Tsong turned and
+trotted back to the study. I could hear a muttered colloquy in progress,
+and suddenly the gaunt figure of Colin Camber burst into view.
+
+He was shaved this morning, but arrayed as I had last seen him. Whilst
+he was not in that state of incoherent anger which I remembered and
+still resented, he was nevertheless in an evil temper.
+
+He strode along the hallway, his large eyes widely opened, and fixing a
+cold stare upon the face of Harley.
+
+“I learn that your name is Mr. Paul Harley,” he said, entirely ignoring
+my presence, “and you send me a very strange message. I am used to the
+ways of Señor Menendez, therefore your message does not deceive me. The
+gateway, sir, is directly behind you.”
+
+Harley clenched his teeth, then:
+
+“The scaffold, Mr. Camber,” he replied, “is directly in front of you.”
+
+“What do you mean, sir?” demanded the other, and despite my resentment
+of the treatment which I had received at his hands, I could only admire
+the lofty disdain of his manner.
+
+“I mean, Mr. Camber, that the police are close upon my heels.”
+
+“The police? Of what interest can this be to me?”
+
+Harley’s keen eyes were searching the pale face of the man before him.
+
+“Mr. Camber,” he said, “the shot was a good one.”
+
+Not a muscle of Colin Camber’s face moved, but slowly he looked Paul
+Harley up and down, then:
+
+“I have been called a hasty man,” he replied, coldly, “but I can
+scarcely be accused of leaping to a conclusion when I say that I believe
+you to be mad. You have interrupted me, sir. Good morning.”
+
+He stepped back, and would have closed the door, but:
+
+“Mr. Camber,” said Paul Harley, and the tone of his voice was arresting.
+
+Colin Camber paused.
+
+“My name is evidently unfamiliar to you,” Harley continued. “You regard
+myself and Mr. Knox as friends of the late Colonel Menendez--”
+
+At that Colin Camber started forward.
+
+“The _late_ Colonel Menendez?” he echoed, speaking almost in a whisper.
+
+But as if he had not heard him Harley continued:
+
+“As a matter of fact, I am a criminal investigator, and Mr. Knox is
+assisting me in my present case.”
+
+Colin Camber clenched his hands and seemed to be fighting with some
+emotion which possessed him, then:
+
+“Do you mean,” he said, hoarsely--“do you mean that Menendez is--dead?”
+
+“I do,” replied Harley. “May I request the privilege of ten minutes’
+private conversation with you?”
+
+Colin Camber stood aside, holding the door open, and inclining his head
+in that grave salutation which I knew, but on this occasion, I think,
+principally with intent to hide his emotion.
+
+Not another word did he speak until the three of us stood in the strange
+study where East grimaced at West, and emblems of remote devil-worship
+jostled the cross of the Holy Rose. The place was laden with tobacco
+smoke, and scattered on the carpet about the feet of the writing table
+lay twenty or more pages of closely written manuscript. Although this
+was a brilliant summer’s morning, an old-fashioned reading lamp, called,
+I believe, a Victoria, having a nickel receptacle for oil at one side of
+the standard and a burner with a green glass shade upon the other, still
+shed its light upon the desk. It was only reasonable to suppose that
+Colin Camber had been at work all night.
+
+He placed chairs for us, clearing them of the open volumes which they
+bore, and, seating himself at the desk:
+
+“Mr. Knox,” he began, slowly, paused, and then stood up, “I accused you
+of something when you last visited my house, something of which I would
+not lightly accuse any man. If I was wrong, I wish to apologize.”
+
+“Only a matter of the utmost urgency could have induced me to cross
+your threshold again,” I replied, coldly. “Your behaviour, sir, was
+inexcusable.”
+
+He rested his long white hands upon the desk, looking across at me.
+
+“Whatever I did and whatever I said,” he continued, “one insult I laid
+upon you more deadly than the rest: I accused you of friendship with
+Juan Menendez. Was I unjust?”
+
+He paused for a moment.
+
+“I had been retained professionally by Colonel Menendez,” replied Harley
+without hesitation, “and Mr. Knox kindly consented to accompany me.”
+
+Colin Camber looked very hard at the speaker, and then equally hard at
+me.
+
+“Was it at behest of Colonel Menendez that you called upon me, Mr.
+Knox?”
+
+“It was not,” said Harley, tersely; “it was at mine. And he is here now
+at my request. Come, sir, we are wasting time. At any moment--”
+
+Colin Camber held up his hand, interrupting him.
+
+“By your leave, Mr. Harley,” he said, and there was something compelling
+in voice and gesture, “I must first perform my duty as a gentleman.”
+
+He stepped forward in my direction.
+
+“Mr. Knox, I have grossly insulted you. Yet if you knew what had
+inspired my behaviour I believe you could find it in your heart to
+forgive me. I do not ask you to do so, however; I accept the humiliation
+of knowing that I have mortally offended a guest.”
+
+He bowed to me formally, and would have returned to his seat, but:
+
+“Pray say no more,” I said, standing up and extending my hand. Indeed,
+so impressive was the man’s strange personality that I felt rather as
+one receiving a royal pardon than as an offended party being offered an
+apology. “It was a misunderstanding. Let us forget it.”
+
+His eyes gleamed, and he seized my hand in a warm grip.
+
+“You are generous, Mr. Knox, you are generous. And now, sir,” he
+inclined his head in Paul Harley’s direction, and resumed his seat.
+
+Harley had suffered this odd little interlude in silence but now:
+
+“Mr. Camber,” he said, rapidly, “I sent you a message by your Chinese
+servant to the effect that the police would be here within ten minutes
+to arrest you.”
+
+“You did, sir,” replied Colin Camber, drawing toward him a piece of
+newspaper upon which rested a dwindling mound of shag. “This is most
+disturbing, of course. But since I have not rendered myself amenable to
+the law, it leaves me moderately unmoved. Upon your second point, Mr.
+Harley, I shall beg you, to enlarge. You tell me that Don Juan Menendez
+is dead?”
+
+He had begun to fill his corn-cob as he spoke the words, but from where
+I sat I could just see his face, so that although his voice was well
+controlled, the gleam in his eyes was unmistakable.
+
+“He was shot through the head shortly after midnight.”
+
+“What?”
+
+Colin Camber dropped the corn-cob and stood up again, the light of a
+dawning comprehension in his eyes.
+
+“Do you mean that he was murdered?”
+
+“I do.”
+
+“Good God,” whispered Camber, “at last I understand.”
+
+“That is why we are here, Mr. Camber, and that is why the police will be
+here at any moment.”
+
+Colin Camber stood erect, one hand resting upon the desk.
+
+“So this was the meaning of the shot which we heard in the night,” he
+said, slowly.
+
+Crossing the room, he closed and locked the study door, then, returning,
+he sat down once more, entirely, master of himself. Frowning slightly he
+looked from Harley in my direction, and then back again at Harley.
+
+“Gentlemen,” he resumed, “I appreciate the urgency of my danger.
+Preposterous though I know it to be, nevertheless it is perhaps no more
+than natural that suspicion should fall upon me.”
+
+He was evidently thinking rapidly. His manner had grown quite cool, and
+I could see that he had focussed his keen brain upon the abyss which he
+perceived to lie in his path.
+
+“Before I commit myself to any statements which might be used as
+evidence,” he said, “doubtless, Mr. Harley, you will inform me of your
+exact standpoint in this matter. Do you represent the late Colonel
+Menendez, do you represent the law, or may I regard you as a perfectly
+impartial enquirer?”
+
+“You may regard me, Mr. Camber, as one to whom nothing but the truth is
+of the slightest interest. I was requested by the late Colonel Menendez
+to visit Cray’s Folly.”
+
+“Professionally?”
+
+“To endeavour to trace the origin of certain occurrences which had led
+him to believe his life to be in danger.”
+
+Harley paused, staring hard at Colin Camber.
+
+“Since I recognize myself to be standing in the position of a suspect,”
+ said the latter, “it is perhaps unfair to request you to acquaint me
+with the nature of these occurrences?”
+
+“The one, sir,” replied Paul Harley, “which most intimately concerns
+yourself is this: Almost exactly a month ago the wing of a bat was
+nailed to the door of Cray’s Folly.”
+
+“What?” exclaimed Colin Camber, leaning forward eagerly--“the wing of a
+bat? What kind of bat?”
+
+“Of a South American Vampire Bat.”
+
+The effect of those words was curious. If any doubt respecting Camber’s
+innocence had remained with me at this time I think his expression as he
+leaned forward across the desk must certainly have removed it. That the
+man was intellectually unusual, and intensely difficult to understand,
+must have been apparent to the most superficial observer, but I found it
+hard to believe that these moods of his were simulated. At the words “A
+South American Vampire Bat” the enthusiasm of the specialist leapt into
+his eyes. Personal danger was forgotten. Harley had trenched upon his
+particular territory, and I knew that if Colin Camber had actually
+killed Colonel Menendez, then it had been the act of a maniac. No man
+newly come from so bloody a deed could have acted as Camber acted now.
+
+“It is the death-sign of Voodoo!” he exclaimed, excitedly.
+
+Yet again he arose, and crossing to one of the many cabinets which were
+in the room, he pulled open a drawer and took out a shallow tray.
+
+My friend was watching him intently, and from the expression upon his
+bronzed face I could deduce the fact that in Colin Camber he had met
+the supreme puzzle of his career. As Camber stood there, holding up an
+object which he had taken from the tray, whilst Paul Harley sat staring
+at him, I thought the scene was one transcending the grotesque. Here was
+the suspected man triumphantly producing evidence to hang himself.
+
+Between his finger and thumb Camber held the wing of a bat!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+COLIN CAMBER’S SECRET
+
+
+
+“I brought this bat wing from Haiti,” he explained, replacing it in the
+tray. “It was found beneath the pillow of a negro missionary who had
+died mysteriously during the night.”
+
+He returned the tray to the drawer, closed the latter, and, standing
+erect, raised clenched hands above his head.
+
+“With no thought of blasphemy,” he said, “but with reverence, I thank
+God from the bottom of my heart that Juan Menendez is dead.”
+
+He reseated himself, whilst Harley regarded him silently, then:
+
+“‘The evil that men do lives after them,’” he murmured. He rested his
+chin upon his hand. “A bat wing,” he continued, musingly, “a bat wing
+was nailed to Menendez’s door.” He stared across at Harley. “Am I to
+believe, sir, that this was the clue which led you to the Guest House?”
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+“It was.”
+
+“I understand. I must therefore take no more excursions into my special
+subject, but must endeavour to regard the matter from the point of view
+of the enquiry. Am I to assume that Menendez was acquainted with the
+significance of this token?”
+
+“He had seen it employed in the West Indies.”
+
+“Ah, the black-hearted devil! But I fear I am involving myself more
+deeply in suspicion. Perhaps, Mr. Harley, the ends of justice would be
+better served if you were to question me, and I to confine myself to
+answering you.”
+
+“Very well,” Harley agreed: “when and where did you meet the late
+Colonel Menendez?”
+
+“I never met him in my life.”
+
+“Do you mean that you had never spoken to him?”
+
+“Never.”
+
+“Hm. Tell me, Mr. Camber, where were you at twelve o’clock last night?”
+
+“Here, writing.”
+
+“And where was Ah Tsong?”
+
+“Ah Tsong?” Colin Camber stared uncomprehendingly. “Ah Tsong was in
+bed.”
+
+“Oh. Did anything disturb you?”
+
+“Yes, the sound of a rifle shot.”
+
+“You knew it for a rifle shot?”
+
+“It was unmistakable.”
+
+“What did you do?”
+
+“I was in the midst of a most important passage, and I should probably
+have taken no steps in the matter but that Ah Tsong knocked upon the
+study door, to inform me that my wife had been awakened by the sound of
+the shot. She is somewhat nervous and had rung for Ah Tsong, asking him
+to see if all were well with me.”
+
+“Do I understand that she imagined the sound to have come from this
+room?”
+
+“When we are newly awakened from sleep, Mr. Harley, we retain only an
+imperfect impression of that which awakened us.”
+
+“True,” replied Paul Harley; “and did Ah Tsong return to his room?”
+
+“Not immediately. Permit me to say, Mr. Harley, that the nature of your
+questions surprises me. At the moment I fail to see their bearing upon
+the main issue. He returned and reported to my wife that I was writing,
+and she then requested him to bring her a glass of milk. Accordingly, he
+came down again, and going out into the kitchen, executed this order.”
+
+“Ah. He would have to light a candle for that purpose, I suppose?”
+
+“A candle, or a lamp,” replied Colin Camber, staring at Paul Harley.
+Then, his expression altering: “Of course!” he cried. “You saw the light
+from Cray’s Folly? I understand at last.”
+
+We were silent for a while, until:
+
+“How long a time elapsed between the firing of the shot and Ah Tsong’s
+knocking at the study door?” asked Harley.
+
+“I could not answer definitely. I was absorbed in my work. But probably
+only a minute or two.”
+
+“Was the sound a loud one?”
+
+“Fairly loud. And very startling, of course, in the silence of the
+night.”
+
+“The shot, then, was fired from somewhere quite near the house?”
+
+“I presume so.”
+
+“But you thought no more about the matter?”
+
+“Frankly, I had forgotten it. You see, the neighbourhood is rich with
+game; it might have been a poacher.”
+
+“Quite,” murmured Harley, but his face was very stern. “I wonder if you
+fully realize the danger of your position, Mr. Camber?”
+
+“Believe me,” was the reply, “I can anticipate almost every question
+which I shall be called upon to answer.”
+
+Paul Harley stared at him in a way which told me that he was comparing
+his features line for line with the etching of Edgar Allen Poe which
+hung in his office in Chancery Lane, and:
+
+“I do believe you,” he replied, “and I am wondering if you are in a
+position to clear yourself?”
+
+“On the contrary,” Camber assured him, “I am only waiting to hear that
+Juan Menendez was shot in the grounds of Cray’s Folly, and not
+within the house, to propose to you that unless the real assassin be
+discovered, I shall quite possibly pay the penalty of his crime.”
+
+“He was shot in the Tudor garden,” replied Harley, “within sight of your
+windows.”
+
+“Ah!” Colin Camber resumed the task of stuffing shag into his corn-cob.
+“Then if it would interest you, Mr. Harley, I will briefly outline the
+case against myself. I had never troubled to disguise the fact that I
+hated Menendez. Many witnesses can be called to testify to this. He was
+in Cuba when I was in Cuba, and evidence is doubtless obtainable to show
+that we stayed at the same hotels in various cities of the United States
+prior to my coming to England and leasing the Guest House. Finally, he
+became my neighbour in Surrey.”
+
+He carefully lighted his pipe, whilst Harley and I watched him silently,
+then:
+
+“Menendez had the bat wing nailed to the door of his house,” he
+continued. “He believed himself to be in danger, and associated this
+sign with the source of his danger. Excepting himself and possibly
+certain other members of his household it is improbable that any one
+else in Surrey understands the significance of the token save myself.
+The unholy rites of Voodoo are a closed book to the Western nations.
+I have opened that book, Mr. Harley. The powers of the Obeah man, and
+especially of the arch-magician known and dreaded by every negro as ‘Bat
+Wing,’ are familiar to me. Since I was alone at the time that the shot
+was fired, and for some few minutes afterward, and since the Tudor
+garden of Cray’s Folly is within easy range of the Guest House, to fail
+to place me under arrest would be an act of sheer stupidity.”
+
+He spoke the words with a sort of triumph. Like the fakir, he possessed
+the art of spiritual detachment, which is an attribute of genius. From
+an intellectual eminence he was surveying his own peril. Colin Camber
+in the flesh had ceased to exist; he was merely a pawn in a fascinating
+game.
+
+Paul Harley glanced at his watch.
+
+“Mr. Camber,” he said, “I have just sustained the most crushing defeat
+of my career. The man who had summoned me to his aid was killed almost
+before my eyes. One thing I must do or accept professional oblivion.”
+
+“I understand.” Colin Camber nodded. “Apprehend his murderer?”
+
+“Ultimately, yes. But, firstly, I must see that to the assassination of
+Colonel Menendez a judicial murder is not added.”
+
+“You mean--?” asked Camber, eagerly.
+
+“I mean that if you killed Menendez, you are a madman, and I have formed
+the opinion during our brief conversation that you are brilliantly
+sane.”
+
+Colin Camber rose and bowed in that old-world fashion which was his.
+
+“I am obliged to you, Mr. Harley,” he replied. “But has Mr. Knox
+informed you of my bibulous habits?”
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+“They will, of course, be ascribed,” continued Camber, “and there are
+many suitable analogies, to deliberate contemplation of a murderous
+deed. I would remind you that chronic alcoholism is a recognized form,
+of insanity.”
+
+His mood changed again, and sighing wearily, he lay back in the chair.
+Over his pale face crept an expression which I knew, instinctively, to
+mean that he was thinking of his wife.
+
+“Mr. Harley,” he said, speaking in a very low tone which scorned to
+accentuate the beauty of his voice, “I have suffered much in the quest
+of truth. Suffering is the gate beyond which we find compassion. Perhaps
+you have thought my foregoing remarks frivolous, in view of the fact
+that last night a soul was sent to its reckoning almost at my doors.
+I revere the truth, however, above all lesser laws and above all
+expediency. I do not, and I cannot, regret the end of the man Menendez.
+But for three reasons I should regret to pay the penalty of a crime
+which I did not commit, These reasons are--one,” he ticked them off upon
+his delicate fingers--“It would be bitter to know that Devil Menendez
+even in death had injured me; two--My work in the world, which is
+unfinished; and, three--My wife.”
+
+I watched and listened, almost awed by the strangeness of the man who
+sat before me. His three reasons were illuminating. A casual observer
+might have regarded Colin Camber as a monument of selfishness. But it
+was evident to me, and I knew it must be evident to Paul Harley, that
+his egotism was quite selfless. To a natural human resentment and a
+pathetic love for his wife he had added, as an equal clause, the claim
+of the world upon his genius.
+
+“I have heard you,” said Paul Harley, quietly, “and you have led me to
+the most important point of all.”
+
+“What point is that, Mr. Harley?”
+
+“You have referred to your recent lapse from abstemiousness. Excuse me
+if I discuss personal matters. This you ascribed to domestic troubles,
+or so Mr. Knox has informed me. You have also referred to your
+undisguised hatred of the late Colonel Juan Menendez. I am going to ask
+you, Mr. Camber, to tell me quite frankly what was the nature of those
+domestic troubles, and what had caused this hatred which survives even
+the death of its object?”
+
+Colin Camber stood up, angular, untidy, but a figure of great dignity.
+
+“Mr. Harley,” he replied, “I cannot answer your questions.”
+
+Paul Harley inclined his head gravely.
+
+“May I suggest,” he said, “that you will be called upon to do so under
+circumstances which will brook no denial.”
+
+Colin Camber watched him unflinchingly.
+
+“‘The fate of every man is hung around his neck,’” he replied.
+
+“Yet, in this secret history which you refuse to divulge, and which
+therefore must count against you, the truth may lie which exculpates
+you.”
+
+“It may be so. But my determination remains unaltered.”
+
+“Very well,” answered Paul Harley, quietly, but I could see that he
+was exercising a tremendous restraint upon himself. “I respect your
+decision, but you have given me a giant’s task, and for this I cannot
+thank you, Mr. Camber.”
+
+I heard a car pulled up in the road outside the Guest House. Colin
+Camber clenched his hands and sat down again in the carved chair.
+
+“The opportunity has passed,” said Harley. “The police are here.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+
+
+
+“Oh, I see,” said Inspector Aylesbury, “a little private confab, eh?”
+
+He sank his chin into its enveloping folds, treating Harley and myself
+each to a stare of disapproval.
+
+“These gentlemen very kindly called to advise me of the tragic
+occurrence at Cray’s Folly,” explained Colin Camber. “Won’t you be
+seated, Inspector?”
+
+“Thanks, but I can conduct my examination better standing.”
+
+He turned to Paul Harley.
+
+“Might I ask, Mr. Harley,” he said, “what concern this is of yours?”
+
+“I am naturally interested in anything appertaining to the death of a
+client, Inspector Aylesbury.”
+
+“Oh, so you slip in ahead of me, having deliberately withheld
+information from the police, and think you are going to get all the
+credit. Is that it?”
+
+“That is it, Inspector,” replied Harley, smiling. “An instance of
+professional jealousy.”
+
+“Professional jealousy?” cried the Inspector. “Allow me to remind you
+that you have no official standing in this case whatever. You are merely
+a member of the public, nothing more, nothing less.”
+
+“I am happy to be recognized as a member of that much-misunderstood
+body.”
+
+“Ah, well, we shall see. Now, Mr. Camber, your attention, please.”
+
+He raised his finger impressively.
+
+“I am informed by Miss Beverley that the late Colonel Menendez looked
+upon you as a dangerous enemy.”
+
+“Were those her exact words?” I murmured.
+
+“Mr. Knox!”
+
+The inspector turned rapidly, confronting me. “I have already warned
+your friend. But if I have any interruptions from you, I will have you
+removed.”
+
+He continued to glare at me for some moments, and then, turning again to
+Colin Camber:
+
+“I say, I have information that Colonel Menendez looked upon you as a
+dangerous neighbour.”
+
+“In that event,” replied Colin Camber, “why did he lease an adjoining
+property?”
+
+“That’s an evasion, sir. Answer my first question, if you please.”
+
+“You have asked me no question, Inspector.”
+
+“Oh, I see. That’s your attitude, is it? Very well, then. Were you, or
+were you not, an enemy of the late Colonel Menendez?”
+
+“I was.”
+
+“What’s that?”
+
+“I say I was. I hated him, and I hate him no less in death than I hated
+him living.”
+
+I think that I had never seen a man so taken aback, Inspector
+Aylesbury, drawing out a large handkerchief blew his nose. Replacing the
+handkerchief, he produced a note-book.
+
+“I am placing that statement on record, sir,” he said.
+
+He made an entry in the book, and then:
+
+“Where did you first meet Colonel Menendez?” he asked.
+
+“I never met him in my life.”
+
+“What’s that?”
+
+Colin Camber merely shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“I will repeat my question,” said the Inspector, pompously. “Where did
+you first meet Colonel Juan Menendez?”
+
+“I have answered you, Inspector.”
+
+“Oh, I see. You decline to answer that question. Very well, I will make
+a note of this.” He did so. “And now,” said he, “what were you doing at
+midnight last night?”
+
+“I was writing.”
+
+“Where?”
+
+“Here.”
+
+“What happened?”
+
+Very succinctly Colin Camber repeated the statement which he had already
+made to Paul Harley, and, at its conclusion:
+
+“Send for the man, Ah Tsong,” directed Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head, clapped his bands, and silently Ah Tsong
+entered.
+
+The Inspector stared at him for several moments as a visitor to the Zoo
+might stare at some rare animal; then:
+
+“Your name is Ah Tsong?” he began.
+
+“Ah Tsong,” murmured the Chinaman.
+
+“I am going to ask you to give an exact account of your movements last
+night.”
+
+“No sabby.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat.
+
+“I say I wish to know exactly what you did last night. Answer me.”
+
+Ah Tseng’s face remained quite expressionless, and:
+
+“No sabby,” he repeated.
+
+“Oh, I see,” said the Inspector, “This witness refuses to answer at
+all.”
+
+“You are wrong,” explained Colin Camber, quietly. “Ah Tsong is a
+Chinaman, and his knowledge of English is very limited. He does not
+understand you.”
+
+“He understood my first question. You can’t draw wool over my eyes. He
+knows well enough. Are you going to answer me?” he demanded, angrily, of
+the Chinaman.
+
+“No sabby, master,” he said, glancing aside at Colin Camber. “Number-one
+p’licee-man gotchee no pidgin.”
+
+Paul Harley was leisurely filling his pipe, and:
+
+“If you think the evidence of Ah Tsong important, Inspector,” he said,
+“I will interpret if you wish.”
+
+“You will do what?”
+
+“I will act as interpreter.”
+
+“Do you want me to believe that you speak Chinese?”
+
+“Your beliefs do not concern me, Inspector; I am merely offering my
+services.”
+
+“Thanks,” said the Inspector, dryly, “but I won’t trouble you. I should
+like a few words with Mrs. Camber.”
+
+“Very good.”
+
+Colin Camber bent his head gravely, and gave an order to Ah Tsong, who
+turned and went out.
+
+“And what firearms have you in the house?” asked Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+“An early Dutch arquebus, which you see in the corner,” was the reply.
+
+“That doesn’t interest me. I mean up-to-date weapons.”
+
+“And a Colt revolver which I have in a drawer here.”
+
+As he spoke, Colin Camber opened a drawer in his desk and took out a
+heavy revolver of the American Army Service pattern.
+
+“I should like to examine it, if you please.”
+
+Camber passed it to the Inspector, and the latter, having satisfied
+himself that none of the chambers were loaded, peered down the barrel,
+and smelled at the weapon suspiciously.
+
+“If it has been recently used it has been well cleaned,” he said, and
+placed it on a cabinet beside him. “Anything else?”
+
+“Nothing.”
+
+“No sporting rifles?”
+
+“None. I never shoot.”
+
+“Oh, I see.”
+
+The door opened and Mrs. Camber came in. She was very simply dressed,
+and looked even more child-like than she had seemed before. I think
+Ah Tsong had warned her of the nature of the ordeal which she was to
+expect, but her wide-eyed timidity was nevertheless pathetic to witness.
+
+She glanced at me with a ghost of a smile, and:
+
+“Ysola,” said Colin Camber, inclining his head toward me in a grave
+gesture of courtesy, “Mr. Knox has generously forgiven me a breach of
+good manners for which I shall never forgive myself. I beg you to thank
+him, as I have done.”
+
+“It is so good of you,” she said, sweetly, and held out her hand. “But I
+knew you would understand that it was just a great mistake.”
+
+“Mr. Paul Harley,” Camber continued, “my wife welcomes you; and this,
+Ysola, is Inspector Aylesbury, who desires a few moments’ conversation
+upon a rather painful matter.”
+
+“I have heard, I have heard,” she whispered. “Ah Tsong has told me.”
+
+The pupils of her eyes dilated, as she fixed an appealing glance upon
+the Inspector.
+
+In justice to the latter he was palpably abashed by the delicate
+beauty of the girl who stood before him, by her naivete, and by that
+childishness of appearance and manner which must have awakened the
+latent chivalry in almost any man’s heart.
+
+“I am sorry to have to trouble you with this disagreeable business, Mrs.
+Camber,” he began; “but I believe you were awakened last night by the
+sound of a shot.”
+
+“Yes,” she replied, watching him intently, “that is so.”
+
+“May I ask at what time this was heard?”
+
+“Ah Tsong told me it was after twelve o’clock.”
+
+“Was the sound a loud one?”
+
+“Yes. It must have been to have awakened me.”
+
+“I see. Did you think it was in the house?”
+
+“Oh, no.”
+
+“In the garden?”
+
+“I really could not say, but I think that it was farther away than
+that.”
+
+“And what did you do?”
+
+“I rang the bell for Ah Tsong.”
+
+“Did he come immediately?”
+
+“Almost immediately.”
+
+“He was dressed, then?”
+
+“No, I don’t think he was. He had quickly put on an overcoat. He usually
+answers at once, when I ring for him, you see.”
+
+“I see. What did you do then?”
+
+“Well, I was frightened, you understand, and I told him to find out if
+all was well with my husband. He came back and told me that Colin was
+writing. But the sound had alarmed me very much.”
+
+“Oh, and now perhaps _you_ will tell me, Mrs. Camber, when and where
+your husband first met Colonel Menendez?”
+
+Every vestige of colour fled from the girl’s face.
+
+“So far as I know--they never met,” she replied, haltingly.
+
+“Could you swear to that?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+I think that hitherto she had not fully realized the nature of the
+situation; but now something in the Inspector’s voice, or perhaps in
+our glances, told her the truth. She moved to where Colin Camber was
+sitting, looking down at him questioningly, pitifully. He put his arm
+about her and drew her close.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and returned his note-book to his
+pocket.
+
+“I am going to take a look around the garden,” he announced.
+
+My respect for him increased slightly, and Harley and I followed him out
+of the study. A police sergeant was sitting in the hall, and Ah Tsong
+was standing just outside the door.
+
+“Show me the way to the garden,” directed the Inspector.
+
+Ah Tsong stared stupidly, whereupon Paul Harley addressed him in his
+native language, rapidly and in a low voice, in order, as I divined,
+that the Inspector should not hear him.
+
+“I feel dreadfully guilty, Knox,” he confessed, in a murmured aside.
+“For any Englishman, fictitious characters excepted, to possess a
+knowledge of Chinese is almost indecent.”
+
+Presently, then, I found myself once more in that unkempt garden of
+which I retained such unpleasant memories.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stared all about and up at the back of the house,
+humming to himself and generally behaving as though he were alone.
+Before the little summer study he stood still, and:
+
+“Oh, I see,” he muttered.
+
+What he had seen was painfully evident. The right-hand window, beneath
+which there was a permanent wooden seat, commanded an unobstructed view
+of the Tudor garden in the grounds of Cray’s Folly. Clearly I could
+detect the speck of high-light upon the top of the sun-dial.
+
+The Inspector stepped into the hut. It contained a bookshelf upon which
+a number of books remained, a table and a chair, with some few other
+dilapidated appointments. I glanced at Harley and saw that he was
+staring as if hypnotized at the prospect in the valley below. I observed
+a constable on duty at the top of the steps which led down into the
+Tudor garden, but I could see nothing to account for Harley’s fixed
+regard, until:
+
+“Pardon me one moment, Inspector,” he muttered, brusquely.
+
+Brushing past the indignant Aylesbury, who was examining the contents
+of the shelves in the hut, he knelt upon the wooden seat and stared
+intently through the open window.
+
+“One-two-three-four-five-six-_seven_,” he chanted. “Good! That will
+settle it.”
+
+“Oh, I see,” said Inspector Aylesbury, standing strictly upright, his
+prominent eyes turned in the direction of the kneeling Harley. “One,
+two, three, four, and so on will settle it, eh? If you don’t mind me
+saying so, it was settled already.”
+
+“Yes?” replied Harley, standing up, and I saw that his eyes were very
+bright and that his face was slightly flushed. “You think the case is so
+simple as that?”
+
+“Simple?” exclaimed the Inspector. “It’s the most cunning thing that was
+ever planned, but I flatter myself that I have a good straight eye which
+can see a fairly long way.”
+
+“Excellent,” murmured Harley. “I congratulate you. Myopia is so common
+in the present generation. You have decided, of course, that the murder
+was committed by Ah Tsong?”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury’s eyes seemed to protrude extraordinarily.
+
+“Ah Tsong!” he exclaimed. “Ah Tsong!”
+
+“Surely it is palpable,” continued Harley, “that of the three people
+residing in the Guest House, Ah Tsong is the only one who could possibly
+have done the deed.”
+
+“Who could possibly--who could possibly----” stuttered the Inspector,
+then paused because of sheer lack of words.
+
+“Review the evidence,” continued Harley, coolly. “Mrs. Camber was
+awakened by the sound of a shot. She immediately rang for Ah Tsong.
+There was a short interval before Ah Tsong appeared--and when he did
+appear he was wearing an overcoat. Note this point, Inspector: wearing
+an overcoat. He descended to the study and found Mr. Camber writing.
+Now, Ah Tsong sleeps in a room adjoining the kitchen on the ground
+floor. We passed his quarters on our way to the garden a moment ago. Of
+course, you had noted this? Mr. Camber is therefore eliminated from our
+list of suspects.”
+
+The Inspector was growing very red, but ere he had time to speak Harley
+continued:
+
+“The first of these three persons to have heard a shot fired at the end
+of the garden would have been Ah Tsong, and not Mrs. Camber, whose room
+is upstairs and in the front of the house. If it had been fired by Mr.
+Camber from the spot upon which we now stand, he would still have been
+in the garden at the moment when Mrs. Camber was ringing the bell for
+Ah Tsong. Mr. Camber must therefore have returned from the end of the
+garden to the study, and have passed Ah Tsong’s room--unheard by the
+occupant--between the time that the bell rang and the time that Ah Tsong
+went upstairs. This I submit to be impossible. There is an alternative:
+it is that he slipped in whilst Ah Tsong, standing on the landing above,
+was receiving his mistress’s orders. I submit that the alternative is
+also impossible. We thus eliminate Mr. Camber from the case, as I have
+already mentioned.”
+
+“Eliminate--eliminate!” cried the Inspector, beginning to recover power
+of speech. “Do you think you can fuddle me with a mass of words, Mr.
+Harley? Allow me to point out to you, sir, that you are in no way
+officially associated with this matter.”
+
+“You have already drawn my attention to the fact, Inspector, but it can
+do no harm to jog my memory.”
+
+Harley spoke entirely without bitterness, and I, who knew his every
+mood, realized that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Therefore I knew
+that at last he had found a clue.
+
+“I may add, Inspector,” said he, “that upon further reflection I have
+also eliminated Ah Tsong from the case. I forgot to mention that he
+lacks the first and second fingers of his right hand; and I have yet
+to meet the marksman who can shoot a man squarely between the eyes,
+by moonlight, at a hundred yards, employing his third finger as
+trigger-finger. There are other points, but these will be sufficient to
+show you that this case is more complicated than you had assumed it to
+be.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury did not deign to reply, or could not trust himself
+to do so. He turned and made his way back to the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+AN OFFICIAL MOVE
+
+
+
+We reëntered the study to find Mrs. Camber sitting in a chair very close
+to her husband. Inspector Aylesbury stood in the open doorway for a
+moment, and then, stepping back into the hall:
+
+“Sergeant Butler,” he said, addressing the man who waited there.
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“Go out to the gate and get Edson to relieve you. I shall want you to go
+back to headquarters in a few minutes.”
+
+“Very good, sir.”
+
+I scented what was coming, and as Inspector Aylesbury reentered the
+room:
+
+“I should like to make a statement,” announced Paul Harley, quietly.
+
+The Inspector frowned, and lowering his chin, regarded him with little
+favour.
+
+“I have not invited any statement from you, Mr. Harley,” said he.
+
+“Quite,” returned Harley. “I am volunteering it. It is this: I gather
+that you are about to take an important step officially. Having in view
+certain steps which I, also, am about to take, I would ask you to defer
+action, purely in your own interests, for at least twenty-four hours.”
+
+“I hear you,” said the Inspector, sarcastically.
+
+“Very well, Inspector. You have come newly into this case, and I assure
+you that its apparent simplicity is illusive. As new facts come into
+your possession you will realize that what I say is perfectly true, and
+if you act now you will be acting hastily. All that I have learned I am
+prepared to place at your disposal. But I predict that the interference
+of Scotland Yard will be necessary before this enquiry is concluded.
+Therefore I suggest, since you have rejected my cooperation, that you
+obtain that of Detective Inspector Wessex, of the Criminal Investigation
+Department. In short, this is no one-man job. You will do yourself harm
+by jumping to conclusions, and cause unnecessary trouble to perfectly
+innocent people.”
+
+“Is your statement concluded?” asked the Inspector.
+
+“For the moment I have nothing to add.”
+
+“Oh, I see. Very good. Then we can now get to business. Always with your
+permission, Mr. Harley.”
+
+He took his stand before the fireplace, very erect, and invested with
+his most official manner. Mrs. Camber watched him in a way that was
+pathetic. Camber seemed to be quite composed, although his face was
+unusually pale.
+
+“Now, Mr. Camber,” said the Inspector, “I find your answers to the
+questions which I have put to you very unsatisfactory.”
+
+“I am sorry,” said Colin Camber, quietly.
+
+“One moment, Inspector,” interrupted Paul Harley, “you have not warned
+Mr. Camber.”
+
+Thereupon the long-repressed wrath of Inspector Aylesbury burst forth.
+
+“Then I will warn _you_, sir!” he shouted. “One more word and you leave
+this house.”
+
+“Yet I am going to venture on one more word,” continued Harley,
+unperturbed. He turned to Colin Camber. “I happen to be a member of the
+Bar, Mr. Camber,” he said, “although I rarely accept a brief. Have I
+your authority to act for you?”
+
+“I am grateful, Mr. Harley, and I leave this unpleasant affair in your
+hands with every confidence.”
+
+Camber stood up, bowing formally.
+
+The expression upon the inflamed face of Inspector Aylesbury was really
+indescribable, and recognizing his mental limitations, I was almost
+tempted to feel sorry for him. However, he did not lack self-confidence,
+and:
+
+“I suppose you have scored, Mr. Harley,” he said, a certain hoarseness
+perceptible in his voice, “but I know my duty and I am not afraid to
+perform it. Now, Mr. Camber, did you, or did you not, at about twelve
+o’clock last night----”
+
+“Warn the accused,” murmured Harley.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury uttered a choking sound, but:
+
+“I have to warn you,” he said, “that your answers may be used as
+evidence. I will repeat: Did you, or did you not, at about twelve
+o’clock last night, shoot, with intent to murder, Colonel Juan
+Menendez?”
+
+Ysola Camber leapt up, clutching at her husband’s arm as if to hold him
+back.
+
+“I did not,” he replied, quietly.
+
+“Nevertheless,” continued the Inspector, looking aggressively at Paul
+Harley whilst he spoke, “I am going to detain you pending further
+enquiries.”
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head.
+
+“Very well,” he said; “you only do your duty.”
+
+The little fingers clutching his sleeve slowly relaxed, and Mrs. Camber,
+uttering a long sigh, sank in a swoon at his feet.
+
+“Ysola! Ysola!” he muttered. Stooping he raised the child-like figure.
+“If you will kindly open the door, Mr. Knox,” he said, “I will carry my
+wife to her room.”
+
+I sprang to the door and held it widely open.
+
+Colin Camber, deadly pale, but holding his head very erect, walked in
+the direction of the hallway with his pathetic burden. Mis-reading the
+purpose written upon the stern white face, Inspector Aylesbury stepped
+forward.
+
+“Let someone else attend to Mrs. Camber,” he cried, sharply. “I wish you
+to remain here.”
+
+His detaining hand was already upon Camber’s shoulder when Harley’s arm
+shot out like a barrier across the Inspector’s chest, and Colin Camber
+proceeded on his way. Momentarily, he glanced aside, and I saw that his
+eyes were unnaturally bright.
+
+“Thank you, Mr. Harley,” he said, and carried his wife from the room.
+
+Harley dropped his arm, and crossing, stood staring out of the window.
+Inspector Aylesbury ran heavily to the door.
+
+“Sergeant!” he called, “Sergeant! keep that man in sight. He must return
+here immediately.”
+
+I heard the sound of heavy footsteps following Camber’s up the stairs,
+then Inspector Aylesbury turned, a bulky figure in the open doorway,
+and:
+
+“Now, Mr. Harley,” said he, entering and reclosing the door, “you are a
+barrister, I understand. Very well, then, I suppose you are aware that
+you have resisted and obstructed an officer of the law in the execution
+of his duty.”
+
+Paul Harley spun round upon his heel.
+
+“Is that a charge,” he inquired, “or merely a warning?”
+
+The two glared at one another for a moment, then:
+
+“From now onward,” continued the Inspector, “I am going to have no more
+trouble with you, Mr. Harley. In the first place, I’ll have you looked
+up in the Law List; in the second place, I shall ask you to stick to
+your proper duties, and leave me to look after mine.”
+
+“I have endeavoured from the outset,” replied Harley, his good humour
+quite restored, “to assist you in every way in my power. You have
+declined all my offers, and finally, upon the most flimsy evidence, you
+have detained a perfectly innocent man.”
+
+“Oh, I see. A perfectly innocent man, eh?”
+
+“Perfectly innocent, Inspector. There are so many points that you have
+overlooked. For instance, do you seriously suppose that Mr. Camber had
+been waiting up here night after night on the off-chance that Colonel
+Menendez would appear in the grounds of Cray’s Folly?”
+
+“No, I don’t. I have got that worked out.”
+
+“Indeed? You interest me.”
+
+“Mr. Camber has an accomplice at Cray’s Folly.”
+
+“What?” exclaimed Harley, and into his keen grey eyes crept a look of
+real interest.
+
+“He has an accomplice,” repeated the Inspector. “A certain witness was
+strangely reluctant to mention Mr. Camber’s name. It was only after very
+keen examination that I got it at last. Now, Colonel Menendez had not
+retired last night, neither had a certain other party. That other
+party, sir, knows why Colonel Menendez was wandering about the garden at
+midnight.”
+
+At first, I think, this astonishing innuendo did not fully penetrate
+to my mind, but when it did so, it seemed to galvanize me. Springing up
+from the chair in which I had been seated:
+
+“You preposterous fool!” I exclaimed, hotly.
+
+It was the last straw. Inspector Aylesbury strode to the door and
+throwing it open once more, turned to me:
+
+“Be good enough to leave the house, Mr. Knox,” he said. “I am about to
+have it officially searched, and I will have no strangers present.”
+
+I think I could have strangled him with pleasure, but even in my rage
+I was not foolhardy enough to lay myself open to that of which the
+Inspector was quite capable at this moment.
+
+Without another word I walked out of the study, took my hat and stick,
+and opening the front door, quitted the Guest House, from which I had
+thus a second time been dismissed ignominiously.
+
+Appreciation of this fact, which came to me as I stepped into the porch,
+awakened my sense of humour--a gift truly divine which has saved many
+a man from desperation or worse. I felt like a schoolboy who had been
+turned out of a class-room, and I was glad that I could laugh at myself.
+
+A constable was standing in the porch, and he looked at me suspiciously.
+No doubt he perceived something very sardonic in my merriment.
+
+I walked out of the gate, before which a car was standing, and as I
+paused to light a cigarette I heard the door of the Guest House open and
+close. I glanced back, and there was Paul Harley coming to join me.
+
+“Now, Knox,” he said, briskly, “we have got our hands full.”
+
+“My dear Harley, I am both angry and bewildered. Too angry and too
+bewildered to think clearly.”
+
+“I can quite understand it. I should become homicidal if I were forced
+to submit for long to the company of Inspector Aylesbury. Of course, I
+had anticipated the arrest of Colin Camber, and I fear there is worse to
+come.”
+
+“What do you mean, Harley?”
+
+“I mean that failing the apprehension of the real murderer, I cannot
+see, at the moment, upon what the case for the defence is to rest.”
+
+“But surely you demonstrated out there in the garden that he could not
+possibly have fired the shot?”
+
+“Words, Knox, words. I could pick a dozen loopholes in my own argument.
+I had only hoped to defer the inevitable. I tell you, there is worse to
+come. Two things we must do at once.”
+
+“What are they?”
+
+“We must persuade the man on duty to allow us to examine the Tudor
+garden, and we must see the Chief Constable, whoever he may be, and
+prevail upon him to requisition the assistance of Scotland Yard.
+With Wessex in charge of the case I might have a chance. Whilst this
+disastrous man Aylesbury holds the keys there is none.”
+
+“You heard what he said about Miss Beverley?”
+
+We were now walking rapidly along the high road, and Harley nodded.
+
+“I did,” he said. “I had expected it. He was inspired with this
+brilliant idea last night, and his ideas are too few to be lightly
+scrapped. If the Chief Constable is anything like the Inspector, what we
+are going to do heaven only knows.”
+
+“I take it, Harley, that you are convinced of Colin Camber’s innocence?”
+
+Harley did not answer for a moment, whereupon I glanced at him
+anxiously, then:
+
+“Colin Camber,” he replied, “is of so peculiar a type that I could
+not presume to say of what he is capable or is not capable. The
+most significant point in his favour is this: He is a man of unusual
+intellect. The planning of this cunning crime to such a man would have
+been child’s play--child’s play, Knox. But is it possible to believe
+that his genius would have failed him upon the most essential detail of
+all, namely, an alibi?”
+
+“It is not.”
+
+“Of course it is not. Which, continuing to regard Camber as an assassin,
+reduces us to the theory that the crime was committed in a moment
+of passion. This I maintain to be also impossible. It was no deed of
+impulse.”
+
+“I agree with you.”
+
+“Now, I believe that the enquiry is going to turn upon a very delicate
+point. If I am wrong in this, then perhaps I am wrong in my whole
+conception of the case. But have you considered the mass of evidence
+against Colin Camber?”
+
+“I have, Harley,” I replied, sadly, “I have.”
+
+“Think of all that we know, and which the Inspector does not know. Every
+single datum points in the same direction. No prosecution could ask for
+a more perfect case. Upon this fact I pin my hopes. Where an Aylesbury
+rushes in I fear to tread. The analogy with an angel was accidental,
+Knox!” he added, smilingly. “In other words, it is all too obvious. Yet
+I have failed once, Knox, failed disastrously, and it may be that in my
+anxiety to justify myself I am seeking for subtlety where no subtlety
+exists.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+AYLESBURY’S THEORY
+
+
+
+There were strangers about Cray’s Folly and a sort of furtive activity,
+horribly suggestive. We had not pursued the circular route by the high
+road which would have brought us to the lodge, but had turned aside
+where the swing-gate opened upon a footpath into the meadows. It was the
+path which I had pursued upon the day of my visit to the Lavender
+Arms. A second private gate here gave access to the grounds at a point
+directly opposite the lake; and as we crossed the valley, making for the
+terraced lawns, I saw unfamiliar figures upon the veranda, and knew that
+the cumbersome processes of the law were already in motion.
+
+I was longing to speak to Val Beverley and to learn what had taken place
+during her interview with Inspector Aylesbury, but Harley led the way
+toward the tower wing, and by a tortuous path through the rhododendrons
+we finally came out on the northeast front and in sight of the Tudor
+garden.
+
+Harley crossed to the entrance, and was about to descend the steps, when
+the constable on duty there held out his arm.
+
+“Excuse me, sir,” he said, “but I have orders to admit no one to this
+part of the garden.”
+
+“Oh,” said Harley, pulling up short, “but I am acting in this case. My
+name is Paul Harley.”
+
+“Sorry, sir,” replied the constable, “but you will have to see Inspector
+Aylesbury.”
+
+My friend uttered an impatient exclamation, but, turning aside:
+
+“Very well, constable,” he muttered; “I suppose I must submit. Our
+friend, Aylesbury,” he added to me, as we walked away, “would appear
+to be a martinet as well as a walrus. At every step, Knox, he proves
+himself a tragic nuisance. This means waste of priceless time.”
+
+“What had you hoped to do, Harley?”
+
+“Prove my theory,” he returned; “but since every moment is precious, I
+must move in another direction.”
+
+He hurried on through the opening in the box hedge and into the
+courtyard. Manoel had just opened the doors to a sepulchral-looking
+person who proved to be the coroner’s officer, and:
+
+“Manoel!” cried Harley, “tell Carter to bring a car round at once.”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“I haven’t time to fetch my own,” he explained.
+
+“Where are you off to?”
+
+“I am off to see the Chief Constable, Knox. Aylesbury must be superseded
+at whatever cost. If the Chief Constable fails I shall not hesitate to
+go higher. I will get along to the garage. I don’t expect to be more
+than an hour. Meanwhile, do your best to act as a buffer between
+Aylesbury and the women. You understand me?”
+
+“Quite,” I returned, shortly. “But the task may prove no light one,
+Harley.”
+
+“It won’t,” he assured me, smiling grimly. “How you must regret, Knox,
+that we didn’t go fishing!”
+
+With that he was off, eager-eyed and alert, the mood of dreamy
+abstraction dropped like a cloak discarded. He fully realized, as I did,
+that his unique reputation was at stake. I wondered, as I had wondered
+at the Guest House, whether, in undertaking to clear Colin Camber, he
+had acted upon sheer conviction, or, embittered by the death of his
+client, had taken a gambler’s chance. It was unlike him to do so. But
+now beyond reach of that charm of manner which Colin Camber possessed,
+and discounting the pathetic sweetness of his girl-wife, I realized how
+black was the evidence against him.
+
+Occupied with these, and even more troubled thoughts, I was making my
+way toward the library, undetermined how to act, when I saw Val Beverley
+coming along the corridor which communicated with Madame de Stämer’s
+room.
+
+I read a welcome in her eyes which made my heart beat the faster.
+
+“Oh, Mr. Knox,” she cried, “I am so glad you have returned. Tell me all
+that has happened, for I feel in some way that I am responsible for it.”
+
+I nodded gravely.
+
+“You know, then, where Inspector Aylesbury went when he left here, after
+his interview with you?”
+
+She looked at me pathetically.
+
+“He went to the Guest House, of course.”
+
+“Yes,” I said; “he was close behind us.”
+
+“And”--she hesitated--“Mr. Camber?”
+
+“He has been detained.”
+
+“Oh!” she moaned. “I could hate myself! Yet what could I say, what could
+I do?”
+
+“Just tell me all about it,” I urged. “What were the Inspector’s
+questions?”
+
+“Well,” explained the girl, “he had evidently learned from someone,
+presumably one of the servants, that there was enmity between Mr. Camber
+and Colonel Menendez. He asked me if I knew of this, and of course I
+had to admit that I did. But when I told him that I had no idea of its
+cause, he did not seem to believe me.”
+
+“No,” I murmured. “Any evidence which fails to dove-tail with his
+preconceived theories he puts down as a lie.”
+
+“He seemed to have made up his mind for some reason,” she continued,
+“that I was intimately acquainted with Mr. Camber. Whereas, of course, I
+have never spoken to him in my life, although whenever he has passed me
+in the road he has always saluted me with quite delightful courtesy.
+Oh, Mr. Knox, it is horrible to think of this great misfortune coming to
+those poor people.” She looked at me pleadingly. “How did his wife take
+it?”
+
+“Poor little girl,” I replied, “it was an awful blow.”
+
+“I feel that I want to set out this very minute,” declared Val Beverley,
+“and go to her, and try to comfort her. Because I feel in my very soul
+that her husband is innocent. She is such a sweet little thing. I have
+wanted to speak to her since the very first time I ever saw her, but on
+the rare occasions when we have met in the village she has hurried
+past as though she were afraid of me. Mr. Harley surely knows that her
+husband is not guilty?”
+
+“I think he does,” I replied, “but he may have great difficulty in
+proving it. And what else did Inspector Aylesbury wish to know?”
+
+“How can I tell you?” she said in a low voice; and biting her lip
+agitatedly she turned her head aside.
+
+“Perhaps I can guess.”
+
+“Can you?” she asked, looking at me quickly. “Well, then, he seemed to
+attach a ridiculous importance to the fact that I had not retired last
+night at the time of the tragedy.”
+
+“I know,” said I, grimly. “Another preconceived idea of his.”
+
+“I told him the truth of the matter, which is surely quite simple, and
+at first I was unable to understand the nature of his suspicions. Then,
+after a time, his questions enlightened me. He finally suggested, quite
+openly, that I had not come down from my room to the corridor in which
+Madame de Stämer was lying, but had actually been there at the time!”
+
+“In the corridor outside her room?”
+
+“Yes. He seemed to think that I had just come in from the door near
+the end of the east wing and beside the tower, which opens into the
+shrubbery.”
+
+“That you had just come in?” I exclaimed. “He thinks, then, that you had
+been out in the grounds?”
+
+Val Beverley’s face had been very pale, but now she flushed indignantly,
+and glanced away from me as she replied:
+
+“He dared to suggest that I had been to keep an assignation.”
+
+“The fool!” I cried. “The ignorant, impudent fool!”
+
+“Oh,” she declared, “I felt quite ill with indignation. I am afraid I
+may regard Inspector Aylesbury as an enemy from now onward, for when
+I had recovered from the shock I told him very plainly what I thought
+about his intellect, or lack of it.”
+
+“I am glad you did,” I said, warmly. “Before Inspector Aylesbury
+is through with this business I fancy he will know more about his
+limitations than he knows at present. The fact of the matter is that he
+is badly out of his depth, but is not man enough to acknowledge the fact
+even to himself.”
+
+She smiled at me pathetically.
+
+“Whatever should I have done if I had been alone?” she said.
+
+I was tempted to direct the conversation into a purely personal channel,
+but common sense prevailed, and:
+
+“Is Madame de Stämer awake?” I asked.
+
+“Yes.” The girl nodded. “Dr. Rolleston is with her now.”
+
+“And does she know?”
+
+“Yes. She sent for me directly she awoke, and asked me.”
+
+“And you told her?”
+
+“How could I do otherwise? She was quite composed, wonderfully composed;
+and the way she heard the news was simply heroic. But here is Dr.
+Rolleston, coming now.”
+
+I glanced along the corridor, and there was the physician approaching
+briskly.
+
+“Good morning, Mr. Knox,” he said.
+
+“Good morning, doctor. I hear that your patient is much improved?”
+
+“Wonderfully so,” he answered. “She has enough courage for ten men. She
+wishes to see you, Mr. Knox, and to hear your account of the tragedy.”
+
+“Do you think it would be wise?”
+
+“I think it would be best.”
+
+“Do you hold any hope of her permanently recovering the use of her
+limbs?”
+
+Dr. Rolleston shook his head doubtfully.
+
+“It may have only been temporary,” he replied. “These obscure nervous
+affections are very fickle. It is unsafe to make predictions. But
+mentally, at least, she is quite restored from the effects of last
+night’s shock. You need apprehend no hysteria or anything of that
+nature, Mr. Knox.”
+
+“Oh, I see,” exclaimed a loud voice behind us.
+
+We all three turned, and there was Inspector Aylesbury crossing the hall
+in our direction.
+
+“Good morning, Dr. Rolleston,” he said, deliberately ignoring my
+presence. “I hear that your patient is quite well again this morning?”
+
+“She is much improved,” returned the physician, dryly.
+
+“Then I can get her testimony, which is most important to my case?”
+
+“She is somewhat better. If she cares to see you I do not forbid the
+interview.”
+
+“Oh, that’s good of you, doctor.” He bowed to Miss Beverley. “Perhaps,
+Miss, you would ask Madame de Stämer to see me for a few minutes.”
+
+Val Beverley looked at me appealingly then shrugged her shoulders,
+turned aside, and walked in the direction of Madame de Stämer’s door.
+
+“Well,” said Dr. Rolleston, in his brisk way, shaking me by the hand, “I
+must be getting along. Good morning, Mr. Knox. Good morning, Inspector
+Aylesbury.”
+
+He walked rapidly out to his waiting car. The presence of Inspector
+Aylesbury exercised upon Dr. Rolleston a similar effect to that which
+a red rag has upon a bull. As he took his departure, the Inspector drew
+out his pocket-book, and, humming gently to himself, began to consult
+certain entries therein, with a portentous air of reflection which would
+have been funny if it had not been so irritating.
+
+Thus we stood when Val Beverley returned, and:
+
+“Madame de Stämer will see you, Inspector Aylesbury,” she said, “but
+wishes Mr. Knox to be present at the interview.”
+
+“Oh,” said the Inspector, lowering his chin, “I see. Oh, very well.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+IN MADAME’S ROOM
+
+
+
+Madame de Stämer’s apartment was a large and elegant one. From the
+window-drapings, which were of some light, figured satiny material, to
+the bed-cover, the lampshades and the carpet, it was French. Faintly
+perfumed, and decorated with many bowls of roses, it reflected, in its
+ornaments, its pictures, its slender-legged furniture, the personality
+of the occupant. In a large, high bed, reclining amidst a number of
+silken pillows, lay Madame de Stämer. The theme of the room was violet
+and silver, and to this everything conformed. The toilet service was of
+dull silver and violet enamel. The mirrors and some of the pictures
+had dull silver frames, There was nothing tawdry or glittering. The bed
+itself, which I thought resembled a bed of state, was of the same dull
+silver, with a coverlet of delicate violet I hue. But Madame’s décolleté
+robe was trimmed with white fur, so that her hair, dressed high upon her
+head, seemed to be of silver, too.
+
+Reclining there upon her pillows, she looked like some grande dame of
+that France which was swept away by the Revolution. Immediately above
+the dressing-table I observed a large portrait of Colonel Menendez
+dressed as I had imagined he should be dressed when I had first set eyes
+on him, in tropical riding kit, and holding a broad-brimmed hat in his
+hand. A strikingly handsome, arrogant figure he made, uncannily like the
+Velasquez in the library.
+
+At the face of Madame de Stämer I looked long and searchingly. She had
+not neglected the art of the toilette. Blinds tempered the sunlight
+which flooded her room; but that, failing the service of rouge, Madame
+had been pale this morning, I perceived immediately. In some subtle
+way the night had changed her. Something was gone out of her face, and
+something come into it. I thought, and lived to remember the thought,
+that it was thus Marie Antoinette might have looked when they told her
+how the drums had rolled in the Place de la Revolution on that morning
+of the twenty-first of January.
+
+“Oh, M. Knox,” she said, sadly, “you are there, I see. Come and sit here
+beside me, my friend. Val, dear, remain. Is this Inspector Aylesbury who
+wishes to speak to me?”
+
+The Inspector, who had entered with all the confidence in the world,
+seemed to lose some of it in the presence of this grand lady, who was so
+little impressed by the dignity of his office.
+
+She waved one slender hand in the direction of a violet brocaded chair.
+
+“Sit down, Monsieur l’inspecteur,” she commanded, for it was rather a
+command than an invitation.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and sat down.
+
+“Ah, M. Knox!” exclaimed Madame, turning to me with one of her rapid
+movements, “is your friend afraid to face me, then? Does he think that
+he has failed? Does he think that I condemn him?”
+
+“He knows that he has failed, Madame de Stämer,” I replied, “but his
+absence is due to the fact that at this hour he is hot upon the trail of
+the assassin.”
+
+“What!” she exclaimed, “what!”--and bending forward touched my arm.
+“Tell me again! Tell me again!”
+
+“He is following a clue, Madame de Stämer, which he hopes will lead to
+the truth.”
+
+“Ah! if I could believe it would lead to the truth,” she said. “If I
+dared to believe this.”
+
+“Why should it not?”
+
+She shook her head, smiling with such a resigned sadness that I averted
+my gaze and glanced across at Val Beverley who was seated on the
+opposite side of the bed.
+
+“If you knew--if you knew.”
+
+I looked again into the tragic face, and realized that this was an older
+woman than the brilliant hostess I had known. She sighed, shrugged, and:
+
+“Tell me, M. Knox,” she continued, “it was swift and merciful, eh?”
+
+“Instantaneous,” I replied, in a low voice.
+
+“A good shot?” she asked, strangely.
+
+“A wonderful shot,” I answered, thinking that she imposed unnecessary
+torture upon herself.
+
+“They say he must be taken away, M. Knox, but I reply: not until I have
+seen him.”
+
+“Madame,” began Val Beverley, gently.
+
+“Ah, my dear!” Madame de Stämer, without looking at the speaker,
+extended one hand in her direction, the fingers characteristically
+curled. “You do not know me. Perhaps it is a good job. You are a man,
+Mr. Knox, and men, especially men who write, know more of women than
+they know of themselves, is it not so? You will understand that I must
+see him again?”
+
+“Madame de Stämer,” I said, “your courage is almost terrible.”
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+“I am not proud to be brave, my friend. The animals are brave, but many
+cowards are proud. Listen again. He suffered no pain, you think?”
+
+“None, Madame de Stämer.”
+
+“So Dr. Rolleston assures me. He died in his sleep? You do not think he
+was awake, eh?”
+
+“Most certainly he was not awake.”
+
+“It is the best way to die,” she said, simply. “Yet he, who was brave
+and had faced death many times, would have counted it”----she snapped
+her white fingers, glancing across the room to where Inspector
+Aylesbury, very subdued, sat upon the brocaded chair twirling his cap
+between his hands. “And now, Inspector Aylesbury,” she asked, “what is
+it you wish me to tell you?”
+
+“Well, Madame,” began the Inspector, and stood up, evidently in an
+endeavour to recover his dignity, but:
+
+“Sit down, Mr. Inspector! I beg of you be seated,” cried Madame. “I will
+not be questioned by one who stands. And if you were to walk about I
+should shriek.”
+
+He resumed his seat, clearing his throat nervously.
+
+“Very well, Madame,” he continued, “I have come to you particularly for
+information respecting a certain Mr. Camber.”
+
+“Oh, yes,” said Madame.
+
+Her vibrant voice was very low.
+
+“You know him, no doubt?”
+
+“I have never met him.”
+
+“What?” exclaimed the Inspector.
+
+Madame shrugged and glanced at me eloquently.
+
+“Well,” he continued, “this gets more and more funny. I am told by
+Pedro, the butler, that Colonel Menendez looked upon Mr. Camber as an
+enemy, and Miss Beverley, here, admitted that it was true. Yet although
+he was an enemy, nobody ever seems to have spoken to him, and he swears
+that he had never spoken to Colonel Menendez.”
+
+“Yes?” said Madame, listlessly, “is that so?”
+
+“It is so, Madame, and now you tell me that you have never met him.”
+
+“I did tell you so, yes.”
+
+“His wife, then?”
+
+“I never met his wife,” said Madame, rapidly.
+
+“But it is a fact that Colonel Menendez regarded him as an enemy?”
+
+“It is a fact-yes.”
+
+“Ah, now we are coming to it. What was the cause of this?”
+
+“I cannot tell you.”
+
+“Do you mean that you don’t know?”
+
+“I mean that I cannot tell you.”
+
+“Oh,” said the Inspector, blankly, “I see. That’s not helping me very
+much, is it?”
+
+“No, it is no help,” said Madame, twirling a ring upon her finger.
+
+The Inspector cleared his throat again, then:
+
+“There had been other attempts, I believe, at assassination?” he asked.
+
+Madame nodded.
+
+“Several.”
+
+“Did you witness any of these?”
+
+“None of them.”
+
+“But you know that they took place?”
+
+“Juan--Colonel Menendez--had told me so.”
+
+“And he suspected that there was someone lurking about this house?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Also, someone broke in?”
+
+“There were doors unfastened, and a great disturbance, so I suppose
+someone must have done so.”
+
+I wondered if he would refer to the bat wing nailed to the door, but he
+had evidently decided that this clue was without importance, nor did
+he once refer to the aspect of the case which concerned Voodoo. He
+possessed a sort of mulish obstinacy, and was evidently determined to
+use no scrap of information which he had obtained from Paul Harley.
+
+“Now, Madame,” said he, “you heard the shot fired last night?”
+
+“I did.”
+
+“It woke you up?”
+
+“I was already awake.”
+
+“Oh, I see: you were awake?”
+
+“I was awake.”
+
+“Where did you think the sound came from?”
+
+“From back yonder, beyond the east wing.”
+
+“Beyond the east wing?” muttered Inspector Aylesbury. “Now, let me see.”
+ He turned ponderously in his chair, gazing out of the windows. “We
+look out on the south here? You say the sound of the shot came from the
+east?”
+
+“So it seemed to me.”
+
+“Oh.” This piece of information seemed badly to puzzle him. “And what
+then?”
+
+“I was so startled that I ran to the door before I remembered that I
+could not walk.”
+
+She glanced aside at me with a tired smile, and laid her hand upon my
+arm in an oddly caressing way, as if to say, “He is so stupid; I should
+not have expressed myself in that way.”
+
+Truly enough the Inspector misunderstood, for:
+
+“I don’t follow what you mean, Madame,” he declared. “You say you forgot
+that you could not walk?”
+
+“No, no, I expressed myself wrongly,” Madame replied in a weary voice.
+“The fright, the terror, gave me strength to stagger to the door, and
+there I fell and swooned.”
+
+“Oh, I see. You speak of fright and terror. Were these caused by the
+sound of the shot?”
+
+“For some reason my cousin believed himself to be in peril,” explained
+Madame. “He went in dread of assassination, you understand? Very well,
+he caused me to feel this dread, also. When I heard the shot, something
+told me, something told me that--” she paused, and suddenly placing her
+hands before her face, added in a whisper--“that it had come.”
+
+Val Beverley was watching Madame de Stämer anxiously, and the fact that
+she was unfit to undergo further examination was so obvious that any
+other than an Inspector Aylesbury would have withdrawn. The latter,
+however, seemed now to be glued to his chair, and:
+
+“Oh, I see,” he said; “and now there’s another point: Have you any idea
+what took Colonel Menendez out into the grounds last night?”
+
+Madame de Stämer lowered her hands and gazed across at the speaker.
+
+“What is that, Monsieur l’inspecteur?”
+
+“Well, you don’t think he might have gone out to talk to someone?”
+
+“To someone? To what one?” demanded Madame, scornfully.
+
+“Well, it isn’t natural for a man to go walking about the garden at
+midnight, when he’s unwell, is it? Not alone. But if there was a lady in
+the case he might go.”
+
+“A lady?” said Madame, softly. “Yes--continue.”
+
+“Well,” resumed the Inspector, deceived by the soft voice, “the young
+lady sitting beside you was still wearing her evening dress when I
+arrived here last night. I found that out, although she didn’t give me a
+chance to see her.”
+
+His words had an effect more dramatic than he could have foreseen.
+
+Madame de Stämer threw her arm around Val Beverley, and hugged her so
+closely to her side that the girl’s curly brown head was pressed against
+Madame’s shoulder. Thus holding her, she sat rigidly upright, her
+strange, still eyes glaring across the room at Inspector Aylesbury.
+Her whole pose was instinct with challenge, with defiance, and in that
+moment I identified the illusive memory which the eyes of Madame so
+often had conjured up in my mind.
+
+Once, years before, I had seen a wounded tigress standing over her cubs,
+a beautiful, fearless creature, blazing defiance with dying eyes upon
+those who had destroyed her, the mother-instinct supreme to the last;
+for as she fell to rise no more she had thrown her paw around the
+cowering cubs. It was not in shape, nor in colour, but in expression and
+in their stillness, that the eyes of Madame de Stämer resembled the eyes
+of the tigress.
+
+“Oh, Madame, Madame,” moaned the girl, “how dare he!”
+
+“Ah!” Madame de Stämer raised her head yet higher, a royal gesture, that
+unmoving stare set upon the face of the discomfited Inspector Aylesbury.
+“Leave my apartment.” Her left hand shot out dramatically in the
+direction of the door, but even yet the fingers remained curled.
+“Stupid, gross fool!”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stood up, his face very flushed.
+
+“I am only doing my duty, Madame,” he said.
+
+“Go, go!” commanded Madame, “I insist that you go!”
+
+Convulsively she held Val Beverley to her side, and although I could not
+see the girl’s face, I knew that she was weeping.
+
+Those implacable flaming eyes followed with their stare the figure of
+the Inspector right to the doorway, for he essayed no further speech,
+but retired.
+
+I, also, rose, and:
+
+“Madame de Stämer,” I said, speaking, I fear, very unnaturally, “I love
+your spirit.”
+
+She threw back her head, smiling up at me. I shall never forget that
+look, nor shall I attempt to portray all which it conveyed--for I know I
+should fail.
+
+“My friend!” she said, and extended her hand to be kissed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+AN INSPIRATION
+
+
+
+Inspector Aylesbury had disappeared when I came out of the hall,
+but Pedro was standing there to remind me of the fact that I had not
+breakfasted. I realized that despite all tragic happenings, I was
+ravenously hungry, and accordingly I agreed to his proposal that I
+should take breakfast on the south veranda, as on the previous morning.
+
+To the south veranda accordingly I made my way, rather despising myself
+because I was capable of hunger at such a time and amidst such horrors.
+The daily papers were on my table, for Carter drove into Market Hilton
+every morning to meet the London train which brought them down; but I
+did not open any of them.
+
+Pedro waited upon me in person. I could see that the man was
+pathetically anxious to talk. Accordingly, when he presently brought me
+a fresh supply of hot rolls:
+
+“This has been a dreadful blow to you, Pedro?” I said.
+
+“Dreadful, sir,” he returned; “fearful. I lose a splendid master, I lose
+my place, and I am far, far from home.”
+
+“You are from Cuba?”
+
+“Yes, yes. I was with Señor the Colonel Don Juan in Cuba.”
+
+“And do you know anything of the previous attempts which had been made
+upon his life, Pedro?”
+
+“Nothing, sir. Nothing at all.”
+
+“But the bat wing, Pedro?”
+
+He looked at me in a startled way.
+
+“Yes, sir,” he replied. “I found it pinned to the door here.”
+
+“And what did you think it meant?”
+
+“I thought it was a joke, sir--not a nice joke--by someone who knew
+Cuba.”
+
+“You know the meaning of Bat Wing, then?”
+
+“It is Obeah. I have never seen it before, but I have heard of it.”
+
+“And what did you think?” said I, proceeding with my breakfast.
+
+“I thought it was meant to frighten.”
+
+“But who did you think had done it?”
+
+“I had heard Señor Don Juan say that Mr. Camber hated him, so I thought
+perhaps he had sent someone to do it.”
+
+“But why should Mr. Camber have hated the Colonel?”
+
+“I cannot say, sir. I wish I could tell.”
+
+“Was your master popular in the West Indies?” I asked.
+
+“Well, sir--” Pedro hesitated--“perhaps not so well liked.”
+
+“No,” I said. “I had gathered as much.”
+
+The man withdrew, and I continued my solitary meal, listening to the
+song of the skylarks, and thinking how complex was human existence,
+compared with any other form of life beneath the sun.
+
+How to employ my time until Harley should return I knew not. Common
+delicacy dictated an avoidance of Val Beverley until she should have
+recovered from the effect of Inspector Aylesbury’s gross insinuations,
+and I was curiously disinclined to become involved in the gloomy
+formalities which ensue upon a crime of violence. Nevertheless, I
+felt compelled to remain within call, realizing that there might
+be unpleasant duties which Pedro could not perform, and which must
+therefore devolve upon Val Beverley.
+
+I lighted my pipe and walked out on to the sloping lawn. A gardener
+was at work with a big syringe, destroying a patch of weeds which had
+appeared in one corner of the velvet turf. He looked up in a sort of
+startled way as I passed, bidding me good morning, and then resuming his
+task. I thought that this man’s activities were symbolic of the way of
+the world, in whose eternal progression one poor human life counts as
+nothing.
+
+Presently I came in sight of that door which opened into the
+rhododendron shrubbery, the door by which Colonel Menendez had come out
+to meet his death. His bedroom was directly above, and as I picked my
+way through the closely growing bushes, which at an earlier time I had
+thought to be impassable, I paused in the very shadow of the tower
+and glanced back and upward. I could see the windows of the little
+smoke-room in which we had held our last interview with Menendez; and I
+thought of the shadow which Harley had seen upon the blind. I was unable
+to disguise from myself the fact that when Inspector Aylesbury should
+learn of this occurrence, as presently he must do, it would give new
+vigour to his ridiculous and unpleasant suspicions.
+
+I passed on, and considering the matter impartially, found myself faced
+by the questions--Whose was the shadow which Harley had seen upon the
+blind? And with what purpose did Colonel Menendez leave the house at
+midnight?
+
+Somnambulism might solve the second riddle, but to the first I could
+find no answer acceptable to my reason. And now, pursuing my aimless
+way, I presently came in sight of a gable of the Guest House. I could
+obtain a glimpse of the hut which had once been Colin Camber’s workroom.
+The window, through which Paul Harley had stared so intently, possessed
+sliding panes. These were closed, and a ray of sunlight, striking upon
+the glass, produced, because of an over-leaning branch which crossed the
+top of the window, an effect like that of a giant eye glittering evilly
+through the trees. I could see a constable moving about in the garden.
+Ever and anon the sun shone upon the buttons of his tunic.
+
+By such steps my thoughts led me on to the pathetic figure of Ysola
+Camber. Save for the faithful Ah Tsong she was alone in that house to
+which tragedy had come unbidden, unforeseen. I doubted if she had a
+woman friend in all the countryside. Doubtless, I reflected, the old
+housekeeper, to whom she had referred, would return as speedily as
+possible, but pending the arrival of someone to whom she could confide
+all her sorrows, I found it almost impossible to contemplate the
+loneliness of the tragic little figure.
+
+Such was my mental state, and my thoughts were all of compassion, when
+suddenly, like a lurid light, an inspiration came to me.
+
+I had passed out from the shadow of the tower and was walking in the
+direction of the sentinel yews when this idea, dreadfully complete,
+leapt to my mind. I pulled up short, as though hindered by a palpable
+barrier. Vague musings, evanescent theories, vanished like smoke, and a
+ghastly, consistent theory of the crime unrolled itself before me, with
+all the cold logic of truth.
+
+“My God!” I groaned aloud, “I see it all. I see it all.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+MY THEORY OF THE CRIME
+
+
+
+The afternoon was well advanced before Paul Harley returned.
+
+So deep was my conviction that I had hit upon the truth, and so well
+did my theory stand every test which I could apply to it, that I felt
+disinclined for conversation with any one concerned in the tragedy until
+I should have submitted the matter to the keen analysis of Harley. Upon
+the sorrow of Madame de Stämer I naturally did not intrude, nor did I
+seek to learn if she had carried out her project of looking upon the
+dead man.
+
+About mid-day the body was removed, after which an oppressive and
+awesome stillness seemed to descend upon Cray’s Folly.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury had not returned from his investigations at the
+Guest House, and learning that Miss Beverley was remaining with Madame
+de Stämer, I declined to face the ordeal of a solitary luncheon in
+the dining room, and merely ate a few sandwiches, walking over to the
+Lavender Arms for a glass of Mrs. Wootton’s excellent ale.
+
+Here I found the bar-parlour full of local customers, and although a
+heated discussion was in progress as I opened the door, silence fell
+upon my appearance. Mrs. Wootton greeted me sadly.
+
+“Ah, sir,” she said, as she placed a mug before me; “of course you’ve
+heard?”
+
+“I have, madam,” I replied, perceiving that she did not know me to be a
+guest at Cray’s Folly.
+
+“Well, well!” She shook her head. “It had to come, with all these
+foreign folk about.”
+
+She retired to some sanctum at the rear of the bar, and I drank my beer
+amid one of those silences which sometimes descend upon such a gathering
+when a stranger appears in its midst. Not until I moved to depart was
+this silence broken, then:
+
+“Ah, well,” said an old fellow, evidently a farm-hand, “we know now why
+he was priming of hisself with the drink, we do.”
+
+“Aye!” came a growling chorus.
+
+I came out of the Lavender Arms full of a knowledge that so far as
+Mid-Hatton was concerned, Colin Camber was already found guilty.
+
+I had hoped to see something of Val Beverley on my return, but she
+remained closeted with Madame de Stämer, and I was left in loneliness
+to pursue my own reflections, and to perfect that theory which had
+presented itself to my mind.
+
+In Harley’s absence I had taken it upon myself to give an order to Pedro
+to the effect that no reporters were to be admitted; and in this I had
+done well. So quickly does evil news fly that, between mid-day and
+the hour of Harley’s return, no fewer than five reporters, I believe,
+presented themselves at Cray’s Folly. Some of the more persistent
+continued to haunt the neighbourhood, and I had withdrawn to the
+deserted library, in order to avoid observation, when I heard a car draw
+up in the courtyard, and a moment later heard Harley asking for me.
+
+I hurried out to meet him, and as I appeared at the door of the library:
+
+“Hullo, Knox,” he called, running up the steps. “Any developments?”
+
+“No actual development?” I replied, “except that several members of the
+Press have been here.”
+
+“You told them nothing?” he asked, eagerly.
+
+“No; they were not admitted.”
+
+“Good, good,” he muttered.
+
+“I had expected you long before this, Harley.”
+
+“Naturally,” he said, with a sort of irritation. “I have been all the
+way to Whitehall and back.”
+
+“To Whitehall! What, you have been to London?”
+
+“I had half anticipated it, Knox. The Chief Constable, although quite a
+decent fellow, is a stickler for routine. On the strength of those
+facts which I thought fit to place before him he could see no reason
+for superseding Aylesbury. Accordingly, without further waste of time,
+I headed straight for Whitehall. You may remember a somewhat elaborate
+report which I completed upon the eve of our departure from Chancery
+Lane?”
+
+I nodded.
+
+“A very thankless job for the Home Office, Knox. But I received my
+reward to-day. Inspector Wessex has been placed in charge of the case
+and I hope he will be down here within the hour. Pending his arrival I
+am tied hand and foot.”
+
+We had walked into the library, and, stopping, suddenly, Harley stared
+me very hard in the face.
+
+“You are bottling something up, Knox,” he declared. “Out with it. Has
+Aylesbury distinguished himself again?”
+
+“No,” I replied; “on the contrary. He interviewed Madame de Stämer, and
+came out with a flea in his ear.”
+
+“Good,” said Harley, smiling. “A clever woman, and a woman of spirit,
+Knox.”
+
+“You are right,” I replied, “and you are also right in supposing that I
+have a communication to make to you.”
+
+“Ah, I thought so. What is it?”
+
+“It is a theory, Harley, which appears to me to cover the facts of the
+case.”
+
+“Indeed?” said he, continuing to stare at me. “And what inspired it?”
+
+“I was staring up at the window of the smoke-room to-day, and I
+remembered the shadow which you had seen upon the blind.”
+
+“Yes?” he cried, eagerly; “and does your theory explain that, too?”
+
+“It does, Harley.”
+
+“Then I am all anxiety to hear it.”
+
+“Very well, then, I will endeavour to be brief. Do you recollect Miss
+Beverley’s story of the unfamiliar footsteps which passed her door on
+several occasions?”
+
+“Perfectly.”
+
+“You recollect that you, yourself, heard someone crossing the hall, and
+that both of us heard a door close?”
+
+“We did.”
+
+“And finally you saw the shadow of a woman upon the blind of the
+Colonel’s private study. Very well. Excluding the preposterous theory of
+Inspector Aylesbury, there is no woman in Cray’s Folly whose footsteps
+could possibly have been heard in that corridor, and whose shadow could
+possibly have been seen upon the blind of Colonel Menendez’s room.”
+
+“I agree,” said Harley, quietly. “I have definitely eliminated all the
+servants from the case. Therefore, proceed, Knox, I am all attention.”
+
+“I will do so. There is a door on the south side of the house, close to
+the tower and opening into the rhododendron shrubbery. This was the door
+used by Colonel Menendez in his somnambulistic rambles, according to
+his own account. Now, assuming his statement to have been untrue in one
+particular, that is, assuming he was not walking in his sleep, but was
+fully awake--”
+
+“Eh?” exclaimed Harley, his expression undergoing a subtle change. “Do
+you think his statement was untrue?”
+
+“According to my theory, Harley, his statement was untrue, in this
+particular, at least. But to proceed: Might he not have employed this
+door to admit a nocturnal visitor?”
+
+“It is feasible,” muttered Harley, watching me closely.
+
+“For the Colonel to descend to this side door when the household was
+sleeping,” I continued, “and to admit a woman secretly to Cray’s Folly,
+would have been a simple matter. Indeed, on the occasions of these
+visits he might even have unbolted the door himself after Pedro had
+bolted it, in order to enable her to enter without his descending for
+the purpose of admitting her.”
+
+“By heavens! Knox,” said Harley, “I believe you have it!”
+
+His eyes were gleaming excitedly, and I proceeded:
+
+“Hence the footsteps which passed Miss Beverley’s door, hence the shadow
+which you saw upon the blind; and the sounds which you detected in the
+hall were caused, of course, by this woman retiring. It was the door
+leading into the shrubbery which we heard being closed!”
+
+“Continue,” said Harley; “although I can plainly see to what this is
+leading.”
+
+“You can see, Harley?” I cried; “of course you can see! The enmity
+between Camber and Menendez is understandable at last.”
+
+“You mean that Menendez was Mrs. Camber’s lover?”
+
+“Don’t you agree with me?”
+
+“It is feasible, Knox, dreadfully feasible. But go on.”
+
+“My theory also explains Colin Camber’s lapse from sobriety. It is
+legitimate to suppose that his wife, who was a Cuban, had been intimate
+with Menendez before her meeting with Camber. Perhaps she had broken the
+tie at the time of her marriage, but this is mere supposition. Then,
+her old lover, his infatuation by no means abated, leases the property
+adjoining that of his successful rival.”
+
+“Knox!” exclaimed Paul Harley, “this is brilliant. I am all impatience
+for the _dénouement_.”
+
+“It is coming,” I said, triumphantly. “Relations are reëstablished,
+clandestinely. Colin Camber learns of these. A passionate quarrel
+ensues, resulting in a long drinking bout designed to drown his
+sorrows. His love for his wife is so great that he has forgiven her this
+infidelity. Accordingly, she has promised to see her lover no more. Hers
+was the figure which you saw outlined upon the blind on the night before
+the tragedy, Harley! The gestures, which you described as those of
+despair, furnish evidence to confirm my theory. It was a final meeting!”
+
+“Hm,” muttered Harley. “It would be taking big chances, because we have
+to suppose, Knox, that these visits to Cray’s Folly were made whilst her
+husband was at work in the study. If he had suddenly decided to turn in,
+all would have been discovered.”
+
+“True,” I agreed, “but is it impossible?”
+
+“No, not a bit. Women are dreadful gamblers. But continue, Knox.”
+
+“Very well. Colonel Menendez has refused to accept his dismissal, and
+Mrs. Camber had been compelled to promise, without necessarily intending
+to carry out the promise, that she would see him again on the following
+night. She failed to come; whereupon he, growing impatient, walked out
+into the grounds of Cray’s Folly to look for her. She may even have
+intended to come and have been intercepted by her husband. But in any
+event, the latter, seeing the man who had wronged him, standing out
+there in the moonlight, found temptation to be too strong. On the whole,
+I favour the idea that he had intercepted his wife, and snatching up
+a rifle, had actually gone out into the garden with the intention of
+shooting Menendez.”
+
+“I see,” murmured Harley in a low voice. “This hypothesis, Knox, does
+not embrace the Bat Wing episodes.”
+
+“If Menendez has lied upon one point,” I returned, “it is permissible to
+suppose that his entire story was merely a tissue of falsehood.”
+
+“I see. But why did he bring me to Cray’s Folly?”
+
+“Don’t you understand, Harley?” I cried, excitedly. “He really feared
+for his life, since he knew that Camber had discovered the intrigue.”
+
+Paul Harley heaved a long sigh.
+
+“I must congratulate you, Knox,” he said, gravely, “upon a really
+splendid contribution to my case. In several particulars I find myself
+nearer to the truth. But the definite establishment or shattering of
+your theory rests upon one thing.”
+
+“What’s that?” I asked. “You are surely not thinking of the bat wing
+nailed upon the door?”
+
+“Not at all,” he replied. “I am thinking of the seventh yew tree from
+the northeast corner of the Tudor garden.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE
+
+
+
+What reply I should have offered to this astonishing remark I cannot
+say, but at that moment the library door burst open unceremoniously, and
+outlined against the warmly illuminated hall, where sunlight poured down
+through the dome, I beheld the figure of Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+“Ah!” he cried, loudly, “so you have come back, Mr. Harley? I thought
+you had thrown up the case.”
+
+“Did you?” said Harley, smilingly. “No, I am still persevering in my
+ineffectual way.”
+
+“Oh, I see. And have you quite convinced yourself that Colin Camber is
+innocent?”
+
+“In one or two particulars my evidence remains incomplete.”
+
+“Oh, in one or two particulars, eh? But generally speaking you don’t
+doubt his innocence?”
+
+“I don’t doubt it for a moment.”
+
+Harley’s words surprised me. I recognized, of course, that he might
+merely be bluffing the Inspector, but it was totally alien to his
+character to score a rhetorical success at the expense of what he knew
+to be the truth; and so sure was I of the accuracy of my deductions that
+I no longer doubted Colin Camber to be the guilty man.
+
+“At any rate,” continued the Inspector, “he is in detention, and likely
+to remain there. If you are going to defend him at the Assizes, I don’t
+envy you your job, Mr. Harley.”
+
+He was blatantly triumphant, so that the fact was evident enough that
+he had obtained some further piece of evidence which he regarded as
+conclusive.
+
+“I have detained the man Ah Tsong as well,” he went on. “He was an
+accomplice of your innocent friend, Mr. Harley.”
+
+“Was he really?” murmured Harley.
+
+“Finally,” continued the Inspector, “I have only to satisfy myself
+regarding the person who lured Colonel Menendez out into the grounds
+last night, to have my case complete.”
+
+I turned aside, unable to trust myself, but Harley remarked quite
+coolly:
+
+“Your industry is admirable, Inspector Aylesbury, but I seem to perceive
+that you have made a very important discovery of some kind.”
+
+“Ah, you have got wind of it, have you?”
+
+“I have no information on the point,” replied Harley, “but your manner
+urges me to suggest that perhaps success has crowned your efforts?”
+
+“It has,” replied the Inspector. “I am a man that doesn’t do things by
+halves. I didn’t content myself with just staring out of the window of
+that little hut in the grounds of the Guest House, like you did, Mr.
+Harley, and saying ‘twice one are two’--I looked at every book on the
+shelves, and at every page of those books.”
+
+“You must have materially added to your information?”
+
+“Ah, very likely, but my enquiries didn’t stop there. I had the floor
+up.”
+
+“The floor of the hut?”
+
+“The floor of the hut, sir. The planks were quite loose. I had satisfied
+myself that it was a likely hiding place.”
+
+“What did you find there, a dead rat?”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned, and:
+
+“Sergeant Butler,” he called.
+
+The sergeant came forward from the hall, carrying a cricket bag. This
+Inspector Aylesbury took from him, placing it upon the floor of the
+library at his feet.
+
+“New, sir,” said he, “I borrowed this bag in which to bring the evidence
+away--the hanging evidence which I discovered beneath the floor of the
+hut.”
+
+I had turned again, when the man had referred to his discovery; and now,
+glancing at Harley, I saw that his face had grown suddenly very stern.
+
+“Show me your evidence, Inspector?” he asked, shortly.
+
+“There can be no objection,” returned the Inspector.
+
+Opening the bag, he took out a rifle!
+
+Paul Harley’s hands were thrust in his coat pockets, By the movement
+of the cloth I could see that he had clenched his fists. Here was
+confirmation of my theory!
+
+“A Service rifle,” said the Inspector, triumphantly, holding up the
+weapon. “A Lee-Enfield charger-loader. It contains four cartridges,
+three undischarged, and one discharged. He had not even troubled to
+eject it.”
+
+The Inspector dropped the weapon into the bag with a dramatic movement.
+
+“Fancy theories about bat wings and Voodoos,” he said, scornfully,
+“may satisfy you, Mr. Harley, but I think this rifle will prove more
+satisfactory to the Coroner.”
+
+He picked up the bag and walked out of the library.
+
+Harley stood posed in a curiously rigid way, looking after him. Even
+when the door had closed he did not change his position at once. Then,
+turning slowly, he walked to an armchair and sat down.
+
+“Harley,” I said, hesitatingly, “has this discovery surprised you?”
+
+“Surprised me?” he returned in a low voice. “It has appalled me.”
+
+“Then, although you seemed to regard my theory as sound,” I continued
+rather resentfully, “all the time you continued to believe Colin Camber
+to be innocent?”
+
+“I believe so still.”
+
+“What?”
+
+“I thought we had determined, Knox,” he said, wearily, “that a man of
+Camber’s genius, having decided upon murder, must have arranged for an
+unassailable alibi. Very well. Are we now to leap to the other end
+of the scale, and to credit him with such utter stupidity as to place
+hanging evidence where it could not fail to be discovered by the most
+idiotic policeman? Preserve your balance, Knox. Theories are wild
+horses. They run away with us. I know that of old, for which very reason
+I always avoid speculation until I have a solid foundation of fact upon
+which to erect it.”
+
+“But, my dear fellow,” I cried, “was Camber to foresee that the floor of
+the hut would be taken up?”
+
+Harley sighed, and leaned back in his chair.
+
+“Do you recollect your first meeting with this man, Knox?”
+
+“Perfectly.”
+
+“What occurred?”
+
+“He was slightly drunk.”
+
+“Yes, but what was the nature of his conversation?”
+
+“He suggested that I had recognized his resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe.”
+
+“Quite. What had led him to make this suggestion?”
+
+“The manner in which I had looked at him, I suppose.”
+
+“Exactly. Although not quite sober, from a mere glance he was able to
+detect what you were thinking. Do you wish me to believe, Knox, that
+this same man had not foreseen what the police would think when Colonel
+Menendez was found shot within a hundred yards of the garden of the
+Guest House?”
+
+I was somewhat taken aback, for Harley’s argument was strictly logical,
+and:
+
+“It is certainly very puzzling,” I admitted.
+
+“Puzzling!” he exclaimed; “it is maddening. This case is like a Syrian
+village-mound. Stratum lies under stratum, and in each we meet with
+evidence of more refined activity than in the last. It seems we have yet
+to go deeper.”
+
+He took out his pipe and began to fill it.
+
+“Tell me about the interview with Madame de Stämer,” he directed.
+
+I took a seat facing him, and he did not once interrupt me throughout my
+account of Inspector Aylesbury’s examination of Madame.
+
+“Good,” he commented, when I had told how the Inspector was dismissed.
+“But at least, Knox, he has a working theory, to which he sticks like an
+express to the main line, whereas I find myself constantly called upon
+to readjust my perspective. Directly I can enjoy freedom of movement,
+however, I shall know whether my hypothesis is a house of cards or a
+serviceable structure.”
+
+“Your hypothesis?” I said. “Then you really have a theory which is
+entirely different from mine?”
+
+“Not entirely different, Knox, merely not so comprehensive. I have
+contented myself thus far with a negative theory, if I may so express
+it.”
+
+“Negative theory?”
+
+“Exactly. We are dealing, my dear fellow, with a case of bewildering
+intricacies. For the moment I have focussed upon one feature only.”
+
+“What is that?”
+
+“Upon proving that Colin Camber did not do the murder.”
+
+“Did _not_ do it?”
+
+“Precisely, Knox. Respecting the person or persons who did do it, I
+had preserved a moderately open mind, up to the moment that Inspector
+Aylesbury entered the library with the Lee-Enfield.”
+
+“And then?” I said, eagerly.
+
+“Then,” he replied, “I began to think hard. However, since I practise
+what I preach, or endeavour to do so, I must not permit myself to
+speculate upon this aspect of the matter until I have tested my theory
+of Camber’s innocence.”
+
+“In other words,” I said, bitterly, “although you encouraged me to
+unfold my ideas regarding Mrs. Camber, you were merely laughing at me
+all the time!”
+
+“My dear Knox!” exclaimed Harley, jumping up impulsively, “please don’t
+be unjust. Is it like me? On the contrary, Knox”--he looked me squarely
+in the eyes--“you have given me a platform on which already I have begun
+to erect one corner of a theory of the crime. Without new facts I can go
+no further. But this much at least you have done.”
+
+“Thanks, Harley,” I murmured, and indeed I was gratified; “but where do
+your other corners rest?”
+
+“They rest,” he said, slowly, “they rest, respectively, upon a bat wing,
+a yew tree, and a Lee-Enfield charger-loader.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE SEVENTH YEW TREE
+
+
+
+Detective-Inspector Wessex arrived at about five o’clock; a quiet,
+resourceful man, highly competent, and having the appearance of an
+ex-soldier. His respect for the attainments of Paul Harley alone marked
+him a student of character. I knew Wessex well, and was delighted when
+Pedro showed him into the library.
+
+“Thank God you are here, Wessex,” said Harley, when we had exchanged
+greetings. “At last I can move. Have you seen the local officer in
+charge?”
+
+“No,” replied the Inspector, “but I gather that I have been
+requisitioned over his head.”
+
+“You have,” said Harley, grimly, “and over the head of the Chief
+Constable, too. But I suppose it is unfair to condemn a man for the
+shortcoming with which nature endowed him, therefore we must endeavour
+to let Inspector Aylesbury down as lightly as possible. I have an idea
+that I heard him return a while ago.”
+
+He walked out into the hall to make enquiries, and a few moments later I
+heard Inspector Aylesbury’s voice.
+
+“Ah, there you are, Inspector Aylesbury,” said Harley, cheerily. “Will
+you please step into the library for a moment?”
+
+The Inspector entered, frowning heavily, followed by my friend.
+
+“There is no earthly reason why we should get at loggerheads over this
+business,” Harley continued; “but the fact of the matter is, Inspector
+Aylesbury, that there are depths in this case to which neither you nor
+I have yet succeeded in penetrating. You have a reputation to consider,
+and so have I. Therefore I am sure you will welcome the cooperation of
+Detective-Inspector Wessex of Scotland Yard, as I do.”
+
+“What’s this, what’s this?” said Aylesbury. “I have made no application
+to London.”
+
+“Nevertheless, Inspector, it is quite in order,” declared Wessex. “I
+have my instructions here, and I have reported to Market Hilton already.
+You see, the man you have detained is an American citizen.”
+
+“What of that?”
+
+“Well, he seems to have communicated with his Embassy.” Wessex glanced
+significantly at Paul Harley. “And the Embassy communicated with the
+Home Office. You mustn’t regard my arrival as any reflection on your
+ability, Inspector Aylesbury. I am sure we can work together quite
+agreeably.”
+
+“Oh,” muttered the other, in evident bewilderment, “I see. Well, if
+that’s the way of it, I suppose we must make the best of things.”
+
+“Good,” cried Wessex, heartily. “Now perhaps you would like to state
+your case against the detained man?”
+
+“A sound idea, Wessex,” said Paul Harley. “But perhaps, Inspector
+Aylesbury, before you begin, you would be good enough to speak to the
+constable on duty at the entrance to the Tudor garden. I am anxious to
+take another look at the spot where the body was found.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury took out his handkerchief and blew his nose loudly,
+continuing throughout the operation to glare at Paul Harley, and
+finally:
+
+“You are wasting your time, Mr. Harley,” he declared, “as
+Detective-Inspector Wessex will be the first to admit when I have given
+him the facts of my case. Nevertheless, if you want to examine the
+garden, do so by all means.”
+
+He turned without another word and stamped out of the library across the
+hall and into the courtyard.
+
+“I will join you again in a few minutes, Wessex,” said Paul Harley,
+following.
+
+“Very good, Mr. Harley,” Wessex answered. “I know you wouldn’t have had
+me down if the case had been as simple as he seems to think it is.”
+
+I joined Harley, and we walked together up the gravelled path, meeting
+Inspector Aylesbury and the constable returning.
+
+“Go ahead, Mr. Harley!” cried the Inspector. “If you can find any
+stronger evidence than the rifle, I shall be glad to take a look at it.”
+
+Harley nodded good-humouredly, and together we descended the steps to
+the sunken garden. I was intensely curious respecting the investigation
+which Harley had been so anxious to make here, for I recognized that
+it was associated with something which he had seen from the window of
+Camber’s hut.
+
+He walked along the moss-grown path to the sun-dial, and stood for a
+moment looking down at the spot where Menendez had lain. Then he stared
+up the hill toward the Guest House; and finally, directing his attention
+to the yews which lined the sloping bank:
+
+“One, two, three, four,” he counted, checking them with his
+fingers--“five, six, seven.”
+
+He mounted the bank and began to examine the trunk of one of the trees,
+whilst I watched him in growing astonishment.
+
+Presently he turned and looked down at me.
+
+“Not a trace, Knox,” he murmured; “not a trace. Let us try again.”
+
+He moved along to the yew adjoining that which he had already inspected,
+but presently shook his head and passed to the next. Then:
+
+“Ah!” he cried. “Come here, Knox!”
+
+I joined him where he was kneeling, staring at what I took to be a large
+nail, or bolt, protruding from the bark of the tree.
+
+“You see!” he exclaimed, “you see!”
+
+I stooped, in order to examine the thing more closely, and as I did
+so, I realized what it was. It was the bullet which had killed Colonel
+Menendez!
+
+Harley stood upright, his face slightly flushed and his eyes very
+bright.
+
+“We shall not attempt to remove it, Knox,” he said. “The depth of
+penetration may have a tale to tell. The wood of the yew tree is one of
+the toughest British varieties.”
+
+“But, Harley,” I said, blankly, as we descended to the path, “this is
+merely another point for the prosecution of Camber. Unless”--I turned to
+him in sudden excitement, “the bullet was of different--”
+
+“No, no,” he murmured, “nothing so easy as that, Knox. The bullet was
+fired from a Lee-Enfield beyond doubt.”
+
+I stared at him uncomprehendingly.
+
+“Then I am utterly out of my depth, Harley. It, appears to me that the
+case against Camber is finally and fatally complete. Only the motive
+remains to be discovered, and I flatter myself that I have already
+detected this.”
+
+“I am certainly inclined to think,” admitted Harley, “that there is a
+good deal in your theory.”
+
+“Then, Harley,” I said in bewilderment, “you do believe that Camber
+committed the murder?”
+
+“On the contrary,” he replied, “I am certain that he did not.”
+
+I stood quite still.
+
+“You are certain?” I began.
+
+“I told you that the test of my theory, Knox, was to be looked for in
+the seventh yew from the northeast corner of the Tudor garden, did I
+not?”
+
+“You did. And it is there. A bullet fired from a Lee-Enfield rifle;
+beyond any possible shadow of doubt the bullet which killed Colonel
+Menendez.”
+
+“Beyond any possible shadow of doubt, as you say, Knox, the bullet which
+killed Colonel Menendez.”
+
+“Therefore Camber is guilty?”
+
+“On the contrary, therefore Camber is innocent!”
+
+“What!”
+
+“You are persistently overlooking one little point, Knox,” said Harley,
+mounting the steps on to the gravel path. “I spoke of the seventh yew
+tree from the northeast corner of the garden.”
+
+“Well?”
+
+“Well, my dear fellow, surely you observed that the bullet was embedded
+in the ninth?”
+
+I was still groping for the significance of this point when, re-crossing
+the hall, we entered the library again, to find Inspector Aylesbury
+posed squarely before the mantelpiece stating his case to Wessex.
+
+“You see,” he was saying, in his most oratorical manner, as we entered,
+“every little detail fits perfectly into place. For instance, I find
+that a woman, called Mrs. Powis, who for the past two years had acted as
+housekeeper at the Guest House and never taken a holiday, was sent away
+recently to her married daughter in London. See what that means? Her
+room is at the back of the house, and her evidence would have been
+fatal. Ah Tsong, of course, is a liar. I made up my mind about that the
+moment I clapped eyes on him. Mrs. Camber is the only innocent party.
+She was asleep in the front of the house when the shot was fired, and
+I believe her when she says that she cannot swear to the matter of
+distance.”
+
+“A very interesting case, Inspector,” said Wessex, glancing at Harley.
+“I have not examined the body yet, but I understand that it was a clean
+wound through the head.”
+
+“The bullet entered at the juncture of the nasal and frontal bones,”
+ explained Harley, rapidly, “and it came out between the base of the
+occipital and first cervical. Without going into unpleasant surgical
+details, the wound was a perfectly _straight_ one. There was no
+ricochet.”
+
+“I understand that a regulation rifle was used?”
+
+“Yes,” said Inspector Aylesbury; “we have it.”
+
+“And at what range did you say, Inspector?”
+
+“Roughly, a hundred yards.”
+
+“Possibly less,” murmured Harley.
+
+“Hundred yards or less,” said Wessex, musingly; “and the obstruction met
+with in the case of a man shot in that way would be--” He looked towards
+Paul Harley.
+
+“Less than if the bullet had struck the skull higher up,” was the reply.
+“It passed clean through.”
+
+“Therefore,” continued Wessex, “I am waiting to hear, Inspector, where
+you found the bullet lodged?”
+
+“Eh?” said the Inspector, and he slowly turned his prominent eyes in
+Harley’s direction. “Oh, I see. That’s why you wanted to examine the
+Tudor garden, is it?”
+
+“Exactly,” replied Harley.
+
+The face of Inspector Aylesbury grew very red.
+
+“I had deferred looking for the bullet,” he explained, “as the case was
+already as clear as daylight. Probably Mr. Harley has discovered it.”
+
+“I have,” said Harley, shortly.
+
+“Is it the regulation bullet?” asked Wessex.
+
+“It is. I found it embedded in one of the yew trees.”
+
+“There you are!” exclaimed Aylesbury. “There isn’t the ghost of a
+doubt.”
+
+Wessex looked at Harley in undisguised perplexity.
+
+“I must say, Mr. Harley,” he admitted, “that I have never met with a
+clearer case.”
+
+“Neither have I,” agreed Harley, cheerfully. “I am going to ask
+Inspector Aylesbury to return here after nightfall. There is a little
+experiment which I should like to make, and which would definitely
+establish my case.”
+
+“_Your_ case?” said Aylesbury.
+
+“My case, yes.”
+
+“You are not going to tell me that you still persist in believing Camber
+to be innocent?”
+
+“Not at all. I am merely going to ask you to return at nightfall to
+assist me in this minor investigation.”
+
+“If you ask my opinion,” said the Inspector, “no further evidence is
+needed.”
+
+“I don’t agree with you,” replied Harley, quietly. “Whatever your own
+ideas upon the subject may be, I, personally, have not yet discovered
+one single piece of convincing evidence for the prosecution of Camber.”
+
+“What!” exclaimed Aylesbury, and even Detective-Inspector Wessex stared
+at the speaker incredulously.
+
+“My dear Inspector Aylesbury,” concluded Harley, “when you have
+witnessed the experiment which I propose to make this evening you will
+realize, as I have already realized that we are faced by a tremendous
+task.”
+
+“What tremendous task?”
+
+“The task of discovering who shot Colonel Menendez.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+YSOLA CAMBER’S CONFESSION
+
+
+
+Paul Harley, with Wessex and Inspector Aylesbury, presently set out for
+Market Hilton, where Colin Camber and Ah Tsong were detained and where
+the body of Colonel Menendez had been conveyed for the purpose of the
+post-mortem. I had volunteered to remain at Cray’s Folly, my motive
+being not wholly an unselfish one.
+
+“Refer reporters to me, Mr. Knox,” said Inspector Wessex. “Don’t let
+them trouble the ladies. And tell them as little as possible, yourself.”
+
+The drone of the engine having died away down the avenue, I presently
+found myself alone, but as I crossed the hall in the direction of
+the library, intending to walk out upon the southern lawns, I saw Val
+Beverley coming toward me from Madame de Stämer’s room.
+
+She remained rather pale, but smiled at me courageously.
+
+“Have they all gone, Mr. Knox?” she asked. “I have really been hiding. I
+suppose you knew?”
+
+“I suspected it,” I said, smiling. “Yes, they are all gone. How is
+Madame de Stämer, now?”
+
+“She is quite calm. Curiously, almost uncannily calm. She is writing.
+Tell me, please, what does Mr. Harley think of Inspector Aylesbury’s
+preposterous ideas?”
+
+“He thinks he is a fool,” I replied, hotly, “as I do.”
+
+“But whatever will happen if he persists in dragging me into this
+horrible case?”
+
+“He will not drag you into it,” I said, quietly. “He has been superseded
+by a cleverer man, and the case is practically under Harley’s direction
+now.”
+
+“Thank Heaven for that,” she murmured. “I wonder----” She looked at me
+hesitatingly.
+
+“Yes?” I prompted.
+
+“I have been thinking about poor Mrs. Camber all alone in that gloomy
+house, and wondering----”
+
+“Perhaps I know. You are going to visit her?”
+
+Val Beverley nodded, watching me.
+
+“Can you leave Madame de Stämer with safety?”
+
+“Oh, yes, I think so. Nita can attend to her.”
+
+“And may I accompany you, Miss Beverley? For more reasons than one, I,
+too, should like to call upon Mrs. Camber.”
+
+“We might try,” she said, hesitatingly. “I really only wanted to be
+kind. You won’t begin to cross-examine her, will you?”
+
+“Certainly not,” I answered; “although there are many things I should
+like her to tell us.”
+
+“Well, suppose we go,” said the girl, “and let events take their own
+course.”
+
+As a result, I presently found myself, Val Beverley by my side, walking
+across the meadow path. With the unpleasant hush of Cray’s Folly left
+behind, the day seemed to grow brighter. I thought that the skylarks had
+never sung more sweetly. Yet in this same instant of sheerly physical
+enjoyment I experienced a pang of remorse, remembering the tragic woman
+we had left behind, and the poor little sorrowful girl we were going to
+visit. My emotions were very mingled, then, and I retain no recollection
+of our conversation up to the time that we came to the Guest House.
+
+We were admitted by a really charming old lady, who informed us that her
+name was Mrs. Powis and that she was but an hour returned from London,
+whither she had been summoned by telegram.
+
+She showed us into a quaint, small drawing room which owed its
+atmosphere quite clearly to Mrs. Camber, for whereas the study was
+indescribably untidy, this was a model of neatness without being formal
+or unhomely. Here, in a few moments, Mrs. Camber joined us, an appealing
+little figure of wistful, almost elfin, beauty. I was surprised and
+delighted to find that an instant bond of sympathy sprang up between the
+two girls. I diplomatically left them together for a while, going into
+Camber’s room to smoke my pipe. And when I returned:
+
+“Oh, Mr. Knox,” said Val Beverley, “Mrs. Camber has something to tell
+you which she thinks you ought to know.”
+
+“Concerning Colonel Menendez?” I asked, eagerly.
+
+Mrs. Camber nodded her golden head.
+
+“Yes,” she replied, but glancing at Val Beverley as if to gather
+confidence. “The truth can never hurt Colin. He has nothing to conceal.
+May I tell you?”
+
+“I am all anxiety to hear,” I assured her.
+
+“Would you rather I went, Mrs. Camber?” asked Val Beverley.
+
+Mrs. Camber reached across and took her hand.
+
+“Please, no,” she replied. “Stay here with me. I am afraid it is rather
+a long story.”
+
+“Never mind,” I said. “It will be time well spent if it leads us any
+nearer to the truth.”
+
+“Yes?” she questioned, watching me anxiously, “you think so? I think so,
+too.”
+
+She became silent, sitting looking straight before her, the pupils of
+her blue eyes widely dilated. Then, at first in a queer, far-away voice,
+she began to speak again.
+
+“I must tell you,” she commenced “that before--my marriage, my name was
+Isabella de Valera.”
+
+I started.
+
+“Ysola was my baby way of saying it, and so I came to be called Ysola.
+My father was manager of one of Señor Don Juan’s estates, in a small
+island near the coast of Cuba. My mother”--she raised her little hands
+eloquently--“was half-caste. Do you know? And she and my father--”
+
+She looked pleadingly at Val Beverley.
+
+“I understand,” whispered the latter with deep sympathy; “but you don’t
+think it makes any difference, do you?”
+
+“No?” said Mrs. Camber with a quaint little gesture. “To you, perhaps
+not, but there, where I was born, oh! so much. Well, then, my mother
+died when I was very little. Ah Tsong was her servant. There are many
+Chinese in the West Indies, you see, and I can just remember he carried
+me in to see her. Of course I didn’t understand. My father quarrelled
+bitterly with the priests because they would not bury her in holy
+ground. I think he no longer believed afterward. I loved him very much.
+He was good to me; and I was a queen in that little island. All
+the negroes loved me, because of my mother, I think, who was partly
+descended from slaves, as they were. But I had not begun to understand
+how hard it was all going to be when my father sent me to a convent in
+Cuba.
+
+“I hated to go, but while I was there I learned all about myself. I knew
+that I was outcast. It was”--she raised her hand--“not possible to stay.
+I was only fifteen when I came home, but all the same I was a woman. I
+was no more a child, and happy no longer. After a while, perhaps, when
+I forgot what I had suffered at the convent, I became less miserable.
+My father did all in his power to make me happy, and I was glad the
+work-people loved me. But I was very lonely. Ah Tsong understood.”
+
+Her eyes filled with tears.
+
+“Can you imagine,” she asked, “that when my father was away in distant
+parts of the island at night, Ah Tsong slept outside my door? Some of
+them say, ‘Do not trust the Chinese’ I say, except my husband and my
+father, I have never known another one to trust but Ah Tsong. Now they
+have taken him away from me.”
+
+Tears glittered on her lashes, but she brushed them aside angrily, and
+continued:
+
+“I was still less than twenty, and looked, they told me, only fourteen,
+when Señor Menendez came to inspect his estate. I had never seen him
+before. There had been a rising in the island, in the year after I was
+born, and he had only just escaped with his life. He was hated. People
+called him Devil Menendez. Especially, no woman was safe from him,
+and in the old days, when his power had been great, he had used it for
+wickedness.
+
+“My father was afraid when he heard he was coming. He would have sent me
+away, but before it could be arranged Señor the Colonel arrived. He had
+in his company a French lady. I thought her very beautiful and elegant.
+It was Madame de Stämer. It is only four years ago, a little more, but
+her hair was dark brown. She was splendidly dressed and such a wonderful
+horsewoman. The first time I saw her I felt as they had made me feel at
+the convent. I wanted to hide from her. She was so grand a lady, and I
+came from slaves.”
+
+She paused hesitatingly and stared down at her own tiny feet.
+
+“Pardon me interrupting you, Mrs. Camber,” I said, “but can you tell me
+in what way these two are related?”
+
+She looked up with her naïve smile.
+
+“I can tell you, yes. A cousin of Señor Menendez married a sister of
+Madame de Stämer.”
+
+“Good heavens!” I exclaimed, “a very remote kinship.”
+
+“It was in this way they met, in Paris, I think, and”--she raised her
+hands expressively--“she came with him to the West Indies, although it
+was during the great war. I think she loved him more than her soul, and
+me--me she hated. As Señor Menendez dismounted from his horse in front
+of the house he saw me.”
+
+She sighed and ceased speaking again. Then:
+
+“That very night,” she continued, “he began. Do you know? I was trying
+to escape from him when Madame de Stämer found us. She called me a
+shameful name, and my father, who heard it, ordered her out of the
+house. Señor Menendez spoke sharply, and my father struck him.”
+
+She paused once more, biting her lip agitatedly, but presently
+proceeded:
+
+“Do you know what they are like, the Spanish, when their blood is hot?
+Senor Menendez had a revolver, but my father knocked it from his grasp.
+Then they fought with their bare hands. I was too frightened even to cry
+out. It was all a horrible dream. What Madame de Stämer did, I do not
+know. I could see nothing but two figures twined together on the floor.
+At last one of them arose. I saw it was my father, and I remember no
+more.”
+
+She was almost overcome by her tragic recollections, but presently, with
+a wonderful courage, which, together with her daintiness of form, spoke
+eloquently of good blood on one side at any rate, continued to speak:
+
+“My father found he must go to Cuba to make arrangements for the future.
+Of course, our life there was finished. Ah Tsong stayed with me. You
+have heard how it used to be in those islands in the old days, but now
+you think it is so different? I used to think it was different, too. On
+the first night my father was away, Ah Tsong, who had gone out, was so
+long returning I became afraid. Then a strange negro came with news that
+he had been taken ill with cholera, and was lying at a place not far
+from the house. I forgot my fears and hurried off with this man. Ah!”
+
+She laughed wildly.
+
+“I did not know I should never return, and I did not know I should never
+see my father again. To you this must seem all wild and strange, because
+there is a law in England. There is a law in Cuba, too, but in some of
+those little islands the only law is the law of the strongest.”
+
+She raised her hands to her face and there was silence for a while.
+
+“Of course it was a trap,” she presently continued. “I was taken to an
+island called El Manas which belonged to Senor Menendez, and where
+he had a house. This he could do, but”--she threw back her head
+proudly--“my spirit he could not break. Lots and lots of money would
+be mine, and estates of my own; but one thing about him I must tell: he
+never showed me violence. For one, two, three weeks I stayed a prisoner
+in his house. All the servants were faithful to him and I could not
+find a friend among them. Although quite innocent, I was ruined. Do you
+know?”
+
+She raised her eyes pathetically to Val Beverley.
+
+“I thought my heart was broken, for something told me my father was
+dead. This was true.”
+
+“What!” I exclaimed. “You don’t mean--”
+
+“I don’t know, I don’t know,” she answered, brokenly. “He died on
+his way to Havana. They said it was an accident. Well--at last, Señor
+Menendez offered me marriage. I thought if I agreed it would give me my
+freedom, and I could run away and find Ah Tsong.”
+
+She paused, and a flush coloured her delicate face and faded again,
+leaving it very pale.
+
+“We were married in the house, by a Spanish priest. Oh”--she raised her
+hands pathetically--“do you know what a woman is like? My spirit was not
+broken still, but crushed. I had now nothing but kindness and gifts.
+I might never have known, but Senor Menendez, who thought”--she smiled
+sadly--“I was beautiful, took me to Cuba, where he had a great house.
+Please remember, please,” she pleaded, “before you judge of me, that I
+was so young and had never known love, except the love of my father. I
+did not even dream, then, his death was not an accident.
+
+“I was proud of my jewels and fine dresses. But I began to notice that
+Juan did not present any of his friends to me. We went about, but to
+strange places, never to visit people of his own kind, and none came to
+visit us. Then one night I heard someone on the balcony of my room. I
+was so frightened I could not cry out. It was good I was like that, for
+the curtain was pulled open and Ah Tsong came in.”
+
+She clutched convulsively at the arms of her chair.
+
+“He told me!” she said in a very low voice.
+
+Then, looking up pitifully:
+
+“Do you know?” she asked in her quaint way. “It was a mock marriage. He
+had done it and thought no shame, because it was so with my mother. Oh!”
+
+Her beautiful eyes flashed, and for the first time since I had met Ysola
+Camber I saw the real Spanish spirit of the woman leap to life.
+
+“He did not know me. Perhaps I did not know myself. That night, with
+no money, without a ring, a piece of lace, a peseta, anything that had
+belonged to him, I went with Ah Tsong. We made our way to a half-sister
+of my father’s who lived in Puerto Principe, and at first--she would not
+have me. I was talked about, she said, in all the islands. She told me
+of my poor father. She told me I had dragged the name of de Valera in
+the dirt. At last I made her understand--that what everyone else had
+known, I had never even dreamed of.”
+
+She looked up wistfully, as if thinking that we might doubt her.
+
+“Do you know?” she whispered.
+
+“I know--oh! I know!” said Val Beverley. I loved her for the sympathy
+in her voice and in her eyes. “It is very, very brave of you to tell us
+this, Mrs. Camber.”
+
+“Yes? Do you think so?” asked the girl, simply. “What does it matter if
+it can help Colin?
+
+“This aunt of mine,” she presently continued, “was a poor woman, and
+it was while I was hiding in her house--because spies of Senor Menendez
+were searching for me--that I met--my husband. He was studying in Cuba
+the strange things he writes about, you see. And before I knew what had
+happened--I found I loved him more than all else in the world. It is so
+wonderful, that feeling,” she said, looking across at Val Beverley. “Do
+you know?”
+
+The girl flushed deeply, and lowered her eyes, but made no reply.
+
+“Because you are a woman, too, you will perhaps understand,” she
+resumed. “I did not tell him. I did not dare to tell him at first. I
+was so madly happy I had no courage to speak. But when”--her voice sank
+lower and lower--“he asked me to marry him, I told him. Nothing he could
+ever do would change my love for him now, because he forgave me and made
+me his wife.”
+
+I feared that at last she was going to break down, for her voice became
+very tremulous and tears leapt again into her eyes. She conquered her
+emotion, however, and went on:
+
+“We crossed over to the States, and Colin’s family who had heard of his
+marriage--some friend of Señor Menendez had told them--would not know
+us. It meant that Colin, who would have been a rich man, was very poor.
+It made no difference. He was splendid. And I was so happy it was all
+like a dream. He made me forget I was to blame for his troubles. Then we
+were in Washington--and I saw Señor Menendez in the hotel!
+
+“Oh, my heart stopped beating. For me it seemed like the end of
+everything. I knew, I knew, he was following me. But he had not seen me,
+and without telling Colin the reason, I made him leave Washington, He
+was glad to go. Wherever we went, in America, they seemed to find out
+about my mother. I got to hate them, hate them all. We came to England,
+and Colin heard about this house, and we took it.
+
+“At last we were really happy. No one knew us. Because we were strange,
+and because of Ah Tsong, they looked at us very funny and kept away, but
+we did not care. Then Sir James Appleton sold Cray’s Folly.”
+
+She looked up quickly.
+
+“How can I tell you? It must have been by Ah Tsong that he traced me to
+Surrey. Some spy had told him there was a Chinaman living here. Oh, I
+don’t know how he found out, but when I heard who was coming to Cray’s
+Folly I thought I should die.
+
+“Something I must tell you now. When I had told my story to Colin, one
+thing I had not told him, because I was afraid what he might do. I had
+not told him the name of the man who had caused me to suffer so much. On
+the day I first saw Señor Menendez walking in the garden of Cray’s Folly
+I knew I must tell my husband what he had so often asked me to tell
+him--the name of the man. I told him--and at first I thought he would go
+mad. He began to drink--do you know? It is a failing in his family. But
+because I knew--because I knew--I forgave him, and hoped, always hoped,
+that he would stop. He promised to do so. He had given up going out each
+day to drink, and was working again like he used to work--too hard, too
+hard, but it was better than the other way.”
+
+She stopped speaking, and suddenly, before I could divine her intention,
+dropped upon her knees, and raised her clasped hands to me.
+
+“He did not, he did not kill him!” she cried, passionately. “He did not!
+O God! I who love him tell you he did not! You think he did. You do--you
+do! I can see it in your eyes!”
+
+“Believe me, Mrs. Camber,” I answered, deeply moved, “I don’t doubt your
+word for a moment.”
+
+She continued to look at me for a while, and then turned to Val
+Beverley.
+
+“_You_ don’t think he did,” she sobbed, “do you?”
+
+She looked such a child, such a pretty, helpless child, as she knelt
+there on the carpet, that I felt a lump rising in my throat.
+
+Val Beverley dropped down impulsively beside her and put her arms around
+the slender shoulders.
+
+“Of course I don’t,” she exclaimed, indignantly. “Of course I don’t.
+It’s quite unthinkable.”
+
+“I know it is,” moaned the other, raising her tearful face. “I love him
+and know his great soul. But what do these others know, and they will
+never believe _me_.”
+
+“Have courage,” I said. “It has never failed you yet. Mr. Paul Harley
+has promised to clear him by to-night.”
+
+“He has promised?” she whispered, still kneeling and clutching Val
+Beverley tightly. She looked up at me with hope reborn in her beautiful
+eyes. “He has promised? Oh, I thank him. May God bless him. I know he
+will succeed.”
+
+I turned aside, and walked out across the hall and into the empty study.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+PAUL HARLEY’S EXPERIMENT
+
+
+
+I recognize that whosoever may have taken the trouble to follow my
+chronicle thus far will be little disposed to suffer any intrusion of
+my personal affairs at such a point. Therefore I shall pass lightly over
+the walk back to Cray’s Folly, during which I contrived to learn
+much about Val Beverley’s personal history but little to advance the
+investigation which I was there to assist.
+
+As I had surmised, Miss Beverley had been amply provided for by her
+father, and was bound to Madame de Stämer by no other ties than those of
+friendship and esteem. Very reluctantly I released her, on our returning
+to the house; for she, perforce, hurried off to Madame’s room, leaving
+me looking after her in a state of delightful bewilderment, the
+significance of which I could not disguise from myself. The absurd
+suspicions of Inspector Aylesbury were forgotten; so was the shadow upon
+the blind of Colonel Menendez’s study. I only knew that love had come to
+me, an unbidden guest, to stay for ever.
+
+Manoel informed me that a number of pressmen, not to be denied, had
+taken photographs of the Tudor garden and of the spot where Colonel
+Menendez had been found, but Pedro, following my instructions, had
+referred them all to Market Hilton.
+
+I was standing in the doorway talking to the man when I heard the
+drone of Harley’s motor in the avenue, and a moment later he and Wessex
+stepped out in front of the porch and joined me. I thought that Wessex
+looked stern and rather confused, but Harley was quite his old self, his
+keen eyes gleaming humorously, and an expression of geniality upon his
+tanned features.
+
+“Hullo, Knox!” he cried, “any developments?”
+
+“Yes,” I said. “Suppose we go up to your room and talk.”
+
+“Good enough.”
+
+Inspector Wessex nodded without speaking, and the three of us mounted
+the staircase and entered Paul Harley’s room. Harley seated himself
+upon the bed and began to load his pipe, whilst Wessex, who seemed very
+restless, stood staring out of the window. I sat down in the armchair,
+and:
+
+“I have had an interesting interview with Mrs. Camber,” I said.
+
+“What?” exclaimed Harley. “Good. Tell us all about it.”
+
+Wessex turned, hands clasped behind him, and listened in silence to
+an account which I gave of my visit to the Guest House. When I had
+finished:
+
+“It seems to me,” said the Inspector, slowly, “that the only doubtful
+point in the case against Camber is cleared up; namely, his motive.”
+
+“It certainly looks like it,” agreed Harley. “But how strangely Mrs.
+Camber’s story differs from that of Menendez although there are points
+of contact. I regret, however, that you were unable to settle the most
+important matter of all.”
+
+“You mean whether or not she had visited Cray’s Folly?”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“Then you still consider my theory to be correct?” I asked eagerly.
+
+“Up to a point it has been proved to be,” he returned. “I must
+congratulate you upon a piece of really brilliant reasoning, Knox.
+But respecting the most crucial moment of all, we are still without
+information, unfortunately. However, whilst the presence or otherwise,
+of Mrs. Camber in Cray’s Folly on the night preceding the tragedy may
+prove to bear intimately upon the case, an experiment which I propose to
+make presently will give the matter an entirely different significance.”
+
+“Hm,” said Wessex, doubtfully, “I am looking forward to this experiment
+of yours, Mr. Harley, with great interest. To be perfectly honest,
+I have no more idea than the man in the moon how you hope to clear
+Camber.”
+
+“No,” replied Harley, musingly, “the weight of evidence against him is
+crushing. But you are a man of great experience, Wessex, in criminal
+investigations. Tell me honestly, have you ever known a murder case in
+which there was such conclusive material for the prosecution?”
+
+“Never,” replied the Inspector, promptly. “In this respect, as in
+others, the case is unique.”
+
+“You have seen Camber,” continued Harley, “and have been enabled to form
+some sort of judgment respecting his character. You will admit that he
+is a clever man, brilliantly clever. Keep this fact in mind. Remember
+his studies, and he does not deny that they have included Voodoo.
+Remember his enquiries into the significance of Bat Wing. Remember, as
+we now learn definitely from Mrs. Camber’s evidence, that he was in
+Cuba at the same time as the late Colonel Menendez, and once, at least,
+actually in the same hotel in the United States. Consider the rifle
+found under the floor of the hut; and, having weighed all these points
+judicially, Wessex, tell me frankly, if in the whole course of your
+experience, you have ever met with a more perfect frame-up?”
+
+“What!” shouted Wessex, in sudden excitement. “What!”
+
+“I said a frame-up,” repeated Harley, quietly. “An American term, but
+one which will be familiar to you.”
+
+“Good God!” muttered the detective, “you have turned all my ideas upside
+down.”
+
+“What may be termed the _physical_ evidence,” continued Harley, “is
+complete, I admit: too complete. There lies the weak spot. But what
+I will call the psychological evidence points in a totally different
+direction. A man clever enough to have planned this crime, and Camber
+undoubtedly is such a man, could not--it is humanly impossible--have
+been fool enough, deliberately to lay such a train of damning facts.
+It’s a frame-up, Wessex! I had begun to suspect this even before I
+met Camber. Having met him, I knew that I was right. Then came an
+inspiration. I saw where there must be a flaw in the plan. It was
+geographically impossible that this could be otherwise.”
+
+“Geographically impossible?” I said, in a hushed voice, for Harley had
+truly astounded me.
+
+“Geographical is the term, Knox. I admit that the discovery of the rifle
+beneath the floor of the hut appalled me.”
+
+“I could see that it did.”
+
+“It was the crowning piece of evidence, Knox, evidence of such fiendish
+cleverness on the part of those who had plotted Menendez’s death that I
+began to wonder whether after all it would be possible to defeat them. I
+realized that Camber’s life hung upon a hair. For the production of that
+rifle before a jury of twelve moderately stupid men and true could not
+fail to carry enormous weight. Whereas the delicate point upon which
+my counter case rested might be more difficult to demonstrate in court.
+To-night, however, we shall put it to the test, and there are means, no
+doubt, which will occur to me later, of making its significance evident
+to one not acquainted with the locality. The press photographs, which I
+understand have been taken, may possibly help us in this.”
+
+Bewildered by my friend’s revolutionary ideas, which explained the
+hitherto mysterious nature of his enquiries, I scarcely knew what to
+say; but:
+
+“If it’s a frame-up, Mr. Harley,” said Wessex, “and the more I think
+about it the more it has that look to me, practically speaking, we have
+not yet started on the search for the murderer.”
+
+“We have not,” replied Harley, grimly. “But I have a dawning idea of a
+method by which we shall be enabled to narrow down this enquiry.”
+
+It must be unnecessary for me to speak of the state of suppressed
+excitement in which we passed the remainder of that afternoon and
+evening. Dr. Rolleston called again to see Madame de Stämer, and
+reported that she was quite calm. In fact, he almost echoed Val
+Beverley’s words spoken earlier in the day.
+
+“She is unnaturally calm, Mr. Knox,” he said in confidence. “I
+understand that the dead man was a cousin, but I almost suspect that she
+was madly in love with him.”
+
+I nodded shortly, admiring his acute intelligence.
+
+“I think you are right, doctor,” I replied, “and if it is so, her
+amazing fortitude is all the more admirable.”
+
+“Admirable?” he echoed. “As I said before, she has the courage of ten
+men.”
+
+A formal dinner was out of the question, of course; indeed, no one
+attempted to dress. Val Beverley excused herself, saying that she would
+dine in Madame’s room, and Harley, Wessex, and I, partook of wine and
+sandwiches in the library.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury arrived about eight o’clock in a mood of repressed
+irritation. Pedro showed him in to where the three of us were seated,
+and:
+
+“Good evening, gentlemen,” said he, “here I am, as arranged, but as I am
+up to my eyes in work on the case, I will ask you, Mr. Harley, to carry
+out this experiment of yours as quickly as possible.”
+
+“No time shall be lost,” replied my friend, quietly. “May I request you
+to accompany Detective-Inspector Wessex and Mr. Knox to the Guest House
+by the high road? Do not needlessly alarm Mrs. Camber. Indeed, I
+think you might confine your attention to Mrs. Powis. Merely request
+permission to walk down the garden to the hut, and be good enough to
+wait there until I join you, which will be in a few minutes after your
+arrival.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury uttered an inarticulate, grunting sound, but I, who
+knew Harley so well, could see that he felt himself to be upon the eve
+of a signal triumph. What he proposed to do, I had no idea, save that
+it was designed to clear Colin Camber. I prayed that it might also clear
+his pathetic girl-wife; and in a sort of gloomy silence I set out with
+Wessex and Aylesbury, down the drive, past the lodge, which seemed to be
+deserted to-night, and along the tree-lined high road, cool and sweet in
+the dusk of evening.
+
+Aylesbury was very morose, and Wessex, who had lighted his pipe, did not
+seem to be in a talkative mood either. He had the utmost faith in Paul
+Harley, but it was evident enough that he was oppressed by the weight of
+evidence against Camber. I divined the fact that he was turning over
+in his mind the idea of the frame-up, and endeavouring to re-adjust the
+established facts in accordance with this new point of view.
+
+We were admitted to the Guest House by Mrs. Powis, a cheery old soul;
+one of those born optimists whose special task in life seems to be that
+of a friend in need.
+
+As she opened the door, she smiled, shook her head, and raised her
+finger to her lips.
+
+“Be as quiet as you can, sir,” she said. “I have got her to sleep.”
+
+She spoke of Mrs. Camber as one refers to a child, and, quite
+understanding her anxiety:
+
+“There will be no occasion to disturb her, Mrs. Powis,” I replied.
+“We merely wish to walk down to the bottom of the garden to make a few
+enquiries.”
+
+“Yes, gentlemen,” she whispered, quietly closing the door as we all
+entered the hall.
+
+She led us through the rear portion of the house, and past the quarters
+of Ah Tsong into that neglected garden which I remembered so well.
+
+“There you are, sir, and may Heaven help you to find the truth.”
+
+“Rest assured that the truth will be found, Mrs. Powis,” I answered.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat, but Wessex, puffing at his pipe,
+made no remark whatever until we were all come to the hut overhanging
+the little ravine.
+
+“This is where I found the rifle, Detective-Inspector,” explained
+Aylesbury.
+
+Wessex nodded absently.
+
+It was another perfect night, with only a faint tracery of cloud to be
+seen like lingering smoke over on the western horizon. Everything seemed
+very still, so that although we were several miles from the railway
+line, when presently a train sped on its way one might have supposed,
+from the apparent nearness of the sound, that the track was no farther
+off than the grounds of Cray’s Folly.
+
+Toward those grounds, automatically, our glances were drawn; and we
+stood there staring down at the ghostly map of the gardens, and all
+wondering, no doubt, what Harley was doing and when he would be joining
+us.
+
+Very faintly I could hear the water of the little stream bubbling
+beneath us. Then, just as this awkward silence was becoming intolerable,
+there came a scraping and scratching from the shadows of the gully, and:
+
+“Give me a hand, Knox!” cried the voice of Harley from below. “I want to
+avoid the barbed wire if possible.”
+
+He had come across country, and as I scrambled down the slope to meet
+him I could not help wondering with what object he had sent us ahead by
+the high road. Presently, when he came clambering up into the garden,
+this in a measure was explained, for:
+
+“You are all wondering,” he began, rapidly, “what I am up to, no doubt.
+Let me endeavour to make it clear. In order that my test should be
+conclusive, and in no way influenced by pre-knowledge of certain
+arrangements which I had made, I sent you on ahead of me. Not wishing to
+waste time, I followed by the shorter route. And now, gentlemen, let us
+begin.”
+
+“Good,” muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+“But first of all,” continued Harley, “I wish each one of you in turn
+to look out of the window of the hut, and down into the Tudor garden of
+Cray’s Folly. Will you begin, Wessex?”
+
+Wessex, taking his pipe out of his mouth, and staring hard at the
+speaker, nodded, entered the hut, and kneeling on the wooden seat,
+looked out of the window.
+
+“Open the panes,” said Harley, “so that you have a perfectly clear
+view.”
+
+Wessex slid the panes open and stared intently down into the valley.
+
+“Do you see anything unusual in the garden?”
+
+“Nothing,” he reported.
+
+“And now, Inspector Aylesbury.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stamped noisily across the little hut, and peered
+out, briefly.
+
+“I can see the garden,” he said.
+
+“Can you see the sun-dial?”
+
+“Quite clearly.”
+
+“Good. And now you, Knox.”
+
+I followed, filled with astonishment.
+
+“Do you see the sun-dial?” asked Harley, again.
+
+“Quite clearly.”
+
+“And beyond it?”
+
+“Yes, I can see beyond it. I can even see its shadow lying like a black
+band on the path.”
+
+“And you can see the yew trees?”
+
+“Of course.”
+
+“But nothing else? Nothing unusual?”
+
+“Nothing.”
+
+“Very well,” said Harley, tersely. “And now, gentlemen, we take to the
+rough ground, proceeding due east. Will you be good enough to follow?”
+
+Walking around the hut he found an opening in the hedge, and scrambled
+down into the place where rank grass grew and through which he and I
+on a previous occasion had made our way to the high road. To-night,
+however, he did not turn toward the high road, but proceeded along the
+crest of the hill.
+
+I followed him, excited by the novelty of the proceedings. Wessex, very
+silent, came behind me, and Inspector Aylesbury, swearing under his
+breath, waded through the long grass at the rear.
+
+“Will you all turn your attention to the garden again, please?” cried
+Harley.
+
+We all paused, looking to the right.
+
+“Anything unusual?”
+
+We were agreed that there was not.
+
+“Very well,” said my friend. “You will kindly note that from this point
+onward the formation of the ground prevents our obtaining any other view
+of Cray’s Folly or its gardens until we reach the path to the valley,
+or turn on to the high road. From a point on the latter the tower may
+be seen but that is all. The first part of my experiment is concluded,
+gentlemen. We will now return.”
+
+Giving us no opportunity for comment, he plunged on in the direction of
+the stream, and at a point which I regarded as unnecessarily difficult,
+crossed it, to the great discomfiture of the heavy Inspector Aylesbury.
+A few minutes later we found ourselves once more in the grounds of
+Cray’s Folly.
+
+Harley, evidently with a definite objective in view, led the way up the
+terraces, through the rhododendrons, and round the base of the tower. He
+crossed to the sunken garden, and at the top of the steps paused.
+
+“Be good enough to regard the sun-dial from this point,” he directed.
+
+Even as he spoke, I caught my breath, and I heard Aylesbury utter a sort
+of gasping sound.
+
+Beyond the sun-dial and slightly to the left of it, viewed from where we
+stood, a faint, elfin light flickered, at a point apparently some four
+or five feet above the ground!
+
+“What’s this?” muttered Wessex.
+
+“Follow again, gentlemen,” said Harley quietly.
+
+He led the way down to the garden and along the path to the sun-dial.
+This he passed, pausing immediately in front of the yew tree in which I
+knew the bullet to be embedded.
+
+He did not speak, but, extending his finger, pointed.
+
+A piece of candle, some four inches long, was attached by means of a
+nail to the bark of the tree, so that its flame burned immediately in
+front of the bullet embedded there!
+
+For perhaps ten seconds no one spoke; indeed I think no one moved. Then:
+
+“Good God!” murmured Wessex. “You have done some clever things to my
+knowledge, Mr. Harley, but this crowns them all.”
+
+“Clever things!” said Inspector Aylesbury. “I think it’s a lot of damned
+tomfoolery.”
+
+“Do you, Inspector?” asked the Scotland Yard man, quietly. “I don’t. I
+think it has saved the life of an innocent man.”
+
+“What’s that? What’s that?” cried Aylesbury.
+
+“This candle was burning here on the yew tree,” explained Harley, “at
+the time that you looked out of the window of the hut. You could not see
+it. You could not see it from the crest adjoining the Guest House--the
+only other spot in the neighbourhood from which this garden is visible.
+Now, since the course of a bullet is more or less straight, and since
+the nature of the murdered man’s wound proves that it was not deflected
+in any way, I submit that the one embedded in the yew tree before you
+could not possibly have been fired from the Guest House! The second part
+of my experiment, gentlemen, will be designed to prove from whence it
+_was_ fired.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+PAUL HARLEY’S EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED
+
+
+
+Up to the very moment that Paul Harley, who had withdrawn, rejoined us
+in the garden, Inspector Aylesbury had not grasped the significance of
+that candle burning upon the yew tree. He continued to stare at it as
+if hypnotized, and when my friend re-appeared, carrying a long ash staff
+and a sheet of cardboard, I could have laughed to witness the expression
+upon the Inspector’s face, had I not been too deeply impressed with that
+which underlay this strange business.
+
+Wessex, on the other hand, was watching my friend eagerly, as an earnest
+student in the class-room might watch a demonstration by some celebrated
+lecturer.
+
+“You will notice,” said Paul Harley, “that I have had a number of boards
+laid down upon the ground yonder, near the sun-dial. They cover a spot
+where the turf has worn very thin. Now, this garden, because of its
+sunken position, is naturally damp. Perhaps, Wessex, you would take up
+these planks for me.”
+
+Inspector Wessex obeyed, and Harley, laying the ash stick and cardboard
+upon the ground, directed the ray of an electric torch upon the spot
+uncovered.
+
+“The footprints of Colonel Menendez!” he explained. “Here he turned
+from the tiled path. He advanced three paces in the direction of the
+sun-dial, you observe, then stood still, facing we may suppose, since
+this is the indication of the prints, in a southerly direction.”
+
+“Straight toward the Guest House,” muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+“Roughly,” corrected Harley. “He was fronting in that direction,
+certainly, but his head may have been turned either to the right or to
+the left. You observe from the great depth of the toe-marks that on
+this spot he actually fell. Then, here”--he moved the light--“is the
+impression of his knee, and here again--”
+
+He shone the white ray upon a discoloured patch of grass, and then
+returned the lamp to his pocket.
+
+“I am going to make a hole in the turf,” he continued, “directly between
+these two footprints, which seem to indicate that the Colonel was
+standing in the military position of attention at the moment that he met
+his death.”
+
+With the end of the ash stick, which was pointed, he proceeded to do
+this.
+
+“Colonel Menendez,” he went on, “stood rather over six feet in his
+shoes. The stick which now stands upright in the turf measures six feet,
+from the chalk mark up to which I have buried it to the slot which I
+have cut in the top. Into this slot I now wedge my sheet of cardboard.”
+
+As he placed the sheet of cardboard in the slot which he had indicated,
+I saw that a round hole was cut in it some six inches in diameter. We
+watched these proceedings in silence, then:
+
+“If you will allow me to adjust the candle, gentlemen,” said Harley,
+“which has burned a little too low for my purpose, I shall proceed to
+the second part of this experiment.”
+
+He walked up to the yew tree, and by means of bending the nail upward
+he raised the flame of the candle level with the base of the embedded
+bullet.
+
+“By heavens!” cried Wessex, suddenly divining the object of these
+proceedings, “Mr. Harley, this is genius!”
+
+“Thank you, Wessex,” Harley replied, quietly, but nevertheless he was
+unable to hide his gratification. “You see my point?”
+
+“Certainly.”
+
+“In ten minutes we shall know the truth.”
+
+“Oh, I see,” muttered Inspector Aylesbury; “we shall know the truth, eh?
+If you ask me the truth, it’s this, that we are a set of lunatics.”
+
+“My dear Inspector Aylesbury,” said Harley, good humouredly, “surely you
+have grasped the lesson of experiment number one?”
+
+“Well,” admitted the other, “it’s funny, certainly. I mean, it wants a
+lot of explaining, but I can’t say I’m convinced.”
+
+“That’s a pity,” murmured Wessex, “because I am.”
+
+“You see, Inspector,” Harley continued, patiently, “the body of Colonel
+Menendez as it lay formed a straight line between the sun-dial and the
+hut in the garden of the Guest House. That is to say: a line drawn from
+the window of the hut to the sun-dial must have passed through the body.
+Very well. Such an imaginary line, if continued _beyond_ the sun-dial,
+would have terminated near the base of the _seventh yew_ tree.
+Accordingly, I naturally looked for the _bullet_ there. It was not
+there. But I found it, as you know, in the ninth tree. Therefore, the
+shot could not possibly have been fired from the Guest House, because
+the spot in the ninth yew where the bullet had lodged is not visible
+from the Guest House.”
+
+Inspector Aylesbury removed his cap and scratched his head vigorously.
+
+“In order that we may avoid waste of valuable time,” said Harley,
+finally, “let us take a hasty observation from here. As a matter
+of fact, I have done so already, as nearly as was possible, without
+employing this rough apparatus.”
+
+He knelt down beside the yew tree, lowering his head so that the
+candlelight shone upon the brown, eager face, and looked upward, over
+the top of the sun-dial and through the hole in the cardboard.
+
+“Yes,” he muttered, a note of rising excitement in his voice. “As I
+thought, as I thought. Come, gentlemen, let us hurry.”
+
+He walked rapidly out of the garden, and up the steps, whilst we
+followed dumb with wonder--or such at any rate was the cause of my own
+silence.
+
+In the hall Pedro was standing, a bunch of keys in his hand, and
+evidently expecting Harley.
+
+“Will you take us by the shortest way to the tower stairs?” my friend
+directed.
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+Doubting, wondering, scarcely knowing whether to be fearful or jubilant,
+I followed, along a carpeted corridor, and thence, a heavy, oaken
+door being unlocked, across a dusty and deserted apartment apparently
+intended for a drawing room. From this, through a second doorway we
+were led into a small, square, unfurnished room, which I knew must be
+situated in the base of the tower. Yet a third door was unlocked, and:
+
+“Here is the stair, sir,” said Pedro.
+
+In Indian file we mounted to the first floor, to find ourselves in a
+second, identical room, also stripped of furniture and decorations.
+Harley barely glanced out of the northern window, shook his head, and:
+
+“Next floor, Pedro,” he directed.
+
+Up we went, our footsteps arousing a cloud of dust from the uncarpeted
+stairs, and the sound of our movements echoing in hollow fashion around
+the deserted rooms.
+
+Gaining the next floor, Harley, unable any longer to conceal his
+excitement, ran to the north window, looked out, and:
+
+“Gentlemen,” he said, “my experiment is complete!”
+
+He turned, his back to the window, and faced us in the dusk of the room.
+
+“Assuming the ash stick to represent the upright body of Colonel
+Menendez,” he continued, “and the sheet of cardboard to represent his
+head, the hole which I have cut in it corresponds fairly nearly to
+the position of his forehead. Further assuming the bullet to have
+illustrated Euclid’s definition of a straight line, such a line,
+_followed back_ from the yew tree to the spot where the rifle rested,
+would pass through the hole in the cardboard! In other words, there is
+only one place from which it is possible to see the flame of the candle
+_through the hole in the cardboard_: the place where the rifle rested!
+Stand here in the left-hand angle of the window and stoop down! Will you
+come first, Knox?”
+
+I stepped across the room, bent down, and stared out of the window,
+across the Tudor garden. Plainly I could see the sun-dial with the
+ash stick planted before it. I could see the piece of cardboard which
+surmounted it--and, through the hole cut in the cardboard, I could see
+the feeble flame of the candle nailed to the ninth yew tree!
+
+I stood upright, knowing that I had grown pale, and conscious of a moist
+sensation upon my forehead.
+
+“Merciful God!” I said in a hollow voice. “It was from _this window_
+that the shot was fired which killed him!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE CREEPING SICKNESS
+
+
+
+From the ensuing consultation in the library we did not rise until close
+upon midnight. To the turbid intelligence of Inspector Aylesbury the
+fact by this time had penetrated that Colin Camber was innocent, that
+he was the victim of a frame-up, and that Colonel Juan Menendez had been
+shot from a window of his own house.
+
+By a process of lucid reasoning which must have convinced a junior
+schoolboy, Paul Harley, there in the big library, with its garish
+bookcases and its Moorish ornaments, had eliminated every member of the
+household from the list of suspects. His concluding words, I remember,
+were as follows:
+
+“Of the known occupants of Cray’s Folly on the night of the tragedy we
+now find ourselves reduced to four, any one of whom, from the point
+of view of an impartial critic uninfluenced by personal character,
+question, or motive, or any consideration other than that of physical
+possibility, might have shot Colonel Menendez. They are, firstly:
+Myself.
+
+“In order to believe me guilty, it would be necessary to discount the
+evidence of Knox, who saw me on the gravel path below at the time that
+the shot was fired from the tower window.
+
+“Secondly: Knox; whose guilt, equally, could only be assumed by means of
+eliminating _my_ evidence, since I saw him at the window of my room at
+the time that the shot was fired.
+
+“Thirdly: Madame de Stämer. Regarding this suspect, in the first place
+she could not have gained access to the tower room without assistance,
+and in the second place she was so passionately devoted to the late
+Colonel Menendez that Dr. Rolleston is of opinion that her reason may
+remain permanently impaired by the shock of his death. Fourthly and
+lastly: Miss Val Beverley.”
+
+Over my own feelings, as he had uttered the girl’s name, I must pass in
+silence.
+
+“Miss Val Beverley is the only one of the four suspects who is not in a
+position to establish a sound alibi so far as I can see at the moment;
+but in this case entire absence of motive renders the suspicion absurd.
+Having dealt with the _known_ occupants, I shall not touch upon the
+possibility that some stranger had gained access to the house. This
+opens up a province of speculation which we must explore at greater
+leisure, for it would be profitless to attempt such an exploration now.”
+
+Thus the gathering had broken up, Inspector Aylesbury returning to
+Market Hilton to make his report and to release Colin Camber and Ah
+Tsong, and Wessex to seek his quarters at the Lavender Arms.
+
+I remember that having seen them off, Harley and I stood in the hall,
+staring at one another in a very odd way, and so we stood when Val
+Beverley came quietly from Madame de Stämer’s room and spoke to us.
+
+“Pedro has told me what you have done, Mr. Harley,” she said in a low
+voice. “Oh, thank God you have cleared him. But what, in Heaven’s name,
+does your new discovery mean?”
+
+“You may well ask,” Harley answered, grimly. “If my first task was a
+hard one, that which remains before me looks more nearly hopeless than
+anything I have ever been called upon to attempt.”
+
+“It is horrible, it is horrible,” said the girl, shudderingly. “Oh,
+Mr. Knox,” she turned to me, “I have felt all along that there was some
+stranger in the house----”
+
+“You have told me so.”
+
+“Conundrums! Conundrums!” muttered Harley, irritably. “Where am I to
+begin, upon what am I to erect any feasible theory?” He turned abruptly
+to Val Beverley. “Does Madame de Stämer know?”
+
+“Yes,” she answered, nodding her head; “and hearing the others depart,
+she asked me to tell you that sleep is impossible until you have
+personally given her the details of your discovery.”
+
+“She wishes to see me?” asked Harley, eagerly.
+
+“She insists upon seeing you,” replied the girl, “and also requests
+Mr. Knox to visit her.” She paused, biting her lip. “Madame’s manner is
+very, very odd. Dr. Rolleston cannot understand her at all. I expect he
+has told you? She has been sitting there for hours and hours, writing.”
+
+“Writing?” exclaimed Harley. “Letters?”
+
+“I don’t know what she has been writing,” confessed Val Beverley. “She
+declines to tell me, or to show me what she has written. But there is
+quite a little stack of manuscript upon the table beside her bed. Won’t
+you come in?”
+
+I could see that she was more troubled than she cared to confess, and
+I wondered if Dr. Rolleston’s unpleasant suspicions might have solid
+foundation, and if the loss of her cousin had affected Madame de
+Stämer’s brain.
+
+Presently, then, ushered by Val Beverley, I found myself once more in
+the violet and silver room in which on that great bed of state Madame
+reclined amid silken pillows. Her art never deserted her, not even in
+moments of ultimate stress, and that she had prepared herself for this
+interview was evident enough.
+
+I had thought previously that one night of horror had added five years
+to her apparent age. I thought now that she looked radiantly beautiful.
+That expression in her eyes, which I knew I must forevermore associate
+with the memory of the dying tigress, had faded entirely. They remained
+still, as of old, but to-night they were velvety soft. The lips were
+relaxed in a smile of tenderness. I observed, with surprise, that she
+wore much jewelery, and upon her white bosom gleamed the famous rope
+of pearls which I knew her to treasure above almost anything in her
+possession.
+
+Again the fear touched me coldly that much sorrow had made her mad. But
+at her very first word of greeting I was immediately reassured.
+
+“Ah, my friend,” she said, as I entered, a caressing note in her deep,
+vibrant voice, “you have great news, they tell me? Mr. Harley, I was
+afraid that you had deserted me, sir. If you had done so I should have
+been very angry with you. Set the two armchairs here on my right, Val,
+dear, and sit close beside me.”
+
+Then, as we seated ourselves:
+
+“You are not smoking, my friends,” she continued, “and I know that you
+are both so fond of a smoke.”
+
+Paul Harley excused himself but I accepted a cigarette which Val
+Beverley offered me from a silver box on the table, and presently:
+
+“I am here, like a prisoner of the Bastille,” declared Madame, shrugging
+her shoulders, “where only echoes reach me. Now, Mr. Harley, tell me of
+this wonderful discovery of yours.”
+
+Harley inclined his head gravely, and in that succinct fashion which he
+had at command acquainted Madame with the result of his two experiments.
+As he completed the account:
+
+“Ah,” she sighed, and lay back upon her pillows, “so to-night he is
+again a free man, the poor Colin Camber. And his wife is happy once
+more?”
+
+“Thank God,” I murmured. “Her sorrow was pathetic.”
+
+“Only the pure in heart can thank God,” said Madame, strangely, “but
+I, too, am glad. I have written, here”--she pointed to a little heap
+of violet note-paper upon a table placed at the opposite side of the
+bed--“how glad I am.”
+
+Harley and I stared vaguely across at the table. I saw Val Beverley
+glancing uneasily in the same direction. Save for the writing materials
+and little heap of manuscript, it held only a cup and saucer, a few
+sandwiches, and a medicine bottle containing the prescription which Dr.
+Rolleston had made up for the invalid.
+
+“I am curious to know what you have written, Madame,” declared Harley.
+
+“Yes, you are curious?” she said. “Very well, then, I will tell you, and
+afterward you may read if you wish.” She turned to me. “You, my friend,”
+ she whispered, and reaching over she laid her jewelled hand upon my arm,
+“you have spoken with Ysola de Valera this afternoon, they tell me?”
+
+“With Mrs. Camber?” I asked, startled. “Yes, that is true.”
+
+“Ah, Mrs. Camber,” murmured Madame. “I knew her as Ysola de Valera. She
+is beautiful, in her golden doll way. You think so?” Then, ere I had
+time to reply: “She told you, I suppose, eh?”
+
+“She told me,” I replied with a certain embarrassment, “that she had met
+you some years ago in Cuba.”
+
+“Ah, yes, although _I_ told the fat Inspector it was not so. How we lie,
+we women! And of course she told you in what relation I stood to Juan
+Menendez?”
+
+“She did not, Madame de Stämer.”
+
+“No-no? Well, it was nice of her. No matter. _I_ will tell you. I was
+his mistress.”
+
+She spoke without bravado, but quite without shame, seeming to glory in
+the statement.
+
+“I met him in Paris,” she continued, half closing her eyes. “I was
+staying at the house of my sister, and my sister, you understand, was
+married to Juan’s cousin. That is how we met. I was married. Yes, it is
+true. But in France our parents find our husbands and our lovers find
+our hearts. Yet sometimes these marriages are happy. To me this good
+thing had not happened, and in the moment when Juan’s hand touched mine
+a living fire entered into my heart and it has been burning ever since;
+burning-burning, always till I die.
+
+“Very well, I am a shameless woman, yes. But I have lived, and I have
+loved, and I am content. I went with him to Cuba, and from Cuba to
+another island where he had estates, and the name of which I shall not
+pronounce, because it hurts me so, even yet. There he set eyes upon
+Ysola de Valera, the daughter of his manager, and, pouf!”
+
+She shrugged and snapped her fingers.
+
+“He was like that, you understand? I knew it well. They did not call
+him Devil Menendez for nothing. There was a scene, a dreadful scene, and
+after that another, and yet a third. I have pride. If I had seemed to
+forget it, still it was there. I left him, and went back to France. I
+tried to forget. I entered upon works of charity for the soldiers at a
+time when others were becoming tired. I spent a great part of my fortune
+upon establishing a hospital, and this child”--she threw her arm around
+Val Beverley--“worked with me night and day. I think I wanted to die.
+Often I tried to die. Did I not, dear?”
+
+“You did, Madame,” said the girl in a very low voice.
+
+“Twice I was arrested in the French lines, where I had crept dressed
+like a _poilu_, from where I shot down many a Prussian. Is it not so?”
+
+“It is true,” answered the girl, nodding her head.
+
+“They caught me and arrested me,” said Madame, with a sort of triumph.
+“If it had been the British”--she raised her hand in that Bernhardt
+gesture--“with me it would have gone hard. But in France a woman’s smile
+goes farther than in England. I had had my fun. They called me ‘good
+comrade!’ Perhaps I paid with a kiss. What does it matter? But they
+heard of me, those Prussian dogs. They knew and could not forgive. How
+often did they come over to bomb us, Val, dear?”
+
+“Oh, many, many times,” said the girl, shudderingly.
+
+“And at last they succeeded,” added Madame, bitterly. “God! the black
+villains! Let me not think of it.”
+
+She clenched her hands and closed her eyes entirely, but presently
+resumed again:
+
+“If they had killed me I should have been glad, but they only made of
+me a cripple. M. de Stämer had been killed a few weeks before this. I
+am sorry I forgot to mention it. I was a widow. And when after this
+catastrophe I could be moved, I went to a little villa belonging to my
+husband at Nice, to gain strength, and this child came with me, like a
+ray of sunshine.
+
+“Here, to wake the fire in my heart, came Juan, deserted, broken,
+wounded in soul, but most of all in pride, in that evil pride which
+belongs to his race, which is so different from the pride of France, but
+for which all the same I could never hate him.
+
+“Ysola de Valera had run away from his great house in Cuba. Yes! A woman
+had dared to leave him, the man who had left so many women. To me it was
+pathetic. I was sorry for him. He had been searching the world for her.
+He loved this little golden-haired girl as he had never loved me. But
+to me he came with his broken heart, and I”--her voice trembled--“I took
+him back. He still cared for me, you understand. Ah!” She laughed. “I am
+not a woman who is lightly forgotten. But the great passion that burned
+in his Spanish soul was revenge.
+
+“He was a broken man not only in mind, but in body. Let me tell you. In
+that island which I have not named there is a horrible disease called
+by the natives the Creeping Sickness. It is supposed to come from a
+poisonous place named the Black Belt, and a part of this Black Belt is
+near, too near, to the hacienda in which Juan sometimes lived.”
+
+Paul Harley started and glanced at me significantly.
+
+“They think, those simple negroes, that it is witchcraft, Voodoo, the
+work of the Obeah man. It is of two kinds, rapid and slow. Those who
+suffer from the first kind just decline and decline and die in great
+agony. Others recover, or seem to do so. It is, I suppose, a matter of
+constitution. Juan had had this sickness and had recovered, or so the
+doctors said, but, ah!”
+
+She lay back, shaking her finger characteristically.
+
+“In one year, in two, three, a swift pain comes, like a needle,
+you understand? Perhaps in the foot, in the hand, in the arm. It is
+exquisite, deathly, while it lasts, but it only lasts for a few moments.
+It is agony. And then it goes, leaving nothing to show what has caused
+it. But, my friends, it is a death warning!
+
+“If it comes here”--she raised one delicate white hand--“you may have
+five years to live; if in the foot, ten, or more. But”--she sank her
+voice dramatically--“the nearer it is to the heart, the less are the
+days that remain to you of life.”
+
+“You mean that it recurs?” asked Harley.
+
+“Perhaps in a week, perhaps not for another year, it comes again, that
+quick agony. This time in the shoulder, in the knee. It is the second
+warning. Three times it may come, four times, but at last”--she laid
+her hand upon her breast--“it comes here, in the heart, and all is
+finished.”
+
+She paused as if exhausted, closing her eyes again, whilst we three
+who listened looked at one another in an awestricken silence, until the
+vibrant voice resumed:
+
+“There is only one man in Europe who understands this thing, this
+Creeping Sickness. He is a Frenchman who lives in Paris. To him Juan had
+been, and he had told him, this clever man, ‘If you are very quiet and
+do not exert yourself, and only take as much exercise as is necessary
+for your general health, you have one year to live--’”
+
+“My God!” groaned Harley.
+
+“Yes, such was the verdict. And there is no cure. The poor sufferer must
+wait and wait, always wait, for that sudden pang, not knowing if it will
+come in his heart and be the finish. Yes. This living death, then, and
+revenge, were the things ruling Juan’s life at the time of which I tell
+you. He had traced Ysola de Valera to England. A chance remark in a
+London hotel had told him that a Chinaman had been seen in a Surrey
+village and of course had caused much silly chatter. He enquired at
+once, and he found out that Colin Camber, the man who had taken Ysola
+from him, was living with her at the Guest House, here, on the hill. How
+shall I tell you the rest?”
+
+“Merciful Heaven!” exclaimed Harley, his glance set upon her, with a
+sort of horror in his gray eyes, “I think I can guess.”
+
+She turned to him rapidly.
+
+“M. Harley,” she said, “you are a clever man. I believe you are a
+genius. And I have the strength to tell you because I am happy to-night.
+Because of his great wealth Juan succeeded in buying Cray’s Folly from
+Sir James Appleton to whom it belonged. He told everybody he leased it,
+but really he bought it. He paid him more than twice its value, and so
+obtained possession.
+
+“But the plan was not yet complete, although it had taken form in
+that clever, wicked brain of his. Oh! I could tell you stories of the
+Menendez, and of the things they have done for love and revenge, which
+even you, who know much of life, would doubt, I think. Yes, you would
+not believe. But to continue. Shall I tell you upon what terms he had
+returned to me, eh? I will. Once more he would suffer that pang of death
+in life, for he had courage, ah! such great courage, and then, when the
+waiting for the next grew more than even his fearless heart could bear,
+I, who also had courage, and who loved him, should----” She paused, “Do
+you understand?”
+
+Harley nodded dumbly, and suddenly I found Val Beverley’s little fingers
+twined about mine.
+
+“I agreed,” continued the deep voice. “It was a boon which I, too, would
+have asked from one who loved me. But to die, knowing another cherished
+the woman who had been torn from him, was an impossibility for
+Juan Menendez. What he had schemed to do at first I never knew. But
+presently, because of our situation here, and because of that which he
+had asked of me, it came, the great plan.
+
+“On the night he told me, a night I shall never forget, I drew back in
+horror from him--I, Marie de Stämer, who thought I knew the blackest
+that was in him. I shrank. And because of that scene it came to him
+again in the early morning--the moment of agony, the needle pain, here,
+low down in his left breast.
+
+“He pleaded with me to do the wicked thing that he had planned,
+and because I dared not refuse, knowing he might die at my feet, I
+consented. But, my friends, I had my own plan, too, of which he knew
+nothing. On the next day he went to Paris, and was told he had two
+months to live, with great, such great care, but perhaps only a week,
+a day, if he should permit his hot passions to inflame that threatened
+heart. Very well.
+
+“I said yes, yes, to all that he suggested, and he began to lay the
+trail--the trail to lead to his enemy. It was his hobby, this vengeance.
+He was like a big, cruel boy. It was he, himself, Juan Menendez, who
+broke into Cray’s Folly. It was he who nailed the bat wing to the door.
+It was he who bought two rifles of a kind of which so many millions were
+made during the war that anybody might possess one. And it was he who
+concealed the first of these, one cartridge discharged, under the floor
+of the hut in the garden of the Guest House. The other, which was to be
+used, he placed--”
+
+“In the shutter-case of one of the tower rooms,” continued Paul Harley.
+“I know! I found it there to-night.”
+
+“What?” I asked, “you found it, Harley?”
+
+“I returned to look for it,” he said. “At the present moment it is
+upstairs in my room.”
+
+“Ah, M. Harley,” exclaimed Madame, smiling at him radiantly, “I love
+your genius. Then it was,” she continued, “that he thought himself
+ready, ready for revenge and ready for death. He summoned you, M.
+Harley, to be an expert witness. He placed with you evidence which could
+not fail to lead to the arrest of M. Camber. Very well. I allowed him to
+do all this. His courage, _mon Dieu_, how I worshipped his courage!
+
+“At night, when everyone slept, and he could drop the mask, I have seen
+what he suffered. I have begged him, begged him upon my knees, to allow
+me to end it then and there; to forget his dream of revenge, to die
+without this last stain upon his soul. But he, expecting at any hour, at
+any minute, to know again the agony which cannot be described, which is
+unlike any other suffered by the flesh--refused, refused! And I”--she
+raised her eyes ecstatically--“I have worshipped this courage of his,
+although it was evil--bad.
+
+“The full moon gives the best light, and so he planned it for the night
+of the full moon. But on the night before, because of some scene which
+he had with you, M. Harley, nearly I thought his plans would come to
+nothing. Nearly I thought the last act of love which he asked of me
+would never be performed. He sat there, up in the little room which he
+liked best, the coldness upon him which always came before the pang,
+waiting, waiting, a deathly dew on his forehead, for the end; and I, I
+who loved him better than life, watched him. And, so Fate willed it, the
+pang never came.”
+
+“You watched him?” I whispered.
+
+Harley turned to me slowly.
+
+“Don’t you understand, Knox?” he said, in a voice curiously unlike his
+own.
+
+“Ah, my friend,” Madame de Stämer laid her hand upon my arm with that
+caressing gesture which I knew, “you do understand, don’t you? The power
+to use my limbs returned to me during the last week that I lived in
+Nice.”
+
+She bent forward and raised her face, in an almost agonized appeal to
+Val Beverley.
+
+“My dear, my dear,” she said, “forgive me, forgive me! But I loved him
+so. One day, I think”--her glance sought my face--“you will know. Then
+you will forgive.”
+
+“Oh, Madame, Madame,” whispered the girl, and began to sob silently.
+
+“Is it enough?” asked Madame de Stämer, raising her head, and looking
+defiantly at Paul Harley. “Last night, you, M. Harley, who have genius,
+nearly brought it all to nothing. You passed the door in the shrubbery
+just when Juan was preparing to go out. I was watching from the window
+above. Then, when you had gone, he came out--smoking his last cigarette.
+
+“I went to my place, entering the tower room by the door from that
+corridor. I opened the window. It had been carefully oiled. It was
+soundless. I was cold as one already dead, but love made me strong. I
+had seen him suffer. I took the rifle from its hiding-place, the heavy
+rifle which so few women could use. It was no heavier than some which I
+had used before, and to good purpose.”
+
+Again she paused, and I saw her lips trembling. Before my mind’s eye
+the picture arose which I had seen from Harley’s window, the picture
+of Colonel Juan Menendez walking in the moonlight along the path to
+the sun-dial, with halting steps, with clenched fists, but upright as a
+soldier on parade. Walking on, dauntlessly, to his execution. Out of a
+sort of haze, which seemed to obscure both sight and hearing, I heard
+Madame speaking again.
+
+“He turned his head toward me. He threw me a kiss--and I fired. Did you
+think a woman lived who could perform such a deed, eh? If you did not
+think so, it is because you have never looked into the eyes of one who
+loved with her body, her mind, and with her soul. I think, yes, I think
+I went mad. The rifle I remember I replaced. But I remember no more.
+Ah!”
+
+She sighed in a resigned, weary way, untwining her arm from about Val
+Beverley, and falling back upon her pillows.
+
+“It is all written here,” she said; “every word of it, my friends, and
+signed at the bottom. I am a murderess, but it was a merciful deed. You
+see, I had a plan of which Juan knew nothing. This was my plan.” She
+pointed to the heap of manuscript. “I would give him relief from his
+agonies, yes. For although he was an evil man, I loved him better than
+life. I would let him die happy, thinking his revenge complete. But
+others to suffer? No, no! a thousand times no! Ah, I am so tired.”
+
+She took up the little medicine bottle, poured its contents into the
+glass, and emptied it at a draught.
+
+Paul Harley, as though galvanized, sprang to his feet. “My God!” he
+cried, huskily, “Stop her, stop her!” Val Beverley, now desperately
+white, clutched at me with quivering fingers, her agonized glance set
+upon the smiling face of Madame de Stämer.
+
+“No fuss, dear friends,” said Madame, gently, “no trouble, no nasty
+stomach-pumps; for it is useless. I shall just fall asleep in a few
+moments now, and when I wake Juan will be with me.”
+
+Her face was radiant. It became lighted up magically. I knew in that
+grim hour what a beautiful woman Madame de Stämer must have been. She
+rested her hand upon Val Beverley’s head, and looked at me with her
+strange, still eyes.
+
+“Be good to her, my friend,” she whispered. “She is English, but not
+cold like some. She, too, can love.”
+
+She closed her eyes and dropped back upon her pillows for the last time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+AN AFTERWORD
+
+
+
+This shall be a brief afterword, for I have little else to say. As
+Madame had predicted, all antidotes and restoratives were of no avail.
+She had taken enough of some drug which she had evidently had in her
+possession for this very purpose to ensure that there should be no
+awakening, and although Dr. Rolleston was on the spot within half an
+hour, Madame de Stämer was already past human aid.
+
+There are perhaps one or two details which may be of interest. For
+instance, as a result of the post-mortem examination of Colonel
+Menendez, no trace of disease was discovered in any of the organs, but
+from information supplied by his solicitors, Harley succeeded in tracing
+the Paris specialist to whom Madame de Stämer had referred; and he
+confirmed her statement in every particular. The disease, to which he
+gave some name which I have forgotten, was untraceable, he declared, by
+any means thus far known to science.
+
+As we had anticipated, the bulk of Colonel Don Juan’s wealth he had
+bequeathed to Madame de Stämer, and she in turn had provided that all
+of which she might die possessed should be divided between certain
+charities and Val Beverley.
+
+I thus found myself at the time when all these legal processes
+terminated engaged to marry a girl as wealthy as she was beautiful.
+Therefore, except for the many grim memories which it had left with me,
+nothing but personal good fortune resulted from my sojourn at Cray’s
+Folly, beneath the shadow of that Bat Wing which had had no existence
+outside the cunning imagination of Colonel Juan Menendez.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bat Wing
+
+Author: Sax Rohmer
+
+
+Release Date: August, 2004  [EBook #6382]
+This file was first posted on December 4, 2002
+Last Updated: April 20, 3013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAT WING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BAT WING
+
+By Sax Rohmer
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "_When the woman raised her arms in a peculiar fashion,
+the shadow on the blind was remarkably like that of a bat_"]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+
+CHAPTER     I. PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE
+    II. THE VOODOO SWAMP
+   III. THE VAMPIRE BAT
+    IV. CRAY'S FOLLY
+     V. VAL BEVERLEY
+    VI. THE BARRIER
+   VII. AT THE LAVENDER ARMS
+  VIII. THE CALL OF M'KOMBO
+    IX. OBEAH
+     X. THE NIGHT WALKER
+    XI. THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND
+   XII. MORNING MISTS
+  XIII. AT THE GUEST HOUSE
+   XIV. YSOLA CAMBER
+    XV. UNREST
+   XVI. RED EVE
+  XVII. NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON
+ XVIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET HILTON
+   XIX. COMPLICATIONS.
+    XX. A SPANISH CIGARETTE
+   XXI. THE WING OF A BAT
+  XXII. COLIN CAMBER'S SECRET
+ XXIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+  XXIV. AN OFFICIAL MOVE
+   XXV. AYLESBURY'S THEORY
+  XXVI. IN MADAME'S ROOM
+ XXVII. AN INSPIRATION
+XXVIII. MY THEORY OF THE CRIME  XXIX. A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE
+   XXX. THE SEVENTH YEW TREE
+  XXXI. YSOLA CAMBER'S CONFESSION
+ XXXII. PAUL HARLEY'S EXPERIMENT
+XXXIII. PAUL HARLEY'S EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED XXXIV. THE CREEPING SICKNESS
+  XXXV. AN AFTERWORD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE
+
+
+
+Toward the hour of six on a hot summer's evening Mr. Paul Harley was
+seated in his private office in Chancery Lane reading through a number
+of letters which Innes, his secretary, had placed before him for
+signature. Only one more remained to be passed, but it was a long,
+confidential report upon a certain matter, which Harley had prepared for
+His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.
+He glanced with a sigh of weariness at the little clock upon his table
+before commencing to read.
+
+"Shall detain you only a few minutes, now, Knox," he said.
+
+I nodded, smiling. I was quite content to sit and watch my friend at
+work.
+
+Paul Harley occupied a unique place in the maelstrom of vice and
+ambition which is sometimes called London life. Whilst at present he
+held no official post, some of the most momentous problems of British
+policy during the past five years, problems imperilling inter-state
+relationships and not infrequently threatening a renewal of the world
+war, had owed their solution to the peculiar genius of this man.
+
+No clue to his profession appeared upon the plain brass plate attached
+to his door, and little did those who regarded Paul Harley merely as a
+successful private detective suspect that he was in the confidence
+of some who guided the destinies of the Empire. Paul Harley's work in
+Constantinople during the feverish months preceding hostilities with
+Turkey, although unknown to the general public, had been of a
+most extraordinary nature. His recommendations were never adopted,
+unfortunately. Otherwise, the tragedy of the Dardanelles might have been
+averted.
+
+His surroundings as he sat there, gaze bent upon the typewritten pages,
+were those of any other professional man. So it would have seemed to the
+casual observer. But perhaps there was a quality in the atmosphere of
+the office which would have told a more sensitive visitor that it was
+the apartment of no ordinary man of business. Whilst there were filing
+cabinets and bookshelves laden with works of reference, many of them
+legal, a large and handsome Burmese cabinet struck an unexpected note.
+
+On closer inspection, other splashes of significant colour must have
+been detected in the scheme, notably a very fine engraving of Edgar
+Allan Poe, from the daguerreotype of 1848; and upon the man himself lay
+the indelible mark of the tropics. His clean-cut features had that hint
+of underlying bronze which tells of years spent beneath a merciless sun,
+and the touch of gray at his temples only added to the eager, almost
+fierce vitality of the dark face. Paul Harley was notable because of
+that intellectual strength which does not strike one immediately,
+since it is purely temperamental, but which, nevertheless, invests its
+possessor with an aura of distinction.
+
+Writing his name at the bottom of the report, Paul Harley enclosed the
+pages in a long envelope and dropped the envelope into a basket which
+contained a number of other letters. His work for the day was ended, and
+glancing at me with a triumphant smile, he stood up. His office was a
+part of a residential suite, but although, like some old-time burgher of
+the city, he lived on the premises, the shutting of a door which led to
+his private rooms marked the close of the business day. Pressing a bell
+which connected with the public office occupied by his secretary, Paul
+Harley stood up as Innes entered.
+
+"There's nothing further, is there, Innes?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing, Mr. Harley, if you have passed the Home Office report?"
+
+Paul Harley laughed shortly.
+
+"There it is," he replied, pointing to the basket; "a tedious and
+thankless job, Innes. It is the fifth draft you have prepared and it
+will have to do."
+
+He took up a letter which lay unsealed upon the table. "This is the
+Rokeby affair," he said. "I have decided to hold it over, after all,
+until my return."
+
+"Ah!" said Innes, quietly glancing at each envelope as he took it from
+the basket. "I see you have turned down the little job offered by the
+Marquis."
+
+"I have," replied Harley, smiling grimly, "and a fee of five hundred
+guineas with it. I have also intimated to that distressed nobleman that
+this is a business office and that a laundry is the proper place to take
+his dirty linen. No, there's nothing further to-night, Innes. You can
+get along now. Has Miss Smith gone?"
+
+But as if in answer to his enquiry the typist, who with Innes made up
+the entire staff of the office, came in at that moment, a card in her
+hand. Harley glanced across in my direction and then at the card, with a
+wry expression.
+
+"Colonel Juan Menendez," he read aloud, "Cavendish Club," and glanced
+reflectively at Innes. "Do we know the Colonel?"
+
+"I think not," answered Innes; "the name is unfamiliar to me."
+
+"I wonder," murmured Harley. He glanced across at me. "It's an awful
+nuisance, Knox, but just as I thought the decks were clear. Is it
+something really interesting, or does he want a woman watched? However,
+his name sounds piquant, so perhaps I had better see him. Ask him to
+come in, Miss Smith."
+
+Innes and Miss Smith retiring, there presently entered a man of most
+striking and unusual presence. In the first place, Colonel Menendez must
+have stood fully six feet in his boots, and he carried himself like a
+grandee of the golden days of Spain. His complexion was extraordinarily
+dusky, whilst his hair, which was close cropped, was iron gray. His
+heavy eyebrows and curling moustache with its little points were equally
+black, so that his large teeth gleamed very fiercely when he smiled. His
+eyes were large, dark, and brilliant, and although he wore an admirably
+cut tweed suit, for some reason I pictured him as habitually wearing
+riding kit. Indeed I almost seemed to hear the jingle of his spurs.
+
+He carried an ebony cane for which I mentally substituted a crop, and
+his black derby hat I thought hardly as suitable as a sombrero. His age
+might have been anything between fifty and fifty-five.
+
+Standing in the doorway he bowed, and if his smile was Mephistophelean,
+there was much about Colonel Juan Menendez which commanded respect.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he began, and his high, thin voice afforded yet
+another surprise, "I feel somewhat ill at ease to--how do you say
+it?--appropriate your time, as I am by no means sure that what I have to
+say justifies my doing so."
+
+He spoke most fluent, indeed florid, English. But his sentences at times
+were oddly constructed; yet, save for a faint accent, and his frequent
+interpolation of such expressions as "how do you say?"--a sort of
+nervous mannerism--one might have supposed him to be a Britisher who had
+lived much abroad. I formed the opinion that he had read extensively,
+and this, as I learned later, was indeed the case.
+
+"Sit down, Colonel Menendez," said Harley with quiet geniality.
+"Officially, my working day is ended, I admit, but if you have no
+objection to the presence of my friend, Mr. Knox, I shall be most happy
+to chat with you."
+
+He smiled in a way all his own.
+
+"If your business is of a painfully professional nature," he added,
+"I must beg you to excuse me for fourteen days, as I am taking a badly
+needed holiday with my friend."
+
+"Ah, is it so?" replied the Colonel, placing his hat and cane upon the
+table, and sitting down rather wearily in a big leathern armchair which
+Harley had pushed forward. "If I intrude I am sorry, but indeed my
+business is urgent, and I come to you on the recommendation of my
+friend, Senor Don Merry del Val, the Spanish Ambassador."
+
+He raised his eyes to Harley's face with an expression of peculiar
+appeal. I rose to depart, but:
+
+"Sit down, Knox," said Harley, and turned again to the visitor. "Please
+proceed," he requested. "Mr. Knox has been with me in some of the most
+delicate cases which I have ever handled, and you may rely upon his
+discretion as you may rely upon mine." He pushed forward a box of
+cigars. "Will you smoke?"
+
+"Thanks, no," was the answer; "you see, I rarely smoke anything but my
+cigarettes."
+
+Colonel Menendez extracted a slip of rice paper from a little packet
+which he carried, next, dipping two long, yellow fingers into his coat
+pocket, he brought out a portion of tobacco, laid it in the paper, and
+almost in the twinkling of an eye had made, rolled, and lighted a very
+creditable cigarette. His dexterity was astonishing, and seeing my
+surprise he raised his heavy eyebrows, and:
+
+"Practice makes perfect, is it not said?" he remarked.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders and dropped the extinguished match in an ash
+tray, whilst I studied him with increasing interest. Some dread, real or
+imaginary, was oppressing the man's mind, I mused. I felt my presence to
+be unwelcome, but:
+
+"Very well," he began, suddenly. "I expect, Mr. Harley, that you will be
+disposed to regard what I have to tell you rather as a symptom of what
+you call nerves than as evidence of any agency directed against me."
+
+Paul Harley stared curiously at the speaker. "Do I understand you to
+suspect that someone is desirous of harming you?" he enquired.
+
+Colonel Menendez slowly nodded his head.
+
+"Such is my meaning," he replied.
+
+"You refer to bodily harm?"
+
+"But yes, emphatically."
+
+"Hm," said Harley; and taking out a tin of tobacco from a cabinet beside
+him he began in leisurely manner to load a briar. "No doubt you have
+good reasons for this suspicion?"
+
+"If I had not good reasons, Mr. Harley, nothing could have induced me to
+trouble you. Yet, even now that I have compelled myself to come here, I
+find it difficult, almost impossible, to explain those reasons to you."
+
+An expression of embarrassment appeared upon the brown face, and now
+Colonel Menendez paused and was plainly at a loss for words with which
+to continue.
+
+Harley replaced the tin in the cupboard and struck a match. Lighting his
+pipe he nodded good humouredly as if to say, "I quite understand." As a
+matter of fact, he probably thought, as I did, that this was a familiar
+case of a man of possibly blameless life who had become subject to
+that delusion which leads people to believe themselves threatened by
+mysterious and unnameable danger.
+
+Our visitor inhaled deeply.
+
+"You, of course, are waiting for the facts," he presently resumed,
+speaking with a slowness which told of a mind labouring for the right
+mode of expression. "These are so scanty, I fear, of so, shall I say,
+phantom a kind, that even when they are in your possession you will
+consider me to be merely the victim of a delusion. In the first place,
+then, I have reason to believe that someone followed me from my home to
+your office."
+
+"Indeed," said Paul Harley, sympathetically, for this I perceived
+was exactly what he had anticipated, and merely tended to confirm his
+suspicion. "Some member of your household?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Did you actually see this follower?"
+
+"My dear sir," cried Colonel Menendez, excitement emphasizing his
+accent, "if I had seen him, so much would have been made clear, so
+much! I have never seen him, but I have heard him and felt him--felt his
+presence, I mean."
+
+"In what way?" asked Harley, leaning back in his chair and studying the
+fierce face.
+
+"On several occasions on turning out the light in my bedroom and
+looking across the lawn from my window I have observed the shadow of
+someone--how do you say?--lurking in the garden."
+
+"The shadow?"
+
+"Precisely. The person himself was concealed beneath a tree. When he
+moved his shadow was visible on the ground."
+
+"You were not deceived by a waving branch?"
+
+"Certainly not. I speak of a still, moonlight night."
+
+"Possibly, then, it was the shadow of a tramp," suggested Harley. "I
+gather that you refer to a house in the country?"
+
+"It was not," declared Colonel Menendez, emphatically; "it was not. I
+wish to God I could believe it had been. Then there was, a month ago, an
+attempt to enter my house."
+
+Paul Harley exhibited evidence of a quickening curiosity. He had
+perceived, as I had perceived, that the manner of the speaker differed
+from that of the ordinary victim of delusion, with whom he had become
+professionally familiar.
+
+"You had actual evidence of this?" he suggested.
+
+"It was due to insomnia, sleeplessness, brought about, yes, I will admit
+it, by apprehension, that I heard the footsteps of this intruder."
+
+"But you did not see him?"
+
+"Only his shadow"
+
+"What!"
+
+"You can obtain the evidence of all my household that someone had
+actually entered," declared Colonel Menendez, eagerly. "Of this, at
+least, I can give you the certain facts. Whoever it was had obtained
+access through a kitchen window, had forced two locks, and was coming
+stealthily along the hallway when the sound of his footsteps attracted
+my attention."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I came out on to the landing and looked down the stairs. But even the
+slight sound which I made had been sufficient to alarm the midnight
+visitor, for I had never a glimpse of him. Only, as he went swiftly
+back in the direction from which he had come, the moonlight shining in
+through a window in the hall cast his shadow on the carpet."
+
+"Strange," murmured Harley. "Very strange, indeed. The shadow told you
+nothing?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+Colonel Menendez hesitated momentarily, and glanced swiftly across at
+Harley.
+
+"It was just a vague--do you say blur?--and then it was gone. But--"
+
+"Yes," said Harley. "But?"
+
+"Ah," Colonel Menendez blew a cloud of smoke into the air, "I come now
+to the matter which I find so hard to explain."
+
+He inhaled again deeply and was silent for a while.
+
+"Nothing was stolen?" asked Harley.
+
+"Nothing whatever."
+
+"And no clue was left behind?"
+
+"No clue except the filed fastening of a window and two open doors which
+had been locked as usual when the household retired."
+
+"Hm," mused Harley again; "this incident, of course, may have been an
+isolated one and in no way connected with the surveillance of which you
+complain. I mean that this person who undoubtedly entered your house
+might prove to be an ordinary burglar."
+
+"On a table in the hallway of Cray's Folly," replied Colonel Menendez,
+impressively--"so my house is named--stands a case containing
+presentation gold plate. The moonlight of which I have spoken was
+shining fully upon this case, and does the burglar live who will pass
+such a prize and leave it untouched?"
+
+"I quite agree," said Harley, quietly, "that this is a very big point."
+
+"You are beginning at last," suggested the Colonel, "to believe that my
+suspicions are not quite groundless?"
+
+"There is a distinct possibility that they are more than suspicions,"
+agreed Harley; "but may I suggest that there is something else? Have you
+an enemy?"
+
+"Who that has ever held public office is without enemies?"
+
+"Ah, quite so. Then I suggest again that there is something else."
+
+He gazed keenly at his visitor, and the latter, whilst meeting the look
+unflinchingly with his large dark eyes, was unable to conceal the fact
+that he had received a home thrust.
+
+"There are two points, Mr. Harley," he finally confessed, "almost
+certainly associated one with the other, if you understand, but both
+these so--shall I say remote?--from my life, that I hesitate to mention
+them. It seems fantastic to suppose that they contain a clue."
+
+"I beg of you," said Harley, "to keep nothing back, however remote it
+may appear to be. It is sometimes the seemingly remote things which
+prove upon investigation to be the most intimate."
+
+"Very well," resumed Colonel Menendez, beginning to roll a second
+cigarette whilst continuing to smoke the first, "I know that you are
+right, of course, but it is nevertheless very difficult for me to
+explain. I mentioned the attempted burglary, if so I may term it, in
+order to clear your mind of the idea that my fears were a myth. The next
+point which I have concerns a man, a neighbour of mine in Surrey. Before
+I proceed I should like to make it clear that I do not believe for a
+moment that he is responsible for this unpleasant business."
+
+Harley stared at him curiously. "Nevertheless," he said, "there must be
+some data in your possession which suggest to your mind that he has some
+connection with it."
+
+"There are, Mr. Harley, but they belong to things so mystic and far
+away from ordinary crime that I fear you will think me," he shrugged
+his great shoulders, "a man haunted by strange superstitions. Do you say
+'haunted?' Good. You understand. I should tell you, then, that although
+of pure Spanish blood, I was born in Cuba. The greater part of my
+life has been spent in the West Indies, where prior to '98 I held an
+appointment under the Spanish Government. I have property, not only in
+Cuba, but in some of the smaller islands which formerly were Spanish,
+and I shall not conceal from you that during the latter years of my
+administration I incurred the enmity of a section of the population. Do
+I make myself clear?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded and exchanged a swift glance with me. I formed a
+rapid mental picture of native life under the governorship of Colonel
+Juan Menendez and I began to consider his story from a new viewpoint.
+Seemingly rendered restless by his reflections, he stood up and began
+to pace the floor, a tall but curiously graceful figure. I noticed the
+bulldog tenacity of his chin, the intense pride in his bearing, and I
+wondered what kind of menace had induced him to seek the aid of Paul
+Harley; for whatever his failings might be, and I could guess at the
+nature of several of them, that this thin-lipped Spanish soldier knew
+the meaning of fear I was not prepared to believe.
+
+"Before you proceed further, Colonel Menendez," said Harley, "might I
+ask when you left Cuba?"
+
+"Some three years ago," was his reply. "Because--" he hesitated
+curiously--"of health motives, I leased a property in England, believing
+that here I should find peace."
+
+"In other words, you were afraid of something or someone in Cuba?"
+
+Colonel Menendez turned in a flash, glaring down at the speaker.
+
+"I never feared any man in my life, Mr. Harley," he said, coldly.
+
+"Then why are you here?"
+
+The Colonel placed the stump of his first cigarette in an ash tray and
+lighted that which he had newly made.
+
+"It is true," he admitted. "Forgive me. Yet what I said was that I never
+feared any man."
+
+He stood squarely in front of the Burmese cabinet, resting one hand upon
+his hip. Then he added a remark which surprised me.
+
+"Do you know anything of Voodoo?" he asked.
+
+Paul Harley took his pipe from between his teeth and stared at the
+speaker silently for a moment. "Voodoo?" he echoed. "You mean negro
+magic?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"My studies have certainly not embraced it," replied Harley, quietly,
+"nor has it hitherto come within my experience. But since I have lived
+much in the East, I am prepared to learn that Voodoo may not be a
+negligible quantity. There are forces at work in India which we in
+England improperly understand. The same may be true of Cuba."
+
+"The same _is_ true of Cuba."
+
+Colonel Menendez glared almost fiercely across the room at Paul Harley.
+
+"And do I understand," asked the latter, "that the danger which you
+believe to threaten you is associated with Cuba?"
+
+"That, Mr. Harley, is for you to decide when all the facts shall be in
+your possession. Do you wish that I proceed?"
+
+"By all means. I must confess that I am intensely interested."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Harley. I have something to show you."
+
+From an inside breast pocket Colonel Menendez drew out a gold-mounted
+case, and from the case took some flat, irregularly shaped object
+wrapped in a piece of tissue paper. Unfolding the paper, he strode
+across and laid the object which it had contained upon the blotting pad
+in front of my friend.
+
+Impelled by curiosity I stood up and advanced to inspect it. It was of
+a dirty brown colour, some five or six inches long, and appeared to
+consist of a kind of membrane. Harley, his elbow on the table, was
+staring down at it questioningly.
+
+"What is it?" I said; "some kind of leaf?"
+
+"No," replied Harley, looking up into the dark face of the Spanish
+colonel; "I think I know what it is."
+
+"I, also, know what it is." declared Colonel Menendez, grimly. "But tell
+me what to you it seems like, Mr. Harley?"
+
+Paul Harley's expression was compounded of incredulity, wonder, and
+something else, as, continuing to stare at the speaker, he replied:
+
+"It is the wing of a bat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE VOODOO SWAMP
+
+
+
+Often enough my memory has recaptured that moment in Paul Harley's
+office, when Harley, myself, and the tall Spaniard stood looking down at
+the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+
+My brilliant friend at times displayed a sort of prescience, of which
+I may have occasion to speak later, but I, together with the rest of
+pur-blind humanity, am commonly immune from the prophetic instinct.
+Therefore I chronicle the fact for what it may be worth, that as I gazed
+with a sort of disgust at the exhibit lying upon the table I became
+possessed of a conviction, which had no logical basis, that a door had
+been opened through which I should step into a new avenue of being; I
+felt myself to stand upon the threshold of things strange and terrible,
+but withal alluring. Perhaps it is true that in the great crises of life
+the inner eye becomes momentarily opened.
+
+With intense curiosity I awaited the Colonel's next words, but, a
+cigarette held nervously between his fingers, he stood staring at
+Harley, and it was the latter who broke that peculiar silence which had
+fallen upon us.
+
+"The wing of a bat," he murmured, then touched it gingerly. "Of what
+kind of bat, Colonel Menendez? Surely not a British species?"
+
+"But emphatically not a British species," replied the Spaniard. "Yet
+even so the matter would be strange."
+
+"I am all anxiety to learn the remainder of your story, Colonel
+Menendez."
+
+"Good. Your interest comforts me very greatly, Mr. Harley. But when
+first I came, you led me to suppose that you were departing from
+London?"
+
+"Such, at the time, was my intention, sir." Paul Harley smiled slightly.
+"Accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, I had proposed to indulge in a
+fortnight's fishing upon the Norfolk Broads."
+
+"Fishing?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"A peaceful occupation, Mr. Harley, and a great rest-cure for one who
+like yourself moves much amid the fiercer passions of life. You were
+about to make holiday?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"It is cruel of me to intrude upon such plans," continued Colonel
+Menendez, dexterously rolling his cigarette around between his fingers.
+"Yet because of my urgent need I dare to do so. Would yourself and your
+friend honour me with your company at Cray's Folly for a few days? I
+can promise you good entertainment, although I regret that there is no
+fishing; but it may chance that there will be other and more exciting
+sport."
+
+Harley glanced at me significantly.
+
+"Do I understand you to mean, Colonel Menendez," he asked, "that you
+have reason to believe that this conspiracy directed against you is
+about to come to a head?"
+
+Colonel Menendez nodded, at the same time bringing his hand down sharply
+upon the table.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he replied, his high, thin voice sunken almost to a
+whisper, "Wednesday night is the night of the full moon."
+
+"The full moon?"
+
+"It is at the full moon that the danger comes."
+
+Paul Harley stood up, and watched by the Spanish colonel paced slowly
+across the office. At the outer door he paused and turned.
+
+"Colonel Menendez," he said, "that you would willingly waste the time of
+a busy man I do not for a moment believe, therefore I shall ask you as
+briefly as possible to state your case in detail. When I have heard it,
+if it appears to me that any good purpose can be served by my friend
+and myself coming to Cray's Folly I feel sure that he will be happy to
+accept your proffered hospitality."
+
+"If I am likely to be of the slightest use I shall be delighted," said
+I, which indeed was perfectly true.
+
+Whilst I had willingly agreed to accompany Harley to Norfolk I had
+none of his passion for the piscatorial art, and the promise of novel
+excitement held out by Colonel Menendez appealed to me more keenly than
+the lazy days upon the roads which Harley loved.
+
+"Gentlemen"--the Colonel bowed profoundly--"I am honoured and delighted.
+When you shall have heard my story I know what your decision will be."
+
+He resumed his seat, and began, it seemed almost automatically, to roll
+a fresh cigarette.
+
+"I am all attention," declared Harley, and his glance strayed again in a
+wondering fashion to the bat wing lying on his table.
+
+"I will speak briefly," resumed our visitor, "and any details which
+may seem to you to be important can be discussed later when you are
+my guests. You must know then that I first became acquainted with the
+significance belonging to the term 'Bat Wing' and to the object itself
+some twenty years ago."
+
+"But surely," interrupted Harley, incredulously, "you are not going
+to tell me that the menace of which you complain is of twenty years'
+standing?"
+
+"At your express request, Mr. Harley," returned the Colonel a trifle
+brusquely, "I am dealing with possibilities which are remote, because
+in your own words it is sometimes the remote which proves to be the
+intimate. It was then rather more than twenty years ago, at a time when
+great political changes were taking place in the West Indies, that my
+business interests, which are mainly concerned with sugar, carried me
+to one of the smaller islands which had formerly been under--my
+jurisdiction, do you say? Here I had a house and estate, and here in the
+past I had experienced much trouble with the natives.
+
+"I do not disguise from you that I was unpopular, and on my return I
+met with unmistakable signs of hostility. My native workmen were
+insubordinate. In fact, it was the reports from my overseers which had
+led me to visit the island. I made a tour of the place, believing it to
+be necessary to my interests that I should get once more in touch
+with negro feeling, since I had returned to my home in Cuba after the
+upheavals in '98. Very well.
+
+"The manager of my estate, a capable man, was of opinion that
+there existed a secret organization amongst the native labourers
+operating--you understand?--against my interests. He produced certain
+evidences of this. They were not convincing; and all my enquiries and
+examinations of certain inhabitants led to no definite results. Yet I
+grew more and more to feel that enemies surrounded me."
+
+He paused to light his third cigarette, and whilst he did so I conjured
+up a mental picture of his "examinations of certain inhabitants." I
+recalled hazily those stories of Spanish mismanagement and cruelty which
+had directly led to United States interferences in the islands. But
+whilst I could well believe that this man's life had not been safe in
+those bad old days in the West Indies, I found it difficult to suppose
+that a native plot against his safety could have survived for more than
+twenty years and have come to a climax in England. However, I realized
+that there was more to follow, and presently, having lighted his
+cigarette, the Colonel resumed:
+
+"In the neighbourhood of the hacienda which had once been my official
+residence there was a belt of low-lying pest country--you understand
+pest country?--which was a hot-bed of poisonous diseases. It followed
+the winding course of a nearly stagnant creek. From the earliest
+times the Black Belt--it was so called--had been avoided by European
+inhabitants, and indeed by the coloured population as well. Apart from
+the malaria of the swampy ground it was infested with reptiles and with
+poisonous insects of a greater variety and of a more venomous character
+than I have ever known in any part of the world.
+
+"I must explain that what I regarded as a weak point in my manager's
+theory was this: Whilst he held that the native labourers to a man were
+linked together under some head, or guiding influence, he had never
+succeeded in surprising anything in the nature of a negro meeting.
+Indeed, he had prohibited all gatherings of this kind. His answer to
+my criticism was a curious one. He declared that the members of this
+mysterious society met and received their instructions at some place
+within the poison area to which I have referred, believing themselves
+there to be safe from European interference.
+
+"For a long time I disputed this with poor Valera--for such was my
+manager's name; when one night as I was dismounting from my horse before
+the veranda, having returned from a long ride around the estate, a shot
+was fired from the border of the Black Belt which at one point crept up
+dangerously close to the hacienda.
+
+"The shot was a good one. I had caught my spur in the stirrup in
+dismounting, and stumbled. Otherwise I must have been a dead man. The
+bullet pierced the crown of my hat, only missing my skull by an inch or
+less. The alarm was given. But no search-party could be mustered, do you
+say?--which was prepared to explore the poison swamp--or so declared
+my native servants. Valera, however, seized upon this incident to
+illustrate his theory that there were those in the island who did not
+hesitate to enter the Black Belt popularly supposed to cast up noxious
+vapours at dusk of a sort fatal to any traveller.
+
+"That night over our wine we discussed the situation, and he pointed
+out to me that now was the hour to test his theory. Orders had evidently
+been given for my assassination and the attempt had failed.
+
+"'There will be a meeting,' said Valera, 'to discuss the next move. And
+it will take place to-morrow night!'
+
+"I challenged him with a glance and I replied:
+
+"'To-morrow night is a full moon, and if you are agreeable we will make
+a secret expedition into the swamp, and endeavour to find the clearing
+which you say is there, and which you believe to be the rendezvous of
+the conspirators.'
+
+"Even in the light of the lamp I saw Valera turn pale, but he was a
+Spaniard and a man of courage.
+
+"'I agree, se�or,' he replied. 'If my information is correct we shall
+find the way.'
+
+"I must explain that the information to which he referred had been
+supplied by a native girl who loved him. That this clearing was a
+meeting-place she had denied. But she had admitted that it was possible
+to obtain access to it, and had even described the path." He paused.
+"She died of a lingering sickness."
+
+Colonel Menendez spoke these last words with great deliberation and
+treated each of us to a long and significant stare.
+
+"Presently," he added, "I will tell you what was nailed to the wall of
+her hut on the night that she fell ill. But to continue my narrative.
+On the following evening, suitably equipped, Valera and myself set out,
+leaving by a side door and striking into the woods at a point east of
+the hacienda, where, according to his information, a footpath existed,
+which would lead us to the clearing we desired to visit. Of that
+journey, gentlemen, I have most terrible memories.
+
+"Imagine a dense and poisonous jungle, carpeted by rotten vegetation
+in which one's feet sank deeply and from which arose a visible and
+stenching vapour. Imagine living things, slimy things, moving beneath
+the tread, sometimes coiling about our riding boots, sometimes making
+hissing sounds. Imagine places where the path was overgrown, and we must
+thrust our way through bushes where great bloated spiders weaved
+their webs, where clammy night things touched us as we passed, where
+unfamiliar and venomous insects clung to our garments.
+
+"We proceeded onward for more than half an hour guided by the moonlight,
+but this, although tropically brilliant, at some places scarcely
+penetrated the thick vapour which arose from the jungle. In those days I
+was a young and vigorous man; my companion was several years my senior;
+and his sufferings were far greater than my own. But if the jungle was
+horrible, worse was yet to come.
+
+"Presently we stumbled upon an open space almost quite bare of
+vegetation, a poisonous green carpet spread in the heart of the woods.
+Here the vapour was more dense than ever, but I welcomed the sight of
+open ground after the reptile-infested thicket. Alas! it was a snare, a
+death-trap, a sort of morass, in which we sank up to our knees. Pah!
+it was filthy--vile! And I became aware of great--lassitude, do you
+say?--whilst Valera's panting breath told that he had almost reached the
+end of his resources.
+
+"A faint breeze moved through the clearing and for a few moments we
+were enabled to perceive one another more distinctly. I uttered an
+exclamation of horror.
+
+"My companion's garments were a mass of strange-looking patches.
+
+"Even as I noticed them I glanced rapidly down--and found myself in
+similar condition. As I did so one of these patches upon the sleeve of
+my tunic intruded coldly upon my bare wrist. At that I cried out aloud
+in fear. Valera and I commenced what was literally a fight for life.
+
+"Gentlemen, we were attacked by some kind of blood-red leeches, which
+came out of the slime! In detaching them one detached patches of skin,
+and they swarmed over our bodies like ants upon carrion.
+
+"They penetrated beneath our garments, these swollen, lustful, unclean
+things; and it was whilst we staggered on through the swamp in agony of
+mind and body that we saw the light of many torches amid the trees ahead
+of us, and in their smoky glare witnessed the flight of hundreds
+of bats. The moonlight creeping dimly through the mist, and the
+torchlight--how do you say?--enflaming the vegetation, created a scene
+like that of Inferno, in which naked figures danced wildly, uttering
+animal cries.
+
+"Above the shrieking and howling, which rose and fell in a sort of
+unholy chorus, I heard one long, wailing sound, repeated and repeated.
+It was an African word. But I knew its meaning.
+
+"It was '_Bat Wing_!'
+
+"My doubts were dispersed. This was a meeting-place of
+Devil-worshippers, or devotees of the cult of Voodoo! One man only could
+I see clearly so as to remember him, a big negro employed upon one of
+my estates. He seemed to be a sort of high priest or president of the
+orgies. Attached to his arms were giant imitations of bat wings which he
+moved grotesquely as if in flight. There were many women in the throng,
+which numbered fully I should think a hundred people. But the final
+collapse of my brave, unhappy Valera at this point brought home to me
+the nature of the peril in which I stood.
+
+"He lay at my feet, moving convulsively, and sinking ever deeper in
+the swamp, red leeches moving slowly, slowly over his fast-disappearing
+body."
+
+Colonel Menendez paused in his appalling narrative and wiped his moist
+forehead with a silk handkerchief. Neither Harley nor I spoke. I knew
+not if my friend believed the Spaniard's story. For my own part I found
+it difficult to do so. But that the narrator was deeply moved was a fact
+beyond dispute.
+
+He suddenly commenced again:
+
+"My next recollection is of awakening in my own bed at the hacienda. I
+had staggered back as far as the veranda, in raving delirium, and in the
+grip of a strange fever which prostrated me for many months, and which
+defied the knowledge of all the specialists who could be procured from
+Cuba and the United States. My survival was due to an iron constitution;
+but I have never been the same man. I was ordered to leave the West
+Indies directly it became possible for me to be moved. I arranged my
+affairs accordingly, and did not return for many years.
+
+"Finally, however, I again took up my residence in Cuba, and for a time
+all went well, and might have continued to do so, but for the following
+incident. One night, being troubled by insomnia--sleeplessness--and the
+heat, I walked out on to the balcony in front of my bedroom window. As
+I did so, a figure which had been--you say lurking?--somewhere under the
+veranda ran swiftly off; but not so swiftly that I failed to obtain a
+glimpse of the uplifted face.
+
+"It was the big negro! Although many years had elapsed since I had seen
+him wearing the bat wings at those unholy rites, I knew him instantly.
+
+"On a little table close behind me where I stood lay a loaded revolver.
+I snatched it in a flash and fired shot after shot at the retreating
+figure."
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders and selected a fresh cigarette
+paper.
+
+"Gentlemen," he continued, "from that moment until this I have gone
+in hourly peril of my life. Whether I hit my man or missed him, I have
+never known to this day. If he lives or is dead I cannot say. But--" he
+paused impressively--"I have told you of something that was nailed to
+the hut of a certain native girl? Before she died I knew that it was a
+death-token.
+
+"On the morning after the episode which I have just related attached to
+the main door of the hacienda was found that same token."
+
+"And it was??" said Harley, eagerly.
+
+"It was the wing of a bat!
+
+"I am perhaps a hasty man. It is in my blood. I tore the unclean thing
+from the panel and stamped it under my feet. No one of the servants
+who had drawn my attention to its presence would consent to touch
+it. Indeed, they all shrank from me as though I, too, were unclean. I
+endeavoured to forget it. Who was I to be influenced by the threats of
+natives?
+
+"That night, just at the hour of sunset, a shot was fired at me from a
+neighbouring clump of trees, only missing me I think by the fraction of
+an inch. I realized that the peril was real, and was one against which I
+could not fight.
+
+"Permit me to be brief, gentlemen. Six attempts of various kinds
+were made upon my life in Cuba. I crossed to the United States. In
+Washington, the political capital of the country, an assassin gained
+access to my hotel apartment and but for the fact that a friend chanced
+to call me up on the telephone at that late hour of the night, thereby
+awakening me, I should have received a knife in my heart. I saw the
+knife in the dim light; I saw the shadowy figure. I leapt out on the
+opposite side of the bed, seized a table-lamp which stood there, and
+hurled it at my assailant.
+
+"There was a crash, a stifled exclamation, shuffling, the door opened,
+and my would-be assassin was gone. But I had learned something, and to
+my old fears a new one was added."
+
+"What had you learned?" asked Harley, whose interest in the narrative
+was displayed by the fact that his pipe had long since gone out.
+
+"Vaguely, vaguely, you understand, for there was little light, I had
+seen the face of the man. He wore some kind of black cloak doubtless
+to conceal his movements. His silhouette resembled that of a bat. But,
+gentlemen, he was neither a negro nor even a half-caste; he was of the
+white races, to that I could swear."
+
+Colonel Menendez lighted the cigarette which he had been busily rolling,
+and fixed his dark eyes upon Harley.
+
+"You puzzle me, sir," said the latter. "Do you wish me to believe that
+this cult of Voodoo claims European or American devotees?"
+
+"I wish you to believe," returned the Colonel, "that although as
+the result of the alarm which I gave the hotel was searched and the
+Washington police exerted themselves to the utmost, no trace was ever
+found of the man who had tried to murder me, except"--he extended a
+long, yellow forefinger, and pointed to the wing of the bat lying upon
+Harley's table--"a bat wing was found pinned to my bedroom door."
+
+Silence fell for a while; an impressive silence. Truly this was the
+strangest story to which I had ever listened.
+
+"How long ago was that?" asked Harley.
+
+"Only two years ago. At about the time that the great war terminated. I
+came to Europe and believed that at last I had found security. I lived
+for a time in London amidst a refreshing peace that was new to me. Then,
+chancing to hear of a property in Surrey which was available, I leased
+it for a period of years, installing--is it correct?--my cousin, Madame
+de St�mer, as housekeeper. Madame, alas, is an invalid, but"--he kissed
+his fingers--"a genius. She has with her, as companion, a very
+charming English girl, Miss Val Beverley, the orphaned daughter of a
+distinguished surgeon of Edinburg. Miss Beverley was with my cousin in
+the hospital which she established in France during the war. If you will
+honour me with your presence at Cray's Folly to-morrow, gentlemen, you
+will not lack congenial company, I can assure you."
+
+He raised his heavy eyebrows, looking interrogatively from Harley to
+myself.
+
+"For my own part," said my friend, slowly, "I shall be delighted. What
+do you say, Knox?"
+
+"I also."
+
+"But," continued Harley, "your presence here today, Colonel Menendez,
+suggests to my mind that England has not proved so safe a haven as you
+had anticipated?"
+
+Colonel Menendez crossed the room and stood once more before the Burmese
+cabinet, one hand resting upon his hip; a massive yet graceful figure.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he replied, "four days ago my butler, who is a Spaniard,
+brought me--" He pointed to the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+"He had found it pinned to an oaken panel of the main entrance door."
+
+"Was it prior to this discovery, or after it," asked Harley, "that you
+detected the presence of someone lurking in the neighbourhood of the
+house?"
+
+"Before it."
+
+"And the burglarious entrance?"
+
+"That took place rather less than a month ago. On the eve of the full
+moon."
+
+Paul Harley stood up and relighted his pipe.
+
+"There are quite a number of other details, Colonel," he said, "which I
+shall require you to place in my possession. Since I have determined
+to visit Cray's Folly, these can wait until my arrival. I particularly
+refer to a remark concerning a neighbour of yours in Surrey."
+
+Colonel Menendez nodded, twirling his cigarette between his long, yellow
+fingers.
+
+"It is a delicate matter, gentlemen," he confessed.
+
+"I must take time to consider how I shall place it before you. But I may
+count upon your arrival tomorrow?"
+
+"Certainly. I am looking forward to the visit with keen interest."
+
+"It is important," declared our visitor; "for on Wednesday is the full
+moon, and the full moon is in some way associated with the sacrificial
+rites of Voodoo."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE VAMPIRE BAT
+
+
+
+An hour had elapsed since the departure of our visitor, and Paul Harley
+and I sat in the cosy, book-lined study discussing the strange story
+which had been related to us. Harley, who had a friend attached to
+the Spanish Embassy, had succeeded in getting in touch with him at his
+chambers, and had obtained some few particulars of interest concerning
+Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, for such were the full names and
+titles of our late caller.
+
+He was apparently the last representative of a once great Spanish
+family, established for many generations in Cuba. His wealth was
+incalculable, although the value of his numerous estates had depreciated
+in recent years. His family had produced many men of subtle intellect
+and powerful administrative qualities; but allied to this they had all
+possessed traits of cruelty and debauchery which at one time had made
+the name of Menendez a by-word in the West Indies. That there were many
+people in that part of the world who would gladly have assassinated
+the Colonel, Paul Harley's informant did not deny. But although this
+information somewhat enlarged our knowledge of my friend's newest
+client, it threw no fresh light upon that side of his story which
+related to Voodoo and the extraordinary bat wing episodes.
+
+"Of course," said Harley, after a long silence, "there is one
+possibility of which we must not lose sight."
+
+"What possibility is that?" I asked.
+
+"That Menendez may be mad. Remorse for crimes of cruelty committed in
+his youth, and beyond doubt he has been guilty of many, may have led to
+a sort of obsession. I have known such cases."
+
+"That was my first impression," I confessed, "but it faded somewhat as
+the Colonel's story proceeded. I don't think any such explanation would
+cover the facts."
+
+"Neither do I," agreed my friend; "but it is distinctly possible that
+such an obsession exists, and that someone is deliberately playing upon
+it for his own ends."
+
+"You mean that someone who knows of these episodes in the earlier life
+of Menendez is employing them now for a secret purpose of his own?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"It renders the case none the less interesting."
+
+"I quite agree, Knox. With you, I believe, that even if the Colonel is
+not quite sane, at the same time his fears are by no means imaginary."
+
+He gingerly took up the bat wing from the arm of his chair where he had
+placed it after a detailed examination.
+
+"It seems to be pretty certain," he said, "that this thing is the wing
+of a Desmodus or Vampire Bat. Now, according to our authority"--he
+touched a work which lay open on the other arm of his chair--"these are
+natives of tropical America, therefore the presence of a living vampire
+bat in Surrey is not to be anticipated. I am personally satisfied,
+however, that this unpleasant fragment has been preserved in some way."
+
+"You mean that it is part of a specimen from someone's collection?"
+
+"Quite possibly. But even a collection of such bats would be quite a
+novelty. I don't know that I can recollect one outside the Museums. To
+follow this bat wing business further: there was one very curious point
+in the Colonel's narrative. You recollect his reference to a native girl
+who had betrayed certain information to the manager of the estate?"
+
+I nodded rapidly.
+
+"A bat wing was affixed to the wall of her hut and she died, according
+to our informant, of a lingering sickness. Now this lingering sickness
+might have been an�mia, and an�mia may be induced, either in man or
+beast, by frequent but unsuspected visits of a Vampire Bat."
+
+"Good heavens, Harley!" I exclaimed, "what a horrible idea."
+
+"It _is_ a horrible idea, but in countries infested by these creatures
+such things happen occasionally. I distinctly recollect a story which
+I once heard, of a little girl in some district of tropical America
+falling into such a decline, from which she was only rescued in the nick
+of time by the discovery that one of these Vampire Bats, a particularly
+large one, had formed the habit of flying into her room at night and
+attaching itself to her bare arm which lay outside the coverlet."
+
+"How did it penetrate the mosquito curtains?" I enquired, incredulously.
+
+"The very point, Knox, which led to the discovery of the truth. The
+thing, exhibiting a sort of uncanny intelligence, used to work its way
+up under the edge of the netting. This disturbance of the curtains was
+noticed on several occasions by the nurse who occupied an adjoining
+room, and finally led to the detection of the bat!"
+
+"But surely," I said, "such a visitation would awaken any sleeper?"
+
+"On the contrary, it induces deeper sleep. But I have not yet come to my
+point, Knox. The vengeance of the High Priest of Voodoo, who figured in
+the Colonel's narrative, was characteristic in the case of the native
+woman, since her symptoms at least simulated those which would result
+from the visits of a Vampire Bat, although of course they may have been
+due to a slow poison. But you will not have failed to note that the
+several attacks upon the Colonel personally were made with more ordinary
+weapons. On two occasions at least a rifle was employed."
+
+"Yes," I replied, slowly. "You are wondering why the lingering sickness
+did not visit him?"
+
+"I am, Knox. I can only suppose that he proved to be immune. You recall
+his statement that he made an almost miraculous recovery from the fever
+which attacked him after his visit to the Black Belt? This would seem to
+point to the fact that he possesses that rare type of constitution which
+almost defies organisms deadly to ordinary men."
+
+"I see. Hence the dagger and the rifle?"
+
+"So it would appear."
+
+"But, Harley," I cried, "what appalling crime can the man have committed
+to call down upon his head a vengeance which has survived for so many
+years?"
+
+Paul Harley shrugged his shoulders in a whimsical imitation of the
+Spaniard.
+
+"I doubt if the feud dates any earlier," he replied, "than the time of
+Menendez's last return to Cuba. On that occasion he evidently killed the
+High Priest of Voodoo."
+
+I uttered an exclamation of scorn.
+
+"My dear Harley," I said, "the whole thing is too utterly fantastic. I
+begin to believe again that we are dealing with a madman."
+
+Harley glanced down at the wing of the bat.
+
+"We shall see," he murmured. "Even if the only result of our visit is to
+make the acquaintance of the Colonel's household our time will not have
+been wasted."
+
+"No," said I, "that is true enough. I am looking forward to meeting
+Madame de St�mer--"
+
+"The Colonel's invalid cousin," added Harley, tonelessly.
+
+"And her companion, Miss Beverley."
+
+"Quite so. Nor must we forget the Spanish butler, and the Colonel
+himself, whose acquaintance I am extremely anxious to renew."
+
+"The whole thing is wildly bizarre, Harley."
+
+"My dear Knox," he replied, stretching himself luxuriously in the long
+lounge chair, "the most commonplace life hovers on the edge of the
+bizarre. But those of us who overstep the border become preposterous
+in the eyes of those who have never done so. This is not because the
+unusual is necessarily the untrue, but because writers of fiction have
+claimed the unusual as their particular province, and in doing so have
+divorced it from fact in the public eye. Thus I, myself, am a myth, and
+so are you, Knox!"
+
+He raised his hand and pointed to the doorway communicating with the
+office.
+
+"We owe our mythological existence to that American genius whose
+portrait hangs beside the Burmese cabinet and who indiscreetly
+created the character of C. Auguste Dupin. The doings of this amateur
+investigator were chronicled by an admirer, you may remember, since
+when no private detective has been allowed to exist outside the pages of
+fiction. My most trivial habits confirm my unreality.
+
+"For instance, I have a friend who is good enough sometimes to record
+my movements. So had Dupin. I smoke a pipe. So did Dupin. I investigate
+crime, and I am sometimes successful. Here I differ from Dupin. Dupin
+was always successful. But my argument is this--you complain that the
+life of Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, on his own showing,
+has been at least as romantic as his name. It would not be accounted
+romantic by the adventurous, Knox; it is only romantic to the prosaic
+mind. In the same way his name is only unusual to our English ears. In
+Spain it would pass unnoticed."
+
+"I see your point," I said, grudgingly; "but think of I Voodoo in the
+Surrey Hills."
+
+"I am thinking of it, Knox, and it affords me much delight to think of
+it. You have placed your finger I upon the very point I was endeavouring
+to make. Voodoo in the Surrey Hills! Quite so. Voodoo in some island
+of the Caribbean Seas, yes, but Voodoo in the Surrey Hills, no. Yet, my
+dear fellow, there is a regular steamer service between South America
+and England. Or one may embark at Liverpool and disembark in the Spanish
+Main. Why, then, may not one embark in the West Indies and disembark
+at Liverpool? This granted, you will also grant that from Liverpool to
+Surrey is a feasible journey. Why, then, should you exclaim, 'but Voodoo
+in the Surrey Hills!' You would be surprised to meet an Esquimaux in
+the Strand, but there is no reason why an Esquimaux should not visit the
+Strand. In short, the most annoying thing about fact is its resemblance
+to fiction. I am looking forward to the day, Knox, when I can retire
+from my present fictitious profession and become a recognized member
+of the community; such as a press agent, a theatrical manager, or some
+other dealer in Fact!"
+
+He burst out laughing, and reaching over to a side-table refilled my
+glass and his own.
+
+"There lies the wing of a Vampire Bat," he said, pointing, "in Chancery
+Lane. It is impossible. Yet," he raised his glass, "'Pussyfoot' Johnson
+has visited Scotland, the home of Whisky!"
+
+We were silent for a while, whilst I considered his remarks.
+
+"The conclusion to which I have come," declared Harley, "is that nothing
+is so strange as the commonplace. A rod and line, a boat, a luncheon
+hamper, a jar of good ale, and the peculiar peace of a Norfolk
+river--these joys I willingly curtail in favour of the unknown things
+which await us at Cray's Folly. Remember, Knox," he stared at me
+queerly, "Wednesday is the night of the full moon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CRAY'S FOLLY
+
+
+
+Paul Harley lay back upon the cushions and glanced at me with a
+quizzical smile. The big, up-to-date car which Colonel Menendez had
+placed at our disposal was surmounting a steep Surrey lane as though no
+gradient had existed.
+
+"Some engine!" he said, approvingly.
+
+I nodded in agreement, but felt disinclined for conversation, being
+absorbed in watching the characteristically English scenery. This,
+indeed, was very beautiful. The lane along which we were speeding was
+narrow, winding, and over-arched by trees. Here and there sunlight
+penetrated to spread a golden carpet before us, but for the most part
+the way lay in cool and grateful shadow.
+
+On one side a wooded slope hemmed us in blackly, on the other lay dell
+after dell down into the cradle of the valley. It was a poetic corner of
+England, and I thought it almost unbelievable that London was only some
+twenty miles behind. A fit place this for elves and fairies to
+survive, a spot in which the presence of a modern automobile seemed a
+desecration. Higher we mounted and higher, the engine running strongly
+and smoothly; then, presently, we were out upon a narrow open road with
+the crescent of the hills sweeping away on the right and dense woods
+dipping valleyward to the left and behind us.
+
+The chauffeur turned, and, meeting my glance:
+
+"Cray's Folly, sir," he said.
+
+He jerked his hand in the direction of a square, gray-stone tower
+somewhat resembling a campanile, which uprose from a distant clump of
+woods cresting a greater eminence.
+
+"Ah," murmured Harley, "the famous tower."
+
+Following the departure of the Colonel on the previous evening, he had
+looked up Cray's Folly and had found it to be one of a series of houses
+erected by the eccentric and wealthy man whose name it bore. He had
+had a mania for building houses with towers, in which his rival--and
+contemporary--had been William Beckford, the author of "Vathek," a work
+which for some obscure reason has survived as well as two of the three
+towers erected by its writer.
+
+I became conscious of a keen sense of anticipation. In this, I think,
+the figure of Miss Val Beverley played a leading part. There was
+something pathetic in the presence of this lonely English girl in so
+singular a household; for if the menage at Cray's Folly should prove
+half so strange as Colonel Menendez had led us to believe, then truly we
+were about to find ourselves amid unusual people.
+
+Presently the road inclined southward somewhat and we entered the fringe
+of the trees. I noticed one or two very ancient cottages, but no trace
+of the modern builder. This was a fragment of real Old England, and
+I was not sorry when presently we lost sight of the square tower; for
+amidst such scenery it was an anomaly and a rebuke.
+
+What Paul Harley's thoughts may have been I cannot say, but he preserved
+an unbroken silence up to the very moment that we came to the gate
+lodge.
+
+The gates were monstrosities of elaborate iron scrollwork, craftsmanship
+clever enough in its way, but of an ornate kind more in keeping with the
+orange trees of the South than with this wooded Surrey countryside.
+
+A very surly-looking girl, quite obviously un-English (a daughter of
+Pedro, the butler, I learned later), opened the gates, and we entered
+upon a winding drive literally tunnelled through the trees. Of the house
+we had never a glimpse until we were right under its walls, nor should
+I have known that we were come to the main entrance if the car had not
+stopped.
+
+"Looks like a monastery," muttered Harley.
+
+Indeed that part of the building--the north front--which was visible
+from this point had a strangely monastic appearance, being built of
+solid gray blocks and boasting only a few small, heavily barred windows.
+The eccentricity of the Victorian gentleman who had expended thousands
+of pounds upon erecting this house was only equalled, I thought, by that
+of Colonel Menendez, who had chosen it for a home. An out-jutting wing
+shut us in on the west, and to the east the prospect was closed by the
+tallest and most densely grown box hedge I had ever seen, trimmed most
+perfectly and having an arched opening in the centre. Thus, the entrance
+to Cray's Folly lay in a sort of bay.
+
+But even as we stepped from the car, the great church-like oaken doors
+were thrown open, and there, framed in the monkish porch, stood the
+tall, elegant figure of the Colonel.
+
+"Gentlemen," he cried, "welcome to Cray's Folly."
+
+He advanced smiling, and in the bright sunlight seemed even more
+Mephistophelean than he had seemed in Harley's office.
+
+"Pedro," he called, and a strange-looking Spanish butler who wore his
+side-whiskers like a bull fighter appeared behind his master; a sallow,
+furtive fellow with whom I determined I should never feel at ease.
+
+However, the Colonel greeted us heartily enough, and conducted us
+through a kind of paved, covered courtyard into a great lofty hall.
+Indeed it more closely resembled a studio, being partly lighted by a
+most curious dome. It was furnished in a manner quite un-English, but
+very luxuriously. A magnificent oaken staircase communicated with a
+gallery on the left, and at the foot of this staircase, in a mechanical
+chair which she managed with astonishing dexterity, sat Madame de
+St�mer.
+
+She had snow-white hair crowning the face of a comparatively young
+woman, and large, dark-brown eyes which reminded me strangely of the
+eyes of some animal although in the first moment of meeting I could not
+identify the resemblance. Her hands were very slender and beautiful, and
+when, as the Colonel presented us, she extended her fingers, I was not
+surprised to see Harley stoop and kiss them in Continental fashion;
+for this Madame evidently expected. I followed suit; but truth to tell,
+after that first glance at the masterful figure in the invalid chair I
+had had no eyes for Madame de St�mer, being fully employed in gazing at
+someone who stood beside her.
+
+This was an evasively pretty girl, or such was my first impression. That
+is to say, that whilst her attractiveness was beyond dispute, analysis
+of her small features failed to detect from which particular quality
+this charm was derived. The contour of her face certainly formed a
+delightful oval, and there was a wistful look in her eyes which was half
+appealing and half impish. Her demure expression was not convincing, and
+there rested a vague smile, or promise of a smile, upon lips which were
+perfectly moulded, and indeed the only strictly regular feature of a
+nevertheless bewitching face. She had slightly curling hair and the line
+of her neck and shoulder was most graceful and charming. Of one thing I
+was sure: She was glad to see visitors at Cray's Folly.
+
+"And now, gentlemen," said Colonel Menendez, "having presented you to
+Madame, my cousin, permit me to present you to Miss Val Beverley, my
+cousin's companion, and our very dear friend."
+
+The girl bowed in a formal English fashion, which contrasted sharply
+with the Continental manner of Madame. Her face flushed slightly, and as
+I met her glance she lowered her eyes.
+
+"Now M. Harley and M. Knox," said Madame, vivaciously, "you are quite at
+home. Pedro will show you to your rooms and lunch will be ready in half
+an hour."
+
+She waved her white hand coquettishly, and ignoring the proffered aid
+of Miss Beverley, wheeled her chair away at a great rate under a sort
+of arch on the right of the hall, which communicated with the domestic
+offices of the establishment.
+
+"Is she not wonderful?" exclaimed Colonel Menendez, taking Harley's
+left arm and my right and guiding us upstairs followed by Pedro and
+the chauffeur, the latter carrying our grips. "Many women would be
+prostrated by such an affliction, but she--" he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+Harley and I had been placed in adjoining rooms. I had never seen such
+rooms as those in Cray's Folly. The place contained enough oak to have
+driven a modern builder crazy. Oak had simply been lavished upon it. My
+own room, which was almost directly above the box hedge to which I have
+referred, had a beautiful carved ceiling and a floor as highly polished
+as that of a ballroom. It was tastefully furnished, but the foreign note
+was perceptible everywhere.
+
+"We have here some grand prospects," said the Colonel, and truly enough
+the view from the great, high, wide window was a very fine one.
+
+I perceived that the grounds of Cray's Folly were extensive and
+carefully cultivated. I had a glimpse of a Tudor sunken garden, but the
+best view of this was from the window of Harley's room, which because
+it was the end room on the north front overlooked another part of the
+grounds, and offered a prospect of the east lawns and distant park land.
+
+When presently Colonel Menendez and I accompanied my friend there I
+was charmed by the picturesque scene below. Here was a real old herbal
+garden, gay with flowers and intersected by tiled moss-grown paths.
+There were bushes exhibiting fantastic examples of the topiary art, and
+here, too, was a sun-dial. My first impression of this beautiful spot
+was one of delight. Later I was to regard that enchanted demesne with
+something akin to horror; but as we stood there watching a gardener
+clipping the bushes I thought that although Cray's Folly might be
+adjudged ugly, its grounds were delightful.
+
+Suddenly Harley turned to our host. "Where is the famous tower?" he
+enquired. "It is not visible from the front of the house, nor from the
+drive."
+
+"No, no," replied the Colonel, "it is right out at the end of the east
+wing, which is disused. I keep it locked up. There are four rooms in
+the tower and a staircase, of course, but it is inconvenient. I cannot
+imagine why it was built."
+
+"The architect may have had some definite object in view," said Harley,
+"or it may have been merely a freak of his client. Is there anything
+characteristic about the topmost room, for instance?"
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his massive shoulders. "Nothing," he replied.
+"It is the same as the others below, except that there is a stair
+leading to a gallery on the roof. Presently I will take you up, if you
+wish."
+
+"I should be interested," murmured Harley, and tactfully changed the
+subject, which evidently was not altogether pleasing to our host. I
+concluded that he had found the east wing of the house something of a
+white elephant, and was accordingly sensitive upon the point.
+
+Presently, then, he left us and I returned to my own room, but before
+long I rejoined Harley. I did not knock but entered unceremoniously.
+
+"Halloa!" I exclaimed. "What have you seen?"
+
+He was standing staring out of the window, nor did he turn as I entered.
+
+"What is it?" I said, joining him.
+
+He glanced at me oddly.
+
+"An impression," he replied; "but it has gone now."
+
+"I understand," I said, quietly.
+
+Familiarity with crime in many guises and under many skies had developed
+in Paul Harley a sort of sixth sense. It was a fugitive, fickle
+thing, as are all the powers which belong to the realm of genius or
+inspiration. Often enough it failed him entirely, he had assured me,
+that odd, sudden chill as of an abrupt lowering of the temperature,
+which, I understood, often advised him of the nearness of enmity
+actively malignant.
+
+Now, standing at the window, looking down into that old-world garden, he
+was "sensing" the atmosphere keenly, seeking for the note of danger. It
+was sheer intuition, perhaps, but whilst he could never rely upon its
+answering his summons, once active it never misled him.
+
+"You think some real menace overhangs Colonel Menendez?"
+
+"I am sure of it." He stared into my face. "There is something very,
+very strange about this bat wing business."
+
+"Do you still incline to the idea that he has been followed to England?"
+
+Paul Harley reflected for a moment, then:
+
+"That explanation would be almost too simple," he said. "There is
+something bizarre, something unclean--I had almost said unholy--at work
+in this house, Knox."
+
+"He has foreign servants."
+
+Harley shook his head.
+
+"I shall make it my business to become acquainted with all of them,"
+he replied, "but the danger does not come from there. Let us go down to
+lunch."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+VAL BEVERLEY
+
+
+
+The luncheon was so good as to be almost ostentatious. One could not
+have lunched better at the Carlton. Yet, since this luxurious living was
+evidently customary in the colonel's household, a charge of ostentation
+would not have been deserved. The sinister-looking Pedro proved to be
+an excellent servant; and because of the excitement of feeling myself
+to stand upon the edge of unusual things, the enjoyment of a perfectly
+served repast, and the sheer delight which I experienced in watching the
+play of expression upon the face of Miss Beverley, I count that luncheon
+at Cray's Folly a memorable hour of my life.
+
+Frankly, Val Beverley puzzled me. It may or may not have been curious,
+that amidst such singular company I selected for my especial study a
+girl so freshly and typically English. I had thought at the moment of
+meeting her that she was provokingly pretty; I determined, as the lunch
+proceeded, that she was beautiful. Once I caught Harley smiling at me in
+his quizzical fashion, and I wondered guiltily if I were displaying an
+undue interest in the companion of Madame.
+
+Many topics were discussed, I remember, and beyond doubt the colonel's
+cousin-housekeeper dominated the debate. She possessed extraordinary
+force of personality. Her English was not nearly so fluent as that
+spoken by the colonel, but this handicap only served to emphasize the
+masculine strength of her intellect. Truly she was a remarkable woman.
+With her blanched hair and her young face, and those fine, velvety eyes
+which possessed a quality almost hypnotic, she might have posed for the
+figure of a sorceress. She had unfamiliar gestures and employed her long
+white hands in a manner that was new to me and utterly strange.
+
+I could detect no family resemblance between the cousins, and I wondered
+if their kinship were very distant. One thing was evident enough: Madame
+de St�mer was devoted to the Colonel. Her expression when she looked at
+him changed entirely. For a woman of such intense vitality her eyes were
+uncannily still; that is to say that whilst she frequently moved her
+head she rarely moved her eyes. Again and again I found myself wondering
+where I had seen such eyes before. I lived to identify that memory, as I
+shall presently relate.
+
+In vain I endeavoured to define the relationship between these three
+people, so incongruously set beneath one roof. Of the fact that Miss
+Beverly was not happy I became assured. But respecting her exact
+position in the household I was reduced to surmises.
+
+The Colonel improved on acquaintance. I decided that he belonged to an
+order of Spanish grandees now almost extinct. I believed he would have
+made a very staunch friend; I felt sure he would have proved a most
+implacable enemy. Altogether, it was a memorable meal, and one notable
+result of that brief companionship was a kind of link of understanding
+between myself and Miss Beverley.
+
+Once, when I had been studying Madame de St�mer, and again, as I removed
+my glance from the dark face of Colonel Menendez, I detected the girl
+watching me; and her eyes said, "You understand; so do I."
+
+Some things perhaps I did understand, but how few the near future was to
+show.
+
+The signal for our departure from table was given by Madame de St�mer.
+She whisked her chair back with extraordinary rapidity, the contrast
+between her swift, nervous movements and those still, basilisk eyes
+being almost uncanny.
+
+"Off you go, Juan," she said; "your visitors would like to see the
+garden, no doubt. I must be away for my afternoon siesta. Come, my
+dear"--to the girl--"smoke one little cigarette with me, then I will let
+you go."
+
+She retired, wheeling herself rapidly out of the room, and my glance
+lingered upon the graceful figure of Val Beverley until both she and
+Madame were out of sight.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said the Colonel, resuming his seat and pushing the
+decanter toward Paul Harley, "I am at your service either for business
+or amusement. I think"--to Harley--"you expressed a desire to see the
+tower?"
+
+"I did," my friend replied, lighting his cigar, "but only if it would
+amuse you to show me."
+
+"Decidedly. Mr. Knox will join us?"
+
+Harley, unseen by the Colonel, glanced at me in a way which I knew.
+
+"Thanks all the same," I said, smiling, "but following a perfect
+luncheon I should much prefer to loll upon the lawn, if you don't mind."
+
+"But certainly I do not mind," cried the Colonel. "I wish you to be
+happy."
+
+"Join you in a few minutes, Knox," said Harley as he went out with our
+host.
+
+"All right," I replied, "I should like to take a stroll around the
+gardens. You will join me there later, no doubt."
+
+As I walked out into the bright sunshine I wondered why Paul Harley had
+wished to be left alone with Colonel Menendez, but knowing that I should
+learn his motive later, I strolled on through the gardens, my mind
+filled with speculations respecting these unusual people with whom Fate
+had brought me in contact. I felt that Miss Beverley needed protection
+of some kind, and I was conscious of a keen desire to afford her that
+protection. In her glance I had read, or thought I had read, an appeal
+for sympathy.
+
+Not the least mystery of Cray's Folly was the presence of this girl.
+Only toward the end of luncheon had I made up my mind upon a point which
+had been puzzling me. Val Beverley's gaiety was a cloak. Once I had
+detected her watching Madame de St�mer with a look strangely like that
+of fear.
+
+Puffing contentedly at my cigar I proceeded to make a tour of the house.
+It was constructed irregularly. Practically the entire building was
+of gray stone, which created a depressing effect even in the blazing
+sunlight, lending Cray's Folly something of an austere aspect. There
+were fine lofty windows, however, to most of the ground-floor rooms
+overlooking the lawns, and some of those above had balconies of the same
+gray stone. Quite an extensive kitchen garden and a line of glasshouses
+adjoined the west wing, and here were outbuildings, coach-houses and a
+garage, all connected by a covered passage with the servants' quarters.
+
+Pursuing my enquiries, I proceeded to the north front of the building,
+which was closely hemmed in by trees, and which as we had observed on
+our arrival resembled the entrance to a monastery.
+
+Passing the massive oaken door by which we had entered and which was now
+closed again, I walked on through the opening in the box hedge into a
+part of the grounds which was not so sprucely groomed as the rest. On
+one side were the yews flanking the Tudor garden and before me uprose
+the famous tower. As I stared up at the square structure, with its
+uncurtained windows, I wondered, as others had wondered before me, what
+could have ever possessed any man to build it.
+
+Visible at points for many miles around, it undoubtedly disfigured an
+otherwise beautiful landscape.
+
+I pressed on, noting that the windows of the rooms in the east wing were
+shuttered and the apartments evidently disused. I came to the base of
+the tower, To the south, the country rose up to the highest point in
+the crescent of hills, and peeping above the trees at no great distance
+away, I detected the red brick chimneys of some old house in the woods.
+North and east, velvet sward swept down to the park.
+
+As I stood there admiring the prospect and telling myself that no
+Voodoo devilry could find a home in this peaceful English countryside,
+I detected a faint sound of voices far above. Someone had evidently come
+out upon the gallery of the tower. I looked upward, but I could not see
+the speakers. I pursued my stroll, until, near the eastern base of the
+tower, I encountered a perfect thicket of rhododendrons. Finding no
+path through this shrubbery, I retraced my steps, presently entering
+the Tudor garden; and there strolling toward me, a book in her hand, was
+Miss Beverley.
+
+"Holloa, Mr. Knox," she called; "I thought you had gone up the tower?"
+
+"No," I replied, laughing, "I lack the energy."
+
+"Do you?" she said, softly, "then sit down and talk to me."
+
+She dropped down upon a grassy bank, looking up at me invitingly, and I
+accepted the invitation without demur.
+
+"I love this old garden," she declared, "although of course it is really
+no older than the rest of the place. I always think there should be
+peacocks, though."
+
+"Yes," I agreed, "peacocks would be appropriate."
+
+"And little pages dressed in yellow velvet."
+
+She met my glance soberly for a moment and then burst into a peal of
+merry laughter.
+
+"Do you know, Miss Beverley," I said, watching her, "I find it hard to
+place you in the household of the Colonel."
+
+"Yes?" she said simply; "you must."
+
+"Oh, then you realize that you are--"
+
+"Out of place here?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Of course I am."
+
+She smiled, shook her head, and changed the subject.
+
+"I am so glad Mr. Paul Harley has come down," she confessed.
+
+"You know my friend by name, then?"
+
+"Yes," she replied, "someone I met in Nice spoke of him, and I know he
+is very clever."
+
+"In Nice? Did you live in Nice before you came here?"
+
+Val Beverley nodded slowly, and her glance grew oddly retrospective.
+
+"I lived for over a year with Madame de St�mer in a little villa on
+the Promenade des Anglaise," she replied. "That was after Madame was
+injured."
+
+"She sustained her injuries during the war, I understand?"
+
+"Yes. Poor Madame. The hospital of which she was in charge was bombed
+and the shock left her as you see her. I was there, too, but I luckily
+escaped without injury."
+
+"What, you were there?"
+
+"Yes. That was where I first met Madame de St�mer. She used to be very
+wealthy, you see, and she established this hospital in France at her own
+expense, and I was one of her assistants for a time. She lost both her
+husband and her fortune in the war, and as if that were not bad enough,
+lost the use of her limbs, too."
+
+"Poor woman," I said. "I had no idea her life had been so tragic. She
+has wonderful courage."
+
+"Courage!" exclaimed the girl, "if you knew all that I know about her."
+
+Her face grew sweetly animated as she bent toward me excitedly and
+confidentially.
+
+"Really, she is simply wonderful. I learned to respect her in those days
+as I have never respected any other woman in the world; and when, after
+all her splendid work, she, so vital and active, was stricken down like
+that, I felt that I simply could not leave her, especially as she asked
+me to stay."
+
+"So you went with her to Nice?"
+
+"Yes. Then the Colonel took this house, and we came here, but--"
+
+She hesitated, and glanced at me curiously.
+
+"Perhaps you are not quite happy?"
+
+"No," she said, "I am not. You see it was different in France. I knew so
+many people. But here at Cray's Folly it is so lonely, and Madame is--"
+
+Again she hesitated.
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Well," she laughed in an embarrassed fashion, "I am afraid of her at
+times."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"Oh, in a silly, womanish sort of way. Of course she is a wonderful
+manager; she rules the house with a rod of iron. But really I haven't
+anything to do here, and I feel frightfully out of place sometimes. Then
+the Colonel--Oh, but what am I talking about?"
+
+"Won't you tell me what it is that the Colonel fears?"
+
+"You know that he fears something, then?"
+
+"Of course. That is why Paul Harley is here."
+
+A change came over the girl's face; a look almost of dread.
+
+"I wish I knew what it all meant."
+
+"You are aware, then, that there is something wrong?"
+
+"Naturally I am. Sometimes I have been so frightened that I have made up
+my mind to leave the very next day."
+
+"You mean that you have been frightened at night?" I asked with
+curiosity.
+
+"Dreadfully frightened."
+
+"Won't you tell me in what way?"
+
+She looked up at me swiftly, then turned her head aside, and bit her
+lip.
+
+"No, not now," she replied. "I can't very well."
+
+"Then at least tell me why you stayed?"
+
+"Well," she smiled rather pathetically, "for one thing, I haven't
+anywhere else to go."
+
+"Have you no friends in England?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"No. There was only poor daddy, and he died over two years ago. That was
+when I went to Nice."
+
+"Poor little girl," I said; and the words were spoken before I realized
+their undue familiarity.
+
+An apology was on the tip of my tongue, but Miss Beverley did not seem
+to have noticed the indiscretion. Indeed my sympathy was sincere, and I
+think she had appreciated the fact.
+
+She looked up again with a bright smile.
+
+"Why are we talking about such depressing things on this simply heavenly
+day?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Goodness knows," said I. "Will you show me round these lovely gardens?"
+
+"Delighted, sir!" replied the girl, rising and sweeping me a mocking
+curtsey.
+
+Thereupon we set out, and at every step I found a new delight in some
+wayward curl, in a gesture, in the sweet voice of my companion. Her
+merry laugh was music, but in wistful mood I think she was even more
+alluring.
+
+The menace, if menace there were, which overhung Cray's Folly, ceased to
+exist--for me, at least, and I blessed the lucky chance which had led to
+my presence there.
+
+We were presently rejoined by Colonel Menendez and Paul Harley, and I
+gathered that my surmise that it had been their voices which I had heard
+proceeding from the top of the tower to have been only partly accurate.
+
+"I know you will excuse me, Mr. Harley," said the Colonel, "for
+detailing the duty to Pedro, but my wind is not good enough for the
+stairs."
+
+He used idiomatic English at times with that facility which some
+foreigners acquire, but always smiled in a self-satisfied way when he
+had employed a slang term.
+
+"I quite understand, Colonel," replied Harley. "The view from the top
+was very fine."
+
+"And now, gentlemen," continued the Colonel, "if Miss Beverley will
+excuse us, we will retire to the library and discuss business."
+
+"As you wish," said Harley; "but I have an idea that it is your custom
+to rest in the afternoon."
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders. "It used to be," he admitted,
+"but I have too much to think about in these days."
+
+"I can see that you have much to tell me," admitted Harley; "and
+therefore I am entirely at your service."
+
+Val Beverley smiled and walked away swinging her book, at the same time
+treating me to a glance which puzzled me considerably. I wondered if I
+had mistaken its significance, for it had seemed to imply that she had
+accepted me as an ally. Certainly it served to awaken me to the fact
+that I had discovered a keen personal interest in the mystery which hung
+over this queerly assorted household.
+
+I glanced at my friend as the Colonel led the way into the house. I
+saw him staring upward with a peculiar expression upon his face, and
+following the direction of his glance I could see an awning spread over
+one of the gray-stone balconies. Beneath it, reclining in a long cane
+chair, lay Madame de St�mer. I think she was asleep; at any rate,
+she gave no sign, but lay there motionless, as Harley and I walked in
+through the open French window followed by Colonel Menendez.
+
+Odd and unimportant details sometimes linger long in the memory. And
+I remember noticing that a needle of sunlight, piercing a crack in the
+gaily-striped awning rested upon a ring which Madame wore, so that the
+diamonds glittered like sparks of white-hot fire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE BARRIER
+
+
+
+Colonel Menendez conducted us to a long, lofty library in which might
+be detected the same note of un-English luxury manifested in the other
+appointments of the house. The room, in common with every other which
+I had visited in Cray's Folly, was carried out in oak: doors, window
+frames, mantelpiece, and ceiling representing fine examples of this
+massive woodwork. Indeed, if the eccentricity of the designer of Cray's
+Folly were not sufficiently demonstrated by the peculiar plan of the
+building, its construction wholly of granite and oak must have remarked
+him a man of unusual if substantial ideas.
+
+There were four long windows opening on to a veranda which commanded a
+view of part of the rose garden and of three terraced lawns descending
+to a lake upon which I perceived a number of swans. Beyond, in the
+valley, lay verdant pastures, where cattle grazed. A lark hung carolling
+blithely far above, and the sky was almost cloudless. I could hear a
+steam reaper at work somewhere in the distance. This, with the more
+intimate rattle of a lawn-mower wielded by a gardener who was not
+visible from where I stood, alone disturbed the serene silence, except
+that presently I detected the droning of many bees among the roses.
+Sunlight flooded the prospect; but the veranda lay in shadow, and that
+long, oaken room was refreshingly cool and laden with the heavy perfume
+of the flowers.
+
+From the windows, then, one beheld a typical English summer-scape, but
+the library itself struck an altogether more exotic note. There were
+many glazed bookcases of a garish design in ebony and gilt, and these
+were laden with a vast collection of works in almost every European
+language, reflecting perhaps the cosmopolitan character of the colonel's
+household. There was strange Spanish furniture upholstered in perforated
+leather and again displaying much gilt. There were suits of black armour
+and a great number of Moorish ornaments. The pictures were fine but
+sombre, and all of the Spanish school.
+
+One Velasquez in particular I noted with surprise, reflecting that,
+assuming it to be an authentic work of the master, my entire worldly
+possessions could not have enabled me to buy it. It was the portrait
+of a typical Spanish cavalier and beyond doubt a Menendez. In fact, the
+resemblance between the haughty Spanish grandee, who seemed about
+to step out of the canvas and pick a quarrel with the spectator, and
+Colonel Don Juan himself was almost startling. Evidently, our host had
+imported most of his belongings from Cuba.
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, as we entered, "make yourselves quite at home, I
+beg. All my poor establishment contains is for your entertainment and
+service."
+
+He drew up two long, low lounge chairs, the arms provided with
+receptacles to contain cooling drinks; and the mere sight of these
+chairs mentally translated me to the Spanish Main, where I pictured them
+set upon the veranda of that hacienda which had formerly been our host's
+residence.
+
+Harley and I became seated and Colonel Menendez disposed himself upon a
+leather-covered couch, nodding apologetically as he did so.
+
+"My health requires that I should recline for a certain number of hours
+every day," he explained. "So you will please forgive me."
+
+"My dear Colonel Menendez," said Harley, "I feel sure that you are
+interrupting your siesta in order to discuss the unpleasant business
+which finds us in such pleasant surroundings. Allow me once again to
+suggest that we postpone this matter until, shall we say, after dinner?"
+
+"No, no! No, no," protested the Colonel, waving his hand deprecatingly.
+"Here is Pedro with coffee and some cura�ao of a kind which I can really
+recommend, although you may be unfamiliar with it."
+
+I was certainly unfamiliar with the liqueur which he insisted we must
+taste, and which was contained in a sort of square, opaque bottle
+unknown, I think, to English wine merchants. Beyond doubt it was potent
+stuff; and some cigars which the Spaniard produced on this occasion and
+which were enclosed in little glass cylinders resembling test-tubes and
+elaborately sealed, I recognized to be priceless. They convinced me, if
+conviction had not visited me already, that Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento
+Menendez belonged to that old school of West Indian planters by whom
+the tradition of the Golden Americas had been for long preserved in the
+Spanish Main.
+
+We discussed indifferent matters for a while, sipping this wonderful
+cura�ao of our host's. The effect created by the Colonel's story faded
+entirely, and when, the latter being unable to conceal his drowsiness,
+Harley stood up, I took the hint with gratitude; for at that moment I
+did not feel in the mood to discuss serious business or indeed business
+of any kind.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Colonel, also rising, in spite of our protests, "I
+will observe your wishes. My guests' wishes are mine. We will meet the
+ladies for tea on the terrace."
+
+Harley and I walked out into the garden together, our courteous host
+standing in the open window, and bowing in that exaggerated fashion
+which in another might have been ridiculous but which was possible in
+Colonel Menendez, because of the peculiar grace of deportment which was
+his.
+
+As we descended the steps I turned and glanced back, I know not why. But
+the impression which I derived of the Colonel's face as he stood there
+in the shadow of the veranda was one I can never forget.
+
+His expression had changed utterly, or so it seemed to me. He no longer
+resembled Velasquez' haughty cavalier; gone, too, was the debonnaire
+bearing, I turned my head aside swiftly, hoping that he had not detected
+my backward glance.
+
+I felt that I had violated hospitality. I felt that I had seen what I
+should not have seen. And the result was to bring about that which no
+story of West Indian magic could ever have wrought in my mind.
+
+A dreadful, cold premonition claimed me, a premonition that this was a
+doomed man.
+
+The look which I had detected upon his face was an indefinable, an
+indescribable look; but I had seen it in the eyes of one who had been
+bitten by a poisonous reptile and who knew his hours to be numbered. It
+was uncanny, unnerving; and whereas at first the atmosphere of Colonel
+Menendez's home had seemed to be laden with prosperous security, now
+that sense of ease and restfulness was gone--and gone for ever.
+
+"Harley," I said, speaking almost at random, "this promises to be the
+strangest case you have ever handled."
+
+"Promises?" Paul Harley laughed shortly. "It _is_ the strangest case,
+Knox. It is a case of wheels within wheels, of mystery crowning mystery.
+Have you studied our host?"
+
+"Closely."
+
+"And what conclusion have you formed?"
+
+"None at the moment; but I think one is slowly crystalizing."
+
+"Hm," muttered Harley, as we paced slowly on amid the rose trees. "Of
+one thing I am satisfied."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That Colonel Menendez is not afraid of Bat Wing, whoever or whatever
+Bat Wing may be."
+
+"Not afraid?"
+
+"Certainly he is not afraid, Knox. He has possibly been afraid in the
+past, but now he is resigned."
+
+"Resigned to what?"
+
+"Resigned to death!"
+
+"Good God, Harley, you are right!" I cried. "You are right! I saw it in
+his eyes as we left the library."
+
+Harley stopped and turned to me sharply.
+
+"You saw this in the Colonel's eyes?" he challenged.
+
+"I did."
+
+"Which corroborates my theory," he said, softly; "for _I_ had seen it
+elsewhere."
+
+"Where do you mean, Harley?"
+
+"In the face of Madame de St�mer."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Knox"--Harley rested his hand upon my arm and looked about him
+cautiously--"_she knows._"
+
+"But knows what?"
+
+"That is the question which we are here to answer, but I am as sure
+as it is humanly possible to be sure of anything that whatever Colonel
+Menendez may tell us to-night, one point at least he will withhold."
+
+"What do you expect him to withhold?"
+
+"The meaning of the sign of the Bat Wing."
+
+"Then you think he knows its meaning?"
+
+"He has told us that it is the death-token of Voodoo."
+
+I stared at Harley in perplexity.
+
+"Then you believe his explanation to be false?"
+
+"Not necessarily, Knox. It may be what he claims for it. But he is
+keeping something back. He speaks all the time from behind a barrier
+which he, himself, has deliberately erected against me."
+
+"I cannot understand why he should do so," I declared, as he looked
+at me steadily. "Within the last few moments I have become definitely
+convinced that his appeal to you was no idle one. Therefore, why should
+he not offer you every aid in his power?"
+
+"Why, indeed?" muttered Harley.
+
+"The same thing," I continued, "applies to Madame de St�mer. If ever I
+have seen love-light in a woman's eyes I have seen it in hers, to-day,
+whenever her glance has rested upon Colonel Menendez. Harley, I believe
+she literally worships the ground he walks upon."
+
+"She does, she does!" cried my companion, and emphasized the words with
+beats of his clenched fist. "It is utterly, damnably mystifying. But I
+tell you, she knows, Knox, she knows!"
+
+"You mean she knows that he is a doomed man?"
+
+Harley nodded rapidly.
+
+"They both know," he replied; "but there is something which they dare
+not divulge."
+
+He glanced at me swiftly, and his bronzed face wore a peculiar
+expression.
+
+"Have you had an opportunity of any private conversation with Miss Val
+Beverley?" he enquired.
+
+"Yes," I said. "Surely you remember that you found me chatting with her
+when you returned from your inspection of the tower."
+
+"I remember perfectly well, but I thought you might have just met. Now
+it appears to me, Knox, that you have quickly established yourself in
+the good books of a very charming girl. My only reason for visiting
+the tower was to afford you just this opportunity! Don't frown. Beyond
+reminding you of the fact that she has been on intimate terms with
+Madame de St�mer for some years, I will not intrude in any way upon your
+private plans in that direction."
+
+I stared at him, and I suppose my expression was an angry one.
+
+"Surely you don't misunderstand me?" he said. "A cultured English
+girl of that type cannot possibly have lived with these people without
+learning something of the matters which are puzzling us so badly. Am I
+asking too much?"
+
+"I see what you mean," I said, slowly. "No, I suppose you are right,
+Harley."
+
+"Good," he muttered. "I will leave that side of the enquiry in your very
+capable hands, Knox."
+
+He paused, and began to stare about him.
+
+"From this point," said he, "we have an unobstructed view of the tower."
+
+We turned and stood looking up at the unsightly gray structure, with its
+geometrical rows of windows and the minaret-like gallery at the top.
+
+"Of course"--I broke a silence of some moments duration--"the entire
+scheme of Cray's Folly is peculiar, but the rooms, except for a
+uniformity which is monotonous, and an unimaginative scheme of
+decoration which makes them all seem alike, are airy and well
+lighted, eminently sane and substantial. The tower, however, is quite
+inexcusable, unless the idea was to enable the occupant to look over the
+tops of the trees in all directions."
+
+"Yes," agreed Harley, "it is an ugly landmark. But yonder up the slope I
+can see the corner of what seems to be a very picturesque house of some
+kind."
+
+"I caught a glimpse of it earlier to-day," I replied. "Yes, from this
+point a little more of it is visible. Apparently quite an old place."
+
+I paused, staring up the hillside, but Harley, hands locked behind
+him and chin lowered reflectively, was pacing on. I joined him, and we
+proceeded for some little distance in silence, passing a gardener who
+touched his cap respectfully and to whom I thought at first my companion
+was about to address some remark. Harley passed on, however, still
+occupied, it seemed, with his reflections, and coming to a gravel path
+which, bordering one side of the lawns, led down from terrace to terrace
+into the valley, turned, and began to descend.
+
+"Let us go and interview the swans," he murmured absently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AT THE LAVENDER ARMS
+
+
+
+In certain moods Paul Harley was impossible as a companion, and I,
+who knew him well, had learned to leave him to his own devices at such
+times. These moods invariably corresponded with his meeting some problem
+to the heart of which the lance of his keen wit failed to penetrate.
+His humour might not display itself in the spoken word, he merely became
+oblivious of everything and everybody around him. People might talk to
+him and he scarce noted their presence, familiar faces appear and he
+would see them not. Outwardly he remained the observant Harley who
+could see further into a mystery than any other in England, but his
+observation was entirely introspective; although he moved amid the
+hustle of life he was spiritually alone, communing with the solitude
+which dwells in every man's heart.
+
+Presently, then, as we came to the lake at the foot of the sloping
+lawns, where water lilies were growing and quite a number of swans had
+their habitation, I detected the fact that I had ceased to exist so
+far as Harley was concerned. Knowing this mood of old, I pursued my way
+alone, pressing on across the valley and making for a swing gate which
+seemed to open upon a public footpath. Coming to this gate I turned and
+looked back.
+
+Paul Harley was standing where I had left him by the edge of the lake,
+staring as if hypnotized at the slowly moving swans. But I would have
+been prepared to wager that he saw neither swans nor lake, but mentally
+was far from the spot, deep in some complex maze of reflection through
+which no ordinary mind could hope to follow him.
+
+I glanced at my watch and found that it was but little after two
+o'clock. Luncheon at Cray's Folly was early. I therefore had some time
+upon my hands and I determined to employ it in exploring part of the
+neighbourhood. Accordingly I filled and lighted my pipe and strolled
+leisurely along the footpath, enjoying the beauty of the afternoon, and
+admiring the magnificent timber which grew upon the southerly slopes of
+the valley.
+
+Larks sang high above me and the air was fragrant with those wonderful
+earthy scents which belong to an English countryside. A herd of very
+fine Jersey cattle presently claimed inspection, and a little farther on
+I found myself upon a high road where a brown-faced fellow seated aloft
+upon a hay-cart cheerily gave me good-day as I passed.
+
+Quite at random I turned to the left and followed the road, so that
+presently I found myself in a very small village, the principal building
+of which was a very small inn called the "Lavender Arms."
+
+Colonel Menendez's cura�ao, combined with the heat of the day, had made
+me thirsty; for which reason I stepped into the bar-parlour determined
+to sample the local ale. I wars served by the landlady, a neat, round,
+red little person, and as she retired, having placed a foam-capped mug
+upon the counter, her glance rested for a moment upon the only other
+occupant of the room, a man seated in an armchair immediately to the
+right of the door. A glass of whisky stood on the window ledge at his
+elbow, and that it was by no means the first which he had imbibed, his
+appearance seemed to indicate.
+
+Having tasted the cool contents of my mug, I leaned back against the
+counter and looked at this person curiously.
+
+He was apparently of about medium height, but of a somewhat fragile
+appearance. He was dressed like a country gentleman, and a stick and
+soft hat lay upon the ledge near his glass. But the thing about him
+which had immediately arrested my attention was his really extraordinary
+resemblance to Paul Harley's engraving of Edgar Allan Poe.
+
+I wondered at first if Harley's frequent references to the eccentric
+American genius, to whom he accorded a sort of hero-worship, were
+responsible for my imagining a close resemblance where only a slight one
+existed. But inspection of that strange, dark face convinced me of
+the fact that my first impression had been a true one. Perhaps, in my
+curiosity, I stared rather rudely.
+
+"You will pardon me, sir," said the stranger, and I was startled to
+note that he spoke with a faint American accent, "but are you a literary
+man?"
+
+As I had judged to be the case, he was slightly bemused, but by no
+means drunk, and although his question was abrupt it was spoken civilly
+enough.
+
+"Journalism is one of the several occupations in which I have failed," I
+replied, lightly.
+
+"You are not a fiction writer?"
+
+"I lack the imagination necessary for that craft, sir."
+
+The other wagged his head slowly and took a drink of whisky.
+"Nevertheless," he said, and raised his finger solemnly, "you were
+thinking that I resembled Edgar Allan Poe!"
+
+"Good heavens!" I exclaimed, for the man had really amazed me. "You
+clearly resemble him in more ways than one. I must really ask you to
+inform me how you deduced such a fact from a mere glance of mine."
+
+"I will tell you, sir," he replied. "But, first, I must replenish my
+glass, and I should be honoured if you would permit me to replenish
+yours."
+
+"Thanks very much," I said, "but I would rather you excused me."
+
+"As you wish, sir," replied the American with grave courtesy, "as you
+wish."
+
+He stepped up to the counter and rapped upon it with half a crown, until
+the landlady appeared. She treated me to a pathetic glance, but refilled
+the empty glass.
+
+My American acquaintance having returned to his seat and having added a
+very little water to the whisky went on:
+
+"Now, sir," said he, "my name is Colin Camber, formerly of Richmond,
+Virginia, United States of America, but now of the Guest House, Surrey,
+England, at your service."
+
+Taking my cue from Mr. Camber's gloomy but lofty manner, I bowed
+formally and mentioned my name.
+
+"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Knox," he assured me;
+"and now, sir, to answer your question. When you came in a few moments
+ago you glanced at me. Your eyes did not open widely as is the case
+when one recognizes, or thinks one recognizes, an acquaintance, they
+narrowed. This indicated retrospection. For a moment they turned aside.
+You were focussing a fugitive idea, a memory. You captured it. You
+looked at me again, and your successive glances read as follows: The
+hair worn uncommonly long, the mathematical brow, the eyes of a poet,
+the slight moustache, small mouth, weak chin; the glass at his elbow.
+The resemblance is complete. Knowing how complete it is myself, sir, I
+ventured to test my theory, and it proved to be sound."
+
+Now, as Mr. Colin Camber had thus spoken in the serious manner of a
+slightly drunken man, I had formed the opinion that I stood in the
+presence of a very singular character. Here was that seeming m�salliance
+which not infrequently begets genius: a powerful and original mind
+allied to a weak will. I wondered what Mr. Colin Camber's occupation
+might be, and somewhat, too, I wondered why his name was unfamiliar to
+me. For that the possessor of that brow and those eyes could fail to
+make his mark in any profession which he might take up I was unwilling
+to believe.
+
+"Your exposition has been very interesting, Mr. Camber," I said. "You
+are a singularly close observer, I perceive."
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I have passed my life in observing the ways of my
+fellowmen, a study which I have pursued in various parts of the world
+without appreciable benefit to myself. I refer to financial benefit."
+
+He contemplated me with a look which had grown suddenly pathetic.
+
+"I would not have you think, sir," he added, "that I am an habitual
+toper. I have latterly been much upset by--domestic worries, and--er--"
+He emptied his glass at a draught. "Surely, Mr. Knox, you are going
+to replenish? Whilst you are doing so, would you kindly request Mrs.
+Wootton to extend the same favour to myself?"
+
+But at that moment Mrs. Wootton in person appeared behind the counter.
+"Time, please, gentlemen," she said; "it is gone half-past two."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Mr. Camber, rising. "What is that? You decline to
+serve me, Mrs. Wootton?"
+
+"Why, not at all, Mr. Camber," answered the landlady, "but I can serve
+no one now; it's after time."
+
+"You decline to serve me," he muttered, his speech becoming slurred. "Am
+I, then, to be insulted?"
+
+I caught a glance of entreaty from the landlady. "My dear sir," I said,
+genially, "we must bow to the law, I suppose. At least we are better off
+here than in America."
+
+"Ah, that is true," agreed Mr. Camber, throwing his head back and
+speaking the words as though they possessed some deep dramatic
+significance. "Yes, but such laws are an insult to every intelligent
+man."
+
+He sat down again rather heavily, and I stood looking from him to the
+landlady, and wondering what I should do. The matter was decided for
+me, however, in a way which I could never have foreseen. For, hearing
+a light footfall upon the step which led up to the bar-parlour, I
+turned--and there almost beside me stood a wrinkled little Chinaman!
+
+ He wore a blue suit and a tweed cap, he wore queer, thick-soled
+slippers, and his face was like a smiling mask hewn out of very old
+ivory. I could scarcely credit the evidence of my senses, since the
+Lavender Arms was one of the last places in which I should have looked
+for a native of China.
+
+Mr. Colin Camber rose again, and fixing his melancholy eyes upon the
+newcomer:
+
+"Ah Tsong," he said in a tone of cold anger, "what are you doing here?"
+
+Quite unmoved the Chinaman replied:
+
+"Blingee you chit, sir, vellee soon go back."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Mr. Camber. "Answer me, Ah Tsong: who sent
+you?"
+
+"Lilly missee," crooned the Chinaman, smiling up into the other's face
+with a sort of childish entreaty. "Lilly missee."
+
+"Oh," said Mr. Camber in a changed voice. "Oh."
+
+He stood very upright for a moment, his gaze set upon the wrinkled
+Chinese face. Then he looked at Mrs. Wootton and bowed, and looked at me
+and bowed, very stiffly.
+
+"I must excuse myself, sir," he announced. "My wife desires my presence
+at home."
+
+I returned his bow, and as he walked quite steadily toward the door,
+followed by Ah Tsong, he paused, turned, and said: "Mr. Knox, I should
+esteem it a friendly action if you would spare me an hour of your
+company before you leave Surrey. My visitors are few. Any one, any one,
+will direct you to the Guest House. I am persuaded that we have much in
+common. Good-day, sir."
+
+He went down the steps, disappearing in company with the Chinaman,
+and having watched them go, I turned to Mrs. Wootton, the landlady, in
+silent astonishment.
+
+She nodded her head and sighed.
+
+"The same every day and every evening for months past," she said. "I am
+afraid it's going to be the death of him."
+
+"Do you mean that Mr. Camber comes here every day and is always fetched
+by the Chinaman?"
+
+"Twice every day," corrected the landlady, "and his poor wife sends here
+regularly."
+
+"What a tragedy," I muttered, "and such a brilliant man."
+
+"Ah," said she, busily removing jugs and glasses from the counter, "it
+does seem a terrible thing."
+
+"Has Mr. Camber lived for long in this neighbourhood?" I ventured to
+inquire.
+
+"It was about three years ago, sir, that he took the old Guest House at
+Mid-Hatton. I remember the time well enough because of all the trouble
+there was about him bringing a Chinaman down here."
+
+"I can imagine it must have created something of a sensation," I
+murmured. "Is the Guest House a large property?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir, only ten rooms and a garden, and it had been vacant for a
+long time. It belongs to what is called the Crayland Park Estate."
+
+"Mr. Camber, I take it, is a literary man?"
+
+"So I believe, sir."
+
+Mrs. Wootton, having cleared the counter, glanced up at the clock and
+then at me with a cheery but significant smile.
+
+"I see that it is after time," I said, returning the smile, "but the
+queer people who seem to live hereabouts interest me very much."
+
+"I can't wonder at that, sir!" said the landlady, laughing outright.
+"Chinamen and Spanish men and what-not. If some of the old gentry that
+lived here before the war could see it, they wouldn't recognize the
+place, of that I am sure."
+
+"Ah, well," said I, pausing at the step, "I shall hope to see more of
+Mr. Camber, and of yourself too, madam, for your ale is excellent."
+
+"Thank you, sir, I'm sure," said the landlady much gratified, "but as
+to Mr. Camber, I really doubt if he would know you if you met him again.
+Not if he was sober, I mean."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Oh, it's a fact, believe me. Just in the last six months or so he has
+started on the rampage like, but some of the people he has met in here
+and asked to call upon him have done it, thinking he meant it."
+
+"And they have not been well received?" said I, lingering.
+
+"They have had the door shut in their faces!" declared Mrs. Wootton with
+a certain indignation. "He either does not remember what he says or does
+when he is in drink, or he pretends he doesn't. Oh, dear, it's a funny
+world. Well, good-day, sir."
+
+"Good-day," said I, and came out of the Lavender Arms full of sympathy
+with the views of the "old gentry," as outlined by Mrs. Wootton; for
+certainly it would seem that this quiet spot in the Surrey Hills had
+become a rallying ground for peculiar people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CALL OF M'KOMBO
+
+
+
+Of tea upon the veranda of Cray's Folly that afternoon I retain several
+notable memories. I got into closer touch with my host and hostess,
+without achieving anything like a proper understanding of either of
+them, and I procured a new viewpoint of Miss Val Beverley. Her repose
+was misleading. She deliberately subjugated her own vital personality to
+that of Madame de St�mer, why, I knew not, unless she felt herself under
+an obligation to do so. That her blue-gray eyes could be wistful was
+true enough, they could also be gay; and once I detected in them a
+look of sadness which dispelled the butterfly illusion belonging to her
+dainty slenderness, to her mobile lips, to the vagabond curling hair of
+russet brown.
+
+Paul Harley's manner remained absent, but I who knew his moods so well
+recognized that this abstraction was no longer real. It was a pose
+which he often adopted when in reality he was keenly interested in
+his surroundings. It baffled me, however, as effectively as it baffled
+others, and whilst at one moment I decided that he was studying Colonel
+Menendez, in the next I became convinced that Madame de St�mer was the
+subject upon his mental dissecting table.
+
+That he should find in Madame a fascinating problem did not surprise me.
+She must have afforded tempting study for any psychologist. I could
+not fathom the nature of the kinship existing between herself and the
+Spanish colonel, for Madame de St�mer was French to her fingertips.
+Her expressions, her gestures, her whole outlook on life proclaimed the
+fashionable Parisienne.
+
+She possessed a vigorous masculine intelligence and was the most
+entertaining companion imaginable. She was daringly outspoken, and it
+was hard to believe that her gaiety was forced. Yet, as the afternoon
+wore on, I became more and more convinced that such was the case.
+
+I thought that before affliction visited her Madame de St�mer must have
+been a vivacious and a beautiful woman. Her vivacity remained and much
+of her beauty, so that it was difficult to believe her snow-white hair
+to be a product of nature. Again and again I found myself regarding it
+as a powdered coiffure of the Pompadour period and wondering why Madame
+wore no patches.
+
+That a deep and sympathetic understanding existed between herself and
+Colonel Menendez was unmistakable. More than once I intercepted glances
+from the dark eyes of Madame which were lover-like, yet laden with a
+profound sorrow. She was playing a r�le, and I was convinced that Harley
+knew this. It was not merely a courageous fight against affliction on
+the part of a woman of the world, versed in masking her real self from
+the prying eyes of society, it was a studied performance prompted by
+some deeper motive.
+
+She dressed with exquisite taste, and to see her seated there amid her
+cushions, gesticulating vivaciously, one would never have supposed that
+she was crippled. My admiration for her momentarily increased, the more
+so since I could see that she was sincerely fond of Val Beverley, whose
+every movement she followed with looks of almost motherly affection.
+This was all the more strange as Madame de St�mer whose age, I supposed,
+lay somewhere on the sunny side of forty, was of a type which expects,
+and wins, admiration, long after the average woman has ceased to be
+attractive.
+
+One endowed with such a temperament is as a rule unreasonably jealous
+of youth and good looks in another. I could not determine if Madame's
+attitude were to be ascribed to complacent self-satisfaction or to a
+nobler motive. It sufficed for me that she took an unfeigned joy in the
+youthful sweetness of her companion.
+
+"Val, dear," she said, presently, addressing the girl, "you should make
+those sleeves shorter, my dear."
+
+She had a rapid way of speaking, and possessed a slightly husky but
+fascinatingly vibrant voice.
+
+"Your arms are very pretty. You should not hide them."
+
+Val Beverley blushed, and laughed to conceal her embarrassment.
+
+"Oh, my dear," exclaimed Madame, "why be ashamed of arms? All women have
+arms, but some do well to hide them."
+
+"Quite right, Marie," agreed the Colonel, his thin voice affording an
+odd contrast to the deeper tones of his cousin. "But it is the scraggy
+ones who seem to delight in displaying their angles."
+
+"The English, yes," Madame admitted, "but the French, no. They are too
+clever, Juan."
+
+"Frenchwomen think too much about their looks," said Val Beverley,
+quietly. "Oh, you know they do, Madame. They would rather die than be
+without admiration."
+
+Madame shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"So would I, my dear," she confessed, "although I cannot walk. Without
+admiration there is"--she snapped her fingers--"nothing. And who would
+notice a linnet when a bird of paradise was about, however sweet her
+voice? Tell me that, my dear?"
+
+Paul Harley aroused himself and laughed heartily.
+
+"Yet," he said, "I think with Miss Beverley, that this love of elegance
+does not always make for happiness. Surely it is the cause of half the
+domestic tragedies in France?"
+
+"Ah, the French love elegance," cried Madame, shrugging, "they cannot
+help it. To secure what is elegant a Frenchwoman will sometimes forget
+her husband, yes, but never forget herself."
+
+"Really, Marie," protested the Colonel, "you say most strange things!"
+
+"Is that so, Juan?" she replied, casting one of her queer glances in his
+direction; "but how would you like to be surrounded by a lot of drabs,
+eh? That man, Mr. Knox," she extended one white hand in the direction of
+Colonel Menendez, the fingers half closed, in a gesture which curiously
+reminded me of Sarah Bernhardt, "that man would notice if a parlourmaid
+came into the room with a shoe unbuttoned. Poof! if we love elegance it
+is because without it the men would never love _us_."
+
+Colonel Menendez bent across the table and kissed the white fingers in
+his courtier-like fashion.
+
+"My sweet cousin," he said, "I should love you in rags."
+
+Madame smiled and flushed like a girl, but withdrawing her hand she
+shrugged.
+
+"They would have to be _pretty_ rags!" she added.
+
+During this little scene I detected Val Beverley looking at me in a
+vaguely troubled way, and it was easy to guess that she was wondering
+what construction I should place upon it. However:
+
+"I am going into the town," declared Madame de St�mer, energetically.
+"Half the things ordered from Hartley's have never been sent."
+
+"Oh, Madame, please let _me_ go," cried Val Beverley.
+
+"My dear," pronounced Madame, "I will not let you go, but I will let you
+come with me if you wish."
+
+She rang a little bell which stood upon the tea-table beside the urn,
+and Pedro came out through the drawing room.
+
+"Pedro," she said, "is the car ready?"
+
+The Spanish butler bowed.
+
+"Tell Carter to bring it round. Hurry, dear," to the girl, "if you are
+coming with me. I shall not be a minute."
+
+Thereupon she whisked her mechanical chair about, waved her hand to
+dismiss Pedro, and went steering through the drawing room at a great
+rate, with Val Beverley walking beside her.
+
+As we resumed our seats Colonel Menendez lay back with half-closed
+eyes, his glance following the chair and its occupant until both were
+swallowed up in the shadows of the big drawing room.
+
+"Madame de St�mer is a very remarkable woman," said Paul Harley.
+
+"Remarkable?" replied the Colonel. "The spirit of all the old chivalry
+of France is imprisoned within her, I think."
+
+He passed cigarettes around, of a long kind resembling cheroots
+and wrapped in tobacco leaf. I thought it strange that having thus
+emphasized Madame's nationality he did not feel it incumbent upon him to
+explain the mystery of their kinship. However, he made no attempt to do
+so, and almost before we had lighted up, a racy little two-seater was
+driven around the gravel path by Carter, the chauffeur who had brought
+us to Cray's Folly from London.
+
+The man descended and began to arrange wraps and cushions, and a few
+moments later back came Madame again, dressed for driving. Carter
+was about to lift her into the car when Colonel Menendez stood up and
+advanced.
+
+"Sit down, Juan, sit down!" said Madame, sharply.
+
+A look of keen anxiety, I had almost said of pain, leapt into her eyes,
+and the Colonel hesitated.
+
+"How often must I tell you," continued the throbbing voice, "that you
+must not exert yourself."
+
+Colonel Menendez accepted the rebuke humbly, but the incident struck
+me as grotesque; for it was difficult to associate delicacy with such a
+fine specimen of well-preserved manhood as the Colonel.
+
+However, Carter performed the duty of assisting Madame into her little
+car, and when for a moment he supported her upright, before placing
+her among the cushions, I noted that she was a tall woman, slender and
+elegant.
+
+All smiles and light, sparkling conversation, she settled herself
+comfortably at the wheel and Val Beverley got in beside her. Madame
+nodded to Carter in dismissal, waved her hand to Colonel Menendez, cried
+"Au revoir!" and then away went the little car, swinging around the
+angle of the house and out of sight.
+
+Our host stood bare-headed upon the veranda listening to the sound
+of the engine dying away among the trees. He seemed to be lost in
+reflection from which he only aroused himself when the purr of the motor
+became inaudible.
+
+"And now, gentlemen," he said, and suppressed a sigh, "we have much to
+talk about. This spot is cool, but is it sufficiently private? Perhaps,
+Mr. Harley, you would prefer to talk in the library?"
+
+Paul Harley flicked ash from the end of his cigarette.
+
+"Better still in your own study, Colonel Menendez," he replied.
+
+"What, do you suspect eavesdroppers?" asked the Colonel, his manner
+becoming momentarily agitated.
+
+He looked at Harley as though he suspected the latter of possessing
+private information.
+
+"We should neglect no possible precaution," answered my friend. "That
+agencies inimical to your safety are focussed upon the house your own
+statement amply demonstrates."
+
+Colonel Menendez seemed to be on the point of speaking again, but he
+checked himself and in silence led the way through the ornate library
+to a smaller room which opened out of it, and which was furnished as a
+study.
+
+Here the motif was distinctly one of officialdom. Although the Southern
+element was not lacking, it was not so marked as in the library or in
+the hall. The place was appointed for utility rather than ornament.
+Everything was in perfect order. In the library, with the blinds drawn,
+one might have supposed oneself in Trinidad; in the study, under similar
+conditions, one might equally well have imagined Downing Street to lie
+outside the windows. Essentially, this was the workroom of a man of
+affairs.
+
+Having settled ourselves comfortably, Paul Harley opened the
+conversation.
+
+"In several particulars," said he, "I find my information to be
+incomplete."
+
+He consulted the back of an envelope, upon which, I presumed during the
+afternoon, he had made a number of pencilled notes.
+
+"For instance," he continued, "your detection of someone watching the
+house, and subsequently of someone forcing an entrance, had no visible
+association with the presence of the bat wing attached to your front
+door?"
+
+"No," replied the Colonel, slowly, "these episodes took place a month
+ago."
+
+"Exactly a month ago?"
+
+"They took place immediately before the last full moon."
+
+"Ah, before the full moon. And because you associate the activities of
+Voodoo with the full moon, you believe that the old menace has again
+become active?"
+
+The Colonel nodded emphatically. He was busily engaged in rolling one of
+his eternal cigarettes.
+
+"This belief of yours was recently confirmed by the discovery of the bat
+wing?"
+
+"I no longer doubted," said Colonel Menendez, shrugging his shoulders.
+"How could I?"
+
+"Quite so," murmured Harley, absently, and evidently pursuing some
+private train of thought. "And now, I take it that your suspicions, if
+expressed in words would amount to this: During your last visit to Cuba
+you (_a_) either killed some high priest of Voodoo, or (_b_) seriously
+injured him? Assuming the first theory to be the correct one, your death
+was determined upon by the sect over which he had formerly presided.
+Assuming the second to be accurate, however, it is presumably the man
+himself for whom we must look. Now, Colonel Menendez, kindly inform me
+if you recall the name of this man?"
+
+"I recall it very well," replied the Colonel. "His name was M'kombo, and
+he was a Benin negro."
+
+"Assuming that he is still alive, what, roughly, would his age be
+to-day?"
+
+The Colonel seemed to meditate, pushing a box of long Martinique cigars
+across the table in my direction.
+
+"He would be an old man," he pronounced. "I, myself, am fifty-two, and I
+should say that M'kombo if alive to-day would be nearer to seventy than
+sixty."
+
+"Ah," murmured Harley, "and did he speak English?"
+
+"A few words, I believe."
+
+Paul Harley fixed his gaze upon the dark, aquiline face.
+
+"In short," he said, "do you really suspect that it was M'kombo whose
+shadow you saw upon the lawn, who a month ago made a midnight entrance
+into Cray's Folly, and who recently pinned a bat wing to the door?"
+
+Colonel Menendez seemed somewhat taken aback by this direct question. "I
+cannot believe it," he confessed.
+
+"Do you believe that this order or religion of Voodooism has any
+existence outside those places where African negroes or descendents of
+negroes are settled?"
+
+"I should not have been prepared to believe it, Mr. Harley, prior to my
+experiences in Washington and elsewhere."
+
+"Then you do believe that there are representatives of this cult to be
+met with in Europe and America?"
+
+"I should have been prepared to believe it possible in America, for in
+America there are many negroes, but in England----"
+
+Again he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I would remind you," said Harley, quietly, "that there are also quite a
+number of negroes in England. If you seriously believe Voodoo to follow
+negro migration, I can see no objection to assuming it to be a universal
+cult."
+
+"Such an idea is incredible."
+
+"Yet by what other hypothesis," asked Harley, "are we to cover the facts
+of your own case as stated by yourself? Now," he consulted his pencilled
+notes, "there is another point. I gather that these African sorcerers
+rely largely upon what I may term intimidation. In other words, they
+claim the power of wishing an enemy to death."
+
+He raised his eyes and stared grimly at the Colonel.
+
+"I should not like to suppose that a man of your courage and culture
+could subscribe to such a belief."
+
+"I do not, sir," declared the Colonel, warmly. "No Obeah man could ever
+exercise his will upon _me!_"
+
+"Yet, if I may say so," murmured Harley, "your will to live seems to
+have become somewhat weakened."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+Colonel Menendez stood up, his delicate nostrils dilated. He glared
+angrily at Harley.
+
+"I mean that I perceive a certain resignation in your manner of which I
+do not approve."
+
+"You do not _approve?_" said Colonel Menendez, softly; and I thought
+as he stood looking down upon my friend that I had rarely seen a more
+formidable figure.
+
+Paul Harley had roused him unaccountably, and knowing my friend for a
+master of tact I knew also that this had been deliberate, although I
+could not even dimly perceive his object.
+
+"I occupy the position of a specialist," Harley continued, "and you
+occupy that of my patient. Now, you cannot disguise from me that your
+mental opposition to this danger which threatens has become slackened.
+Allow me to remind you that the strongest defence is counter-attack.
+You are angry, Colonel Menendez, but I would rather see you angry than
+apathetic. To come to my last point. You spoke of a neighbour in terms
+which led me to suppose that you suspected him of some association with
+your enemies. May I ask for the name of this person?"
+
+Colonel Menendez sat down again, puffing furiously at his cigarette,
+whilst beginning to roll another. He was much disturbed, was fighting to
+regain mastery of himself.
+
+"I apologize from the bottom of my heart," he said, "for a breach of
+good behaviour which really was unforgivable. I was angry when I should
+have been grateful. Much that you have said is true. Because it is true,
+I despise myself."
+
+He flashed a glance at Paul Harley.
+
+"Awake," he continued, "I care for no man breathing, black or white; but
+_asleep_"--he shrugged his shoulders. "It is in sleep that these dealers
+in unclean things obtain their advantage."
+
+"You excite my curiosity," declared Harley.
+
+"Listen," Colonel Menendez bent forward, resting his elbows upon his
+knees. Between the yellow fingers of his left hand he held the newly
+completed cigarette whilst he continued to puff vigorously at the old
+one. "You recollect my speaking of the death of a certain native girl?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"The real cause of her death was never known, but I obtained evidence to
+show that on the night after the wing of a bat had been attached to her
+hut, she wandered out in her sleep and visited the Black Belt. Can you
+doubt that someone was calling her?"
+
+"Calling her?"
+
+"Mr. Harley, she was obeying the call of M'kombo!"
+
+"The _call_ of M'kombo? You refer to some kind of hypnotic suggestions?"
+
+"I illustrate," replied the Colonel, "to help to make clear something
+which I have to tell you. On the night when last the moon was full--on
+the night after someone had entered the house--I had retired early to
+bed. Suddenly I awoke, feeling very cold. I awoke, I say, and where do
+you suppose I found myself?"
+
+"I am all anxiety to hear."
+
+"On the point of entering the Tudor garden--you call it Tudor
+garden?--which is visible from the window of your room!"
+
+"Most extraordinary," murmured Harley; "and you were in your night
+attire?"
+
+"I was."
+
+"And what had awakened you?"
+
+"An accident. I believe a lucky accident. I had cut my bare foot upon
+the gravel and the pain awakened me."
+
+"You had no recollection of any dream which had prompted you to go down
+into the garden?"
+
+"None whatever."
+
+"Does your room face in that direction?"
+
+"It does not. It faces the lake on the south of the house. I had
+descended to a side door, unbarred it, and walked entirely around the
+east wing before I awakened."
+
+"Your room faces the lake," murmured Harley.
+
+"Yes."
+
+Their glances met, and in Paul Harley's expression there seemed to be a
+challenge.
+
+"You have not yet told me," said he, "the name of your neighbour."
+
+Colonel Menendez lighted his new cigarette.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he confessed, "I regret that I ever referred to this
+suspicion of mine. Indeed it is hardly a suspicion, it is what I may
+call a desperate doubt. Do you say that, a desperate doubt?"
+
+"I think I follow you," said Harley.
+
+"The fact is this, I only know of one person within ten miles of Cray's
+Folly who has ever visited Cuba."
+
+"Ah."
+
+"I have no other scrap of evidence to associate him I with my shadowy
+enemy. This being so, you will pardon me if I ask you to forget that I
+ever referred to his existence."
+
+He spoke the words with a sort of lofty finality, and accompanied them
+with a gesture of the hands which really left Harley no alternative but
+to drop the subject.
+
+Again their glances met, and it was patent to me that underlying all
+this conversation was something beyond my ken. What it was that Harley
+suspected I could not imagine, nor what it was that Colonel Menendez
+desired to conceal; but tension was in the very air. The Spaniard was on
+the defensive, and Paul Harley was puzzled, irritated.
+
+It was a strange interview, and one which in the light of after events
+I recognized to possess extraordinary significance. That sixth sense of
+Harley's was awake, was prompting him, but to what extent he understood
+its promptings at that hour I did not know, and have never known to
+this day. Intuitively, I believe, as he sat there staring at Colonel
+Menendez, he began to perceive the shadow within a shadow which was the
+secret of Cray's Folly, which was the thing called Bat Wing, which was
+the devilish force at that very hour alive and potent in our midst.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+OBEAH
+
+
+
+This conversation in Colonel Menendez's study produced a very unpleasant
+impression upon my mind. The atmosphere of Cray's Folly seemed to become
+charged with unrest. Of Madame de St�mer and Miss Beverley I saw nothing
+up to the time that I retired to dress. Having dressed I walked into
+Harley's room, anxious to learn if he had formed any theory to account
+for the singular business which had brought us to Surrey.
+
+Harley had excused himself directly we had left the study, stating that
+he wished to get to the village post-office in time to send a telegram
+to London. Our host had suggested a messenger, but this, as well as the
+offer of a car, Harley had declined, saying that the exercise would aid
+reflection. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find his room empty, for I
+could not imagine why the sending of a telegram should have detained him
+so long.
+
+Dusk was falling, and viewed from the open window the Tudor garden below
+looked very beautiful, part of it lying in a sort of purplish shadow
+and the rest being mystically lighted as though viewed through a golden
+veil. To the whole picture a sort of magic quality was added by a speck
+of high-light which rested upon the face of the old sun-dial.
+
+I thought that here was a fit illustration for a fairy tale; then I
+remembered the Colonel's account of how he had awakened in the act
+of entering this romantic plaisance, and I was touched anew by an
+unrestfulness, by a sense of the uncanny.
+
+I observed a book lying upon the dressing table, and concluding that it
+was one which Harley had brought with him, I took it up, glancing at the
+title. It was "Negro Magic," and switching on the light, for there was a
+private electric plant in Cray's Folly, I opened the book at random and
+began to read.
+
+"The religion of the negro," said this authority, "is emotional, and
+more often than not associated with beliefs in witchcraft and in the
+rites known as Voodoo or Obi Mysteries. It has been endeavoured by
+some students to show that these are relics of the Fetish worship of
+equatorial Africa, but such a genealogy has never been satisfactorily
+demonstrated. The cannibalistic rituals, human sacrifices, and obscene
+ceremonies resembling those of the Black Sabbath of the Middle Ages,
+reported to prevail in Haiti and other of the islands, and by some among
+the negroes of the Southern States of America, may be said to rest on
+doubtful authority. Nevertheless, it is a fact beyond doubt that among
+the negroes both of the West Indies and the United States there is a
+widespread belief in the powers of the Obeah man. A native who believes
+himself to have come under the spell of such a sorcerer will sink into a
+kind of decline and sometimes die."
+
+At this point I discovered several paragraphs underlined in pencil, and
+concluding that the underlining had been done by Paul Harley, I read
+them with particular care. They were as follows: "According to Hesketh
+J. Bell, the term Obeah is most probably derived from the substantive
+Obi, a word used on the East coast of Africa to denote witchcraft,
+sorcery, and fetishism in general. The etymology of Obi has been traced
+to a very antique source, stretching far back into Egyptian mythology.
+A serpent in the Egyptian language was called Ob or Aub. Obion is still
+the Egyptian name for a serpent. Moses, in the name of God, forbade the
+Israelites ever to enquire of the demon, Ob, which is translated in our
+Bible: Charmer or wizard, divinator or sorcerer. The Witch of Endor is
+called Oub or Ob, translated Pythonissa; and Oubois was the name of the
+basilisk or royal serpent, emblem of the Sun and an ancient oracular
+deity of Africa."
+
+A paragraph followed which was doubly underlined, and pursuing my
+reading I made a discovery which literally caused me to hold my breath.
+This is what I read:
+
+"In a recent contribution to the _Occult Review_, Mr. Colin Camber, the
+American authority, offered some very curious particulars in support
+of a theory to show that whereas snakes and scorpions have always been
+recognized as sacred by Voodoo worshippers, the real emblem of their
+unclean religion is the bat, especially _the Vampire Bat of South
+America._
+
+"He pointed out that the symptoms of one dying beneath the spell of an
+Obeah man are closely paralleled in the cases of men and animals who
+have suffered from nocturnal attacks of blood-sucking bats."
+
+I laid the open book down upon the bed. My brain was in a tumult.
+The several theories, or outlines of theories which hitherto I had
+entertained, were, by these simple paragraphs, cast into the utmost
+disorder. I thought of the Colonel's covert references to a neighbour
+whom he feared, of his guarded statement that the devotees of Voodoo
+were not confined to the West Indies, of the attack upon him in
+Washington, of the bat wing pinned to the door of Cray's Folly.
+
+Incredulously, I thought of my acquaintance of the Lavender Arms, with
+his bemused expression and his magnificent brow; and a great doubt and
+wonder grew up in my mind.
+
+I became increasingly impatient for the return of Paul Harley. I felt
+that a clue of the first importance had fallen into my possession; so
+that when, presently, as I walked impatiently up and down the room, the
+door opened and Harley entered, I greeted him excitedly.
+
+"Harley!" I cried, "Harley! I have learned a most extraordinary thing!"
+
+Even as I spoke and looked into the keen, eager face, the expression
+in Harley's eyes struck me. I recognized that in him, too, intense
+excitement was pent up. Furthermore, he was in one of his irritable
+moods. But, full of my own discoveries:
+
+"I chanced to glance at this book," I continued, "whilst I was waiting
+for you. You have underlined certain passages."
+
+He stared at me queerly.
+
+"I discovered the book in my own library after you had gone last night,
+Knox, and it was then that I marked the passages which struck me as
+significant."
+
+"But, Harley," I cried, "the man who is quoted here, Colin Camber, lives
+in this very neighbourhood!"
+
+"I know."
+
+"What! You know?"
+
+"I learned it from Inspector Aylesbury of the County Police half an hour
+ago."
+
+Harley frowned perplexedly. "Then, why, in Heaven's name didn't you tell
+me?" he exclaimed. "It would have saved me a most disagreeable journey
+into Market Hilton."
+
+"Market Hilton! What, have you been into the town?"
+
+"That is exactly where I have been, Knox. I 'phoned through to Innes
+from the village post-office after lunch to have the car sent down.
+There is a convenient garage by the Lavender Arms."
+
+"But the Colonel has three cars," I exclaimed.
+
+"The horse has four legs," replied Harley, irritably, "but although I
+have only two, there are times when I prefer to use them. I am still
+wondering why you failed to mention this piece of information when you
+had obtained it."
+
+"My dear Harley," said I, patiently, "how could I possibly be expected
+to attach any importance to the matter? You must remember that at the
+time I had never seen this work on negro sorcery."
+
+"No," said Harley, dropping down upon the bed, "that is perfectly true,
+Knox. I am afraid I have a liver at times; a distinct Indian liver.
+Excuse me, old man, but to tell you the truth I feel strangely inclined
+to pack my bag and leave for London without a moment's delay."
+
+"What!" I cried.
+
+"Oh, I know you would be sorry to go, Knox," said Harley, smiling,
+"and so, for many reasons, should I. But I have the strongest possible
+objection to being trifled with."
+
+"I am afraid I don't quite understand you, Harley."
+
+"Well, just consider the matter for a moment. Do you suppose that
+Colonel Menendez is ignorant of the fact that his nearest neighbour is a
+recognized authority upon Voodoo and allied subjects?"
+
+"You are speaking, of course, of Colin Camber?"
+
+"Of none other."
+
+"No," I replied, thoughtfully, "the Colonel must know, of course, that
+Camber resides in the neighbourhood."
+
+"And that he knows something of the nature of Camber's studies his
+remarks sufficiently indicate," added Harley. "The whole theory to
+account for these attacks upon his life rests on the premise that agents
+of these Obeah people are established in England and America. Then, in
+spite of my direct questions, he leaves me to find out for myself that
+Colin Camber's property practically adjoins his own!"
+
+"Really! Does he reside so near as that?"
+
+"My dear fellow," cried Harley, "he lives at a place called the Guest
+House. You can see it from part of the grounds of Cray's Folly. We were
+looking at it to-day."
+
+"What! the house on the hillside?"
+
+"That's the Guest House! What do you make of it, Knox? That Menendez
+suspects this man is beyond doubt. Why should he hesitate to mention his
+name?"
+
+"Well," I replied, slowly, "probably because to associate practical
+sorcery and assassination with such a character would be preposterous."
+
+"But the man is admittedly a student of these things, Knox."
+
+"He may be, and that he is a genius of some kind I am quite prepared to
+believe. But having had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Colin Camber, I am
+not prepared to believe him capable of murder."
+
+I suppose I spoke with a certain air of triumph, for Paul Harley
+regarded me silently for a while.
+
+"You seem to be taking this case out of my hands, Knox," he said.
+"Whilst I have been systematically at work racing about the county in
+quest of information you would appear to have blundered further into the
+labyrinth than all my industry has enabled me to do."
+
+He remained in a very evil humour, and now the cause of this suddenly
+came to light.
+
+"I have spent a thoroughly unpleasant afternoon," he continued,
+"interviewing an impossible country policeman who had never heard of my
+existence!"
+
+This display of human resentment honestly delighted me. It was
+refreshing to know that the omniscient Paul Harley was capable of pique.
+
+"One, Inspector Aylesbury," he went on, bitterly, "a large person
+bearing a really interesting resemblance to a walrus, but lacking that
+creature's intelligence. It was not until Superintendent East had spoken
+to him from Scotland Yard that he ceased to treat me as a suspect. But
+his new attitude was almost more provoking than the old one. He adopted
+the manner of a regimental sergeant-major reluctantly interviewing
+a private with a grievance. If matters should so develop that we are
+compelled to deal with that fish-faced idiot, God help us all!"
+
+He burst out laughing, his good humour suddenly quite restored, and
+taking out his pipe began industriously to load it.
+
+"I can smoke while I am changing," he said, "and you can sit there and
+tell me all about Colin Camber."
+
+I did as he requested, and Harley, who could change quicker than any
+man I had ever known, had just finished tying his bow as I completed my
+story of the encounter at the Lavender Arms.
+
+"Hm," he muttered, as I ceased speaking. "At every turn I realize that
+without you I should have been lost, Knox. I am afraid I shall have to
+change your duties to-morrow."
+
+"Change my duties? What do you mean?"
+
+"I warn you that the new ones will be less pleasant than the old! In
+other words, I must ask you to tear yourself away from Miss Val
+Beverley for an hour in the morning, and take advantage of Mr. Camber's
+invitation to call upon him."
+
+"Frankly, I doubt if he would acknowledge me."
+
+"Nevertheless, you have a better excuse than I. In the circumstances it
+is most important that we should get in touch with this man."
+
+"Very well," I said, ruefully. "I will do my best. But you don't
+seriously think, Harley, that the danger comes from there?"
+
+Paul Harley took his dinner jacket from the chair upon which the man had
+laid it out, and turned to me.
+
+"My dear Knox," he said, "you may remember that I spoke, recently, of
+retiring from this profession?"
+
+"You did."
+
+"My retirement will not be voluntary, Knox. I shall be kicked out as
+an incompetent ass; for, respecting the connection, if any, between the
+narrative of Colonel Menendez, the bat wing nailed to the door of the
+house, and Mr. Colin Camber, I have not the foggiest notion. In this, at
+last, I have triumphed over Auguste Dupin. Auguste Dupin never confessed
+defeat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE NIGHT WALKER
+
+
+
+If luncheon had seemed extravagant, dinner at Cray's Folly proved to be
+a veritable Roman banquet. To associate ideas of selfishness with Miss
+Beverley was hateful, but the more I learned of the luxurious life of
+this queer household hidden away in the Surrey Hills the less I wondered
+at any one's consenting to share such exile. I had hitherto counted an
+American freak dinner, organized by a lucky plunger and held at the Caf�
+de Paris, as the last word in extravagant feasting. But I learned now
+that what was caviare in Monte Carlo was ordinary fare at Cray's Folly.
+
+Colonel Menendez was an epicure with an endless purse. The excellence of
+one of the courses upon which I had commented led to a curious incident.
+
+"You approve of the efforts of my chef?" said the Colonel.
+
+"He is worthy of his employer," I replied.
+
+Colonel Menendez bowed in his cavalierly fashion and Madame de St�mer
+positively beamed upon me.
+
+"You shall speak for him," said the Spaniard. "He was with me in Cuba,
+but has no reputation in London. There are hotels that would snap him
+up."
+
+I looked at the speaker in surprise.
+
+"Surely he is not leaving you?" I asked.
+
+The Colonel exhibited a momentary embarrassment.
+
+"No, no. No, no," he replied, waving his hand gracefully, "I was only
+thinking that he--" there was a scarcely perceptible pause--"might wish
+to better himself. You understand?"
+
+I understood only too well; and recollecting the words spoken by Paul
+Harley that afternoon, respecting the Colonel's will to live, I became
+conscious of an uncomfortable sense of chill.
+
+If I had doubted that in so speaking he had been contemplating his own
+death, the behaviour of Madame de St�mer must have convinced me. Her
+complexion was slightly but cleverly made up, with all the exquisite
+art of the Parisienne, but even through the artificial bloom I saw her
+cheeks blanch. Her face grew haggard and her eyes burned unnaturally.
+She turned quickly aside to address Paul Harley, but I knew that the
+significance of this slight episode had not escaped him.
+
+He was by no means at ease. In the first place, he was badly puzzled;
+in the second place, he was angry. He felt it incumbent upon him to save
+this man from a menace which he, Paul Harley, evidently recognized to be
+real, although to me it appeared wildly chimerical, and the very person
+upon whose active co�peration he naturally counted not only seemed
+resigned to his fate, but by deliberate omission of important data added
+to Harley's difficulties.
+
+How much of this secret drama proceeding in Cray's Folly was appreciated
+by Val Beverley I could not determine. On this occasion, I remember,
+she was simply but perfectly dressed and, in my eyes, seemed the most
+sweetly desirable woman I had ever known. Realizing that I had already
+revealed my interest in the girl, I was oddly self-conscious, and a
+hundred times during the progress of dinner I glanced across at Harley,
+expecting to detect his quizzical smile. He was very stern, however, and
+seemed more reserved than usual. He was uncertain of his ground, I
+could see. He resented the understanding which evidently existed between
+Colonel Menendez and Madame de St�mer, and to which, although his aid
+had been sought, he was not admitted.
+
+It seemed to me, personally, that an almost palpable shadow lay upon
+the room. Although, save for this one lapse, our host throughout talked
+gaily and entertainingly, I was obsessed by a memory of the expression
+which I had detected upon his face that morning, the expression of a
+doomed man.
+
+What, in Heaven's name, I asked myself, did it all mean? If ever I saw
+the fighting spirit looking out of any man's eyes, it looked out of the
+eyes of Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez. Why, then, did he lie down to the
+menace of this mysterious Bat Wing, and if he counted opposition futile,
+why had he summoned Paul Harley to Cray's Folly?
+
+With the passing of every moment I sympathized more fully with the
+perplexity of my friend, and no longer wondered that even his highly
+specialized faculties had failed to detect an explanation.
+
+Remembering Colin Camber as I had seen him at the Lavender Arms, it was
+simply impossible to suppose that such a man as Menendez could fear such
+a man as Camber. True, I had seen the latter at a disadvantage, and
+I knew well enough that many a genius has been also a drunkard. But
+although I was prepared to find that Colin Camber possessed genius, I
+found it hard to believe that this was of a criminal type. That such a
+character could be the representative of some remote negro society was
+an idea too grotesque to be entertained for a moment.
+
+I was tempted to believe that his presence in the neighbourhood of this
+haunted Cuban was one of those strange coincidences which in criminal
+history have sometimes proved so tragic for their victims.
+
+Madame de St�mer, avoiding the Colonel's glances, which were
+pathetically apologetic, gradually recovered herself, and:
+
+"My dear," she said to Val Beverley, "you look perfectly sweet to-night.
+Don't you think she looks perfectly sweet, Mr. Knox?"
+
+Ignoring a look of entreaty from the blue-gray eyes:
+
+"Perfectly," I replied.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox," cried the girl, "why do you encourage her? She says
+embarrassing things like that every time I put on a new dress."
+
+Her reference to a new dress set me speculating again upon the apparent
+anomaly of her presence at Cray's Folly. That she was not a professional
+"companion" was clear enough. I assumed that her father had left her
+suitably provided for, since she wore such expensively simple gowns. She
+had a delightful trick of blushing when attention was focussed upon her,
+and said Madame de St�mer:
+
+"To be able to blush like that I would give my string of pearls--no,
+half of it."
+
+"My dear Marie," declared Colonel Menendez, "I have seen you blush
+perfectly."
+
+"No, no," Madame disclaimed the suggestion with one of those Bernhardt
+gestures, "I blushed my last blush when my second husband introduced me
+to my first husband's wife."
+
+"Madame!" exclaimed Val Beverley, "how can you say such things?" She
+turned to me. "Really, Mr. Knox, they are all fables."
+
+"In fables we renew our youth," said Madame.
+
+"Ah," sighed Colonel Menendez; "our youth, our youth."
+
+"Why sigh, Juan, why regret?" cried Madame, immediately. "Old age is
+only tragic to those who have never been young."
+
+She directed a glance toward him as she spoke those words, and as I had
+felt when I had seen his tragic face on the veranda that morning I felt
+again in detecting this look of Madame de St�mer's. The yearning yet
+selfless love which it expressed was not for my eyes to witness.
+
+"Thank God, Marie," replied the Colonel, and gallantly kissed his hand
+to her, "we have both been young, gloriously young."
+
+When, at the termination of this truly historic dinner, the ladies left
+us:
+
+"Remember, Juan," said Madame, raising her white, jewelled hand, and
+holding the fingers characteristically curled, "no excitement, no
+billiards, no cards."
+
+Colonel Menendez bowed deeply, as the invalid wheeled herself from the
+room, followed by Miss Beverley. My heart was beating delightfully, for
+in the moment of departure the latter had favoured me with a significant
+glance, which seemed to say, "I am looking forward to a chat with you
+presently."
+
+"Ah," said Colonel Menendez, when we three men found ourselves alone,
+"truly I am blessed in the autumn of my life with such charming
+companionship. Beauty and wit, youth and discretion. Is he not a happy
+man who possesses all these?"
+
+"He should be," said Harley, gravely.
+
+The saturnine Pedro entered with some wonderful crusted port, and
+Colonel Menendez offered cigars.
+
+"I believe you are a pipe-smoker," said our courteous host to Harley,
+"and if this is so, I know that you will prefer your favourite mixture
+to any cigar that ever was rolled."
+
+"Many thanks," said Harley, to whom no more delicate compliment could
+have been paid.
+
+He was indeed an inveterate pipe-smoker, and only rarely did he truly
+enjoy a cigar, however choice its pedigree. With a sigh of content
+he began to fill his briar. His mood was more restful, and covertly I
+watched him studying our host. The night remained very warm and one of
+the two windows of the dining room, which was the most homely apartment
+in Cray's Folly, was wide open, offering a prospect of sweeping velvet
+lawns touched by the magic of the moonlight.
+
+A short silence fell, to be broken by the Colonel.
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "I trust you do not regret your fishing
+excursion?"
+
+"I could cheerfully pass the rest of my days in such ideal
+surroundings," replied Paul Harley.
+
+I nodded in agreement.
+
+"But," continued my friend, speaking very deliberately, "I have
+to remember that I am here upon business, and that my professional
+reputation is perhaps at stake."
+
+He stared very hard at Colonel Menendez.
+
+"I have spoken with your butler, known as Pedro, and with some of the
+other servants, and have learned all that there is to be learned about
+the person unknown who gained admittance to the house a month ago, and
+concerning the wing of a bat, found attached to the door more recently."
+
+"And to what conclusion have you come?" asked Colonel Menendez, eagerly.
+
+He bent forward, resting his elbows upon his knees, a pose which he
+frequently adopted. He was smoking a cigar, but his total absorption in
+the topic under discussion was revealed by the fact that from a pocket
+in his dinner jacket he had taken out a portion of tobacco, had laid
+it in a slip of rice paper, and was busily rolling one of his eternal
+cigarettes.
+
+"I might be enabled to come to one," replied Harley, "if you would
+answer a very simple question."
+
+"What is this question?"
+
+"It is this--Have you any idea who nailed the bat's wing to your door?"
+
+Colonel Menendez's eyes opened very widely, and his face became more
+aquiline than ever.
+
+"You have heard my story, Mr. Harley," he replied, softly. "If I know
+the explanation, why do I come to you?"
+
+Paul Harley puffed at his pipe. His expression did not alter in the
+slightest.
+
+"I merely wondered if your suspicions tended in the direction of Mr.
+Colin Camber," he said.
+
+"Colin Camber!"
+
+As the Colonel spoke the name either I became victim of a strange
+delusion or his face was momentarily convulsed. If my senses served me
+aright then his pronouncing of the words "Colin Camber" occasioned him
+positive agony. He clutched the arms of his chair, striving, I thought,
+to retain composure, and in this he succeeded, for when he spoke again
+his voice was quite normal.
+
+"Have you any particular reason for your remark, Mr. Harley?"
+
+"I have a reason," replied Paul Harley, "but don't misunderstand me. I
+suggest nothing against Mr. Camber. I should be glad, however, to know
+if you are acquainted with him?"
+
+"We have never met."
+
+"You possibly know him by repute?"
+
+"I have heard of him, Mr. Harley. But to be perfectly frank, I have
+little in common with citizens of the United States."
+
+A note of arrogance, which at times crept into his high, thin voice,
+became perceptible now, and the aristocratic, aquiline face looked very
+supercilious.
+
+How the conversation would have developed I know not, but at this
+moment Pedro entered and delivered a message in Spanish to the Colonel,
+whereupon the latter arose and with very profuse apologies begged
+permission to leave us for a few moments.
+
+When he had retired:
+
+"I am going upstairs to write a letter, Knox," said Paul Harley. "Carry
+on with your old duties to-day, your new ones do not commence until
+to-morrow."
+
+With that he laughed and walked out of the dining room, leaving me
+wondering whether to be grateful or annoyed. However, it did not take me
+long to find my way to the drawing room where the two ladies were seated
+side by side upon a settee, Madame's chair having been wheeled into a
+corner.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Knox," exclaimed Madame as I entered, "have the others
+deserted, then?"
+
+"Scarcely deserted, I think. They are merely straggling."
+
+"Absent without leave," murmured Val Beverley.
+
+I laughed, and drew up a chair. Madame de St�mer was smoking, but Miss
+Beverley was not. Accordingly, I offered her a cigarette, which she
+accepted, and as I was lighting it with elaborate care, every moment
+finding a new beauty in her charming face, Pedro again appeared and
+addressed some remark in Spanish to Madame.
+
+"My chair, Pedro," she said; "I will come at once."
+
+The Spanish butler wheeled the chair across to the settee, and lifting
+her with an ease which spoke of long practice, placed her amidst the
+cushions where she spent so many hours of her life.
+
+"I know you will excuse me, dear," she said to Val Beverley, "because I
+feel sure that Mr. Knox will do his very best to make up for my absence.
+Presently, I shall be back."
+
+Pedro holding the door open, she went wheeling out, and I found myself
+alone with Val Beverley.
+
+At the time I was much too delighted to question the circumstances which
+had led to this t�te-�-t�te, but had I cared to give the matter any
+consideration, it must have presented rather curious features. The call
+first of host and then of hostess was inconsistent with the courtesy of
+the master of Cray's Folly, which, like the appointments of his home and
+his mode of life, was elaborate. But these ideas did not trouble me at
+the moment.
+
+Suddenly, however, indeed before I had time to speak, the girl started
+and laid her hand upon my arm.
+
+"Did you hear something?" she whispered, "a queer sort of sound?"
+
+"No," I replied, "what kind of sound?"
+
+"An odd sort of sound, almost like--the flapping of wings."
+
+I saw that she had turned pale, I saw the confirmation of something
+which I had only partly realised before: that her life at Cray's Folly
+was a constant fight against some haunting shadow. Her gaiety, her
+lightness, were but a mask. For now, in those wide-open eyes, I read
+absolute horror.
+
+"Miss Beverley," I said, grasping her hand reassuringly, "you alarm me.
+What has made you so nervous to-night?"
+
+"To-night!" she echoed, "to-night? It is every night. If you had not
+come--" she corrected herself--"if someone had not come, I don't think I
+could have stayed. I am sure I could not have stayed."
+
+"Doubtless the attempted burglary alarmed you?" I suggested, intending
+to sooth her fears.
+
+"Burglary?" She smiled unmirthfully. "It was no burglary."
+
+"Why do you say so, Miss Beverley?"
+
+"Do you think I don't know why Mr. Harley is here?" she challenged. "Oh,
+believe me, I know--I know. I, too, saw the bat's wing nailed to the
+door, Mr. Knox. You are surely not going to suggest that this was the
+work of a burglar?"
+
+I seated myself beside her on the settee.
+
+"You have great courage," I said. "Believe me, I quite understand all
+that you have suffered."
+
+"Is my acting so poor?" she asked, with a pathetic smile.
+
+"No, it is wonderful, but to a sympathetic observer only acting,
+nevertheless."
+
+I noted that my presence reassured her, and was much comforted by this
+fact.
+
+"Would you like to tell me all about it," I continued; "or would this
+merely renew your fears?"
+
+"I should like to tell you," she replied in a low voice, glancing about
+her as if to make sure that we were alone. "Except for odd people,
+friends, I suppose, of the Colonel's, we have had so few visitors since
+we have been at Cray's Folly. Apart from all sorts of queer happenings
+which really"--she laughed nervously--"may have no significance
+whatever, the crowning mystery to my mind is why Colonel Menendez should
+have leased this huge house."
+
+"He does not entertain very much, then?"
+
+"Scarcely at all. The 'County'--do you know what I mean by the
+'County?'--began by receiving him with open arms and ended by sending
+him to Coventry. His lavish style of entertainment they labelled
+'swank'--horrible word but very expressive! They concluded that they
+did not understand him, and of everything they don't understand they
+disapprove. So after the first month or so it became very lonely
+at Cray's Folly. Our foreign servants--there are five of them
+altogether--got us a dreadfully bad name. Then, little by little, a sort
+of cloud seemed to settle on everything. The Colonel made two visits
+abroad, I don't know exactly where he went, but on his return from the
+first visit Madame de St�mer changed."
+
+"Changed?--in what way?"
+
+"I am afraid it would be hopeless to try to make you understand, Mr.
+Knox, but in some subtle way she changed. Underneath all her vivacity
+she is a tragic woman, and--oh, how can I explain?" Val Beverley made a
+little gesture of despair.
+
+"Perhaps you mean," I suggested, "that she seemed to become even less
+happy than before?"
+
+"Yes," she replied, looking at me eagerly. "Has Colonel Menendez told
+you anything to account for it?"
+
+"Nothing," I said, "He has left us strangely in the dark. But you say he
+went abroad on a second and more recent occasion?"
+
+"Yes, not much more than a month ago. And after that, somehow or
+other, matters seemed to come to a head. I confess I became horribly
+frightened, but to have left would have seemed like desertion, and
+Madame de St�mer has been so good to me."
+
+"Did you actually witness any of the episodes which took place about a
+month ago?"
+
+Val Beverley shook her head.
+
+"I never saw anything really definite," she replied.
+
+"Yet, evidently you either saw or heard something which alarmed you."
+
+"Yes, that is true, but it is so difficult to explain."
+
+"Could you try to explain?"
+
+"I will try if you wish, for really I am longing to talk to someone
+about it. For instance, on several occasions I have heard footsteps in
+the corridor outside my room."
+
+"At night?"
+
+"Yes, at night."
+
+"Strange footsteps?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"That is the uncanny part of it. You know how familiar one grows with
+the footsteps of persons living in the same house? Well, these footsteps
+were quite unfamiliar to me."
+
+"And you say they passed your door?"
+
+"Yes. My rooms are almost directly overhead. And right at the end of the
+corridor, that is on the southeast corner of the building, is Colonel
+Menendez's bedroom, and facing it a sort of little smoke-room. It was in
+this direction that the footsteps went."
+
+"To Colonel Menendez's room?"
+
+"Yes. They were light, furtive footsteps."
+
+"This took place late at night?"
+
+"Quite late, long after everyone had retired."
+
+She paused, staring at me with a sort of embarrassment, and presently:
+
+"Were the footsteps those of a man or a woman?" I asked.
+
+"Of a woman. Someone, Mr. Knox," she bent forward, and that look of fear
+began to creep into her eyes again, "with whose footsteps I was quite
+unfamiliar."
+
+"You mean a stranger to the house?"
+
+"Yes. Oh, it was uncanny." She shuddered. "The first time I heard it I
+had been lying awake listening. I was nervous. Madame de St�mer had
+told me that morning that the Colonel had seen someone lurking about
+the lawns on the previous night. Then, as I lay awake listening for
+the slightest sound, I suddenly detected these footsteps; and they
+paused--right outside my door."
+
+"Good heavens!" I exclaimed. "What did you do?"
+
+"Frankly, I was too frightened to do anything. I just lay still with my
+heart beating horribly, and presently they passed on, and I heard them
+no more."
+
+"Was your door locked?"
+
+"No." She laughed nervously. "But it has been locked every night since
+then!"
+
+"And these sounds were repeated on other nights?"
+
+"Yes, I have often heard them, Mr. Knox. What makes it so strange is
+that all the servants sleep out in the west wing, as you know, and Pedro
+locks the communicating door every night before retiring."
+
+"It is certainly strange," I muttered.
+
+"It is horrible," declared the girl, almost in a whisper. "For what can
+it mean except that there is someone in Cray's Folly who is never seen
+during the daytime?"
+
+"But that is incredible."
+
+"It is not so incredible in a big house like this. Besides, what other
+explanation can there be?"
+
+"There must be one," I said, reassuringly. "Have you spoken of this to
+Madame de St�mer?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Val Beverley's expression grew troubled.
+
+"Had she any explanation to offer?"
+
+"None. Her attitude mystified me very much. Indeed, instead of
+reassuring me, she frightened me more than ever by her very silence.
+I grew to dread the coming of each night. Then--" she hesitated again,
+looking at me pathetically--"twice I have been awakened by a loud cry."
+
+"What kind of cry?"
+
+"I could not tell you, Mr. Knox. You see I have always been asleep when
+it has come, but I have sat up trembling and dimly aware that what had
+awakened me was a cry of some kind."
+
+"You have no idea from whence it proceeded?"
+
+"None whatever. Of course, all these things may seem trivial to you, and
+possibly they can be explained in quite a simple way. But this feeling
+of something pending has grown almost unendurable. Then, I don't
+understand Madame and the Colonel at all."
+
+She suddenly stopped speaking and flushed with embarrassment.
+
+"If you mean that Madame de St�mer is in love with her cousin, I agree
+with you," I said, quietly.
+
+"Oh, is it so evident as that?" murmured Val Beverley. She laughed to
+cover her confusion. "I wish I could understand what it all means."
+
+At this point our t�te-�-t�te was interrupted by the return of Madame de
+St�mer.
+
+"Oh, la la!" she cried, "the Colonel must have allowed himself to become
+too animated this evening. He is threatened with one of his attacks and
+I have insisted upon his immediate retirement. He makes his apologies,
+but knows you will understand."
+
+I expressed my concern, and:
+
+"I was unaware that Colonel Menendez's health was impaired," I said.
+
+"Ah," Madame shrugged characteristically. "Juan has travelled too much
+of the road of life on top speed, Mr. Knox." She snapped her white
+fingers and grimaced significantly. "Excitement is bad for him."
+
+She wheeled her chair up beside Val Beverley, and taking the girl's hand
+patted it affectionately.
+
+"You look pale to-night, my dear," she said. "All this bogey business is
+getting on your nerves, eh?"
+
+"Oh, not at all," declared the girl. "It is very mysterious and
+annoying, of course."
+
+"But M. Paul Harley will presently tell us what it is all about,"
+concluded Madame. "Yes, I trust so. We want no Cuban devils here at
+Cray's Folly."
+
+I had hoped that she would speak further of the matter, but having thus
+apologized for our host's absence, she plunged into an amusing account
+of Parisian society, and of the changes which five years of war had
+brought about. Her comments, although brilliant, were superficial, the
+only point I recollect being her reference to a certain Baron Bergmann,
+a Swedish diplomat, who, according to Madame, had the longest nose and
+the shortest memory in Paris, so that in the cold weather, "he even
+sometimes forgot to blow his nose."
+
+Her brightness I thought was almost feverish. She chattered and laughed
+and gesticulated, but on this occasion she was overacting. Underneath
+all her vivacity lay something cold and grim.
+
+Harley rejoined us in half an hour or so, but I could see that he was
+as conscious of the air of tension as I was. All Madame's high spirits
+could not enable her to conceal the fact that she was anxious to retire.
+But Harley's evident desire to do likewise surprised me very greatly;
+for from the point of view of the investigation the day had been an
+unsatisfactory one. I knew that there must be a hundred and one things
+which my friend desired to know, questions which Madame de St�mer could
+have answered. Nevertheless, at about ten o'clock we separated for
+the night, and although I was intensely anxious to talk to Harley, his
+reticent mood had descended upon him again, and:
+
+"Sleep well, Knox," he said, as he paused at my door. "I may be
+awakening you early."
+
+With which cryptic remark and not another word he passed on and entered
+his own room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND
+
+
+
+Perhaps it was childish on my part, but I accepted this curt dismissal
+very ill-humouredly. That Harley, for some reason of his own, wished
+to be alone, was evident enough, but I resented being excluded from his
+confidence, even temporarily. It would seem that he had formed a theory
+in the prosecution of which my co�peration was not needed. And what
+with profitless conjectures concerning its nature, and memories of
+Val Beverley's pathetic parting glance as we had bade one another
+good-night, sleep seemed to be out of the question, and I stood for a
+long time staring out of the open window.
+
+The weather remained almost tropically hot, and the moon floated in a
+cloudless sky. I looked down upon the closely matted leaves of the box
+hedge, which rose to within a few feet of my window, and to the left I
+could obtain a view of the close-hemmed courtyard before the doors of
+Cray's Folly. On the right the yews began, obstructing my view of the
+Tudor garden, but the night air was fragrant, and the outlook one of
+peace.
+
+After a time, then, as no sound came from the adjoining room, I turned
+in, and despite all things was soon fast asleep.
+
+Almost immediately, it seemed, I was awakened. In point of fact, nearly
+four hours had elapsed. A hand grasped my shoulder, and I sprang up in
+bed with a stifled cry, but:
+
+"It's all right, Knox," came Harley's voice. "Don't make a noise."
+
+"Harley!" I said. "Harley! what has happened?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing. I am sorry to have to disturb your beauty sleep, but
+in the absence of Innes I am compelled to use you as a dictaphone,
+Knox. I like to record impressions while they are fresh, hence my having
+awakened you."
+
+"But what has happened?" I asked again, for my brain was not yet fully
+alert.
+
+"No, don't light up!" said Harley, grasping my wrist as I reached out
+toward the table-lamp.
+
+His figure showed as a black silhouette against the dim square of the
+window.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Well, it's nearly two o'clock. The light might be observed."
+
+"Two o'clock?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes. I think we might smoke, though. Have you any cigarettes? I have
+left my pipe behind."
+
+I managed to find my case, and in the dim light of the match which I
+presently struck I saw that Paul Harley's face was very fixed and grim.
+He seated himself on the edge of my bed, and:
+
+"I have been guilty of a breach of hospitality, Knox," he began. "Not
+only have I secretly had my own car sent down here, but I have had
+something else sent, as well. I brought it in under my coat this
+evening."
+
+"To what do you refer, Harley?"
+
+"You remember the silken rope-ladder with bamboo rungs which I brought
+from Hongkong on one occasion?"
+
+"Yes--"
+
+"Well, I have it in my bag now."
+
+"But, my dear fellow, what possible use can it be to you at Cray's
+Folly?"
+
+"It has been of great use," he returned, shortly.
+
+"It enabled me to descend from my window a couple of hours ago and to
+return again quite recently without disturbing the household. Don't
+reproach me, Knox. I know it is a breach of confidence, but so is the
+behaviour of Colonel Menendez."
+
+"You refer to his reticence on certain points?"
+
+"I do. I have a reputation to lose, Knox, and if an ingenious piece of
+Chinese workmanship can save it, it shall be saved."
+
+"But, my dear Harley, why should you want to leave the house secretly at
+night?"
+
+Paul Harley's cigarette glowed in the dark, then:
+
+"My original object," he replied, "was to endeavour to learn if any one
+were really watching the place. For instance, I wanted to see if all
+lights were out at the Guest House."
+
+"And were they?" I asked, eagerly.
+
+"They were. Secondly," he continued, "I wanted to convince myself that
+there were no nocturnal prowlers from within or without."
+
+"What do you mean by within or without?"
+
+"Listen, Knox." He bent toward me in the dark, grasping my shoulder
+firmly. "One window in Cray's Folly was lighted up."
+
+"At what hour?"
+
+"The light is there yet."
+
+That he was about to make some strange revelation I divined. I detected
+the fact, too, that he believed this revelation would be unpleasant to
+me; and in this I found an explanation of his earlier behaviour. He had
+seemed distraught and ill at ease when he had joined Madame de St�mer,
+Miss Beverley, and myself in the drawing room. I could only suppose that
+this and the abrupt parting with me outside my door had been due to
+his holding a theory which he had proposed to put to the test before
+confiding it to me. I remember that I spoke very slowly as I asked him
+the question:
+
+"Whose is the lighted window, Harley?"
+
+"Has Colonel Menendez taken you into a little snuggery or smoke-room
+which faces his bedroom in the southeast corner of the house?"
+
+"No, but Miss Beverley has mentioned the room."
+
+"Ah. Well, there is a light in that room, Knox."
+
+"Possibly the Colonel has not retired?"
+
+"According to Madame de St�mer he went to bed several hours ago, you may
+remember."
+
+"True," I murmured, fumbling for the significance of his words.
+
+"The next point is this," he resumed. "You saw Madame retire to her own
+room, which, as you know, is on the ground floor, and I have satisfied
+myself that the door communicating with the servants' wing is locked."
+
+"I see. But to what is all this leading, Harley?"
+
+"To a very curious fact, and the fact is this: The Colonel is not
+alone."
+
+I sat bolt upright.
+
+"What?" I cried.
+
+"Not so loud," warned Harley.
+
+"But, Harley--"
+
+"My dear fellow, we must face facts. I repeat, the Colonel is not
+alone."
+
+"Why do you say so?"
+
+"Twice I have seen a shadow on the blind of the smoke-room."
+
+"His own shadow, probably."
+
+Again Paul Harley's cigarette glowed in the darkness.
+
+"I am prepared to swear," he replied, "that it was the shadow of a
+woman."
+
+"Harley----"
+
+"Don't get excited, Knox. I am dealing with the strangest case of my
+career, and I am jumping to no conclusions. But just let us look at
+the circumstances judicially. The whole of the domestic staff we may
+dismiss, with the one exception of Mrs. Fisher, who, so far as I can
+make out, occupies the position of a sort of working housekeeper, and
+whose rooms are in the corner of the west wing immediately facing the
+kitchen garden. Possibly you have not met Mrs. Fisher, Knox, but I have
+made it my business to interview the whole of the staff and I may
+say that Mrs. Fisher is a short, stout old lady, a native of Kent, I
+believe, whose outline in no way corresponds to that which I saw upon
+the blind. Therefore, unless the door which communicates with the
+servants' quarters was unlocked again to-night--to what are we reduced
+in seeking to explain the presence of a woman in Colonel Menendez's
+room? Madame de St�mer, unassisted, could not possibly have mounted the
+stairs."
+
+"Stop, Harley!" I said, sternly. "Stop."
+
+He ceased speaking, and I watched the steady glow of his cigarette in
+the darkness. It lighted up his bronzed face and showed me the steely
+gleam of his eyes.
+
+"You are counting too much on the locking of the door by Pedro," I
+continued, speaking very deliberately. "He is a man I would trust no
+farther than I could see him, and if there is anything dark underlying
+this matter you depend that he is involved in it. But the most natural
+explanation, and also the most simple, is this--Colonel Menendez has
+been taken seriously ill, and someone is in his room in the capacity of
+a nurse."
+
+"Her behaviour was scarcely that of a nurse in a sick-room," murmured
+Harley.
+
+"For God's sake tell me the truth," I said. "Tell me all you saw."
+
+"I am quite prepared to do so, Knox. On three occasions, then, I saw
+the figure of a woman, who wore some kind of loose robe, quite clearly
+silhouetted upon the linen blind. Her gestures strongly resembled those
+of despair."
+
+"Of despair?"
+
+"Exactly. I gathered that she was addressing someone, presumably Colonel
+Menendez, and I derived a strong impression that she was in a condition
+of abject despair."
+
+"Harley," I said, "on your word of honour did you recognize anything
+in the movements, or in the outline of the figure, by which you could
+identify the woman?"
+
+"I did not," he replied, shortly. "It was a woman who wore some kind
+of loose robe, possibly a kimono. Beyond that I could swear to nothing,
+except that it was not Mrs. Fisher."
+
+We fell silent for a while. What Paul Harley's thoughts may have been
+I know not, but my own were strange and troubled. Presently I found my
+voice again, and:
+
+"I think, Harley," I said, "that I should report to you something which
+Miss Beverley told me this evening."
+
+"Yes?" said he, eagerly. "I am anxious to hear anything which may be of
+the slightest assistance. You are no doubt wondering why I retired so
+abruptly to-night. My reason was this: I could see that you were full of
+some story which you had learned from Miss Beverley, and I was anxious
+to perform my tour of inspection with a perfectly unprejudiced mind."
+
+"You mean that your suspicions rested upon an inmate of Cray's Folly?"
+
+"Not upon any particular inmate, but I had early perceived a distinct
+possibility that these manifestations of which the Colonel complained
+might be due to the agency of someone inside the house. That this
+person might be no more than an accomplice of the prime mover I also
+recognized, of course. But what did you learn to-night, Knox?"
+
+I repeated Val Beverley's story of the mysterious footsteps and of the
+cries which had twice awakened her in the night.
+
+"Hm," muttered Harley, when I had ceased speaking. "Assuming her account
+to be true----"
+
+"Why should you doubt it?" I interrupted, hotly.
+
+"My dear Knox, it is my business to doubt everything until I have
+indisputable evidence of its truth. I say, assuming her story to be
+true, we find ourselves face to face with the fantastic theory that some
+woman unknown is living secretly in Cray's Folly."
+
+"Perhaps in one of the tower rooms," I suggested, eagerly. "Why, Harley,
+that would account for the Colonel's marked unwillingness to talk about
+this part of the house."
+
+My sight was now becoming used to the dusk, and I saw Harley vigorously
+shake his head.
+
+"No, no," he replied; "I have seen all the tower rooms. I can swear that
+no one inhabits them. Besides, is it feasible?"
+
+"Then whose were the footsteps that Miss Beverley heard?"
+
+"Obviously those of the woman who, at this present moment, so far as I
+know, is in the smoking-room with Colonel Menendez."
+
+I sighed wearily.
+
+"This is a strange business, Harley. I begin to think that the mystery
+is darker than I ever supposed."
+
+We fell silent again. The weird cry of a night hawk came from somewhere
+in the valley, but otherwise everything within and without the great
+house seemed strangely still. This stillness presently imposed its
+influence upon me, for when I spoke again, I spoke in a low voice.
+
+"Harley," I said, "my imagination is playing me tricks. I thought I
+heard the fluttering of wings at that moment."
+
+"Fortunately, my imagination remains under control," he replied, grimly;
+"therefore I am in a position to inform you that you did hear the
+fluttering of wings. An owl has just flown into one of the trees
+immediately outside the window."
+
+"Oh," said I, and uttered a sigh of relief.
+
+"It is extremely fortunate that my imagination is so carefully trained,"
+continued Harley; "otherwise, when the woman whose shadow I saw upon the
+blind to-night raised her arms in a peculiar fashion, I could not well
+have failed to attach undue importance to the shape of the shadow thus
+created."
+
+"What was the shape of the shadow, then?"
+
+"Remarkably like that of a bat."
+
+He spoke the words quietly, but in that still darkness, with dawn yet a
+long way off, they possessed the power which belongs to certain chords
+in music, and to certain lines in poetry. I was chilled unaccountably,
+and I peopled the empty corridors of Cray's Folly with I know not
+what uncanny creatures; nightmare fancies conjured up from memories of
+haunted manors.
+
+Such was my mood, then, when suddenly Paul Harley stood up. My eyes were
+growing more and more used to the darkness, and from something strained
+in his attitude I detected the fact that he was listening intently.
+
+He placed his cigarette on the table beside the bed and quietly crossed
+the room. I knew from his silent tread that he wore shoes with rubber
+soles. Very quietly he turned the handle and opened the door.
+
+"What is it, Harley?" I whispered.
+
+Dimly I saw him raise his hand. Inch by inch he opened the door. My
+nerves in a state of tension, I sat there watching him, when without
+a sound he slipped out of the room and was gone. Thereupon I arose and
+followed as far as the doorway.
+
+Harley was standing immediately outside in the corridor. Seeing me, he
+stepped back, and: "Don't move, Knox," he said, speaking very close to
+my ear. "There is someone downstairs in the hall. Wait for me here."
+
+With that he moved stealthily off, and I stood there, my heart beating
+with unusual rapidity, listening--listening for a challenge, a cry, a
+scuffle--I knew not what to expect.
+
+Cavernous and dimly lighted, the corridor stretched away to my left.
+On the right it branched sharply in the direction of the gallery
+overlooking the hall.
+
+The seconds passed, but no sound rewarded my alert listening--until,
+very faintly, but echoing in a muffled, church-like fashion around that
+peculiar building, came a slight, almost sibilant sound, which I took to
+be the gentle closing of a distant door.
+
+Whilst I was still wondering if I had really heard this sound or merely
+imagined it:
+
+"Who goes there?" came sharply in Harley's voice.
+
+I heard a faint click, and knew that he had shone the light of an
+electric torch down into the hall.
+
+I hesitated no longer, but ran along to join him. As I came to the head
+of the main staircase, however, I saw him crossing the hall below. He
+was making in the direction of the door which shut off the servants'
+quarters. Here he paused, and I saw him trying the handle. Evidently
+the door was locked, for he turned and swept the white ray all about the
+place. He tried several other doors, but found them all to be locked,
+for presently he came upstairs again, smiling grimly when he saw me
+there awaiting him.
+
+"Did you hear it, Knox?" he said.
+
+"A sound like the closing of a door?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"It _was_ the closing of a door," he replied; "but before that I had
+distinctly heard a stair creak. Someone crossed the hall then, Knox.
+Yet, as you perceive for yourself, it affords no hiding-place."
+
+His glance met and challenged mine.
+
+"The Colonel's visitor has left him," he murmured. "Unless something
+quite unforeseen occurs, I shall throw up the case to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MORNING MISTS
+
+
+
+The man known as Manoel awakened me in the morning. Although
+characteristically Spanish, he belonged to a more sanguine type than
+the butler and spoke much better English than Pedro. He placed upon the
+table beside me a tray containing a small pot of China tea, an apple, a
+peach, and three slices of toast.
+
+"How soon would you like your bath, sir?" he enquired.
+
+"In about half an hour," I replied.
+
+"Breakfast is served at 9.30 if you wish, sir," continued Manoel, "but
+the ladies rarely come down. Would you prefer to breakfast in your
+room?"
+
+"What is Mr. Harley doing?"
+
+"He tells me that he does not take breakfast, sir. Colonel Don Juan
+Menendez will be unable to ride with you this morning, but a groom will
+accompany you to the heath if you wish, which is the best place for a
+gallop. Breakfast on the south veranda is very pleasant, sir, if you are
+riding first."
+
+"Good," I replied, for indeed I felt strangely heavy; "it shall be the
+heath, then, and breakfast on the veranda."
+
+Having drunk a cup of tea and dressed I went into Harley's room, to
+find him propped up in bed reading the _Daily Telegraph_ and smoking a
+cigarette.
+
+"I am off for a ride," I said. "Won't you join me?"
+
+He fixed his pillows more comfortably, and slowly shook his head.
+
+"Not a bit of it, Knox," he replied, "I find exercise to be fatal to
+concentration."
+
+"I know you have weird theories on the subject, but this is a beautiful
+morning."
+
+"I grant you the beautiful morning, Knox, but here you will find me when
+you return."
+
+I knew him too well to debate the point, and accordingly I left him to
+his newspaper and cigarette, and made my way downstairs. A housemaid was
+busy in the hall, and in the courtyard before the monastic porch a negro
+groom awaited me with two fine mounts. He touched his hat and grinned
+expansively as I appeared. A spirited young chestnut was saddled for
+my use, and the groom, who informed me that his name was Jim, rode a
+smaller, Spanish horse, a beautiful but rather wicked-looking creature.
+
+We proceeded down the drive. Pedro was standing at the door of the
+lodge, talking to his surly-looking daughter. He saluted me very
+ceremoniously as I passed.
+
+Pursuing an easterly route for a quarter of a mile or so, we came to a
+narrow lane which branched off to the left in a tremendous declivity.
+Indeed it presented the appearance of the dry bed of a mountain torrent,
+and in wet weather a torrent this lane became, so I was informed by
+Jim. It was very rugged and dangerous, and here we dismounted, the groom
+leading the horses.
+
+Then we were upon a well-laid main road, and along this we trotted on to
+a tempting stretch of heath-land. There was a heavy mist, but the
+scent of the heather in the early morning was delightful, and there was
+something exhilarating in the dull thud of the hoofs upon the springy
+turf. The negro was a natural horseman, and he seemed to enjoy the ride
+every bit as much as I did. For my own part I was sorry to return. But
+the vapours of the night had been effectively cleared from my mind, and
+when presently we headed again for the hills, I could think more coolly
+of those problems which overnight had seemed well-nigh insoluble.
+
+We returned by a less direct route, but only at one point was the path
+so steep as that by which we had descended. This brought us out on a
+road above and about a mile to the south of Cray's Folly. At one point,
+through a gap in the trees, I found myself looking down at the gray
+stone building in its setting of velvet lawns and gaily patterned
+gardens. A faint mist hovered like smoke over the grass.
+
+Five minutes later we passed a queer old Jacobean house, so deeply
+hidden amidst trees that the early morning sun had not yet penetrated to
+it, except for one upstanding gable which was bathed in golden light. I
+should never have recognized the place from that aspect, but because of
+its situation I knew that this must be the Guest House. It seemed very
+gloomy and dark, and remembering how I was pledged to call upon Mr.
+Colin Camber that day, I apprehended that my reception might be a cold
+one.
+
+Presently we left the road and cantered across the valley meadows, in
+which I had walked on the previous day, reentering Cray's Folly on
+the south, although we had left it on the north. We dismounted in the
+stable-yard, and I noted two other saddle horses in the stalls, a pair
+of very clean-looking hunters, as well as two perfectly matched ponies,
+which, Jim informed me, Madame de St�mer sometimes drove in a chaise.
+
+Feeling vastly improved by the exercise, I walked around to the veranda,
+and through the drawing room to the hall. Manoel was standing there,
+and:
+
+"Your bath is ready, sir," he said.
+
+I nodded and went upstairs. It seemed to me that life at Cray's Folly
+was quite agreeable, and such was my mood that the shadowy Bat Wing
+menace found no place in it save as the chimera of a sick man's
+imagination. One thing only troubled me: the identity of the woman who
+had been with Colonel Menendez on the previous night.
+
+However, such unconscious sun worshippers are we all that in the glory
+of that summer morning I realized that life was good, and I resolutely
+put behind me the dark suspicions of the night.
+
+I looked into Harley's room ere descending, and, as he had assured
+me would be the case, there he was, propped up in bed, the _Daily
+Telegraph_ upon the floor beside him and the _Times_ now open upon the
+coverlet.
+
+"I am ravenously hungry," I said, maliciously, "and am going down to eat
+a hearty breakfast."
+
+"Good," he returned, treating me to one of his quizzical smiles. "It is
+delightful to know that someone is happy."
+
+Manoel had removed my unopened newspapers from the bedroom, placing
+them on the breakfast table on the south veranda; and I had propped the
+_Mail_ up before me and had commenced to explore a juicy grapefruit
+when something, perhaps a faint breath of perfume, a slight rustle of
+draperies, or merely that indefinable aura which belongs to the presence
+of a woman, drew my glance upward and to the left. And there was Val
+Beverley smiling down at me.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Knox," she said. "Oh, please don't interrupt your
+breakfast. May I sit down and talk to you?"
+
+"I should be most annoyed if you refused."
+
+She was dressed in a simple summery frock which left her round,
+sun-browned arms bare above the elbow, and she laid a huge bunch of
+roses upon the table beside my tray.
+
+"I am the florist of the establishment," she explained. "These
+will delight your eyes at luncheon. Don't you think we are a lot of
+barbarians here, Mr. Knox?"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, if I had not taken pity upon you, here you would have bat over a
+lonely breakfast just as though you were staying at a hotel."
+
+"Delightful," I replied, "now that you are here."
+
+"Ah," said she, and smiled roguishly, "that afterthought just saved
+you."
+
+"But honestly," I continued, "the hospitality of Colonel Menendez is
+true hospitality. To expect one's guests to perform their parlour tricks
+around a breakfast table in the morning is, on the other hand, true
+barbarism."
+
+"I quite agree with you," she said, quietly. "There is a perfectly
+delightful freedom about the Colonel's way of living. Only some horrid
+old Victorian prude could possibly take exception to it. Did you enjoy
+your ride?"
+
+"Immensely," I replied, watching her delightedly as she arranged the
+roses in carefully blended groups.
+
+Her fingers were very delicate and tactile, and such is the character
+which resides in the human hand, that whereas the gestures of Madame de
+St�mer were curiously stimulating, there was something in the movement
+of Val Beverley's pretty fingers amidst the blooms which I found most
+soothing.
+
+"I passed the Guest House on my return," I continued. "Do you know Mr.
+Camber?"
+
+She looked at me in a startled way.
+
+"No," she replied, "I don't. Do you?"
+
+"I met him by chance yesterday."
+
+"Really? I thought he was quite unapproachable; a sort of ogre."
+
+"On the contrary, he is a man of great charm."
+
+"Oh," said Val Beverley, "well, since you have said so, I might as
+well admit that he has always seemed a charming man to me. I have never
+spoken to him, but he looks as though he could be very fascinating. Have
+you met his wife?"
+
+"No. Is she also American?"
+
+My companion shook her head.
+
+"I have no idea," she replied. "I have seen her several times of course,
+and she is one of the daintiest creatures imaginable, but I know nothing
+about her nationality."
+
+"She is young, then?"
+
+"Very young, I should say. She looks quite a child."
+
+"The reason of my interest," I replied, "is that Mr. Camber asked me to
+call upon him, and I propose to do so later this morning."
+
+"Really?"
+
+Again I detected the startled expression upon Val Beverley's face.
+
+"That is rather curious, since you are staying here."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well," she looked about her nervously, "I don't know the reason, but
+the name of Mr. Camber is anathema in Cray's Folly."
+
+"Colonel Menendez told me last night that he had never met Mr. Camber."
+
+Val Beverley shrugged her shoulders, a habit which it was easy to see
+she had acquired from Madame de St�mer.
+
+"Perhaps not," she replied, "but I am certain he hates him."
+
+"Hates Mr. Camber?"
+
+"Yes." Her expression grew troubled. "It is another of those mysteries
+which seem to be part of Colonel Menendez's normal existence."
+
+"And is this dislike mutual?"
+
+"That I cannot say, since I have never met Mr. Camber."
+
+"And Madame de St�mer, does she share it?"
+
+"Fully, I think. But don't ask me what it means, because I don't know."
+
+She dismissed the subject with a light gesture and poured me out a
+second cup of coffee.
+
+"I am going to leave you now," she said. "I have to justify my existence
+in my own eyes."
+
+"Must you really go?"
+
+"I must really."
+
+"Then tell me something before you go."
+
+She gathered up the bunches of roses and looked down at me with a
+wistful expression.
+
+"Yes, what is it?"
+
+"Did you detect those mysterious footsteps again last night?"
+
+The look of wistfulness changed to another which I hated to see in her
+eyes, an expression of repressed fear.
+
+"No," she replied in a very low voice, "but why do you ask the
+question?"
+
+Doubt of her had been far enough from my mind, but that something in the
+tone of my voice had put her on her guard I could see.
+
+"I am naturally curious," I replied, gravely.
+
+"No," she repeated, "I have not heard the sound for some time now.
+Perhaps, after all, my fears were imaginary."
+
+There was a constraint in her manner which was all too obvious, and
+when presently, laden with the spoil of the rose garden, she gave me a
+parting smile and hurried into the house, I sat there very still for a
+while, and something of the brightness had faded from the coming, nor
+did life seem so glad a business as I had thought it quite recently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+AT THE GUEST HOUSE
+
+
+
+I presented myself at the Guest House at half-past eleven. My mental
+state was troubled and indescribably complex. Perhaps my own uneasy,
+thoughts were responsible for the idea, but it seemed to me that the
+atmosphere of Cray's Folly had changed yet again. Never before had
+I experienced a sense of foreboding like that which had possessed me
+throughout the hours of this bright summer's morning.
+
+Colonel Menendez had appeared about nine o'clock. He exhibiting no
+traces of illness that were perceptible to me. But this subtle change
+which I had detected, or thought I had detected, was more marked in
+Madame St�mer than in any one. In her strange, still eyes I had read
+what I can only describe as a stricken look. It had none of the heroic
+resignation and acceptance of the inevitable which had so startled me in
+the face of the Colonel on the previous day. There was a bitterness in
+it, as of one who has made a great but unwilling sacrifice, and again I
+had found myself questing that faint but fugitive memory, conjured up by
+the eyes of Madame de St�mer.
+
+Never had the shadow lain so darkly upon the house as it lay this
+morning with the sun blazing gladly out of a serene sky. The birds, the
+flowers, and Mother Earth herself bespoke the joy of summer. But beneath
+the roof of Cray's Folly dwelt a spirit of unrest, of apprehension. I
+thought of that queer lull which comes before a tropical storm, and I
+thought I read a knowledge of pending evil even in the glances of the
+servants.
+
+I had spoken to Harley of this fear. He had smiled and nodded grimly,
+saying:
+
+"Evidently, Knox, you have forgotten that to-night is the night of the
+full moon."
+
+It was in no easy state of mind, then, that I opened the gate and walked
+up to the porch of the Guest House. That the solution of the grand
+mystery of Cray's Folly would automatically resolve these lesser
+mysteries I felt assured, and I was supported by the idea that a clue
+might lie here.
+
+The house, which from the roadway had an air of neglect, proved on close
+inspection to be well tended, but of an unprosperous aspect. The brass
+knocker, door knob, and letter box were brilliantly polished, whilst
+the windows and the window curtains were spotlessly clean. But the place
+cried aloud for the service of the decorator, and it did not need the
+deductive powers of a Paul Harley to determine that Mr. Colin Camber was
+in straitened circumstances.
+
+In response to my ringing the door was presently opened by Ah Tsong. His
+yellow face exhibited no trace of emotion whatever. He merely opened the
+door and stood there looking at me.
+
+"Is Mr. Camber at home?" I enquired.
+
+"Master no got," crooned Ah Tsong.
+
+He proceeded quietly to close the door again.
+
+"One moment," I said, "one moment. I wish, at any rate, to leave my
+card."
+
+Ah Tsong allowed the door to remain open, but:
+
+"No usee palaber so fashion," he said. "No feller comee here. Sabby?"
+
+"I savvy, right enough," said I, "but all the same you have got to take
+my card in to Mr. Camber."
+
+I handed him a card as I spoke, and suddenly addressing him in "pidgin,"
+of which, fortunately, I had a smattering:
+
+"Belong very quick, Ah Tsong," I said, sharply, "or plenty big trouble,
+savvy?"
+
+"Sabby, sabby," he muttered, nodding his head; and leaving me standing
+in the porch he retired along the sparsely carpeted hall.
+
+This hall was very gloomily lighted, but I could see several pieces of
+massive old furniture and a number of bookcases, all looking incredibly
+untidy.
+
+Rather less than a minute elapsed, I suppose, when from some place at
+the farther end of the hallway Mr. Camber appeared in person. He wore a
+threadbare dressing gown, the silken collar and cuffs of which were very
+badly frayed. His hair was dishevelled and palpably he had not shaved
+this morning.
+
+He was smoking a corncob pipe, and he slowly approached, glancing from
+the card which he held in his hand in my direction, and then back again
+at the card, with a curious sort of hesitancy. In spite of his untidy
+appearance I could not fail to mark the dignity of his bearing, and the
+almost arrogant angle at which he held his head.
+
+"Mr--er--Malcolm Knox?" he began, fixing his large eyes upon me with a
+look in which I could detect no sign of recognition. "I am advised that
+you desire to see me?"
+
+"That is so, Mr. Camber," I replied, cheerily. "I fear I have
+interrupted your work, but as no other opportunity may occur of renewing
+an acquaintance which for my part I found extremely pleasant--"
+
+"Of renewing an acquaintance, you say, Mr. Knox?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Quite." He looked me up and down critically. "To be sure, we have met
+before, I understand?"
+
+"We met yesterday, Mr. Camber, you may recall. Having chanced to come
+across a contribution of yours of the _Occult Review_, I have availed
+myself of your invitation to drop in for a chat."
+
+His expression changed immediately and the sombre eyes lighted up.
+
+"Ah, of course," he cried, "you are a student of the transcendental.
+Forgive my seeming rudeness, Mr. Knox, but indeed my memory is of the
+poorest. Pray come in, sir; your visit is very welcome."
+
+He held the door wide open, and inclined his head in a gesture of
+curious old-world courtesy which was strange in so young a man. And
+congratulating myself upon the happy thought which had enabled me to win
+such instant favour, I presently found myself in a study which I despair
+of describing.
+
+In some respects it resembled the lumber room of an antiquary, whilst
+in many particulars it corresponded to the interior of one of those
+second-hand bookshops which abound in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross
+Road. The shelves with which it was lined literally bulged with books,
+and there were books on the floor, books on the mantelpiece, and books,
+some open and some shut, some handsomely bound, and some having the
+covers torn off, upon every table and nearly every chair in the place.
+
+Volume seven of Burton's monumental "Thousand Nights and a Night" lay
+upon a littered desk before which I presumed Mr. Camber had been seated
+at the time of my arrival. Some wet vessel, probably a cup of tea or
+coffee, had at some time been set down upon the page at which this
+volume was open, for it was marked with a dark brown ring. A volume of
+Fraser's "Golden Bough" had been used as an ash tray, apparently, since
+the binding was burned in several places where cigarettes had been laid
+upon it.
+
+In this interesting, indeed unique apartment, East met West, unabashed
+by Kipling's dictum. Roman tear-vases and Egyptian tomb-offerings stood
+upon the same shelf as empty Bass bottles; and a hideous wooden idol
+from the South Sea Islands leered on eternally, unmoved by the
+presence upon his distorted head of a soft felt hat made, I believe, in
+Philadelphia.
+
+Strange implements from early British barrows found themselves in the
+company of _Thugee_ daggers There were carved mammals' tusks and snake
+emblems from Yucatan; against a Chinese ivory model of the Temple of Ten
+Thousand Buddhas rested a Coptic crucifix made from a twig of the Holy
+Rose Tree. Across an ancient Spanish coffer was thrown a Persian rug
+into which had been woven the monogram of Shah-Jehan and a text from
+the Koran. It was easy to see that Mr. Colin Camber's studies must have
+imposed a severe strain upon his purse.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Knox, sit down," he said, sweeping a vellum-bound volume
+of Eliphas Levi from a chair, and pushing the chair forward. "The visit
+of a fellow-student is a rare pleasure for me. And you find me, sir," he
+seated himself in a curious, carved chair which stood before the desk,
+"you find me engaged upon enquiries, the result of which will constitute
+chapter forty-two of my present book. Pray glance at the contents of
+this little box."
+
+He placed in my hands a small box of dark wood, evidently of great age.
+It contained what looked like a number of shrivelled beans.
+
+Having glanced at it curiously I returned it to him, shaking my head
+blankly.
+
+"You are puzzled?" he said, with a kind of boyish triumph, which lighted
+up his face, which rejuvenated him and gave me a glimpse of another man.
+"These, sir," he touched the shrivelled objects with a long, delicate
+forefinger "are seeds of the sacred lotus of Ancient Egypt. They were
+found in the tomb of a priest."
+
+"And in what way do they bear upon the enquiry to which you referred,
+Mr. Camber?"
+
+"In this way," he replied, drawing toward him a piece of newspaper
+upon which rested a mound of coarse shag. "I maintain that the vital
+principle survives within them. Now, I propose to cultivate these seeds,
+Mr. Knox. Do you grasp the significance, of this experiment?"
+
+He knocked out the corn-cob upon the heel of his slipper and began to
+refill the hot bowl with shag from the newspaper at his elbow.
+
+"From a physical point of view, yes," I replied, slowly. "But I should
+not have supposed such an experiment to come within the scope of your
+own particular activities, Mr. Camber."
+
+"Ah," he returned, triumphantly, at the same time stuffing tobacco
+into the bowl of the corn-cob, "it is for this very reason that chapter
+forty-two of my book must prove to be the hub of the whole, and the
+whole, Mr. Knox, I am egotist enough to believe, shall establish a new
+focus for thought, an intellectual Rome bestriding and uniting the Seven
+Hills of Unbelief."
+
+He lighted his pipe and stared at me complacently.
+
+Whilst I had greatly revised my first estimate of the man, my revisions
+had been all in his favour. Respecting his genius my first impression
+was confirmed. That he was ahead of his generation, perhaps a new
+Galileo, I was prepared to believe. He had a pride of bearing which I
+think was partly racial, but which in part, too, was the insignia of
+intellectual superiority. He stood above the commonplace, caring little
+for the views of those around and beneath him. From vanity he was
+utterly free. His was strangely like the egotism of true genius.
+
+"Now, sir," he continued, puffing furiously at his corn-cob, "I observed
+you glancing a moment ago at this volume of the 'Golden Bough.'" He
+pointed to the scarred book which I have already mentioned. "It is a
+work of profound scholarship. But having perused its hundreds of pages,
+what has the student learned? Does he know why the twenty-sixth
+chapter of the 'Book of the dead' was written upon lapis-lazuli, the
+twenty-seventh upon green felspar, the twenty-ninth upon cornelian, and
+the thirtieth upon serpentine? He does not. Having studied Part Four,
+has he learned the secret of why Osiris was a black god, although he
+typified the Sun? Has he learned why modern Christianity is losing its
+hold upon the nations, whilst Buddhism, so called, counts its disciples
+by millions? He has not. This is because the scholar is rarely the
+seer."
+
+"I quite agree with you," I said, thinking that I detected the drift of
+his argument.
+
+"Very well," said he. "I am an American citizen, Mr. Knox, which is
+tantamount to stating that I belong to the greatest community of traders
+which has appeared since the Phoenicians overran the then known world.
+America has not produced the mystic, yet Jud�a produced the founder of
+Christianity, and Gautama Buddha, born of a royal line, established
+the creed of human equity. In what way did these magicians, for a
+miracle-worker is nothing but a magician, differ from ordinary men? In
+one respect only: They had learned to control that force which we have
+to-day termed Will."
+
+As he spoke those words Colin Camber directed upon me a glance from
+his luminous eyes which frankly thrilled me. The bemused figure of the
+Lavender Arms was forgotten. I perceived before me a man of power, a man
+of extraordinary knowledge and intellectual daring. His voice, which was
+very beautiful, together with his glance, held me enthralled.
+
+"What we call Will," he continued, "is what the Ancient Egyptians called
+_Khu_. It is not mental: it is a property of the soul. At this
+point, Mr. Knox, I depart from the laws generally accepted by my
+contemporaries. I shall presently propose to you that the eye of the
+Divine Architect literally watches every creature upon the earth."
+
+"Literally?"
+
+"Literally, Mr. Knox. We need no images, no idols, no paintings. All
+power, all light comes from one source. That source is the sun! The sun
+controls Will, and the Will is the soul. If there were a cavern in the
+earth so deep that the sun could never reach it, and if it were possible
+for a child to be born in that cavern, do you know what that child would
+be?"
+
+"Almost certainly blind," I replied; "beyond which my imagination fails
+me."
+
+"Then I will inform you, Mr. Knox. It would be a demon."
+
+"What!" I cried, and was momentarily touched with the fear that this was
+a brilliant madman.
+
+"Listen," he said, and pointed with the stem of his pipe. "Why, in all
+ancient creeds, is Hades depicted as below? For the simple reason that
+could such a spot exist and be inhabited, it must be _sunless_, when
+it could only be inhabited by devils; and what are devils but creatures
+without souls?"
+
+"You mean that a child born beyond reach of the sun's influence would
+have no soul?"
+
+"Such is my meaning, Mr. Knox. Do you begin to see the importance of my
+experiment with the lotus seeds?"
+
+I shook my head slowly. Whereupon, laying his corn-cob upon the desk,
+Colin Camber burst into a fit of boyish laughter, which seemed to
+rejuvenate him again, which wiped out the image of the magus completely,
+and only left before me a very human student of strange subjects, and
+withal a fascinating companion.
+
+"I fear, sir," he said, presently, "that my steps have led me farther
+into the wilderness than it has been your fate to penetrate. The whole
+secret of the universe is contained in the words Day and Night, Darkness
+and Light. I have studied both the light and the darkness, deliberately
+and without fear. A new age is about to dawn, sir, and a new age
+requires new beliefs, new truths. Were you ever in the country of the
+Hill Dyaks?"
+
+This abrupt question rather startled me, but:
+
+"You refer to the Borneo hill-country?"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"No, I was never there."
+
+"Then this little magical implement will be new to you," said he.
+
+Standing up, he crossed to a cabinet littered untidily with all sorts
+of strange-looking objects, carved bones, queer little inlaid boxes,
+images, untidy manuscripts, and what-not.
+
+He took up what looked like a very ungainly tobacco-pipe, made of some
+rich brown wood, and, handing it to me:
+
+"Examine this, Mr. Knox," he said, the boyish smile of triumph returning
+again to his face.
+
+I did as he requested and made no discovery of note. The thing clearly
+was not intended for a pipe. The stem was soiled and, moreover, there
+was carving inside the bowl. So that presently I returned it to him,
+shaking my head.
+
+"Unless one should be informed of the properties of this little
+instrument," he declared, "discovery by experiment is improbable. Now,
+note."
+
+He struck the hollow of the bowl upon the palm of his hand, and it
+delivered a high, bell-like note which lingered curiously. Then:
+
+"Note again."
+
+He made a short striking motion with the thing, similar to that which
+one would employ who had designed to jerk something out of the bowl.
+And at the very spot on the floor where any object contained in the bowl
+would have fallen, came a reprise of the bell note! Clearly, from almost
+at my feet, it sounded, a high, metallic ring.
+
+He struck upward, and the bell-note sounded on the ceiling; to the
+right, and it came from the window; in my direction, and the tiny bell
+seemed to ring beside my ear! I will honestly admit that I was startled,
+but:
+
+"Dyak magic," said Colin Camber; "one of nature's secrets not yet
+discovered by conventional Western science. It was known to the Egyptian
+priesthood, of course; hence the Vocal Memnon. It was known to Madame
+Blavatsky, who employed an 'astral bell'; and it is known to me."
+
+He returned the little instrument to its place upon the cabinet.
+
+"I wonder if the fact will strike you as significant," said he, "that
+the note which you have just heard can only be produced between sunrise
+and sunset?"
+
+Without giving me time to reply:
+
+"The most notable survival of black magic--that is, the scientific
+employment of darkness against light--is to be met with in Haiti and
+other islands of the West Indies."
+
+"You are referring to Voodooism?" I said, slowly.
+
+He nodded, replacing his pipe between his teeth.
+
+"A subject, Mr. Knox, which I investigated exhaustively some years ago."
+
+I was watching him closely as he spoke, and a shadow, a strange shadow,
+crept over his face, a look almost of exaltation--of mingled sorrow and
+gladness which I find myself quite unable to describe.
+
+"In the West Indies, Mr. Knox," he continued, in a strangely altered
+voice, "I lost all and found all. Have you ever realized, sir, that
+sorrow is the price we must pay for joy?"
+
+I did not understand his question, and was still wondering about it when
+I heard a gentle knock, the door opened, and a woman came in.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+YSOLA CAMBER
+
+
+
+I find it difficult, now, to recapture my first impression of that
+meeting. About the woman, hesitating before me, there was something
+unexpected, something wholly unfamiliar. She belonged to a type with
+which I was not acquainted. Nor was it wonderful that she should strike
+me in this fashion, since my wanderings, although fairly extensive,
+had never included the West Indies, nor had I been to Spain; and this
+girl--I could have sworn that she was under twenty--was one of those
+rare beauties, a golden Spaniard.
+
+That she was not purely Spanish I learned later.
+
+She was small, and girlishly slight, with slender ankles and exquisite
+little feet; indeed I think she had the tiniest feet of any woman I
+had ever met. She wore a sort of white pinafore over her dress, and her
+arms, which were bare because of the short sleeves of her frock, were of
+a child-like roundness, whilst her creamy skin was touched with a faint
+tinge of bronze, as though, I remember thinking, it had absorbed
+and retained something of the Southern sunshine. She had the swaying
+carriage which usually belongs to a tall woman, and her head and neck
+were Grecian in poise.
+
+Her hair, which was of a curious dull gold colour, presented a mass of
+thick, tight curls, and her beauty was of that unusual character which
+makes a Cleopatra a subject of deathless debate. What I mean to say is
+this: whilst no man could have denied, for instance, that Val Beverley
+was a charmingly pretty woman, nine critics out of ten must have failed
+to classify this golden Spaniard correctly or justly. Her complexion was
+peach-like in the Oriental sense, that strange hint of gold underlying
+the delicate skin, and her dark blue eyes were shaded by really
+wonderful silken lashes.
+
+Emotion had the effect of enlarging the pupils, a phenomenon rarely met
+with, so that now as she entered the room and found a stranger present
+they seemed to be rather black than blue.
+
+Her embarrassment was acute, and I think she would have retired without
+speaking, but:
+
+"Ysola," said Colin Camber, regarding her with a look curiously
+compounded of sorrow and pride, "allow me to present Mr. Malcolm Knox,
+who has honoured us with a visit."
+
+He turned to me.
+
+"Mr. Knox," he said, "it gives me great pleasure that you should meet my
+wife."
+
+Perhaps I had expected this, indeed, subconsciously, I think I had.
+Nevertheless, at the words "my wife" I felt that I started. The analogy
+with Edgar Allan Poe was complete.
+
+As Mrs. Camber extended her hand with a sort of appealing timidity, it
+appeared to me that she felt herself to be intruding. The expression
+in her beautiful eyes when she glanced at her husband could only be
+described as one of adoration; and whilst it was impossible to doubt
+his love for her, I wondered if his colossal egotism were capable of
+stooping to affection. I wondered if he knew how to tend and protect
+this delicate Southern girl wife of his.
+
+Remembering the episode of the Lavender Arms, I felt justified in
+doubting her happiness, and in this I saw an explanation of the mingled
+sorrow and pride with which Colin Camber regarded her. It might betoken
+recognition of his own shortcomings as a husband.
+
+"How nice of you to come and see us. Mr. Knox," she said.
+
+She spoke in a faintly husky manner which was curiously attractive,
+although lacking the deep, vibrant tones of Madame de St�mer's memorable
+voice. Her English was imperfect, but her accent good.
+
+"Your husband has been carrying me to enchanted lands, Mrs. Camber," I
+replied. "I have never known a morning to pass so quickly."
+
+"Oh," she replied, and laughed with a childish glee which I was glad to
+witness. "Did he tell you all about the book which is going to make the
+world good? Did he tell you it will make us rich as well?"
+
+"Rich?" said Camber, frowning slightly. "Nature's riches are health and
+love. If we hold these the rest will come. Now that you have joined
+us, Ysola, I shall beg Mr. Knox, in honour of this occasion, to drink a
+glass of wine and break a biscuit as a pledge of future meetings."
+
+I watched him as he spoke, a lean, unkempt figure invested with a
+curious dignity, and I found it almost impossible to believe that this
+was the same man who had sat in the bar of the Lavender Arms, sipping
+whisky and water. The resemblance to the portrait in Harley's office
+became more marked than ever. There was an air of high breeding about
+the delicate features which, curiously enough, was accentuated by the
+unshaven chin. I recognized that refusal would be regarded as a rebuff,
+and therefore:
+
+"You are very kind," I said.
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head gravely and courteously.
+
+"We are very glad to have you with us, Mr. Knox," he replied.
+
+He clapped his hands, and, silent as a shadow, Ah Tsong appeared. I
+noted that although it was Camber who had summoned him, it was to Mrs.
+Camber that the Chinaman turned for orders. I had thought his yellow
+face incapable of expression, but as his oblique eyes turned in the
+direction of the girl I read in them a sort of dumb worship, such as one
+sees in the eyes of a dog.
+
+She spoke to him rapidly in Chinese.
+
+"Hoi, hoi," he muttered, "hoi, hoi," nodded his head, and went out.
+
+I saw that Colin Camber had detected my interest, for:
+
+"Ah Tsong is really my wife's servant," he explained.
+
+"Oh," she said in a low voice, and looked at me earnestly, "Ah Tsong
+nursed me when I was a little baby so high." She held her hand about
+four feet from the floor and laughed gleefully. "Can you imagine what a
+funny little thing I was?"
+
+"You must have been a wonder-child, Mrs. Camber," I replied with
+sincerity; "and Ah Tsong has remained with you ever since?"
+
+"Ever since," she echoed, shaking her head in a vaguely pathetic way.
+"He will never leave me, do you think, Colin?"
+
+"Never," replied her husband; "you are all he loves in the world. A
+case, Mr. Knox," he turned to me, "of deathless fidelity rarely met with
+nowadays and only possible, perhaps, in its true form in an Oriental."
+
+Mrs. Camber having seated herself upon one of the few chairs which was
+not piled with books, her husband had resumed his place by the writing
+desk, and I sought in vain to interpret the glances which passed between
+them.
+
+The fact that these two were lovers none could have mistaken. But here
+again, as at Cray's Folly, I detected a shadow. I felt that something
+had struck at the very root of their happiness, in fact, I wondered if
+they had been parted, and were but newly reunited for there was a sort
+of constraint between them, the more marked on the woman's side than on
+the man's. I wondered how long they had been married, but felt that it
+would have been indiscreet to ask.
+
+Even as the idea occurred to me, however, an opportunity arose of
+learning what I wished to know. I heard a bell ring, and:
+
+"There is someone at the door, Colin," said Mrs. Camber.
+
+"I will go," he replied. "Ah Tsong has enough to do."
+
+Without another word he stood up and walked out of the room.
+
+"You see," said Mrs. Camber, smiling in her naive way, "we only have one
+servant, except Ah Tsong, her name is Mrs. Powis. She is visiting her
+daughter who is married. We made the poor old lady take a holiday."
+
+"It is difficult to imagine you burdened with household
+responsibilities, Mrs. Camber," I replied. "Please forgive me but I
+cannot help wondering how long you have been married?"
+
+"For nearly four years."
+
+"Really?" I exclaimed. "You must have been married very young?"
+
+"I was twenty. Do I look so young?"
+
+I gazed at her in amazement.
+
+"You astonish me," I declared, which was quite true and no mere
+compliment. "I had guessed your age to be eighteen."
+
+"Oh," she laughed, and resting her hands upon the settee leaned forward
+with sparkling eyes, "how funny. Sometimes I wish I looked older. It is
+dreadful in this place, although we have been so happy here. At all the
+shops they look at me so funny, so I always send Mrs. Powis now."
+
+"You are really quite wonderful," I said. "You are Spanish, are you not,
+Mrs. Camber?"
+
+She slightly shook her head, and I saw the pupils begin to dilate.
+
+"Not really Spanish," she replied, haltingly. "I was born in Cuba."
+
+"In Cuba?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Then it was in Cuba that you met Mr. Camber?"
+
+She nodded again, watching me intently.
+
+"It is strange that a Virginian should settle in Surrey."
+
+"Yes?" she murmured, "you think so? But really it is not strange at all.
+Colin's people are so proud, so proud. Do you know what they are like,
+those Virginians? Oh! I hate them."
+
+"You hate them?"
+
+"No, I cannot hate them, for he is one. But he will never go back."
+
+"Why should he never go back, Mrs. Camber?"
+
+"Because of me."
+
+"You mean that you do not wish to settle in America?"
+
+"I could not--not where he comes from. They would not have me."
+
+Her eyes grew misty, and she quickly lowered her lashes.
+
+"Would not have you?" I exclaimed. "I don't understand."
+
+"No?" she said, and smiled up at me very gravely. "It is simple. I am a
+Cuban, one, as they say, of an inferior race--and of mixed blood."
+
+She shook her golden head as if to dismiss the subject, and stood up, as
+Camber entered, followed by Ah Tsong bearing a tray of refreshments.
+
+Of the ensuing conversation I remember nothing. My mind was focussed
+upon the one vital fact that Mrs. Camber was a Cuban Creole. Dimly I
+felt that here was the missing link for which Paul Harley was groping.
+For it was in Cuba that Colin Camber had met his wife, it was from Cuba
+that the menace of Bat Wing came.
+
+What could it mean? Surely it was more than a coincidence that these
+two families, both associated with the West Indies, should reside within
+sight of one another in the Surrey Hills. Yet, if it were the result of
+design, the design must be on the part of Colonel Menendez, since the
+Cambers had occupied the Guest House before he had leased Cray's Folly.
+
+I know not if I betrayed my absentmindedness during the time that I was
+struggling vainly with these maddening problems, but presently, Mrs.
+Camber having departed about her household duties, I found myself
+walking down the garden with her husband.
+
+"This is the summer house of which I was speaking, Mr. Knox," he said,
+and I regret to state that I retained no impression of his having
+previously mentioned the subject. "During the time that Sir James
+Appleton resided at Cray's Folly, I worked here regularly in the summer
+months. It was Sir James, of course, who laid out the greater part of
+the gardens and who rescued the property from the state of decay into
+which it had fallen."
+
+I aroused myself from the profitless reverie in which I had become lost.
+We were standing before a sort of arbour which marked the end of the
+grounds of the Guest House. It overhung the edge of a miniature ravine,
+in which, over a pebbly course, a little stream pursued its way down the
+valley to feed the lake in the grounds of Cray's Folly.
+
+From this point of vantage I could see the greater part of Colonel
+Menendez's residence. I had an unobstructed view of the tower and of the
+Tudor garden.
+
+"I abandoned my work-shop," pursued Colin Camber, "when the--er--the new
+tenant took up his residence. I work now in the room in which you found
+me this morning."
+
+He sighed, and turning abruptly, led the way back to the house, holding
+himself very erect, and presenting a queer figure in his threadbare
+dressing gown.
+
+It was now a perfect summer's day, and I commented upon the beauty of
+the old garden, which in places was bordered by a crumbling wall.
+
+"Yes, a quaint old spot," said Camber. "I thought at one time, because
+of the name of the house, that it might have been part of a monastery
+or convent. This was not the case, however. It derives its name from a
+certain Sir Jaspar Guest, who flourished, I believe, under King Charles
+of merry memory."
+
+"Nevertheless," I added, "the Guest House is a charming survival of more
+spacious days."
+
+"True," returned Colin Camber, gravely. "Here it is possible to lead
+one's own life, away from the noisy world," he sighed again wearily.
+"Yes, I shall regret leaving the Guest House."
+
+"What! You are leaving?"
+
+"I am leaving as soon as I can find another residence, suited both to my
+requirements and to my slender purse. But these domestic affairs can be
+of no possible interest to you. I take it, Mr. Knox, that you will grant
+my wife and myself the pleasure of your company at lunch?"
+
+"Many thanks," I replied, "but really I must return to Cray's Folly."
+
+As I spoke the words I had moved a little ahead at a point where
+the path was overgrown by a rose bush, for the garden was somewhat
+neglected.
+
+"You will quite understand," I said, and turned.
+
+Never can I forget the spectacle which I beheld.
+
+Colin Camber's peculiarly pale complexion had assumed a truly ghastly
+pallor, and he stood with tightly clenched hands, glaring at me almost
+insanely.
+
+"Mr. Camber," I cried, with concern, "are you unwell?"
+
+He moistened his dry lips, and:
+
+"You are returning--to Cray's Folly?" he said, speaking, it seemed, with
+difficulty.
+
+"I am, sir. I am staying with Colonel Menendez."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+He clutched the collar of his pyjama jacket and wrenched so strongly
+that the button was torn off. His passion was incredible, insane. The
+power of speech had almost left him.
+
+"You are a guest of--of Devil Menendez," he whispered, and the
+speaking of the name seemed almost to choke him. "Of--Devil Menendez.
+You--you--are a spy. You have stolen my hospitality--you have obtained
+access to my house under false pretences. God! if I had known!"
+
+"Mr. Camber," I said, sternly, and realized that I, too, had clenched
+my fists, for the man's language was grossly insulting, "you forget
+yourself."
+
+"Perhaps I do," he muttered, thickly; "and therefore"--he raised a
+quivering forefinger--"go! If you have any spark of compassion in your
+breast, go! Leave my house."
+
+Nostrils dilated, he stood with that quivering finger outstretched, and
+now having become as speechless as he, I turned and walked rapidly up to
+the house.
+
+"Ah Tsong! Ah Tsong!" came a cry from behind me in tones which I can
+only describe as hysterical--"Mr. Knox's hat and stick. Quickly."
+
+As I walked in past the study door the Chinaman came to meet me, holding
+my hat and cane. I took them from him without a word, and, the door
+being held open by Ah Tsong, walked out on to the road.
+
+My heart was beating rapidly. I did not know what to think nor what to
+do. This ignominious dismissal afforded an experience new to me. I was
+humiliated, mortified, but above all, wildly angry.
+
+How far I had gone on my homeward journey I cannot say, when the sound
+of quickly pattering footsteps intruded upon my wild reverie. I stopped,
+turned, and there was Ah Tsong almost at my heels.
+
+"Blinga chit flom lilly missee," he said, and held the note toward me.
+
+I hesitated, glaring at him in a way that must have been very
+unpleasant; but recovering myself I tore open the envelope, and read the
+following note, written in pencil and very shakily:
+
+MR. KNOX. Please forgive him. If you knew what we have suffered from
+Senor Don Juan Menendez, I know you would forgive him. Please, for my
+sake. YSOLA CAMBER.
+
+The Chinaman was watching me, that strangely pathetic expression in his
+eyes, and:
+
+"Tell your mistress that I quite understand and will write to her," I
+said.
+
+"Hoi, hoi."
+
+Ah Tsong turned, and ran swiftly off, as I pursued my way back to Cray's
+Folly in a mood which I shall not attempt to describe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+UNREST
+
+
+
+I sat in Paul Harley's room. Luncheon was over, and although, as on the
+previous day, it had been a perfect repast, perfectly served, the sense
+of tension which I had experienced throughout the meal had made me
+horribly ill at ease.
+
+That shadow of which I have spoken elsewhere seemed to have become
+almost palpable. In vain I had ascribed it to a morbid imagination:
+persistently it lingered.
+
+Madame de St�mer's gaiety rang more false than ever. She twirled the
+rings upon her slender fingers and shot little enquiring glances all
+around the table. This spirit of unrest, from wherever it arose, had
+communicated itself to everybody. Madame's several bon mots one and all
+were failures. She delivered them without conviction like an amateur
+repeating lines learned by heart. The Colonel was unusually silent,
+eating little but drinking much. There was something unreal, almost
+ghastly, about the whole affair; and when at last Madame de St�mer
+retired, bearing Val Beverley with her, I felt certain that the Colonel
+would make some communication to us. If ever knowledge of portentous
+evil were written upon a man's face it was written upon his, as he sat
+there at the head of the table, staring straightly before him. However:
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "if your enquiries here have led to no result of,
+shall I say, a tangible character, at least I feel sure that you must
+have realized one thing."
+
+Harley stared at him sternly.
+
+"I have realized, Colonel Menendez," he replied, "that something is
+pending."
+
+"Ah!" murmured the Colonel, and he clutched the edge of the table with
+his strong brown hands.
+
+"But," continued my friend, "I have realized something more. You have
+asked for my aid, and I am here. Now you have deliberately tied my
+hands."
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" asked the other, softly.
+
+"I will speak plainly. I mean that you know more about the nature of
+this danger than you have ever communicated to me. Allow me to proceed,
+if you please, Colonel Menendez. For your delightful hospitality I thank
+you. As your guest I could be happy, but as a professional investigator
+whose services have been called upon under most unusual circumstances, I
+cannot be happy and I do not thank you."
+
+Their glances met. Both were angry, wilful, and self-confident.
+Following a few moments of silence:
+
+"Perhaps, Mr. Harley," said the Colonel, "you have something further to
+say?"
+
+"I have this to say," was the answer: "I esteem your friendship, but I
+fear I must return to town without delay."
+
+The Colonel's jaws were clenched so tightly that I could see the muscles
+protruding. He was fighting an inward battle; then:
+
+"What!" he said, "you would desert me?"
+
+"I never deserted any man who sought my aid."
+
+"I have sought your aid."
+
+"Then accept it!" cried Harley. "This, or allow me to retire from the
+case. You ask me to find an enemy who threatens you, and you withhold
+every clue which could aid me in my search."
+
+"What clue have I withheld?"
+
+Paul Harley stood up.
+
+"It is useless to discuss the matter further, Colonel Menendez," he
+said, coldly.
+
+The Colonel rose also, and:
+
+"Mr. Harley," he replied, and his high voice was ill-controlled, "if I
+give you my word of honour that I dare not tell you more, and if, having
+done so, I beg of you to remain at least another night, can you refuse
+me?"
+
+Harley stood at the end of the table watching him.
+
+"Colonel Menendez," he said, "this would appear to be a game in which my
+handicap rests on the fact that I do not know against whom I am pitted.
+Very well. You leave me no alternative but to reply that I will stay."
+
+"I thank you, Mr. Harley. As I fear I am far from well, dare I hope to
+be excused if I retire to my room for an hour's rest?"
+
+Harley and I bowed, and the Colonel, returning our salutations, walked
+slowly out, his bearing one of grace and dignity. So that memorable
+luncheon terminated, and now we found ourselves alone and faced with
+a problem which, from whatever point one viewed it, offered no single
+opening whereby one might hope to penetrate to the truth.
+
+Paul Harley was pacing up and down the room in a state of such nervous
+irritability as I never remembered to have witnessed in him before.
+
+I had just finished an account of my visit to the Guest House and of the
+indignity which had been put upon me, and:
+
+"Conundrums! conundrums!" my friend exclaimed. "This quest of Bat Wing
+is like the quest of heaven, Knox. A hundred open doors invite us,
+each one promising to lead to the light, and if we enter where do they
+lead?--to mystification. For instance, Colonel Menendez has broadly
+hinted that he looks upon Colin Camber as an enemy. Judging from your
+reception at the Guest House to-day, such an enmity, and a deadly
+enmity, actually exists. But whereas Camber has resided here for
+three years, the Colonel is a newcomer. We are, therefore, offered
+the spectacle of a trembling victim seeking the sacrifice. Bah! it is
+preposterous."
+
+"If you had seen Colin Camber's face to-day, you might not have thought
+it so preposterous."
+
+"But I should, Knox! I should! It is impossible to suppose that Colonel
+Menendez was unaware when he leased Cray's Folly that Camber occupied
+the Guest House."
+
+"And Mrs. Camber is a Cuban," I murmured.
+
+"Don't, Knox!" my friend implored. "This case is driving me mad. I have
+a conviction that it is going to prove my Waterloo."
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, "this mood is new to you."
+
+"Why don't you advise me to remember Auguste Dupin?" asked Harley,
+bitterly. "That great man, preserving his philosophical calm, doubtless
+by this time would have pieced together these disjointed clues, and
+have produced an elegant pattern ready to be framed and exhibited to the
+admiring public."
+
+He dropped down upon the bed, and taking his briar from his pocket,
+began to load it in a manner which was almost vicious. I stood watching
+him and offered no remark, until, having lighted the pipe, he began to
+smoke. I knew that these "Indian moods" were of short duration, and,
+sure enough, presently:
+
+"God bless us all, Knox," he said, breaking into an amused smile, "how
+we bristle when someone tries to prove that we are not infallible! How
+human we are, Knox, but how fortunate that we can laugh at ourselves."
+
+I sighed with relief, for Harley at these times imposed a severe strain
+even upon my easy-going disposition.
+
+"Let us go down to the billiard room," he continued. "I will play you a
+hundred up. I have arrived at a point where my ideas persistently work
+in circles. The best cure is golf; failing golf, billiards."
+
+The billiard room was immediately beneath us, adjoining the last
+apartment in the east wing, and there we made our way. Harley
+played keenly, deliberately, concentrating upon the game. I was less
+successful, for I found myself alternately glancing toward the door
+and the open window, in the hope that Val Beverley would join us. I was
+disappointed, however. We saw no more of the ladies until tea-time, and
+if a spirit of constraint had prevailed throughout luncheon, a veritable
+demon of unrest presided upon the terrace during tea.
+
+Madame de St�mer made apologies on behalf of the Colonel. He was
+prolonging his siesta, but he hoped to join us at dinner.
+
+"Is the Colonel's heart affected?" Harley asked.
+
+Madame de St�mer shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, blankly.
+
+"It is mysterious, the state of his health," she replied. "An old
+trouble, which began years and years ago in Cuba."
+
+Harley nodded sympathetically, but I could see that he was not
+satisfied. Yet, although he might doubt her explanation, he had noted,
+and so had I, that Madame de St�mer's concern was very real. Her slender
+hands were strangely unsteady; indeed her condition bordered on one of
+distraction.
+
+Harley concealed his thoughts, whatever they may have been, beneath that
+mask of reserve which I knew so well, whilst I endeavoured in vain to
+draw Val Beverley into conversation with me.
+
+I gathered that Madame de St�mer had been to visit the invalid, and
+that she was all anxiety to return was a fact she was wholly unable to
+conceal. There was a tired look in her still eyes, as though she had
+undertaken a task beyond her powers to perform, and, so unnatural a
+quartette were we, that when presently she withdrew I was glad, although
+she took Val Beverley with her.
+
+Paul Harley resumed his seat, staring at me with unseeing eyes. A
+sound reached us through the drawing room which told us that Madame de
+St�mer's chair was being taken upstairs, a task always performed when
+Madame desired to visit the upper floors by Manoel and Pedro's daughter,
+Nita, who acted as Madame's maid. These sounds died away, and I thought
+how silent everything had become. Even the birds were still, and
+presently, my eye being attracted to a black speck in the sky above, I
+learned why the feathered choir was mute. A hawk was hovering loftily
+overhead.
+
+Noting my upward glance, Paul Harley also raised his eyes.
+
+"Ah," he murmured, "a hawk. All the birds are cowering in their nests.
+Nature is a cruel mistress, Knox."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+RED EVE
+
+
+
+Over the remainder of that afternoon I will pass in silence. Indeed,
+looking backward now, I cannot recollect that it afforded one incident
+worthy of record. But because great things overshadow small, so it may
+be that whereas my recollections of quite trivial episodes are sharp
+enough up to a point, my memories from this point onward to the horrible
+and tragic happening which I have set myself to relate are hazy and
+indistinct. I was troubled by the continued absence of Val Beverley.
+I thought that she was avoiding me by design, and in Harley's gloomy
+reticence I could find no shadow of comfort.
+
+We wandered aimlessly about the grounds, Harley staring up in a vague
+fashion at the windows of Cray's Folly; and presently, when I stopped to
+inspect a very perfect rose bush, he left me without a word, and I found
+myself alone.
+
+Later, as I sauntered toward the Tudor garden, where I had hoped to
+encounter Miss Beverley, I heard the clicking of billiard balls; and
+there was Harley at the table, practising fancy shots.
+
+He glanced up at me as I paused by the open window, stopped to relight
+his pipe, and then bent over the table again.
+
+"Leave me alone, Knox," he muttered; "I am not fit for human society."
+
+Understanding his moods as well as I did, I merely laughed and withdrew.
+
+I strolled around into the library and inspected scores of books without
+forming any definite impression of the contents of any of them. Manoel
+came in whilst I was there and I was strongly tempted to send a message
+to Miss Beverley, but common sense overcame the inclination.
+
+When at last my watch told me that the hour for dressing was arrived,
+I heaved a sigh of relief. I cannot say that I was bored, my ill-temper
+sprang from a deeper source than this. The mysterious disappearance of
+the inmates of Cray's Folly, and a sort of brooding stillness which lay
+over the great house, had utterly oppressed me.
+
+As I passed along the terrace I paused to admire the spectacle afforded
+by the setting sun. The horizon was on fire from north to south and the
+countryside was stained with that mystic radiance which is sometimes
+called the Blood of Apollo. Turning, I saw the disk of the moon coldly
+rising in the heavens. I thought of the silent birds and the hovering
+hawk, and I began my preparations for dinner mechanically, dressing as
+an automaton might dress.
+
+Paul Harley's personality was never more marked than in his evil moods.
+His power to fascinate was only equalled by his power to repel. Thus,
+although there was a light in his room and I could hear Lim moving
+about, I did not join him when I had finished dressing, but lighting a
+cigarette walked downstairs.
+
+The beauty of the night called to me, although as I stepped out upon the
+terrace I realized with a sort of shock that the gathering dusk held a
+menace, so that I found myself questioning the shadows and doubting
+the rustle of every leaf. Something invisible, intangible yet potent,
+brooded over Cray's Folly. I began to think more kindly of the
+disappearance of Val Beverley during the afternoon. Doubtless she, too,
+had been touched by this spirit of unrest and in solitude had sought to
+dispel it.
+
+So thinking. I walked on in the direction of the Tudor garden. The place
+was bathed in a sort of purple half-light, lending it a fairy air of
+unreality, as though banished sun and rising moon yet disputed for
+mastery over earth. This idea set me thinking of Colin Camber, of
+Osiris, whom he had described as a black god, and of Isis, whose silver
+disk now held undisputed sovereignty of the evening sky.
+
+Resentment of the treatment which I had received at the Guest House
+still burned hotly within me, but the mystery of it all had taken the
+keen edge off my wrath, and I think a sort of melancholy was the keynote
+of my reflections as, descending the steps to the sunken garden, I saw
+Val Beverley, in a delicate blue gown, coming toward me. She was the
+spirit of my dreams, and the embodiment of my mood. When she lowered her
+eyes at my approach, I knew by virtue of a sort of inspiration that she
+had been avoiding me.
+
+"Miss Beverley," I said, "I have been looking for you all the
+afternoon."
+
+"Have you? I have been in my room writing letters."
+
+I paced slowly along beside her.
+
+"I wish you would be very frank with me," I said.
+
+She glanced up swiftly, and as swiftly lowered her lashes again.
+
+"Do you think I am not frank?"
+
+"I do think so. I understand why."
+
+"Do you really understand?"
+
+"I think I do. Your woman's intuition has told you that there is
+something wrong."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"You are afraid of your thoughts. You can see that Madame de St�mer and
+Colonel Menendez are deliberately concealing something from Paul Harley,
+and you don't know where your duty lies. Am I right?"
+
+She met my glance for a moment in a startled way, then: "Yes," she said,
+softly; "you are quite right. How have you guessed?"
+
+"I have tried very hard to understand you," I replied, "and so perhaps
+up to a point I have succeeded."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox." She suddenly laid her hand upon my arm. "I am oppressed
+with such a dreadful foreboding, yet I don't know how to explain it to
+you."
+
+"I understand. I, too, have felt it."
+
+"You have?" She paused, and looked at me eagerly. "Then it is not
+just morbid imagination on my part. If only I knew what to do, what to
+believe. Really, I am bewildered. I have just left Madame de St�mer--"
+
+"Yes?" I said, for she had paused in evident doubt.
+
+"Well, she has utterly broken down."
+
+"Broken down?"
+
+"She came to my room and sobbed hysterically for nearly an hour this
+afternoon."
+
+"But what was the cause of her grief?"
+
+"I simply cannot understand."
+
+"Is it possible that Colonel Menendez is dangerously ill?"
+
+"It may be so, Mr. Knox, but in that event why have they not sent for a
+physician?"
+
+"True," I murmured; "and no one has been sent for?"
+
+"No one."
+
+"Have you seen Colonel Menendez?"
+
+"Not since lunch-time."
+
+"Have you ever known him to suffer in this way before?"
+
+"Never. It is utterly unaccountable. Certainly during the last few
+months he has given up riding practically altogether, and in other ways
+has changed his former habits, but I have never known him to exhibit
+traces of any real illness."
+
+"Has any medical man attended him?"
+
+"Not that I know of. Oh, there is something uncanny about it all.
+Whatever should I do if you were not here?"
+
+She had spoken on impulse, and seeing her swift embarrassment:
+
+"Miss Beverley," I said, "I am delighted to know that my company cheers
+you."
+
+Truth to tell my heart was beating rapidly, and, so selfish is the
+nature of man, I was more glad to learn that my company was acceptable
+to Val Beverley than I should have been to have had the riddle of Cray's
+Folly laid bare before me.
+
+Those sweetly indiscreet words, however, had raised a momentary barrier
+between us, and we walked on silently to the house, and entered the
+brightly lighted hall.
+
+The silver peal of a Chinese tubular gong rang out just when we reached
+the veranda, and as Val Beverley and I walked in from the garden, Madame
+de St�mer came wheeling through the doorway, closely followed by Paul
+Harley. In her the art of the toilette amounted almost to genius, and
+she had so successfully concealed all traces of her recent grief that I
+wondered if this could have been real.
+
+"My dear Mr. Knox," she cried, "I seem to be fated always to apologize
+for other people. The Colonel is truly desolate, but he cannot join us
+for dinner. I have already explained to Mr. Harley."
+
+Harley inclined his head sympathetically, and assisted to arrange Madame
+in her place.
+
+"The Colonel requests us to smoke a cigar with him after dinner, Knox,"
+he said, glancing across to me. "It would seem that troubles never come
+singly."
+
+"Ah," Madame shrugged her shoulders, which her low gown left daringly
+bare, "they come in flocks, or not at all. But I suppose we should feel
+lonely in the world without a few little sorrows, eh, Mr. Harley?"
+
+I loved her unquenchable spirit, and I have wondered often enough what
+I should have thought of her if I had known the truth. France has bred
+some wonderful women, both good and bad, but none I think more wonderful
+than Marie de St�mer.
+
+If such a thing were possible, we dined more extravagantly than on
+the previous night. Madame's wit was at its keenest; she was truly
+brilliant. Pedro, from the big bouffet at the end of the room,
+supervised this feast of Lucullus, and except for odd moments of silence
+in which Madame seemed to be listening for some distant sound, there was
+nothing, I think, which could have told a casual observer that a black
+cloud rested upon the house.
+
+Once, interrupting a t�te-�-t�te between Val Beverley and Paul Harley:
+
+"Do not encourage her, Mr. Harley," said Madame, "she is a desperate
+flirt."
+
+"Oh, Madame," cried Val Beverley and blushed deeply.
+
+"You know you are, my dear, and you are very wise. Flirt all your
+life, but never fall in love. It is fatal, don't you think so, Mr.
+Knox?"--turning to me in her rapid manner.
+
+I looked into her still eyes, which concealed so much.
+
+"Say, rather, that it is Fate," I murmured.
+
+"Yes, that is more pretty, but not so true. If I could live my life
+again, M. Knox," she said, for she sometimes used the French and
+sometimes the English mode of address, "I should build a stone wall
+around my heart. It could peep over, but no one could ever reach it."
+
+Oddly enough, then, as it seems to me now, the spirit of unrest seemed
+almost to depart for awhile, and in the company of the vivacious
+Frenchwoman time passed very quickly up to the moment when Harley and I
+walked slowly upstairs to join the Colonel.
+
+During the latter part of dinner an idea had presented itself to me
+which I was anxious to mention to Harley, and:
+
+"Harley," I said, "an explanation of the Colonel's absence has occurred
+to me."
+
+"Really!" he replied; "possibly the same one that has occurred to me."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+Paul Harley paused on the stairs, turning to me.
+
+"You are thinking that he has taken cover from the danger which he
+believes particularly to threaten him to-night?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"You may be right," he murmured, proceeding upstairs.
+
+He led the way to a little smoke-room which hitherto I had never
+visited, and in response to his knock:
+
+"Come in," cried the high voice of Colonel Menendez.
+
+We entered to find ourselves in a small and very cosy room. There was a
+handsome oak bureau against one wall, which was littered with papers
+of various kinds, and there was also a large bookcase occupied almost
+exclusively by French novels. It occurred to me that the Colonel spent a
+greater part of his time in this little snuggery than in the more formal
+study below. At the moment of our arrival he was stretched upon a
+settee near which stood a little table; and on this table I observed the
+remains of what appeared to me to have been a fairly substantial repast.
+For some reason which I did not pause to analyze at the moment I noted
+with disfavour the presence of a bowl of roses upon the silver tray.
+
+Colonel Menendez was smoking a cigarette, and Manoel was in the act of
+removing the tray.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Colonel, "I have no words in which to express
+my sorrow. Manoel, pull up those armchairs. Help yourself to port, Mr.
+Harley, and fill Mr. Knox's glass. I can recommend the cigars in the
+long box."
+
+As we seated ourselves:
+
+"I am extremely sorry to find you indisposed, sir," said Harley.
+
+He was watching the dark face keenly, and probably thinking, as I was
+thinking, that it exhibited no trace of illness.
+
+Colonel Menendez waved his cigarette gracefully, settling himself amid
+the cushions.
+
+"An old trouble, Mr. Harley," he replied, lightly; "a legacy from
+ancestors who drank too deep of the wine of life."
+
+"You are surely taking medical advice?"
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged slightly.
+
+"There is no doctor in England who would understand the case," he
+replied. "Besides, there is nothing for it but rest and avoidance of
+excitement."
+
+"In that event, Colonel," said Harley, "we will not disturb you for
+long. Indeed, I should not have consented to disturb you at all, if
+I had not thought that you might have some request to make upon this
+important night."
+
+"Ah!" Colonel Menendez shot a swift glance in his direction. "You have
+remembered about to-night?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"Your interest comforts me very greatly, gentlemen, and I am only
+sorry that my uncertain health has made me so poor a host. Nothing
+has occurred since your arrival to help you, I am aware. Not that I
+am anxious for any new activity on the part of my enemies. But almost
+anything which should end this deathly suspense would be welcome."
+
+He spoke the final words with a peculiar intonation. I saw Harley
+watching him closely.
+
+"However," he continued, "everything is in the hands of Fate, and
+if your visit should prove futile, I can only apologize for
+having interrupted your original plans. Respecting to-night"--he
+shrugged--"what can I say?"
+
+"Nothing has occurred," asked Harley, slowly, "nothing fresh, I mean,
+to indicate that the danger which you apprehend may really culminate
+to-night?"
+
+"Nothing fresh, Mr. Harley, unless you yourself have observed anything."
+
+"Ah," murmured Paul Harley, "let us hope that the threat will never be
+fulfilled."
+
+Colonel Menendez inclined his head gravely.
+
+"Let us hope so," he said.
+
+On the whole, he was curiously subdued. He was most solicitous for our
+comfort and his exquisite courtesy had never been more marked. I often
+think of him now--his big but graceful figure reclining upon the settee,
+whilst he skilfully rolled his eternal cigarettes and chatted in that
+peculiar, light voice. Before the memory of Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento
+Menendez I sometimes stand appalled. If his Maker had but endowed him
+with other qualities of mind and heart equal to his magnificent courage,
+then truly he had been a great man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON
+
+
+
+I stood at Harley's open window--looking down in the Tudor garden. The
+moon, like a silver mirror, hung in a cloudless sky. Over an hour had
+elapsed since I had heard Pedro making his nightly rounds. Nothing
+whatever of an unusual nature had occurred, and although Harley and I
+had listened for any sound of nocturnal footsteps, our vigilance had
+passed unrewarded. Harley, unrolling the Chinese ladder, had set out
+upon a secret tour of the grounds, warning me that it must be a long
+business, since the brilliance of the moonlight rendered it necessary
+that he should make a wide detour, in order to avoid possible
+observation from the windows. I had wished to join him, but:
+
+"I count it most important that one of us should remain in the house,"
+he had replied.
+
+As a result, here was I at the open window, questioning the shadows to
+right and left of me, and every moment expecting to see Harley reappear.
+I wondered what discoveries he would make. It would not have surprised
+me to learn that there were lights in many windows of Cray's Folly
+to-night.
+
+Although, when we had rejoined the ladies for half an hour, after
+leaving Colonel Menendez's room, there had been no overt reference to
+the menace overhanging the house, yet, as we separated for the night, I
+had detected again in Val Beverley's eyes that look of repressed fear.
+Indeed, she was palpably disinclined to retire, but was carried off by
+the masterful Madame, who declared that she looked tired.
+
+I wondered now, as I gazed down into the moon-bathed gardens, if Harley
+and I were the only wakeful members of the household at that hour. I
+should have been prepared to wager that there were others. I thought of
+the strange footsteps which so often passed Miss Beverley's room, and I
+discovered this thought to be an uncomfortable one.
+
+Normally, I was sceptical enough, but on this night of the full moon
+as I stood there at the window, the horrors which Colonel Menendez
+had related to us grew very real in my eyes, and I thought that the
+mysteries of Voodoo might conceal strange and ghastly truths, "The
+scientific employment of darkness against light." Colin Camber's words
+leapt unbidden to my mind; and, such is the magic of moonlight, they
+became invested with a new and a deeper significance. Strange, that
+theories which one rejects whilst the sun is shining should assume a
+spectral shape in the light of the moon.
+
+Such were my musings, when suddenly I heard a faint sound as of
+footsteps crunching upon gravel. I leaned farther out of the window,
+listening intently. I could not believe that Harley would be guilty of
+such an indiscretion as this, yet who else could be walking upon the
+path below?
+
+As I watched, craning from the window, a tall figure appeared, and,
+slowly crossing the gravel path, descended the moss-grown steps to the
+Tudor garden.
+
+It was Colonel Menendez!
+
+He was bare-headed, but fully dressed as I had seen him in the
+smoking-room; and not yet grasping the portent of his appearance at that
+hour, but merely wondering why he had not yet retired, I continued to
+watch him. As I did so, something in his gait, something unnatural in
+his movements, caught hold of my mind with a sudden great conviction. He
+had reached the path which led to the sun-dial, and with short, queer,
+ataxic steps was proceeding in its direction, a striking figure in the
+brilliant moonlight which touched his gray hair with a silvery sheen.
+
+His unnatural, automatic movements told their own story. He was walking
+in his sleep! Could it be in obedience to the call of M'kombo?
+
+My throat grew dry and I knew not how to act. Unwillingly it seemed,
+with ever-halting steps, the figure moved onward. I could see that his
+fists were tightly clenched and that he held his head rigidly upright.
+All horrors, real and imaginary, which I had ever experienced,
+culminated in the moment when I saw this man of inflexible character,
+I could have sworn of indomitable will, moving like a puppet under the
+influence of some unnameable force.
+
+He was almost come to the sun-dial when I determined to cry out. Then,
+remembering the shock experienced by a suddenly awakened somnambulist,
+and remembering that the Chinese ladder hung from the window at my feet,
+I changed my mind. Checking the cry upon my lips, I got astride of the
+window ledge, and began to grope for the bamboo rungs beneath me. I had
+found the first of these, and, turning, had begun to descend, when:
+
+"Knox! Knox!" came softly from the opening in the box hedge, "what the
+devil are you about?"
+
+It was Paul Harley returned from his tour of the building.
+
+"Harley!" I whispered, descending, "quick! the Colonel has just gone
+into the Tudor garden!"
+
+"What!" There was a note of absolute horror in the exclamation. "You
+should have stopped him, Knox, you should have stopped him!" cried
+Harley, and with that he ran off in the same direction.
+
+Disentangling my foot from the rungs of the ladder which lay upon
+the ground, I was about to follow, when it happened--that strange and
+ghastly thing toward which, secretly, darkly, events had been tending.
+
+The crack of a rifle sounded sharply in the stillness, echoing and
+re-echoing from wing to wing of Cray's Folly and then, more dimly, up
+the wooded slopes beyond! Somewhere ahead of me I heard Harley cry out:
+
+"My God, I am too late! They have got him!"
+
+Then, hotfoot, I was making for the entrance to the garden. Just as I
+came to it and raced down the steps I heard another sound the memory of
+which haunts me to this day.
+
+Where it came from I had no idea. Perhaps I was too confused to judge
+accurately. It might have come from the house, or from the slopes beyond
+the house, But it was a sort of shrill, choking laugh, and it set the
+ultimate touch of horror upon a _sc�ne macabre_ which, even as I write
+of it, seems unreal to me.
+
+I ran up the path to where Harley was kneeling beside the sun-dial.
+Analysis of my emotions at this moment were futile; I can only say that
+I had come to a state of stupefaction. Face downward on the grass, arms
+outstretched and fists clenched, lay Colonel Menendez. I think I saw him
+move convulsively, but as I gained his side Harley looked up at me, and
+beneath the tan which he never lost his face had grown pale. He spoke
+through clenched teeth.
+
+"Merciful God," he said, "he is shot through the head."
+
+One glance I gave at the ghastly wound in the base of the Colonel's
+skull, and then swayed backward in a sort of nausea. To see a man die
+in the heat of battle, a man one has known and called friend, is strange
+and terrible. Here in this moon-bathed Tudor garden it was a horror
+almost beyond my powers to endure.
+
+Paul Harley, without touching the prone figure, stood up. Indeed no
+examination of the victim was necessary. A rifle bullet had pierced his
+brain, and he lay there dead with his head toward the hills.
+
+I clutched at Harley's shoulder, but he stood rigidly, staring up the
+slope past the angle of the tower, to where a gable of the Guest House
+jutted out from the trees.
+
+"Did you hear--that cry?" I whispered, "immediately after the shot?"
+
+"I heard it."
+
+A moment longer he stood fixedly watching, and then:
+
+"Not a wisp of smoke," he said. "You note the direction in which he was
+facing when he fell?"
+
+He spoke in a stern and unnatural voice.
+
+"I do. He must have turned half right when he came to the sun-dial."
+
+"Where were you when the shot was fired?"
+
+"Running in this direction."
+
+"You saw no flash?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Neither did I," groaned Harley; "neither did I. And short of throwing a
+cordon round the hills what can be done? How can I move?"
+
+He had somewhat relaxed, but now as I continued to clutch his arm, I
+felt the muscles grow rigid again.
+
+"Look, Knox!" he whispered--"look!"
+
+I followed the direction of his fixed stare, and through the trees on
+the hillside a dim light shone out. Someone had lighted a lamp in the
+Guest House.
+
+A faint, sibilant sound drew my glance upward, and there overhead a
+bat circled--circled--dipped--and flew off toward the distant woods. So
+still was the night that I could distinguish the babble of the little
+stream which ran down into the lake. Then, suddenly, came a loud
+flapping of wings. The swans had been awakened by the sound of the shot.
+Others had been awakened, too, for now distant voices became audible,
+and then a muffled scream from somewhere within Cray's Folly.
+
+"Back to the house, Knox," said Harley, hoarsely. "For God's sake keep
+the women away. Get Pedro, and send Manoel for the nearest doctor.
+It's useless but usual. Let no one deface his footprints. My worst
+anticipations have come true. The local police must be informed."
+
+Throughout the time that he spoke he continued to search the moon-bathed
+landscape with feverish eagerness, but except for a faint movement
+of birds in the trees, for they, like the swans on the lake, had been
+alarmed by the shot, nothing stirred.
+
+"It came from the hillside," he muttered. "Off you go, Knox."
+
+And even as I started on my unpleasant errand, he had set out running
+toward the gate in the southern corner of the garden.
+
+For my part I scrambled unceremoniously up the bank, and emerged where
+the yews stood sentinel beside the path. I ran through the gap in the
+box hedge just as the main doors were thrown open by Pedro.
+
+He started back as he saw me.
+
+"Pedro! Pedro!" I cried, "have the ladies been awakened?"
+
+"Yes, yes! there is terrible trouble, sir. What has happened? What has
+happened?"
+
+"A tragedy," I said, shortly. "Pull yourself together. Where is Madame
+de St�mer?"
+
+Pedro uttered some exclamation in Spanish and stood, pale-faced, swaying
+before me, a dishevelled figure in a dressing gown. And now in the
+background Mrs. Fisher appeared. One frightened glance she cast in my
+direction, and would have hurried across the hall but I intercepted her.
+
+"Where are you going, Mrs. Fisher?" I demanded. "What has happened
+here?"
+
+"To Madame, to Madame," she sobbed, pointing toward the corridor which
+communicated with Madame de St�mer's bedchamber.
+
+I heard a frightened cry proceeding from that direction, and recognized
+the voice of Nita, the girl who acted as Madame's maid. Then I heard Val
+Beverley.
+
+"Go and fetch Mrs. Fisher, Nita, at once--and try to behave yourself. I
+have trouble enough."
+
+I entered the corridor and pulled up short. Val Beverley, fully dressed,
+was kneeling beside Madame de St�mer, who wore a kimono over her
+night-robe, and who lay huddled on the floor immediately outside the
+door of her room!
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox!" cried the girl, pitifully, and raised frightened eyes to
+me. "For God's sake, what has happened?"
+
+Nita, the Spanish girl, who was sobbing hysterically, ran along to join
+Mrs. Fisher.
+
+"I will tell you in a moment," I said, quietly, rendered cool, as one
+always is, by the need of others. "But first tell me--how did Madame de
+St�mer get here?"
+
+"I don't know, I don't know! I was startled by the shot. It has awakened
+everybody. And just as I opened my door to listen, I heard Madame cry
+out in the hall below. I ran down, turned on the light, and found her
+lying here. She, too, had been awakened, I suppose, and was endeavouring
+to drag herself from her room when her strength failed her and she
+swooned. She is too heavy for me to lift," added the girl, pathetically,
+"and Pedro is out of his senses, and Nita, who was the first of the
+servants to come, is simply hysterical, as you can see."
+
+I nodded reassuringly, and stooping, lifted the swooning woman. She was
+much heavier than I should have supposed, but, Val Beverley leading the
+way, I carried her into her apartment and placed her upon the bed.
+
+"I will leave her to you," I said. "You have courage, and so I will tell
+you what has happened."
+
+"Yes, tell me, oh, tell me!"
+
+She laid her hands upon my shoulders appealingly, and looked up into my
+eyes in a way that made me long to take her in my arms and comfort her,
+an insane longing which I only crushed with difficulty.
+
+"Someone has shot Colonel Menendez," I said, in a low voice, for Mrs.
+Fisher had just entered.
+
+"You mean--"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+Val Beverley opened and closed her eyes, clutching at me dizzily for a
+moment, then:
+
+"I think," she whispered, "she must have known, and that was why she
+swooned. Oh, my God! how horrible."
+
+I made her sit down in an armchair, and watched her anxiously, but
+although every speck of colour had faded from her cheeks, she was
+splendidly courageous, and almost immediately she smiled up at me, very
+wanly, but confidently.
+
+"I will look after her," she said. "Mr. Harley will need your
+assistance."
+
+When I returned to the hall I found it already filled with a number of
+servants incongruously attired. Carter the chauffeur, who lived at the
+lodge, was just coming in at the door, and:
+
+"Carter," I said, "get a car out quickly, and bring the nearest doctor.
+If there is another man who can drive, send him for the police. Your
+master has been shot."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET HILTON
+
+
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said Inspector Aylesbury, "I will take evidence."
+
+Dawn was creeping grayly over the hills, and the view from the library
+windows resembled a study by Bastien-Lepage. The lamps burned yellowly,
+and the exotic appointments of the library viewed in that cold light for
+some reason reminded me of a stage set seen in daylight. The Velasquez
+portrait mentally translated me to the billiard room where something lay
+upon the settee with a white sheet drawn over it; and I wondered if
+my own face looked as wan and comfortless as did the faces of my
+companions, that is, of two of them, for I must except Inspector
+Aylesbury.
+
+Squarely before the oaken mantel he stood, a large, pompous man, but in
+this hour I could find no humour in Paul Harley's description of him as
+resembling a walrus. He had a large auburn moustache tinged with
+gray, and prominent brown eyes, but the lower part of his face, which
+terminated in a big double chin, was ill-balanced by his small forehead.
+He was bulkily built, and I had conceived an unreasonable distaste for
+his puffy hands. His official air and oratorical manner were provoking.
+
+Harley sat in the chair which he had occupied during our last interview
+with Colonel Menendez in the library, and I had realized--a realization
+which had made me uncomfortable--that I was seated upon the couch
+on which the Colonel had reclined. Only one other was present, Dr.
+Rolleston of Mid-Hatton, a slight, fair man with a brisk, military
+manner, acquired perhaps during six years of war service. He was
+standing beside me smoking a cigarette.
+
+"I have taken all the necessary particulars concerning the position of
+the body," continued the Inspector, "the nature of the wound, contents
+of pockets, etc., and I now turn to you, Mr. Harley, as the first person
+to discover the murdered man."
+
+Paul Harley lay back in the armchair watching the speaker.
+
+"Before we come to what happened here to-night I should like to be quite
+clear about your own position in the matter, Mr. Harley. Now"--Inspector
+Aylesbury raised one finger in forensic manner--"now, you visited me
+yesterday afternoon, Mr. Harley, and asked for certain information
+regarding the neighbourhood."
+
+"I did," said Harley, shortly.
+
+"The questions which you asked me were," continued the Inspector, slowly
+and impressively, "did I know of any negro or coloured people living
+in, or about, Mid-Hatton, and could I give you a list of the residents
+within a two-mile radius of Cray's Folly. I gave you the information
+which you required, and now it is your turn to give me some. Why did you
+ask those questions?"
+
+"For this reason," was the reply--"I had been requested by Colonel
+Menendez to visit Cray's Folly, accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, in
+order that I might investigate certain occurrences which had taken place
+here."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, raising his eyebrows, "I see. You were here to
+make investigations?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And these occurrences, will you tell me what they were?"
+
+"Simple enough in themselves," replied Harley. "Someone broke into the
+house one night."
+
+"Broke into the house?"
+
+"Undoubtedly."
+
+"But this was never reported to us."
+
+"Possibly not, but someone broke in, nevertheless. Secondly, Colonel
+Menendez had detected someone lurking about the lawns, and thirdly, the
+wing of a bat was nailed to the main door."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury lowered his eyebrows and concentrated a frowning
+glance upon the speaker.
+
+"Of course, sir," he said, "I don't want to jump to conclusions, but you
+are not by any chance trying to be funny at a time like this?"
+
+"My sense of humour has failed me entirely," replied Harley. "I am
+merely stating bald facts in reply to your questions."
+
+"Oh, I see."
+
+The Inspector cleared his throat.
+
+"Someone broke into Cray's Folly, then, a fact which was not reported to
+me, a suspicious loiterer was seen in the grounds, again not reported,
+and someone played a silly practical joke by nailing the wing of a bat,
+you say, to the door. Might I ask, Mr. Harley, why you mention this
+matter? The other things are serious, but why you should mention the
+trick of some mischievous boy at a time like this I can't imagine."
+
+"No," said Harley, wearily, "it does sound absurd, Inspector; I quite
+appreciate the fact. But, you see, Colonel Menendez regarded it as the
+most significant episode of them all."
+
+"What! The bat wing nailed on the door?"
+
+"The bat wing, decidedly. He believed it to be the token of a negro
+secret society which had determined upon his death, hence my enquiries
+regarding coloured men in the neighbourhood. Do you understand,
+Inspector?"
+
+Inspector Aylesbury took a large handkerchief from his pocket and blew
+his nose. Replacing the handkerchief he cleared his throat, and:
+
+"Am I to understand," he enquired, "that the late Colonel Menendez had
+expected to be attacked?"
+
+"You may understand that," replied Harley. "It explains my presence in
+the house."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, "I see. It looks as though he might have done
+better if he had applied to me."
+
+Paul Harley glanced across in my direction and smiled grimly.
+
+"As I had predicted, Knox," he murmured, "my Waterloo."
+
+"What's that you say about Waterloo, Mr. Harley?" demanded the
+Inspector.
+
+"Nothing germane to the case," replied Harley. "It was a reference to a
+battle, not to a railway station."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stared at him dully.
+
+"You quite understand that you are giving evidence?" he said.
+
+"It were impossible not to appreciate the fact."
+
+"Very well, then. The late Colonel Menendez thought he was in danger
+from negroes. Why did he think that?"
+
+"He was a retired West Indian planter," replied Harley, patiently,
+"and he was under the impression that he had offended a powerful native
+society, and that for many years their vengeance had pursued him.
+Attempts to assassinate him had already taken place in Cuba and in the
+United States."
+
+"What sort of attempts?"
+
+"He was shot at, several times, and once, in Washington, was attacked by
+a man with a knife. He maintained in my presence and in the presence
+of my friend, Mr. Knox, here, that these various attempts were due to
+members of a sect or religion known as Voodoo."
+
+"Voodoo?"
+
+"Voodoo, Inspector, also known as Obeah, a cult which has spread from
+the West Coast of Africa throughout the West Indies and to parts of the
+United States. The bat wing is said to be a sign used by these people."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+
+"Now let me get this thing clear," said he: "Colonel Menendez believed
+that people called Voodoos wanted to kill him? Before we go any farther,
+why?"
+
+"Twenty years ago in the West Indies he had shot an important member of
+this sect."
+
+"Twenty years ago?"
+
+"According to a statement which he made to me, yes."
+
+"I see. Then for twenty years these Voodoos have been trying to kill
+him? Then he comes and settles here in Surrey and someone nails a bat
+wing to his door? Did you see this bat wing?"
+
+"I did. I have it upstairs in my bag if you would care to examine it."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, "I see. And thinking he had been followed to
+England he came to you to see if you could save him?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded grimly.
+
+"Why did he go to you in preference to the local police, the proper
+authorities?" demanded the Inspector.
+
+"He was advised to do so by the Spanish ambassador, or so he informed
+me."
+
+"Is that so? Well, I suppose it had to be. Coming from foreign parts. I
+expect he didn't know what our police are for." He cleared his throat.
+"Very well, I understand now what you were doing here, Mr. Harley. The
+next thing is, what were you doing tonight, as I see that both you and
+Mr. Knox are still in evening dress?"
+
+"We were keeping watch," I replied.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned to me ponderously, raising a fat hand.
+"One moment, Mr. Knox, one moment," he protested. "The evidence of one
+witness at a time."
+
+"We were keeping watch," said Harley, deliberately echoing my words.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"More or less we were here for that purpose. You see, on the night
+of the full moon, according to Colonel Menendez, Obeah people become
+particularly active."
+
+"Why on the night of the full moon?"
+
+"This I cannot tell you."
+
+"Oh, I see. You were keeping watch. Where were you keeping watch?"
+
+"In my room."
+
+"In which part of the house is your room?"
+
+"Northeast. It overlooks the Tudor garden."
+
+"At what time did you retire?"
+
+"About half-past ten."
+
+"Did you leave the Colonel well?"
+
+"No, he had been unwell all day. He had remained in his room."
+
+"Had he asked you to sit up?"
+
+"Not at all; our vigil was quite voluntary."
+
+"Very well, then, you were in your room when the shot was fired?"
+
+"On the contrary, I was on the path in front of the house."
+
+"Oh, I see. The front door was open, then?"
+
+"Not at all. Pedro had locked up for the night."
+
+"And locked you out?"
+
+"No; I descended from my window by means of a ladder which I had brought
+with me for the purpose."
+
+"With a ladder? That's rather extraordinary, Mr Harley."
+
+"It is extraordinary. I have strange habits."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again and looked frowningly
+across at my friend.
+
+"What part of the grounds were you in when the shot was fired?" he
+demanded.
+
+"Halfway along the north side."
+
+"What were you doing?"
+
+"I was running."
+
+"Running?"
+
+"You see, Inspector, I regarded it as my duty to patrol the grounds of
+the house at nightfall, since, for all I knew to the contrary, some of
+the servants might be responsible for the attempts of which the Colonel
+complained. I had descended from the window of my room, had passed
+entirely around the house east to west, and had returned to my
+starting-point when Mr. Knox, who was looking out of the window,
+observed Colonel Menendez entering the Tudor garden."
+
+"Oh. Colonel Menendez was not visible to you?"
+
+"Not from my position below, but being informed by my friend, who
+was hurriedly descending the ladder, that the Colonel had entered the
+garden, I set off running to intercept him."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"He had acquired a habit of walking in his sleep, and I presumed that he
+was doing so on this occasion."
+
+"Oh, I see. So being told by the gentleman at the window that Colonel
+Menendez was in the garden, you started to run toward him. While you
+were running you heard a shot?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Where do you think it came from?"
+
+"Nothing is more difficult to judge, Inspector, especially when one is
+near to a large building surrounded by trees."
+
+"Nevertheless," said the Inspector, again raising his finger and
+frowning at Harley, "you cannot tell me that you formed no impression on
+the point. For instance, was it near, or a long way off?"
+
+"It was fairly near."
+
+"Ten yards, twenty yards, a hundred yards, a mile?"
+
+"Within a hundred yards. I cannot be more exact."
+
+"Within a hundred yards, and you have no idea from which direction the
+shot was fired?"
+
+"From the sound I could form none."
+
+"Oh, I see. And what did you do?"
+
+"I ran on and down into the sunken garden. I saw Colonel Menendez lying
+upon his face near the sun-dial. He was moving convulsively. Running up
+to him, I that he had been shot through the head."
+
+"What steps did you take?"
+
+"My friend, Mr. Knox, had joined me, and I sent him for assistance."
+
+"But what steps did you take to apprehend the murderer?"
+
+Paul Harley looked at him quietly.
+
+"What steps should you have taken?" he asked.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again, and:
+
+"I don't think I should have let my man slip through my fingers like
+that," he replied. "Why! by now he may be out of the county."
+
+"Your theory is quite feasible," said Harley, tonelessly.
+
+"You were actually on the spot when the shot was fired, you admit that
+it was fired within a hundred yards, yet you did nothing to apprehend
+the murderer."
+
+"No," replied Harley, "I was ridiculously inactive. You see, I am a mere
+amateur, Inspector. For my future guidance I should be glad to know what
+the correct procedure would have been."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury blew his nose.
+
+"I know my job," he said. "If I had been called in there might have been
+a different tale to tell. But he was a foreigner, and he paid for his
+ignorance, poor fellow."
+
+Paul Harley took out his pipe and began to load it in a deliberate and
+lazy manner.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned his prominent eyes in my direction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+COMPLICATIONS
+
+
+
+"I am afraid of this man Aylesbury," said Paul Harley. We sat in the
+deserted dining room. I had contributed my account of the evening's
+happenings, Dr. Rolleston had made his report, and Inspector Aylesbury
+was now examining the servants in the library. Harley and I had obtained
+his official permission to withdraw, and the physician was visiting
+Madame de St�mer, who lay in a state of utter prostration.
+
+"What do you mean, Harley?"
+
+"I mean that he will presently make some tragic blunder. Good God,
+Knox, to think that this man had sought my aid, and that I stood by idly
+whilst he walked out to his death. I shall never forgive myself." He
+banged the table with his fist. "Even now that these unknown fiends have
+achieved their object, I am helpless, helpless. There was not a wisp of
+smoke to guide me, Knox, and one man cannot search a county."
+
+I sighed wearily.
+
+"Do you know, Harley," I said, "I am thinking of a verse of Kipling's."
+
+"I know!" he interrupted, almost savagely.
+
+  "A Snider squibbed in the jungle.
+  Somebody laughed and fled--"
+
+"Oh, I know, Knox. I heard that damnable laughter, too."
+
+"My God," I whispered, "who was it? What was it? Where did it come
+from?"
+
+"As well ask where the shot came from, Knox. Out amongst all those
+trees, with a house that might have been built for a sounding-board, who
+could presume to say where either came from? One thing we know, that the
+shot came from the south."
+
+He leaned upon a corner of the table, staring at me intently.
+
+"From the south?" I echoed.
+
+Harley glanced in the direction of the open door.
+
+"Presently," he said, "we shall have to tell Aylesbury everything
+that we know. After all, he represents the law; but unless we can get
+Inspector Wessex down from Scotland Yard, I foresee a miscarriage of
+justice. Colonel Menendez lay on his face, and the line made by his
+recumbent body pointed almost directly toward--"
+
+I nodded, watching him.
+
+"I know, Harley--toward the Guest House."
+
+Paul Harley inclined his head, grimly.
+
+"The first light which we saw," he continued, "was in a window of the
+Guest House. It may have had no significance. Awakened by the sound of a
+rifle-shot near by, any one would naturally get up."
+
+"And having decided to come downstairs and investigate," I continued,
+"would naturally light a lamp."
+
+"Quite so." He stared at me very hard. "Yet," he said, "unless Mr. Colin
+Camber can produce an alibi I foresee a very stormy time for him."
+
+"So do I, Harley. A deadly hatred existed between these two men, and
+probably this horrible deed was done on the spur of the moment. It is
+of his poor little girl-wife that I am thinking. As though her troubles
+were not heavy enough already."
+
+"Yes," he agreed. "I am almost tempted to hold my tongue, Knox, until
+I have personally interviewed these people. But of course if our
+blundering friend directly questions me, I shall have no alternative. I
+shall have to answer him. His talent for examination, however, scarcely
+amounts to genius, so that we may not be called upon for further details
+at the moment. I wonder how I can induce him to requisition Scotland
+Yard?"
+
+He rested his chin in his hand and stared down reflectively at the
+carpet. I thought that he looked very haggard, as he sat there in the
+early morning light, dressed as for dinner. There was something pathetic
+in the pose of his bowed head.
+
+Leaning across, I placed my hand on his shoulder.
+
+"Don't get despondent, old chap," I said. "You have not failed yet."
+
+"Oh, but I have, Knox!" he cried, fiercely, "I have! He came to me for
+protection. Now he lies dead in his own house. Failed? I have failed
+utterly, miserably."
+
+I turned aside as the door opened and Dr. Rolleston came in.
+
+"Ah, gentlemen," he said, "I wanted to see you before leaving. I have
+just been to visit Madame de St�mer again."
+
+"Yes," said Harley, eagerly; "how is she?"
+
+Dr. Rolleston lighted a cigarette, frowning perplexedly the while.
+
+"To be honest," he replied, "her condition puzzles me."
+
+He walked across to the fireplace and dropped the match, staring at
+Harley with a curious expression.
+
+"Has any one told her the truth?" he asked.
+
+"You mean that Colonel Menendez is dead?"
+
+"Yes," replied Dr. Rolleston. "I understood that no one had told her?"
+
+"No one has done so to my knowledge," said Harley.
+
+"Then the sympathy between them must have been very acute," murmured the
+physician, "for she certainly knows!"
+
+"Do you really think she knows?" I asked.
+
+"I am certain of it. She must have had knowledge of a danger to be
+apprehended, and being awakened by the sound of the rifle shot, have
+realized by a sort of intuition that the expected tragedy had happened.
+I should say, from the presence of a small bruise which I found upon her
+forehead, that she had actually walked out into the corridor."
+
+"Walked?" I cried.
+
+"Yes," said the physician. "She is a shell-shock case, of course, and we
+sometimes find that a second shock counteracts the effect of the first.
+This, temporarily at any rate, seems to have happened to-night. She
+is now in a very curious state: a form of hysteria, no doubt, but very
+curious all the same."
+
+"Miss Beverley is with her?" I asked.
+
+Dr. Rolleston nodded affirmatively.
+
+"Yes, a very capable nurse. I am glad to know that Madame de St�mer is
+in such good hands. I am calling again early in the morning, and I have
+told Mrs. Fisher to see that nothing is said within hearing of the room
+which could enable Madame de St�mer to obtain confirmation of the idea,
+which she evidently entertains, that Colonel Menendez is dead."
+
+"Does she actually assert that he is dead?" asked Harley.
+
+"My dear sir," replied Dr. Rolleston, "she asserts nothing. She sits
+there like Niobe changed to stone, staring straight before her. She
+seems to be unaware of the presence of everyone except Miss Beverley.
+The only words she has spoken since recovering consciousness have been,
+'Don't leave me!'"
+
+"Hm," muttered Harley. "You have not attended Madame de St�mer before,
+doctor?"
+
+"No," was the reply, "this is the first time I have entered Cray's Folly
+since it was occupied by Sir James Appleton."
+
+He was about to take his departure when the door opened and Inspector
+Aylesbury walked in.
+
+"Ah," said he, "I have two more witnesses to interview: Madame de St�mer
+and Miss Beverley. From these witnesses I hope to get particulars of
+the dead man's life which may throw some light upon the identity of his
+murderer."
+
+"It is impossible to see either of them at present," replied Dr.
+Rolleston briskly.
+
+"What's that, doctor?" asked the Inspector. "Are they hysterical, or
+something?"
+
+"As a result of the shock, Madame de St�mer is dangerously ill," replied
+the physician, "and Miss Beverley is remaining with her."
+
+"Oh, I see. But Miss Beverley could come out for a few minutes?"
+
+"She could," admitted the physician, sharply, "but I don't wish her to
+do so."
+
+"Oh, but the law must be served, doctor."
+
+"Quite so, but not at the expense of my patient's reason."
+
+He was a resolute man, this country practitioner, and I saw Harley
+smiling in grim approval.
+
+"I have expressed my opinion," he said, finally, walking out of the
+room; "I shall leave the responsibility to you, Inspector Aylesbury.
+Good morning, gentlemen."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+
+"That's awkward," he muttered. "The evidence of this woman is highly
+important."
+
+He turned toward us, doubtingly, whereupon Harley stood up, yawning.
+
+"If I can be of any further assistance to you, Inspector," said my
+friend, "command me. Otherwise, I feel sure you will appreciate the
+fact that both Mr. Knox and myself are extremely tired, and have passed
+through a very trying ordeal."
+
+"Yes," replied Inspector Aylesbury, "that's all very well, but I find
+myself at a deadlock."
+
+"You surprise me," declared Harley.
+
+"I can see nothing to be surprised about," cried the Inspector. "When I
+was called in it was already too late."
+
+"Most unfortunate," murmured Harley, disagreeably. "Come along, Knox,
+you look tired to death."
+
+"One moment, gentlemen," the Inspector insisted, as I stood up. "One
+moment. There is a little point which you may be able to clear up."
+
+Harley paused, his hand on the door knob, and turned.
+
+"The point is this," continued the Inspector, frowning portentously and
+lowering his chin so that it almost disappeared into the folds of his
+neck, "I have now interviewed all the inmates of Cray's Folly except the
+ladies. It appears to me that four people had not gone to bed. There are
+you two gentlemen, who have explained why I found you in evening dress,
+Colonel Menendez, who can never explain, and there is one other."
+
+He paused, looking from Harley to myself.
+
+It had come, the question which I had dreaded, the question which I had
+been asking myself ever since I had seen Val Beverley kneeling in the
+corridor, dressed as she had been when we had parted for the night.
+
+"I refer to Miss Val Beverley," the police-court voice proceeded. "This
+lady had evidently not retired, and neither, it would appear, had the
+Colonel."
+
+"Neither had I," murmured Harley, "and neither had Mr. Knox."
+
+"Your reason I understand," said the Inspector, "or at least your
+explanation is a possible one. But if the party broke up, as you say it
+did, somewhere about half-past ten o'clock, and if Madame de St�mer
+had gone to bed, why should Miss Beverley have remained up?" He paused
+significantly. "As well as Colonel Menendez?" he added.
+
+"Look here, Inspector Aylesbury," I interrupted, I speaking in a very
+quiet tone, I remember, "your insinuations annoy me."
+
+"Oh," said he, turning his prominent eyes in my direction, "I see. They
+annoy you? If they annoy you, sir, perhaps you can explain this point
+which is puzzling me?"
+
+"I cannot explain it, but doubtless Miss Beverley can do so when you ask
+her."
+
+"I should like to have asked her now, and I can't make out why she
+refuses to see me."
+
+"She has not refused to see you," replied Harley, smoothly. "She is
+probably unaware of the fact that you wish to see her."
+
+"I don't know so much," muttered the Inspector. "In my opinion I am
+being deliberately baffled on all sides. You can throw no light on this
+matter, then?"
+
+"None," I answered, shortly, and Paul Harley shook his head.
+
+"But you must remember, Inspector," he explained, "that the entire
+household was in a state of unrest."
+
+"In other words, everybody was waiting for this very thing to happen?"
+
+"Consciously, or subconsciously, everybody was."
+
+"What do you mean by consciously or subconsciously?"
+
+ "I mean that those of us who were aware of the previous attempts on
+the life of the Colonel apprehended this danger. And I believe that
+something of this apprehension had extended even to the servants."
+
+ "Oh, to the servants? Now, I have seen all the servants, except the
+chef, who lives at a house on the outskirts of Mid-Hatton, as you may
+know. Can you give me any information about this man?"
+
+"I have seen him," replied Harley, "and have congratulated him upon his
+culinary art. His name, I believe, is Deronne. He is a Spaniard, and a
+little fat man. Quite an amiable creature," he added.
+
+"Hm." The Inspector cleared his throat noisily.
+
+"If that is all," said Harley, "I should welcome an opportunity of a few
+hours' sleep."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector. "Well, I suppose that is quite natural, but I
+shall probably have a lot more questions to ask you later."
+
+"Quite," muttered Harley, "quite. Come on, Knox. Good-night, Inspector
+Aylesbury."
+
+"Good-night."
+
+Harley walked out of the dining room and across the deserted hall. He
+slowly mounted the stairs and I followed him into his room. It was now
+quite light, and as my friend dropped down upon the bed I thought that
+he looked very tired and haggard.
+
+"Knox," he said, "shut the door."
+
+I closed the door and turned to him.
+
+"You heard that question about Miss Beverley?" I began.
+
+"I heard it, and I am wondering what her answer will be when the
+Inspector puts it to her personally."
+
+"Surely it is obvious?" I cried. "A cloud of apprehension had settled on
+the house last night, Harley, which was like the darkness of Egypt. The
+poor girl was afraid to go to bed. She was probably sitting up reading."
+
+"Hm," said Harley, drumming his feet upon the carpet. "Of course you
+realize that there is one person in Cray's Folly who holds the clue to
+the heart of the mystery?"
+
+"Madame de St�mer?"
+
+He nodded grimly.
+
+"When the rifle cracked out, Knox, she knew! Remember, no one had told
+her the truth. Yet can you doubt that she knows?"
+
+"I don't doubt it."
+
+"Neither do I." He clenched his teeth tightly and beat his fists upon
+the coverlet. "I was dreading that our friend the Inspector would ask a
+question which to my mind was very obvious."
+
+"You mean?--"
+
+"Well, what investigator whose skull contained anything more useful than
+bubbles would have failed to ask if Colonel Menendez had an enemy in the
+neighbourhood?"
+
+"No one," I admitted; "but I fear the poor man is sadly out of his
+depth."
+
+"He is wading hopelessly, Knox, but even he cannot fail to learn about
+Camber to-morrow."
+
+He stared at me in a curiously significant manner.
+
+"Do you mean, Harley," I began, "that you really think----"
+
+"My dear Knox," he interrupted, "forgetting, if you like, all that
+preceded the tragedy, with what facts are we left? That Colonel
+Menendez, at the moment when the bullet entered his brain, must have
+been standing facing directly toward the Guest House. Now, you have seen
+the direction of the wound?"
+
+"He was shot squarely between the eyes. A piece of wonderful
+marksmanship."
+
+"Quite," Harley nodded his head. "But the bullet came out just at the
+vertex of the spine."
+
+He paused, as if waiting for some comment, and:
+
+"You mean that the shot came from above?" I said, slowly.
+
+"Obviously it came from above, Knox. Keep these two points in your mind,
+and then consider the fact that someone lighted a lamp in the Guest
+House only a few moments after the shot had been fired."
+
+"I remember. I saw it."
+
+"So did I," said Harley, grimly, "and I saw something else."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"When you went off to summon assistance I ran across the lawn, scrambled
+through the bushes, and succeeded in climbing down into the little gully
+in which the stream runs, and up on the other side. I had proceeded
+practically in a straight line from the sun-dial, and do you know where
+I found myself?"
+
+"I can guess," I replied.
+
+"Of course you can. You have visited the place. I came out immediately
+beside a little hut, Knox, which stands at the end of the garden of
+the Guest House. Ahead of me, visible through a tangle of bushes in the
+neglected garden, a lamp was burning. I crept cautiously forward,
+and presently obtained a view of the interior of a kitchen. Just as
+I arrived at this point of vantage the lamp was extinguished, but not
+before I had had a glimpse of the only occupant of the room--the man who
+had extinguished the lamp."
+
+"Who was it?" I asked, in a low voice.
+
+"It was a Chinaman."
+
+"Ah Tsong!" I cried.
+
+"Doubtless."
+
+"Good heavens, Harley, do you think--"
+
+"I don't know what to think, Knox. A possible explanation is that the
+household had been aroused by the sound of the shot, and that Ah Tsong
+had been directed to go out and see if he could learn what had happened.
+At any rate, I waited no longer, but returned by the same route. If our
+portly friend from Market Hilton had possessed the eyes of an Auguste
+Dupin, he could not have failed to note that my dress boots were caked
+with light yellow clay; which also, by the way, besmears my trousers."
+
+He stooped and examined the garments as he spoke.
+
+"A number of thorns are also present," he continued. "In short, from the
+point of view of an investigation, I am a most provoking object."
+
+He sighed wearily, and stared out of the window in the direction of
+the Tudor garden. There was a slight chilliness in the air, which, or
+perhaps a sudden memory of that which lay in the billiard room beneath
+us, may have accounted for the fact that I shivered violently.
+
+Harley glanced up with a rather sad smile.
+
+"The morning after Waterloo," he said. "Sleep well, Knox."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A SPANISH CIGARETTE
+
+
+
+Sleep was not for me, despite Harley's injunction, and although I was
+early afoot, the big house was already astir with significant movements
+which set the imagination on fire, to conjure up again the moonlight
+scene in the garden, making mock of the song of the birds and of the
+glory of the morning.
+
+Manoel replied to my ring, and prepared my bath, but it was easy to see
+that he had not slept.
+
+No sound came from Harley's room, therefore I did not disturb him, but
+proceeded downstairs in the hope of finding Miss Beverley about. Pedro
+was in the hall, talking to Mrs. Fisher, and:
+
+"Is Inspector Aylesbury here?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir, but he will be returning at about half-past eight, so he
+said."
+
+"How is Madame de St�mer, Mrs. Fisher?" I enquired.
+
+"Oh, poor, poor Madame," said the old lady, "she is asleep, thank God.
+But I am dreading her awakening."
+
+"The blow is a dreadful one," I admitted; "and Miss Beverley?"
+
+"She didn't go to her room until after four o'clock, sir, but Nita tells
+me that she will be down any moment now."
+
+"Ah," said I, and lighting a cigarette, I walked out of the open doors
+into the courtyard.
+
+I dreaded all the ghastly official formalities which the day would
+bring, since I realized that the brunt of the trouble must fall upon the
+shoulders of Miss Beverley in the absence of Madame de St�mer.
+
+I wandered about restlessly, awaiting the girl's appearance. A little
+two seater was drawn up in the courtyard, but I had not paid much
+attention to it, until, wandering through the opening in the box hedge
+and on along the gravel path, I saw unfamiliar figures moving in the
+billiard room, and turned, hastily retracing my steps. Officialdom was
+at work already, and I knew that there would be no rest for any of us
+from that hour onward.
+
+As I re�ntered the hall I saw Val Beverley coming down the staircase.
+She looked pale, but seemed to be in better spirits than I could have
+hoped for, although there were dark shadows under her eyes.
+
+"Good morning, Miss Beverley," I said.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Knox. It was good of you to come down so early."
+
+"I had hoped for a chat with you before Inspector Aylesbury returned," I
+explained.
+
+She looked at me pathetically.
+
+"I suppose he will want me to give evidence?"
+
+"He will. We had great difficulty in persuading him not to demand your
+presence last night."
+
+"It was impossible," she protested. "It would have been cruel to make me
+leave Madame in the circumstances."
+
+"We realized this, Miss Beverley, but you will have to face the ordeal
+this morning."
+
+We walked through into the library, where a maid white-faced and
+frightened looking, was dusting in a desultory fashion. She went out as
+we entered, and Val Beverley stood looking from the open window out into
+the rose garden bathed in the morning sunlight.
+
+"Oh, Heavens," she said, clenching her hands desperately, "even now I
+cannot realize that the horrible thing is true." She turned to me. "Who
+can possibly have committed this cold-blooded crime?" she said in a low
+voice. "What does Mr. Harley think? Has he any idea, any idea whatever?"
+
+"Not that he has confided to me," I said, watching her intently. "But
+tell me, does Madame de St�mer know yet?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean has she been told the truth?"
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"No," she replied; "I am positive that no one has told her. I was with
+her all the time, up to the very moment that she fell asleep. Yet--"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"She knows! Oh, Mr. Knox! to me that is the most horrible thing of all:
+that she knows, that she must have known all along--that the mere sound
+of the shot told her everything!"
+
+"You realize, now," I said, quietly, "that she had anticipated the end?"
+
+"Yes, yes. This was the meaning of the sorrow which I had seen so often
+in her eyes, the meaning of so much that puzzled me in her words, the
+explanation of lots of little things which have made me wonder in the
+past."
+
+I was silent for a while, then:
+
+"If she was so certain that no one could save him," I said, "she must
+have had information which neither he nor she ever imparted to us."
+
+"I am sure she had," declared Val Beverley.
+
+"But can you think of any reason why she should not have confided in
+Paul Harley?"
+
+"I cannot, I cannot--unless--"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Unless, Mr. Knox," she looked at me strangely, "they were both under
+some vow of silence. Oh! it sounds ridiculous, wildly ridiculous, but
+what other explanation can there be?"
+
+"What other, indeed? And now, Miss Beverley, I know one of the questions
+Inspector Aylesbury will ask you."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"He has learned, from one of the servants I presume, as he did not see
+you, that you had not retired last night at the time of the tragedy."
+
+"I had not," said Val Beverley, quietly. "Is that so singular?"
+
+"To me it is no more than natural."
+
+"I have never been so frightened in all my life as I was last night.
+Sleep was utterly out of the question. There was mystery in the very
+air. I knew, oh, Mr. Knox, in some way I knew that a tragedy was going
+to happen."
+
+"I believe I knew, too," I said. "Good God, to think that we might have
+saved him!"
+
+"Do you think--" began Val Beverley, and then paused.
+
+"Yes?" I prompted.
+
+"Oh, I was going to say a strange thing that suddenly occurred to me,
+but it is utterly foolish, I suppose. Inspector Aylesbury is coming back
+at nine o'clock, is he not?"
+
+"At half-past eight, so I understand."
+
+"I am afraid I have very little to tell him. I was sitting in my room
+in an appalling state of nerves when the shot was fired. I was not even
+reading; I was just waiting, waiting, for something to happen."
+
+"I understand. My own experience was nearly identical."
+
+"Then," continued the girl, "as I unlocked my door and peeped out,
+feeling too frightened to venture farther in the darkness, I heard
+Madame's voice in the hall below."
+
+"Crying for help?"
+
+"No," replied the girl, a puzzled frown appearing between her brows.
+"She cried out something in French. The intonation told me that it was
+French, although I could not detect a single word. Then I thought I
+heard a moan."
+
+"And you ran down?"
+
+"Yes. I summoned up enough courage to turn on the light in the corridor
+and to run down to the hall. And there she was lying just outside the
+door of her room."
+
+"Was her room in darkness?"
+
+"Yes. I turned on the light and succeeded in partly raising her, but
+she was too heavy for me to lift. I was still trying to revive her when
+Pedro opened the door of the servants' quarters. Oh," she closed her
+eyes wearily, "I shall never forget it."
+
+I took her hand and pressed it reassuringly.
+
+"Your courage has been wonderful throughout," I declared, "and I hope it
+will remain so to the end."
+
+She smiled, and flushed slightly, as I released her hand again.
+
+"I must go and take a peep at Madame now," she said, "but of course I
+shall not disturb her if she is still sleeping."
+
+We turned and walked slowly back to the hall, and there just entering
+from the courtyard was Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed, "good morning, Mr. Knox. This is Miss Beverley, I
+presume?"
+
+"Yes, Inspector," replied the girl. "I understand that you wish to speak
+to me?"
+
+"I do, Miss, but I shall not detain you for many minutes."
+
+"Very well," she said, and as she turned and retraced her steps, he
+followed her back into the library.
+
+I walked out to the courtyard, and avoiding the Tudor garden and the
+billiard room, turned in the other direction, passing the stables where
+Jim, the negro groom, saluted me very sadly, and proceeded round to the
+south side of the house.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury, I perceived, had wasted no time. I counted no
+fewer than four men, two of them in uniform, searching the lawns and the
+slopes beyond, although what they were looking for I could not imagine.
+
+Giving the library a wide berth, I walked along the second terrace,
+and presently came in sight of the east wing and the tower. There,
+apparently engaged in studying the rhododendrons, I saw Paul Harley.
+
+He signalled to me, and, crossing the lawn, I joined him where he stood.
+
+Without any word of greeting:
+
+"You see, Knox," he said, speaking in the eager manner which betokened
+a rapidly working brain, "this is the path which the Colonel must have
+followed last night. Yonder is the door by which, according to his own
+account, he came out on a previous occasion, walking in his sleep. Do
+you remember?"
+
+"I remember," I replied.
+
+"Well, Pedro found it unlocked this morning. You see it faces
+practically due south, and the Colonel's bedroom is immediately above us
+where we stand." He stared at me queerly. "I must have passed this door
+last night only a few moments before the Colonel came out, for I was
+just crossing the courtyard and could see you at my window at the moment
+when you saw poor Menendez enter the Tudor garden. He must have actually
+been walking around the east wing at the same time that I was walking
+around the west. Now, I am going to show you something, Knox, something
+which I have just discovered."
+
+From his waistcoat pocket he took out a half-smoked cigarette. I stared
+at it uncomprehendingly.
+
+"Of course," he continued, "the weather has been bone dry for more than
+a week now, and it may have lain there for a long time, but to me, Knox,
+to me it looks suspiciously fresh."
+
+"What is the point?" I asked, perplexedly.
+
+"The point is that it is a hand-made cigarette, one of the Colonel's.
+Don't you recognize it?"
+
+"Good heavens!" I said; "yes, of course it is."
+
+He returned it to his pocket without another word.
+
+"It may mean nothing," he murmured, "or it may mean everything. And now,
+Knox, we are going to escape."
+
+"To escape?" I cried.
+
+"Precisely. We are going to anticipate the probable movements of our
+blundering Aylesbury. In short, I wish you to present me to Mr. Colin
+Camber."
+
+"What?" I exclaimed, staring at him incredulously.
+
+"I am going to ask you," he began, and then, breaking off: "Quick, Knox,
+run!" he said.
+
+And thereupon, to my amazement, he set off through the rhododendron
+bushes in the direction of the tower!
+
+Utterly unable to grasp the meaning of his behaviour, I followed,
+nevertheless, and as we rounded the corner of the tower Harley pulled up
+short, and:
+
+"I am not mad," he explained rather breathlessly, "but I wanted to avoid
+being seen by that constable who is prowling about at the bottom of the
+lawn making signals in the direction of the library. Presumably he is
+replying to Inspector Aylesbury who wants to talk to us. I am determined
+to interview Camber before submitting to further official interrogation.
+It must be a cross-country journey, Knox. I am afraid we shall be a
+very muddy pair, but great issues may hang upon the success of our
+expedition."
+
+He set off briskly toward a belt of shrubbery which marked the edge of
+the little stream. Appreciating something of his intentions, I followed
+his lead unquestioningly; and, scrambling through the bushes:
+
+"This was the point at which I descended last night," he said. "You will
+have to wade, Knox, but the water is hardly above one's ankles."
+
+He dropped into the brook, waded across, and began to climb up the
+opposite bank. I imitated his movements, and presently, having scrambled
+up on the farther side, we found ourselves standing on a narrow bank
+immediately under that summer house which Colin Camber had told me he
+had formerly used as a study.
+
+"We can scarcely present ourselves at the kitchen door," murmured
+Harley; "therefore we must try to find a way round to the front. There
+is barbed wire here. Be careful."
+
+I had now entered with zest into the business, and so the pair of us
+waded through rank grass which in places was waist high, and on through
+a perfect wilderness of weeds in which nettles dominated. Presently we
+came to a dry ditch, which we negotiated successfully, to find ourselves
+upon the high road some hundred yards to the west of the Guest House.
+
+"I predict an unfriendly reception," I said, panting from my exertions,
+and surveying my friend, who was a mockery of his ordinarily spruce
+self.
+
+"We must face it," he replied, grimly. "He has everything to gain by
+being civil to us."
+
+We proceeded along the dusty high road, almost overarched by trees.
+
+"Harley," I said, "this is going to be a highly unpleasant ordeal for
+me."
+
+Harley stopped short, staring at me sternly.
+
+"I know, Knox," he replied; "but I suppose you realize that a man's life
+is at stake."
+
+"You mean--?"
+
+"I mean that when we are both compelled to tell all we know, I doubt if
+there is a counsel in the land who would undertake the defence of Mr.
+Colin Camber."
+
+"Good God! then you think he is guilty?"
+
+"Did I say so?" asked Harley, continuing on his way. "I don't recollect
+saying so, Knox; but I do say that it will be a giant's task to prove
+him innocent."
+
+"Then you believe him to be innocent?" I cried, eagerly.
+
+"My dear fellow," he replied, somewhat irritably, "I have not yet met
+Mr. Colin Camber. I will answer your question at the conclusion of the
+interview."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE WING OF A BAT
+
+
+
+For a long time our knocking and ringing elicited no response. The
+brilliant state of the door-brass afforded evidence of the fact that Ah
+Tsong had arisen, even if the other members of the household were still
+sleeping, and Harley, growing irritable, executed a loud tattoo upon the
+knocker. This had its effect. The door opened and Ah Tsong looked out.
+
+"Tell your master that Mr. Paul Harley has called to see him upon urgent
+business."
+
+"Master no got," replied Ah Tsong, and proceeded to close the door.
+
+Paul Harley thrust his hand against it and addressed the man rapidly
+in Chinese. I could not have supposed the face of Ah Tsong capable of
+expressing so much animation. At the sound of his native tongue his eyes
+lighted up, and:
+
+"_Tch�e, tch�e,_" he said, turned, and disappeared.
+
+Although he had studiously avoided looking at me, that Ah Tsong would
+inform his master of the identity of his second visitor I did not doubt.
+If I had doubted I should promptly have been disillusioned, for:
+
+"Tell them to go away!" came a muffled cry from somewhere within. "No
+spy of Devil Menendez shall ever pass my doors again!"
+
+The Chinaman, on retiring, had left the door wide open, and I could see
+right to the end of the gloomy hall. Ah Tsong presently re-appeared,
+shuffling along in our direction. Unemotionally:
+
+"Master no got," he repeated.
+
+Paul Harley stamped his foot irritably.
+
+"Good God, Knox," he said, "this unreasonable fool almost exhausts my
+patience."
+
+Again he addressed Ah Tsong in Chinese, and although the man's wrinkled
+ivory face exhibited no trace of emotion, a deep understanding was to
+be read in those oblique eyes; and a second time Ah Tsong turned and
+trotted back to the study. I could hear a muttered colloquy in progress,
+and suddenly the gaunt figure of Colin Camber burst into view.
+
+He was shaved this morning, but arrayed as I had last seen him. Whilst
+he was not in that state of incoherent anger which I remembered and
+still resented, he was nevertheless in an evil temper.
+
+He strode along the hallway, his large eyes widely opened, and fixing a
+cold stare upon the face of Harley.
+
+"I learn that your name is Mr. Paul Harley," he said, entirely ignoring
+my presence, "and you send me a very strange message. I am used to the
+ways of Se�or Menendez, therefore your message does not deceive me. The
+gateway, sir, is directly behind you."
+
+Harley clenched his teeth, then:
+
+"The scaffold, Mr. Camber," he replied, "is directly in front of you."
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" demanded the other, and despite my resentment
+of the treatment which I had received at his hands, I could only admire
+the lofty disdain of his manner.
+
+"I mean, Mr. Camber, that the police are close upon my heels."
+
+"The police? Of what interest can this be to me?"
+
+Harley's keen eyes were searching the pale face of the man before him.
+
+"Mr. Camber," he said, "the shot was a good one."
+
+Not a muscle of Colin Camber's face moved, but slowly he looked Paul
+Harley up and down, then:
+
+"I have been called a hasty man," he replied, coldly, "but I can
+scarcely be accused of leaping to a conclusion when I say that I believe
+you to be mad. You have interrupted me, sir. Good morning."
+
+He stepped back, and would have closed the door, but:
+
+"Mr. Camber," said Paul Harley, and the tone of his voice was arresting.
+
+Colin Camber paused.
+
+"My name is evidently unfamiliar to you," Harley continued. "You regard
+myself and Mr. Knox as friends of the late Colonel Menendez--"
+
+At that Colin Camber started forward.
+
+"The _late_ Colonel Menendez?" he echoed, speaking almost in a whisper.
+
+But as if he had not heard him Harley continued:
+
+"As a matter of fact, I am a criminal investigator, and Mr. Knox is
+assisting me in my present case."
+
+Colin Camber clenched his hands and seemed to be fighting with some
+emotion which possessed him, then:
+
+"Do you mean," he said, hoarsely--"do you mean that Menendez is--dead?"
+
+"I do," replied Harley. "May I request the privilege of ten minutes'
+private conversation with you?"
+
+Colin Camber stood aside, holding the door open, and inclining his head
+in that grave salutation which I knew, but on this occasion, I think,
+principally with intent to hide his emotion.
+
+Not another word did he speak until the three of us stood in the strange
+study where East grimaced at West, and emblems of remote devil-worship
+jostled the cross of the Holy Rose. The place was laden with tobacco
+smoke, and scattered on the carpet about the feet of the writing table
+lay twenty or more pages of closely written manuscript. Although this
+was a brilliant summer's morning, an old-fashioned reading lamp, called,
+I believe, a Victoria, having a nickel receptacle for oil at one side of
+the standard and a burner with a green glass shade upon the other, still
+shed its light upon the desk. It was only reasonable to suppose that
+Colin Camber had been at work all night.
+
+He placed chairs for us, clearing them of the open volumes which they
+bore, and, seating himself at the desk:
+
+"Mr. Knox," he began, slowly, paused, and then stood up, "I accused you
+of something when you last visited my house, something of which I would
+not lightly accuse any man. If I was wrong, I wish to apologize."
+
+"Only a matter of the utmost urgency could have induced me to cross
+your threshold again," I replied, coldly. "Your behaviour, sir, was
+inexcusable."
+
+He rested his long white hands upon the desk, looking across at me.
+
+"Whatever I did and whatever I said," he continued, "one insult I laid
+upon you more deadly than the rest: I accused you of friendship with
+Juan Menendez. Was I unjust?"
+
+He paused for a moment.
+
+"I had been retained professionally by Colonel Menendez," replied Harley
+without hesitation, "and Mr. Knox kindly consented to accompany me."
+
+Colin Camber looked very hard at the speaker, and then equally hard at
+me.
+
+"Was it at behest of Colonel Menendez that you called upon me, Mr.
+Knox?"
+
+"It was not," said Harley, tersely; "it was at mine. And he is here now
+at my request. Come, sir, we are wasting time. At any moment--"
+
+Colin Camber held up his hand, interrupting him.
+
+"By your leave, Mr. Harley," he said, and there was something compelling
+in voice and gesture, "I must first perform my duty as a gentleman."
+
+He stepped forward in my direction.
+
+"Mr. Knox, I have grossly insulted you. Yet if you knew what had
+inspired my behaviour I believe you could find it in your heart to
+forgive me. I do not ask you to do so, however; I accept the humiliation
+of knowing that I have mortally offended a guest."
+
+He bowed to me formally, and would have returned to his seat, but:
+
+"Pray say no more," I said, standing up and extending my hand. Indeed,
+so impressive was the man's strange personality that I felt rather as
+one receiving a royal pardon than as an offended party being offered an
+apology. "It was a misunderstanding. Let us forget it."
+
+His eyes gleamed, and he seized my hand in a warm grip.
+
+"You are generous, Mr. Knox, you are generous. And now, sir," he
+inclined his head in Paul Harley's direction, and resumed his seat.
+
+Harley had suffered this odd little interlude in silence but now:
+
+"Mr. Camber," he said, rapidly, "I sent you a message by your Chinese
+servant to the effect that the police would be here within ten minutes
+to arrest you."
+
+"You did, sir," replied Colin Camber, drawing toward him a piece of
+newspaper upon which rested a dwindling mound of shag. "This is most
+disturbing, of course. But since I have not rendered myself amenable to
+the law, it leaves me moderately unmoved. Upon your second point, Mr.
+Harley, I shall beg you, to enlarge. You tell me that Don Juan Menendez
+is dead?"
+
+He had begun to fill his corn-cob as he spoke the words, but from where
+I sat I could just see his face, so that although his voice was well
+controlled, the gleam in his eyes was unmistakable.
+
+"He was shot through the head shortly after midnight."
+
+"What?"
+
+Colin Camber dropped the corn-cob and stood up again, the light of a
+dawning comprehension in his eyes.
+
+"Do you mean that he was murdered?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Good God," whispered Camber, "at last I understand."
+
+"That is why we are here, Mr. Camber, and that is why the police will be
+here at any moment."
+
+Colin Camber stood erect, one hand resting upon the desk.
+
+"So this was the meaning of the shot which we heard in the night," he
+said, slowly.
+
+Crossing the room, he closed and locked the study door, then, returning,
+he sat down once more, entirely, master of himself. Frowning slightly he
+looked from Harley in my direction, and then back again at Harley.
+
+"Gentlemen," he resumed, "I appreciate the urgency of my danger.
+Preposterous though I know it to be, nevertheless it is perhaps no more
+than natural that suspicion should fall upon me."
+
+He was evidently thinking rapidly. His manner had grown quite cool, and
+I could see that he had focussed his keen brain upon the abyss which he
+perceived to lie in his path.
+
+"Before I commit myself to any statements which might be used as
+evidence," he said, "doubtless, Mr. Harley, you will inform me of your
+exact standpoint in this matter. Do you represent the late Colonel
+Menendez, do you represent the law, or may I regard you as a perfectly
+impartial enquirer?"
+
+"You may regard me, Mr. Camber, as one to whom nothing but the truth is
+of the slightest interest. I was requested by the late Colonel Menendez
+to visit Cray's Folly."
+
+"Professionally?"
+
+"To endeavour to trace the origin of certain occurrences which had led
+him to believe his life to be in danger."
+
+Harley paused, staring hard at Colin Camber.
+
+"Since I recognize myself to be standing in the position of a suspect,"
+said the latter, "it is perhaps unfair to request you to acquaint me
+with the nature of these occurrences?"
+
+"The one, sir," replied Paul Harley, "which most intimately concerns
+yourself is this: Almost exactly a month ago the wing of a bat was
+nailed to the door of Cray's Folly."
+
+"What?" exclaimed Colin Camber, leaning forward eagerly--"the wing of a
+bat? What kind of bat?"
+
+"Of a South American Vampire Bat."
+
+The effect of those words was curious. If any doubt respecting Camber's
+innocence had remained with me at this time I think his expression as he
+leaned forward across the desk must certainly have removed it. That the
+man was intellectually unusual, and intensely difficult to understand,
+must have been apparent to the most superficial observer, but I found it
+hard to believe that these moods of his were simulated. At the words "A
+South American Vampire Bat" the enthusiasm of the specialist leapt into
+his eyes. Personal danger was forgotten. Harley had trenched upon his
+particular territory, and I knew that if Colin Camber had actually
+killed Colonel Menendez, then it had been the act of a maniac. No man
+newly come from so bloody a deed could have acted as Camber acted now.
+
+"It is the death-sign of Voodoo!" he exclaimed, excitedly.
+
+Yet again he arose, and crossing to one of the many cabinets which were
+in the room, he pulled open a drawer and took out a shallow tray.
+
+My friend was watching him intently, and from the expression upon his
+bronzed face I could deduce the fact that in Colin Camber he had met
+the supreme puzzle of his career. As Camber stood there, holding up an
+object which he had taken from the tray, whilst Paul Harley sat staring
+at him, I thought the scene was one transcending the grotesque. Here was
+the suspected man triumphantly producing evidence to hang himself.
+
+Between his finger and thumb Camber held the wing of a bat!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+COLIN CAMBER'S SECRET
+
+
+
+"I brought this bat wing from Haiti," he explained, replacing it in the
+tray. "It was found beneath the pillow of a negro missionary who had
+died mysteriously during the night."
+
+He returned the tray to the drawer, closed the latter, and, standing
+erect, raised clenched hands above his head.
+
+"With no thought of blasphemy," he said, "but with reverence, I thank
+God from the bottom of my heart that Juan Menendez is dead."
+
+He reseated himself, whilst Harley regarded him silently, then:
+
+"'The evil that men do lives after them,'" he murmured. He rested his
+chin upon his hand. "A bat wing," he continued, musingly, "a bat wing
+was nailed to Menendez's door." He stared across at Harley. "Am I to
+believe, sir, that this was the clue which led you to the Guest House?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"It was."
+
+"I understand. I must therefore take no more excursions into my special
+subject, but must endeavour to regard the matter from the point of view
+of the enquiry. Am I to assume that Menendez was acquainted with the
+significance of this token?"
+
+"He had seen it employed in the West Indies."
+
+"Ah, the black-hearted devil! But I fear I am involving myself more
+deeply in suspicion. Perhaps, Mr. Harley, the ends of justice would be
+better served if you were to question me, and I to confine myself to
+answering you."
+
+"Very well," Harley agreed: "when and where did you meet the late
+Colonel Menendez?"
+
+"I never met him in my life."
+
+"Do you mean that you had never spoken to him?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Hm. Tell me, Mr. Camber, where were you at twelve o'clock last night?"
+
+"Here, writing."
+
+"And where was Ah Tsong?"
+
+"Ah Tsong?" Colin Camber stared uncomprehendingly. "Ah Tsong was in
+bed."
+
+"Oh. Did anything disturb you?"
+
+"Yes, the sound of a rifle shot."
+
+"You knew it for a rifle shot?"
+
+"It was unmistakable."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I was in the midst of a most important passage, and I should probably
+have taken no steps in the matter but that Ah Tsong knocked upon the
+study door, to inform me that my wife had been awakened by the sound of
+the shot. She is somewhat nervous and had rung for Ah Tsong, asking him
+to see if all were well with me."
+
+"Do I understand that she imagined the sound to have come from this
+room?"
+
+"When we are newly awakened from sleep, Mr. Harley, we retain only an
+imperfect impression of that which awakened us."
+
+"True," replied Paul Harley; "and did Ah Tsong return to his room?"
+
+"Not immediately. Permit me to say, Mr. Harley, that the nature of your
+questions surprises me. At the moment I fail to see their bearing upon
+the main issue. He returned and reported to my wife that I was writing,
+and she then requested him to bring her a glass of milk. Accordingly, he
+came down again, and going out into the kitchen, executed this order."
+
+"Ah. He would have to light a candle for that purpose, I suppose?"
+
+"A candle, or a lamp," replied Colin Camber, staring at Paul Harley.
+Then, his expression altering: "Of course!" he cried. "You saw the light
+from Cray's Folly? I understand at last."
+
+We were silent for a while, until:
+
+"How long a time elapsed between the firing of the shot and Ah Tsong's
+knocking at the study door?" asked Harley.
+
+"I could not answer definitely. I was absorbed in my work. But probably
+only a minute or two."
+
+"Was the sound a loud one?"
+
+"Fairly loud. And very startling, of course, in the silence of the
+night."
+
+"The shot, then, was fired from somewhere quite near the house?"
+
+"I presume so."
+
+"But you thought no more about the matter?"
+
+"Frankly, I had forgotten it. You see, the neighbourhood is rich with
+game; it might have been a poacher."
+
+"Quite," murmured Harley, but his face was very stern. "I wonder if you
+fully realize the danger of your position, Mr. Camber?"
+
+"Believe me," was the reply, "I can anticipate almost every question
+which I shall be called upon to answer."
+
+Paul Harley stared at him in a way which told me that he was comparing
+his features line for line with the etching of Edgar Allen Poe which
+hung in his office in Chancery Lane, and:
+
+"I do believe you," he replied, "and I am wondering if you are in a
+position to clear yourself?"
+
+"On the contrary," Camber assured him, "I am only waiting to hear that
+Juan Menendez was shot in the grounds of Cray's Folly, and not
+within the house, to propose to you that unless the real assassin be
+discovered, I shall quite possibly pay the penalty of his crime."
+
+"He was shot in the Tudor garden," replied Harley, "within sight of your
+windows."
+
+"Ah!" Colin Camber resumed the task of stuffing shag into his corn-cob.
+"Then if it would interest you, Mr. Harley, I will briefly outline the
+case against myself. I had never troubled to disguise the fact that I
+hated Menendez. Many witnesses can be called to testify to this. He was
+in Cuba when I was in Cuba, and evidence is doubtless obtainable to show
+that we stayed at the same hotels in various cities of the United States
+prior to my coming to England and leasing the Guest House. Finally, he
+became my neighbour in Surrey."
+
+He carefully lighted his pipe, whilst Harley and I watched him silently,
+then:
+
+"Menendez had the bat wing nailed to the door of his house," he
+continued. "He believed himself to be in danger, and associated this
+sign with the source of his danger. Excepting himself and possibly
+certain other members of his household it is improbable that any one
+else in Surrey understands the significance of the token save myself.
+The unholy rites of Voodoo are a closed book to the Western nations.
+I have opened that book, Mr. Harley. The powers of the Obeah man, and
+especially of the arch-magician known and dreaded by every negro as 'Bat
+Wing,' are familiar to me. Since I was alone at the time that the shot
+was fired, and for some few minutes afterward, and since the Tudor
+garden of Cray's Folly is within easy range of the Guest House, to fail
+to place me under arrest would be an act of sheer stupidity."
+
+He spoke the words with a sort of triumph. Like the fakir, he possessed
+the art of spiritual detachment, which is an attribute of genius. From
+an intellectual eminence he was surveying his own peril. Colin Camber
+in the flesh had ceased to exist; he was merely a pawn in a fascinating
+game.
+
+Paul Harley glanced at his watch.
+
+"Mr. Camber," he said, "I have just sustained the most crushing defeat
+of my career. The man who had summoned me to his aid was killed almost
+before my eyes. One thing I must do or accept professional oblivion."
+
+"I understand." Colin Camber nodded. "Apprehend his murderer?"
+
+"Ultimately, yes. But, firstly, I must see that to the assassination of
+Colonel Menendez a judicial murder is not added."
+
+"You mean--?" asked Camber, eagerly.
+
+"I mean that if you killed Menendez, you are a madman, and I have formed
+the opinion during our brief conversation that you are brilliantly
+sane."
+
+Colin Camber rose and bowed in that old-world fashion which was his.
+
+"I am obliged to you, Mr. Harley," he replied. "But has Mr. Knox
+informed you of my bibulous habits?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"They will, of course, be ascribed," continued Camber, "and there are
+many suitable analogies, to deliberate contemplation of a murderous
+deed. I would remind you that chronic alcoholism is a recognized form,
+of insanity."
+
+His mood changed again, and sighing wearily, he lay back in the chair.
+Over his pale face crept an expression which I knew, instinctively, to
+mean that he was thinking of his wife.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he said, speaking in a very low tone which scorned to
+accentuate the beauty of his voice, "I have suffered much in the quest
+of truth. Suffering is the gate beyond which we find compassion. Perhaps
+you have thought my foregoing remarks frivolous, in view of the fact
+that last night a soul was sent to its reckoning almost at my doors.
+I revere the truth, however, above all lesser laws and above all
+expediency. I do not, and I cannot, regret the end of the man Menendez.
+But for three reasons I should regret to pay the penalty of a crime
+which I did not commit, These reasons are--one," he ticked them off upon
+his delicate fingers--"It would be bitter to know that Devil Menendez
+even in death had injured me; two--My work in the world, which is
+unfinished; and, three--My wife."
+
+I watched and listened, almost awed by the strangeness of the man who
+sat before me. His three reasons were illuminating. A casual observer
+might have regarded Colin Camber as a monument of selfishness. But it
+was evident to me, and I knew it must be evident to Paul Harley, that
+his egotism was quite selfless. To a natural human resentment and a
+pathetic love for his wife he had added, as an equal clause, the claim
+of the world upon his genius.
+
+"I have heard you," said Paul Harley, quietly, "and you have led me to
+the most important point of all."
+
+"What point is that, Mr. Harley?"
+
+"You have referred to your recent lapse from abstemiousness. Excuse me
+if I discuss personal matters. This you ascribed to domestic troubles,
+or so Mr. Knox has informed me. You have also referred to your
+undisguised hatred of the late Colonel Juan Menendez. I am going to ask
+you, Mr. Camber, to tell me quite frankly what was the nature of those
+domestic troubles, and what had caused this hatred which survives even
+the death of its object?"
+
+Colin Camber stood up, angular, untidy, but a figure of great dignity.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he replied, "I cannot answer your questions."
+
+Paul Harley inclined his head gravely.
+
+"May I suggest," he said, "that you will be called upon to do so under
+circumstances which will brook no denial."
+
+Colin Camber watched him unflinchingly.
+
+"'The fate of every man is hung around his neck,'" he replied.
+
+"Yet, in this secret history which you refuse to divulge, and which
+therefore must count against you, the truth may lie which exculpates
+you."
+
+"It may be so. But my determination remains unaltered."
+
+"Very well," answered Paul Harley, quietly, but I could see that he
+was exercising a tremendous restraint upon himself. "I respect your
+decision, but you have given me a giant's task, and for this I cannot
+thank you, Mr. Camber."
+
+I heard a car pulled up in the road outside the Guest House. Colin
+Camber clenched his hands and sat down again in the carved chair.
+
+"The opportunity has passed," said Harley. "The police are here."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+
+
+
+"Oh, I see," said Inspector Aylesbury, "a little private confab, eh?"
+
+He sank his chin into its enveloping folds, treating Harley and myself
+each to a stare of disapproval.
+
+"These gentlemen very kindly called to advise me of the tragic
+occurrence at Cray's Folly," explained Colin Camber. "Won't you be
+seated, Inspector?"
+
+"Thanks, but I can conduct my examination better standing."
+
+He turned to Paul Harley.
+
+"Might I ask, Mr. Harley," he said, "what concern this is of yours?"
+
+"I am naturally interested in anything appertaining to the death of a
+client, Inspector Aylesbury."
+
+"Oh, so you slip in ahead of me, having deliberately withheld
+information from the police, and think you are going to get all the
+credit. Is that it?"
+
+"That is it, Inspector," replied Harley, smiling. "An instance of
+professional jealousy."
+
+"Professional jealousy?" cried the Inspector. "Allow me to remind you
+that you have no official standing in this case whatever. You are merely
+a member of the public, nothing more, nothing less."
+
+"I am happy to be recognized as a member of that much-misunderstood
+body."
+
+"Ah, well, we shall see. Now, Mr. Camber, your attention, please."
+
+He raised his finger impressively.
+
+"I am informed by Miss Beverley that the late Colonel Menendez looked
+upon you as a dangerous enemy."
+
+"Were those her exact words?" I murmured.
+
+"Mr. Knox!"
+
+The inspector turned rapidly, confronting me. "I have already warned
+your friend. But if I have any interruptions from you, I will have you
+removed."
+
+He continued to glare at me for some moments, and then, turning again to
+Colin Camber:
+
+"I say, I have information that Colonel Menendez looked upon you as a
+dangerous neighbour."
+
+"In that event," replied Colin Camber, "why did he lease an adjoining
+property?"
+
+"That's an evasion, sir. Answer my first question, if you please."
+
+"You have asked me no question, Inspector."
+
+"Oh, I see. That's your attitude, is it? Very well, then. Were you, or
+were you not, an enemy of the late Colonel Menendez?"
+
+"I was."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"I say I was. I hated him, and I hate him no less in death than I hated
+him living."
+
+I think that I had never seen a man so taken aback, Inspector
+Aylesbury, drawing out a large handkerchief blew his nose. Replacing the
+handkerchief, he produced a note-book.
+
+"I am placing that statement on record, sir," he said.
+
+He made an entry in the book, and then:
+
+"Where did you first meet Colonel Menendez?" he asked.
+
+"I never met him in my life."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+Colin Camber merely shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I will repeat my question," said the Inspector, pompously. "Where did
+you first meet Colonel Juan Menendez?"
+
+"I have answered you, Inspector."
+
+"Oh, I see. You decline to answer that question. Very well, I will make
+a note of this." He did so. "And now," said he, "what were you doing at
+midnight last night?"
+
+"I was writing."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Here."
+
+"What happened?"
+
+Very succinctly Colin Camber repeated the statement which he had already
+made to Paul Harley, and, at its conclusion:
+
+"Send for the man, Ah Tsong," directed Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head, clapped his bands, and silently Ah Tsong
+entered.
+
+The Inspector stared at him for several moments as a visitor to the Zoo
+might stare at some rare animal; then:
+
+"Your name is Ah Tsong?" he began.
+
+"Ah Tsong," murmured the Chinaman.
+
+"I am going to ask you to give an exact account of your movements last
+night."
+
+"No sabby."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat.
+
+"I say I wish to know exactly what you did last night. Answer me."
+
+Ah Tseng's face remained quite expressionless, and:
+
+"No sabby," he repeated.
+
+"Oh, I see," said the Inspector, "This witness refuses to answer at
+all."
+
+"You are wrong," explained Colin Camber, quietly. "Ah Tsong is a
+Chinaman, and his knowledge of English is very limited. He does not
+understand you."
+
+"He understood my first question. You can't draw wool over my eyes. He
+knows well enough. Are you going to answer me?" he demanded, angrily, of
+the Chinaman.
+
+"No sabby, master," he said, glancing aside at Colin Camber. "Number-one
+p'licee-man gotchee no pidgin."
+
+Paul Harley was leisurely filling his pipe, and:
+
+"If you think the evidence of Ah Tsong important, Inspector," he said,
+"I will interpret if you wish."
+
+"You will do what?"
+
+"I will act as interpreter."
+
+"Do you want me to believe that you speak Chinese?"
+
+"Your beliefs do not concern me, Inspector; I am merely offering my
+services."
+
+"Thanks," said the Inspector, dryly, "but I won't trouble you. I should
+like a few words with Mrs. Camber."
+
+"Very good."
+
+Colin Camber bent his head gravely, and gave an order to Ah Tsong, who
+turned and went out.
+
+"And what firearms have you in the house?" asked Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"An early Dutch arquebus, which you see in the corner," was the reply.
+
+"That doesn't interest me. I mean up-to-date weapons."
+
+"And a Colt revolver which I have in a drawer here."
+
+As he spoke, Colin Camber opened a drawer in his desk and took out a
+heavy revolver of the American Army Service pattern.
+
+"I should like to examine it, if you please."
+
+Camber passed it to the Inspector, and the latter, having satisfied
+himself that none of the chambers were loaded, peered down the barrel,
+and smelled at the weapon suspiciously.
+
+"If it has been recently used it has been well cleaned," he said, and
+placed it on a cabinet beside him. "Anything else?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"No sporting rifles?"
+
+"None. I never shoot."
+
+"Oh, I see."
+
+The door opened and Mrs. Camber came in. She was very simply dressed,
+and looked even more child-like than she had seemed before. I think
+Ah Tsong had warned her of the nature of the ordeal which she was to
+expect, but her wide-eyed timidity was nevertheless pathetic to witness.
+
+She glanced at me with a ghost of a smile, and:
+
+"Ysola," said Colin Camber, inclining his head toward me in a grave
+gesture of courtesy, "Mr. Knox has generously forgiven me a breach of
+good manners for which I shall never forgive myself. I beg you to thank
+him, as I have done."
+
+"It is so good of you," she said, sweetly, and held out her hand. "But I
+knew you would understand that it was just a great mistake."
+
+"Mr. Paul Harley," Camber continued, "my wife welcomes you; and this,
+Ysola, is Inspector Aylesbury, who desires a few moments' conversation
+upon a rather painful matter."
+
+"I have heard, I have heard," she whispered. "Ah Tsong has told me."
+
+The pupils of her eyes dilated, as she fixed an appealing glance upon
+the Inspector.
+
+In justice to the latter he was palpably abashed by the delicate
+beauty of the girl who stood before him, by her naivete, and by that
+childishness of appearance and manner which must have awakened the
+latent chivalry in almost any man's heart.
+
+"I am sorry to have to trouble you with this disagreeable business, Mrs.
+Camber," he began; "but I believe you were awakened last night by the
+sound of a shot."
+
+"Yes," she replied, watching him intently, "that is so."
+
+"May I ask at what time this was heard?"
+
+"Ah Tsong told me it was after twelve o'clock."
+
+"Was the sound a loud one?"
+
+"Yes. It must have been to have awakened me."
+
+"I see. Did you think it was in the house?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"In the garden?"
+
+"I really could not say, but I think that it was farther away than
+that."
+
+"And what did you do?"
+
+"I rang the bell for Ah Tsong."
+
+"Did he come immediately?"
+
+"Almost immediately."
+
+"He was dressed, then?"
+
+"No, I don't think he was. He had quickly put on an overcoat. He usually
+answers at once, when I ring for him, you see."
+
+"I see. What did you do then?"
+
+"Well, I was frightened, you understand, and I told him to find out if
+all was well with my husband. He came back and told me that Colin was
+writing. But the sound had alarmed me very much."
+
+"Oh, and now perhaps _you_ will tell me, Mrs. Camber, when and where
+your husband first met Colonel Menendez?"
+
+Every vestige of colour fled from the girl's face.
+
+"So far as I know--they never met," she replied, haltingly.
+
+"Could you swear to that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+I think that hitherto she had not fully realized the nature of the
+situation; but now something in the Inspector's voice, or perhaps in
+our glances, told her the truth. She moved to where Colin Camber was
+sitting, looking down at him questioningly, pitifully. He put his arm
+about her and drew her close.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and returned his note-book to his
+pocket.
+
+"I am going to take a look around the garden," he announced.
+
+My respect for him increased slightly, and Harley and I followed him out
+of the study. A police sergeant was sitting in the hall, and Ah Tsong
+was standing just outside the door.
+
+"Show me the way to the garden," directed the Inspector.
+
+Ah Tsong stared stupidly, whereupon Paul Harley addressed him in his
+native language, rapidly and in a low voice, in order, as I divined,
+that the Inspector should not hear him.
+
+"I feel dreadfully guilty, Knox," he confessed, in a murmured aside.
+"For any Englishman, fictitious characters excepted, to possess a
+knowledge of Chinese is almost indecent."
+
+Presently, then, I found myself once more in that unkempt garden of
+which I retained such unpleasant memories.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stared all about and up at the back of the house,
+humming to himself and generally behaving as though he were alone.
+Before the little summer study he stood still, and:
+
+"Oh, I see," he muttered.
+
+What he had seen was painfully evident. The right-hand window, beneath
+which there was a permanent wooden seat, commanded an unobstructed view
+of the Tudor garden in the grounds of Cray's Folly. Clearly I could
+detect the speck of high-light upon the top of the sun-dial.
+
+The Inspector stepped into the hut. It contained a bookshelf upon which
+a number of books remained, a table and a chair, with some few other
+dilapidated appointments. I glanced at Harley and saw that he was
+staring as if hypnotized at the prospect in the valley below. I observed
+a constable on duty at the top of the steps which led down into the
+Tudor garden, but I could see nothing to account for Harley's fixed
+regard, until:
+
+"Pardon me one moment, Inspector," he muttered, brusquely.
+
+Brushing past the indignant Aylesbury, who was examining the contents
+of the shelves in the hut, he knelt upon the wooden seat and stared
+intently through the open window.
+
+"One-two-three-four-five-six-_seven_," he chanted. "Good! That will
+settle it."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Inspector Aylesbury, standing strictly upright, his
+prominent eyes turned in the direction of the kneeling Harley. "One,
+two, three, four, and so on will settle it, eh? If you don't mind me
+saying so, it was settled already."
+
+"Yes?" replied Harley, standing up, and I saw that his eyes were very
+bright and that his face was slightly flushed. "You think the case is so
+simple as that?"
+
+"Simple?" exclaimed the Inspector. "It's the most cunning thing that was
+ever planned, but I flatter myself that I have a good straight eye which
+can see a fairly long way."
+
+"Excellent," murmured Harley. "I congratulate you. Myopia is so common
+in the present generation. You have decided, of course, that the murder
+was committed by Ah Tsong?"
+
+Inspector Aylesbury's eyes seemed to protrude extraordinarily.
+
+"Ah Tsong!" he exclaimed. "Ah Tsong!"
+
+"Surely it is palpable," continued Harley, "that of the three people
+residing in the Guest House, Ah Tsong is the only one who could possibly
+have done the deed."
+
+"Who could possibly--who could possibly----" stuttered the Inspector,
+then paused because of sheer lack of words.
+
+"Review the evidence," continued Harley, coolly. "Mrs. Camber was
+awakened by the sound of a shot. She immediately rang for Ah Tsong.
+There was a short interval before Ah Tsong appeared--and when he did
+appear he was wearing an overcoat. Note this point, Inspector: wearing
+an overcoat. He descended to the study and found Mr. Camber writing.
+Now, Ah Tsong sleeps in a room adjoining the kitchen on the ground
+floor. We passed his quarters on our way to the garden a moment ago. Of
+course, you had noted this? Mr. Camber is therefore eliminated from our
+list of suspects."
+
+The Inspector was growing very red, but ere he had time to speak Harley
+continued:
+
+"The first of these three persons to have heard a shot fired at the end
+of the garden would have been Ah Tsong, and not Mrs. Camber, whose room
+is upstairs and in the front of the house. If it had been fired by Mr.
+Camber from the spot upon which we now stand, he would still have been
+in the garden at the moment when Mrs. Camber was ringing the bell for
+Ah Tsong. Mr. Camber must therefore have returned from the end of the
+garden to the study, and have passed Ah Tsong's room--unheard by the
+occupant--between the time that the bell rang and the time that Ah Tsong
+went upstairs. This I submit to be impossible. There is an alternative:
+it is that he slipped in whilst Ah Tsong, standing on the landing above,
+was receiving his mistress's orders. I submit that the alternative is
+also impossible. We thus eliminate Mr. Camber from the case, as I have
+already mentioned."
+
+"Eliminate--eliminate!" cried the Inspector, beginning to recover power
+of speech. "Do you think you can fuddle me with a mass of words, Mr.
+Harley? Allow me to point out to you, sir, that you are in no way
+officially associated with this matter."
+
+"You have already drawn my attention to the fact, Inspector, but it can
+do no harm to jog my memory."
+
+Harley spoke entirely without bitterness, and I, who knew his every
+mood, realized that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Therefore I knew
+that at last he had found a clue.
+
+"I may add, Inspector," said he, "that upon further reflection I have
+also eliminated Ah Tsong from the case. I forgot to mention that he
+lacks the first and second fingers of his right hand; and I have yet
+to meet the marksman who can shoot a man squarely between the eyes,
+by moonlight, at a hundred yards, employing his third finger as
+trigger-finger. There are other points, but these will be sufficient to
+show you that this case is more complicated than you had assumed it to
+be."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury did not deign to reply, or could not trust himself
+to do so. He turned and made his way back to the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+AN OFFICIAL MOVE
+
+
+
+We re�ntered the study to find Mrs. Camber sitting in a chair very close
+to her husband. Inspector Aylesbury stood in the open doorway for a
+moment, and then, stepping back into the hall:
+
+"Sergeant Butler," he said, addressing the man who waited there.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Go out to the gate and get Edson to relieve you. I shall want you to go
+back to headquarters in a few minutes."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+I scented what was coming, and as Inspector Aylesbury reentered the
+room:
+
+"I should like to make a statement," announced Paul Harley, quietly.
+
+The Inspector frowned, and lowering his chin, regarded him with little
+favour.
+
+"I have not invited any statement from you, Mr. Harley," said he.
+
+"Quite," returned Harley. "I am volunteering it. It is this: I gather
+that you are about to take an important step officially. Having in view
+certain steps which I, also, am about to take, I would ask you to defer
+action, purely in your own interests, for at least twenty-four hours."
+
+"I hear you," said the Inspector, sarcastically.
+
+"Very well, Inspector. You have come newly into this case, and I assure
+you that its apparent simplicity is illusive. As new facts come into
+your possession you will realize that what I say is perfectly true, and
+if you act now you will be acting hastily. All that I have learned I am
+prepared to place at your disposal. But I predict that the interference
+of Scotland Yard will be necessary before this enquiry is concluded.
+Therefore I suggest, since you have rejected my cooperation, that you
+obtain that of Detective Inspector Wessex, of the Criminal Investigation
+Department. In short, this is no one-man job. You will do yourself harm
+by jumping to conclusions, and cause unnecessary trouble to perfectly
+innocent people."
+
+"Is your statement concluded?" asked the Inspector.
+
+"For the moment I have nothing to add."
+
+"Oh, I see. Very good. Then we can now get to business. Always with your
+permission, Mr. Harley."
+
+He took his stand before the fireplace, very erect, and invested with
+his most official manner. Mrs. Camber watched him in a way that was
+pathetic. Camber seemed to be quite composed, although his face was
+unusually pale.
+
+"Now, Mr. Camber," said the Inspector, "I find your answers to the
+questions which I have put to you very unsatisfactory."
+
+"I am sorry," said Colin Camber, quietly.
+
+"One moment, Inspector," interrupted Paul Harley, "you have not warned
+Mr. Camber."
+
+Thereupon the long-repressed wrath of Inspector Aylesbury burst forth.
+
+"Then I will warn _you_, sir!" he shouted. "One more word and you leave
+this house."
+
+"Yet I am going to venture on one more word," continued Harley,
+unperturbed. He turned to Colin Camber. "I happen to be a member of the
+Bar, Mr. Camber," he said, "although I rarely accept a brief. Have I
+your authority to act for you?"
+
+"I am grateful, Mr. Harley, and I leave this unpleasant affair in your
+hands with every confidence."
+
+Camber stood up, bowing formally.
+
+The expression upon the inflamed face of Inspector Aylesbury was really
+indescribable, and recognizing his mental limitations, I was almost
+tempted to feel sorry for him. However, he did not lack self-confidence,
+and:
+
+"I suppose you have scored, Mr. Harley," he said, a certain hoarseness
+perceptible in his voice, "but I know my duty and I am not afraid to
+perform it. Now, Mr. Camber, did you, or did you not, at about twelve
+o'clock last night----"
+
+"Warn the accused," murmured Harley.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury uttered a choking sound, but:
+
+"I have to warn you," he said, "that your answers may be used as
+evidence. I will repeat: Did you, or did you not, at about twelve
+o'clock last night, shoot, with intent to murder, Colonel Juan
+Menendez?"
+
+Ysola Camber leapt up, clutching at her husband's arm as if to hold him
+back.
+
+"I did not," he replied, quietly.
+
+"Nevertheless," continued the Inspector, looking aggressively at Paul
+Harley whilst he spoke, "I am going to detain you pending further
+enquiries."
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head.
+
+"Very well," he said; "you only do your duty."
+
+The little fingers clutching his sleeve slowly relaxed, and Mrs. Camber,
+uttering a long sigh, sank in a swoon at his feet.
+
+"Ysola! Ysola!" he muttered. Stooping he raised the child-like figure.
+"If you will kindly open the door, Mr. Knox," he said, "I will carry my
+wife to her room."
+
+I sprang to the door and held it widely open.
+
+Colin Camber, deadly pale, but holding his head very erect, walked in
+the direction of the hallway with his pathetic burden. Mis-reading the
+purpose written upon the stern white face, Inspector Aylesbury stepped
+forward.
+
+"Let someone else attend to Mrs. Camber," he cried, sharply. "I wish you
+to remain here."
+
+His detaining hand was already upon Camber's shoulder when Harley's arm
+shot out like a barrier across the Inspector's chest, and Colin Camber
+proceeded on his way. Momentarily, he glanced aside, and I saw that his
+eyes were unnaturally bright.
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Harley," he said, and carried his wife from the room.
+
+Harley dropped his arm, and crossing, stood staring out of the window.
+Inspector Aylesbury ran heavily to the door.
+
+"Sergeant!" he called, "Sergeant! keep that man in sight. He must return
+here immediately."
+
+I heard the sound of heavy footsteps following Camber's up the stairs,
+then Inspector Aylesbury turned, a bulky figure in the open doorway,
+and:
+
+"Now, Mr. Harley," said he, entering and reclosing the door, "you are a
+barrister, I understand. Very well, then, I suppose you are aware that
+you have resisted and obstructed an officer of the law in the execution
+of his duty."
+
+Paul Harley spun round upon his heel.
+
+"Is that a charge," he inquired, "or merely a warning?"
+
+The two glared at one another for a moment, then:
+
+"From now onward," continued the Inspector, "I am going to have no more
+trouble with you, Mr. Harley. In the first place, I'll have you looked
+up in the Law List; in the second place, I shall ask you to stick to
+your proper duties, and leave me to look after mine."
+
+"I have endeavoured from the outset," replied Harley, his good humour
+quite restored, "to assist you in every way in my power. You have
+declined all my offers, and finally, upon the most flimsy evidence, you
+have detained a perfectly innocent man."
+
+"Oh, I see. A perfectly innocent man, eh?"
+
+"Perfectly innocent, Inspector. There are so many points that you have
+overlooked. For instance, do you seriously suppose that Mr. Camber had
+been waiting up here night after night on the off-chance that Colonel
+Menendez would appear in the grounds of Cray's Folly?"
+
+"No, I don't. I have got that worked out."
+
+"Indeed? You interest me."
+
+"Mr. Camber has an accomplice at Cray's Folly."
+
+"What?" exclaimed Harley, and into his keen grey eyes crept a look of
+real interest.
+
+"He has an accomplice," repeated the Inspector. "A certain witness was
+strangely reluctant to mention Mr. Camber's name. It was only after very
+keen examination that I got it at last. Now, Colonel Menendez had not
+retired last night, neither had a certain other party. That other
+party, sir, knows why Colonel Menendez was wandering about the garden at
+midnight."
+
+At first, I think, this astonishing innuendo did not fully penetrate
+to my mind, but when it did so, it seemed to galvanize me. Springing up
+from the chair in which I had been seated:
+
+"You preposterous fool!" I exclaimed, hotly.
+
+It was the last straw. Inspector Aylesbury strode to the door and
+throwing it open once more, turned to me:
+
+"Be good enough to leave the house, Mr. Knox," he said. "I am about to
+have it officially searched, and I will have no strangers present."
+
+I think I could have strangled him with pleasure, but even in my rage
+I was not foolhardy enough to lay myself open to that of which the
+Inspector was quite capable at this moment.
+
+Without another word I walked out of the study, took my hat and stick,
+and opening the front door, quitted the Guest House, from which I had
+thus a second time been dismissed ignominiously.
+
+Appreciation of this fact, which came to me as I stepped into the porch,
+awakened my sense of humour--a gift truly divine which has saved many
+a man from desperation or worse. I felt like a schoolboy who had been
+turned out of a class-room, and I was glad that I could laugh at myself.
+
+A constable was standing in the porch, and he looked at me suspiciously.
+No doubt he perceived something very sardonic in my merriment.
+
+I walked out of the gate, before which a car was standing, and as I
+paused to light a cigarette I heard the door of the Guest House open and
+close. I glanced back, and there was Paul Harley coming to join me.
+
+"Now, Knox," he said, briskly, "we have got our hands full."
+
+"My dear Harley, I am both angry and bewildered. Too angry and too
+bewildered to think clearly."
+
+"I can quite understand it. I should become homicidal if I were forced
+to submit for long to the company of Inspector Aylesbury. Of course, I
+had anticipated the arrest of Colin Camber, and I fear there is worse to
+come."
+
+"What do you mean, Harley?"
+
+"I mean that failing the apprehension of the real murderer, I cannot
+see, at the moment, upon what the case for the defence is to rest."
+
+"But surely you demonstrated out there in the garden that he could not
+possibly have fired the shot?"
+
+"Words, Knox, words. I could pick a dozen loopholes in my own argument.
+I had only hoped to defer the inevitable. I tell you, there is worse to
+come. Two things we must do at once."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"We must persuade the man on duty to allow us to examine the Tudor
+garden, and we must see the Chief Constable, whoever he may be, and
+prevail upon him to requisition the assistance of Scotland Yard.
+With Wessex in charge of the case I might have a chance. Whilst this
+disastrous man Aylesbury holds the keys there is none."
+
+"You heard what he said about Miss Beverley?"
+
+We were now walking rapidly along the high road, and Harley nodded.
+
+"I did," he said. "I had expected it. He was inspired with this
+brilliant idea last night, and his ideas are too few to be lightly
+scrapped. If the Chief Constable is anything like the Inspector, what we
+are going to do heaven only knows."
+
+"I take it, Harley, that you are convinced of Colin Camber's innocence?"
+
+Harley did not answer for a moment, whereupon I glanced at him
+anxiously, then:
+
+"Colin Camber," he replied, "is of so peculiar a type that I could
+not presume to say of what he is capable or is not capable. The
+most significant point in his favour is this: He is a man of unusual
+intellect. The planning of this cunning crime to such a man would have
+been child's play--child's play, Knox. But is it possible to believe
+that his genius would have failed him upon the most essential detail of
+all, namely, an alibi?"
+
+"It is not."
+
+"Of course it is not. Which, continuing to regard Camber as an assassin,
+reduces us to the theory that the crime was committed in a moment
+of passion. This I maintain to be also impossible. It was no deed of
+impulse."
+
+"I agree with you."
+
+"Now, I believe that the enquiry is going to turn upon a very delicate
+point. If I am wrong in this, then perhaps I am wrong in my whole
+conception of the case. But have you considered the mass of evidence
+against Colin Camber?"
+
+"I have, Harley," I replied, sadly, "I have."
+
+"Think of all that we know, and which the Inspector does not know. Every
+single datum points in the same direction. No prosecution could ask for
+a more perfect case. Upon this fact I pin my hopes. Where an Aylesbury
+rushes in I fear to tread. The analogy with an angel was accidental,
+Knox!" he added, smilingly. "In other words, it is all too obvious. Yet
+I have failed once, Knox, failed disastrously, and it may be that in my
+anxiety to justify myself I am seeking for subtlety where no subtlety
+exists."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+AYLESBURY'S THEORY
+
+
+
+There were strangers about Cray's Folly and a sort of furtive activity,
+horribly suggestive. We had not pursued the circular route by the high
+road which would have brought us to the lodge, but had turned aside
+where the swing-gate opened upon a footpath into the meadows. It was the
+path which I had pursued upon the day of my visit to the Lavender
+Arms. A second private gate here gave access to the grounds at a point
+directly opposite the lake; and as we crossed the valley, making for the
+terraced lawns, I saw unfamiliar figures upon the veranda, and knew that
+the cumbersome processes of the law were already in motion.
+
+I was longing to speak to Val Beverley and to learn what had taken place
+during her interview with Inspector Aylesbury, but Harley led the way
+toward the tower wing, and by a tortuous path through the rhododendrons
+we finally came out on the northeast front and in sight of the Tudor
+garden.
+
+Harley crossed to the entrance, and was about to descend the steps, when
+the constable on duty there held out his arm.
+
+"Excuse me, sir," he said, "but I have orders to admit no one to this
+part of the garden."
+
+"Oh," said Harley, pulling up short, "but I am acting in this case. My
+name is Paul Harley."
+
+"Sorry, sir," replied the constable, "but you will have to see Inspector
+Aylesbury."
+
+My friend uttered an impatient exclamation, but, turning aside:
+
+"Very well, constable," he muttered; "I suppose I must submit. Our
+friend, Aylesbury," he added to me, as we walked away, "would appear
+to be a martinet as well as a walrus. At every step, Knox, he proves
+himself a tragic nuisance. This means waste of priceless time."
+
+"What had you hoped to do, Harley?"
+
+"Prove my theory," he returned; "but since every moment is precious, I
+must move in another direction."
+
+He hurried on through the opening in the box hedge and into the
+courtyard. Manoel had just opened the doors to a sepulchral-looking
+person who proved to be the coroner's officer, and:
+
+"Manoel!" cried Harley, "tell Carter to bring a car round at once."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I haven't time to fetch my own," he explained.
+
+"Where are you off to?"
+
+"I am off to see the Chief Constable, Knox. Aylesbury must be superseded
+at whatever cost. If the Chief Constable fails I shall not hesitate to
+go higher. I will get along to the garage. I don't expect to be more
+than an hour. Meanwhile, do your best to act as a buffer between
+Aylesbury and the women. You understand me?"
+
+"Quite," I returned, shortly. "But the task may prove no light one,
+Harley."
+
+"It won't," he assured me, smiling grimly. "How you must regret, Knox,
+that we didn't go fishing!"
+
+With that he was off, eager-eyed and alert, the mood of dreamy
+abstraction dropped like a cloak discarded. He fully realized, as I did,
+that his unique reputation was at stake. I wondered, as I had wondered
+at the Guest House, whether, in undertaking to clear Colin Camber, he
+had acted upon sheer conviction, or, embittered by the death of his
+client, had taken a gambler's chance. It was unlike him to do so. But
+now beyond reach of that charm of manner which Colin Camber possessed,
+and discounting the pathetic sweetness of his girl-wife, I realized how
+black was the evidence against him.
+
+Occupied with these, and even more troubled thoughts, I was making my
+way toward the library, undetermined how to act, when I saw Val Beverley
+coming along the corridor which communicated with Madame de St�mer's
+room.
+
+I read a welcome in her eyes which made my heart beat the faster.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox," she cried, "I am so glad you have returned. Tell me all
+that has happened, for I feel in some way that I am responsible for it."
+
+I nodded gravely.
+
+"You know, then, where Inspector Aylesbury went when he left here, after
+his interview with you?"
+
+She looked at me pathetically.
+
+"He went to the Guest House, of course."
+
+"Yes," I said; "he was close behind us."
+
+"And"--she hesitated--"Mr. Camber?"
+
+"He has been detained."
+
+"Oh!" she moaned. "I could hate myself! Yet what could I say, what could
+I do?"
+
+"Just tell me all about it," I urged. "What were the Inspector's
+questions?"
+
+"Well," explained the girl, "he had evidently learned from someone,
+presumably one of the servants, that there was enmity between Mr. Camber
+and Colonel Menendez. He asked me if I knew of this, and of course I
+had to admit that I did. But when I told him that I had no idea of its
+cause, he did not seem to believe me."
+
+"No," I murmured. "Any evidence which fails to dove-tail with his
+preconceived theories he puts down as a lie."
+
+"He seemed to have made up his mind for some reason," she continued,
+"that I was intimately acquainted with Mr. Camber. Whereas, of course, I
+have never spoken to him in my life, although whenever he has passed me
+in the road he has always saluted me with quite delightful courtesy.
+Oh, Mr. Knox, it is horrible to think of this great misfortune coming to
+those poor people." She looked at me pleadingly. "How did his wife take
+it?"
+
+"Poor little girl," I replied, "it was an awful blow."
+
+"I feel that I want to set out this very minute," declared Val Beverley,
+"and go to her, and try to comfort her. Because I feel in my very soul
+that her husband is innocent. She is such a sweet little thing. I have
+wanted to speak to her since the very first time I ever saw her, but on
+the rare occasions when we have met in the village she has hurried
+past as though she were afraid of me. Mr. Harley surely knows that her
+husband is not guilty?"
+
+"I think he does," I replied, "but he may have great difficulty in
+proving it. And what else did Inspector Aylesbury wish to know?"
+
+"How can I tell you?" she said in a low voice; and biting her lip
+agitatedly she turned her head aside.
+
+"Perhaps I can guess."
+
+"Can you?" she asked, looking at me quickly. "Well, then, he seemed to
+attach a ridiculous importance to the fact that I had not retired last
+night at the time of the tragedy."
+
+"I know," said I, grimly. "Another preconceived idea of his."
+
+"I told him the truth of the matter, which is surely quite simple, and
+at first I was unable to understand the nature of his suspicions. Then,
+after a time, his questions enlightened me. He finally suggested, quite
+openly, that I had not come down from my room to the corridor in which
+Madame de St�mer was lying, but had actually been there at the time!"
+
+"In the corridor outside her room?"
+
+"Yes. He seemed to think that I had just come in from the door near
+the end of the east wing and beside the tower, which opens into the
+shrubbery."
+
+"That you had just come in?" I exclaimed. "He thinks, then, that you had
+been out in the grounds?"
+
+Val Beverley's face had been very pale, but now she flushed indignantly,
+and glanced away from me as she replied:
+
+"He dared to suggest that I had been to keep an assignation."
+
+"The fool!" I cried. "The ignorant, impudent fool!"
+
+"Oh," she declared, "I felt quite ill with indignation. I am afraid I
+may regard Inspector Aylesbury as an enemy from now onward, for when
+I had recovered from the shock I told him very plainly what I thought
+about his intellect, or lack of it."
+
+"I am glad you did," I said, warmly. "Before Inspector Aylesbury
+is through with this business I fancy he will know more about his
+limitations than he knows at present. The fact of the matter is that he
+is badly out of his depth, but is not man enough to acknowledge the fact
+even to himself."
+
+She smiled at me pathetically.
+
+"Whatever should I have done if I had been alone?" she said.
+
+I was tempted to direct the conversation into a purely personal channel,
+but common sense prevailed, and:
+
+"Is Madame de St�mer awake?" I asked.
+
+"Yes." The girl nodded. "Dr. Rolleston is with her now."
+
+"And does she know?"
+
+"Yes. She sent for me directly she awoke, and asked me."
+
+"And you told her?"
+
+"How could I do otherwise? She was quite composed, wonderfully composed;
+and the way she heard the news was simply heroic. But here is Dr.
+Rolleston, coming now."
+
+I glanced along the corridor, and there was the physician approaching
+briskly.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Knox," he said.
+
+"Good morning, doctor. I hear that your patient is much improved?"
+
+"Wonderfully so," he answered. "She has enough courage for ten men. She
+wishes to see you, Mr. Knox, and to hear your account of the tragedy."
+
+"Do you think it would be wise?"
+
+"I think it would be best."
+
+"Do you hold any hope of her permanently recovering the use of her
+limbs?"
+
+Dr. Rolleston shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"It may have only been temporary," he replied. "These obscure nervous
+affections are very fickle. It is unsafe to make predictions. But
+mentally, at least, she is quite restored from the effects of last
+night's shock. You need apprehend no hysteria or anything of that
+nature, Mr. Knox."
+
+"Oh, I see," exclaimed a loud voice behind us.
+
+We all three turned, and there was Inspector Aylesbury crossing the hall
+in our direction.
+
+"Good morning, Dr. Rolleston," he said, deliberately ignoring my
+presence. "I hear that your patient is quite well again this morning?"
+
+"She is much improved," returned the physician, dryly.
+
+"Then I can get her testimony, which is most important to my case?"
+
+"She is somewhat better. If she cares to see you I do not forbid the
+interview."
+
+"Oh, that's good of you, doctor." He bowed to Miss Beverley. "Perhaps,
+Miss, you would ask Madame de St�mer to see me for a few minutes."
+
+Val Beverley looked at me appealingly then shrugged her shoulders,
+turned aside, and walked in the direction of Madame de St�mer's door.
+
+"Well," said Dr. Rolleston, in his brisk way, shaking me by the hand, "I
+must be getting along. Good morning, Mr. Knox. Good morning, Inspector
+Aylesbury."
+
+He walked rapidly out to his waiting car. The presence of Inspector
+Aylesbury exercised upon Dr. Rolleston a similar effect to that which
+a red rag has upon a bull. As he took his departure, the Inspector drew
+out his pocket-book, and, humming gently to himself, began to consult
+certain entries therein, with a portentous air of reflection which would
+have been funny if it had not been so irritating.
+
+Thus we stood when Val Beverley returned, and:
+
+"Madame de St�mer will see you, Inspector Aylesbury," she said, "but
+wishes Mr. Knox to be present at the interview."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, lowering his chin, "I see. Oh, very well."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+IN MADAME'S ROOM
+
+
+
+Madame de St�mer's apartment was a large and elegant one. From the
+window-drapings, which were of some light, figured satiny material, to
+the bed-cover, the lampshades and the carpet, it was French. Faintly
+perfumed, and decorated with many bowls of roses, it reflected, in its
+ornaments, its pictures, its slender-legged furniture, the personality
+of the occupant. In a large, high bed, reclining amidst a number of
+silken pillows, lay Madame de St�mer. The theme of the room was violet
+and silver, and to this everything conformed. The toilet service was of
+dull silver and violet enamel. The mirrors and some of the pictures
+had dull silver frames, There was nothing tawdry or glittering. The bed
+itself, which I thought resembled a bed of state, was of the same dull
+silver, with a coverlet of delicate violet I hue. But Madame's d�collet�
+robe was trimmed with white fur, so that her hair, dressed high upon her
+head, seemed to be of silver, too.
+
+Reclining there upon her pillows, she looked like some grande dame of
+that France which was swept away by the Revolution. Immediately above
+the dressing-table I observed a large portrait of Colonel Menendez
+dressed as I had imagined he should be dressed when I had first set eyes
+on him, in tropical riding kit, and holding a broad-brimmed hat in his
+hand. A strikingly handsome, arrogant figure he made, uncannily like the
+Velasquez in the library.
+
+At the face of Madame de St�mer I looked long and searchingly. She had
+not neglected the art of the toilette. Blinds tempered the sunlight
+which flooded her room; but that, failing the service of rouge, Madame
+had been pale this morning, I perceived immediately. In some subtle
+way the night had changed her. Something was gone out of her face, and
+something come into it. I thought, and lived to remember the thought,
+that it was thus Marie Antoinette might have looked when they told her
+how the drums had rolled in the Place de la Revolution on that morning
+of the twenty-first of January.
+
+"Oh, M. Knox," she said, sadly, "you are there, I see. Come and sit here
+beside me, my friend. Val, dear, remain. Is this Inspector Aylesbury who
+wishes to speak to me?"
+
+The Inspector, who had entered with all the confidence in the world,
+seemed to lose some of it in the presence of this grand lady, who was so
+little impressed by the dignity of his office.
+
+She waved one slender hand in the direction of a violet brocaded chair.
+
+"Sit down, Monsieur l'inspecteur," she commanded, for it was rather a
+command than an invitation.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and sat down.
+
+"Ah, M. Knox!" exclaimed Madame, turning to me with one of her rapid
+movements, "is your friend afraid to face me, then? Does he think that
+he has failed? Does he think that I condemn him?"
+
+"He knows that he has failed, Madame de St�mer," I replied, "but his
+absence is due to the fact that at this hour he is hot upon the trail of
+the assassin."
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, "what!"--and bending forward touched my arm.
+"Tell me again! Tell me again!"
+
+"He is following a clue, Madame de St�mer, which he hopes will lead to
+the truth."
+
+"Ah! if I could believe it would lead to the truth," she said. "If I
+dared to believe this."
+
+"Why should it not?"
+
+She shook her head, smiling with such a resigned sadness that I averted
+my gaze and glanced across at Val Beverley who was seated on the
+opposite side of the bed.
+
+"If you knew--if you knew."
+
+I looked again into the tragic face, and realized that this was an older
+woman than the brilliant hostess I had known. She sighed, shrugged, and:
+
+"Tell me, M. Knox," she continued, "it was swift and merciful, eh?"
+
+"Instantaneous," I replied, in a low voice.
+
+"A good shot?" she asked, strangely.
+
+"A wonderful shot," I answered, thinking that she imposed unnecessary
+torture upon herself.
+
+"They say he must be taken away, M. Knox, but I reply: not until I have
+seen him."
+
+"Madame," began Val Beverley, gently.
+
+"Ah, my dear!" Madame de St�mer, without looking at the speaker,
+extended one hand in her direction, the fingers characteristically
+curled. "You do not know me. Perhaps it is a good job. You are a man,
+Mr. Knox, and men, especially men who write, know more of women than
+they know of themselves, is it not so? You will understand that I must
+see him again?"
+
+"Madame de St�mer," I said, "your courage is almost terrible."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I am not proud to be brave, my friend. The animals are brave, but many
+cowards are proud. Listen again. He suffered no pain, you think?"
+
+"None, Madame de St�mer."
+
+"So Dr. Rolleston assures me. He died in his sleep? You do not think he
+was awake, eh?"
+
+"Most certainly he was not awake."
+
+"It is the best way to die," she said, simply. "Yet he, who was brave
+and had faced death many times, would have counted it"----she snapped
+her white fingers, glancing across the room to where Inspector
+Aylesbury, very subdued, sat upon the brocaded chair twirling his cap
+between his hands. "And now, Inspector Aylesbury," she asked, "what is
+it you wish me to tell you?"
+
+"Well, Madame," began the Inspector, and stood up, evidently in an
+endeavour to recover his dignity, but:
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Inspector! I beg of you be seated," cried Madame. "I will
+not be questioned by one who stands. And if you were to walk about I
+should shriek."
+
+He resumed his seat, clearing his throat nervously.
+
+"Very well, Madame," he continued, "I have come to you particularly for
+information respecting a certain Mr. Camber."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Madame.
+
+Her vibrant voice was very low.
+
+"You know him, no doubt?"
+
+"I have never met him."
+
+"What?" exclaimed the Inspector.
+
+Madame shrugged and glanced at me eloquently.
+
+"Well," he continued, "this gets more and more funny. I am told by
+Pedro, the butler, that Colonel Menendez looked upon Mr. Camber as an
+enemy, and Miss Beverley, here, admitted that it was true. Yet although
+he was an enemy, nobody ever seems to have spoken to him, and he swears
+that he had never spoken to Colonel Menendez."
+
+"Yes?" said Madame, listlessly, "is that so?"
+
+"It is so, Madame, and now you tell me that you have never met him."
+
+"I did tell you so, yes."
+
+"His wife, then?"
+
+"I never met his wife," said Madame, rapidly.
+
+"But it is a fact that Colonel Menendez regarded him as an enemy?"
+
+"It is a fact-yes."
+
+"Ah, now we are coming to it. What was the cause of this?"
+
+"I cannot tell you."
+
+"Do you mean that you don't know?"
+
+"I mean that I cannot tell you."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, blankly, "I see. That's not helping me very
+much, is it?"
+
+"No, it is no help," said Madame, twirling a ring upon her finger.
+
+The Inspector cleared his throat again, then:
+
+"There had been other attempts, I believe, at assassination?" he asked.
+
+Madame nodded.
+
+"Several."
+
+"Did you witness any of these?"
+
+"None of them."
+
+"But you know that they took place?"
+
+"Juan--Colonel Menendez--had told me so."
+
+"And he suspected that there was someone lurking about this house?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Also, someone broke in?"
+
+"There were doors unfastened, and a great disturbance, so I suppose
+someone must have done so."
+
+I wondered if he would refer to the bat wing nailed to the door, but he
+had evidently decided that this clue was without importance, nor did
+he once refer to the aspect of the case which concerned Voodoo. He
+possessed a sort of mulish obstinacy, and was evidently determined to
+use no scrap of information which he had obtained from Paul Harley.
+
+"Now, Madame," said he, "you heard the shot fired last night?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"It woke you up?"
+
+"I was already awake."
+
+"Oh, I see: you were awake?"
+
+"I was awake."
+
+"Where did you think the sound came from?"
+
+"From back yonder, beyond the east wing."
+
+"Beyond the east wing?" muttered Inspector Aylesbury. "Now, let me see."
+He turned ponderously in his chair, gazing out of the windows. "We
+look out on the south here? You say the sound of the shot came from the
+east?"
+
+"So it seemed to me."
+
+"Oh." This piece of information seemed badly to puzzle him. "And what
+then?"
+
+"I was so startled that I ran to the door before I remembered that I
+could not walk."
+
+She glanced aside at me with a tired smile, and laid her hand upon my
+arm in an oddly caressing way, as if to say, "He is so stupid; I should
+not have expressed myself in that way."
+
+Truly enough the Inspector misunderstood, for:
+
+"I don't follow what you mean, Madame," he declared. "You say you forgot
+that you could not walk?"
+
+"No, no, I expressed myself wrongly," Madame replied in a weary voice.
+"The fright, the terror, gave me strength to stagger to the door, and
+there I fell and swooned."
+
+"Oh, I see. You speak of fright and terror. Were these caused by the
+sound of the shot?"
+
+"For some reason my cousin believed himself to be in peril," explained
+Madame. "He went in dread of assassination, you understand? Very well,
+he caused me to feel this dread, also. When I heard the shot, something
+told me, something told me that--" she paused, and suddenly placing her
+hands before her face, added in a whisper--"that it had come."
+
+Val Beverley was watching Madame de St�mer anxiously, and the fact that
+she was unfit to undergo further examination was so obvious that any
+other than an Inspector Aylesbury would have withdrawn. The latter,
+however, seemed now to be glued to his chair, and:
+
+"Oh, I see," he said; "and now there's another point: Have you any idea
+what took Colonel Menendez out into the grounds last night?"
+
+Madame de St�mer lowered her hands and gazed across at the speaker.
+
+"What is that, Monsieur l'inspecteur?"
+
+"Well, you don't think he might have gone out to talk to someone?"
+
+"To someone? To what one?" demanded Madame, scornfully.
+
+"Well, it isn't natural for a man to go walking about the garden at
+midnight, when he's unwell, is it? Not alone. But if there was a lady in
+the case he might go."
+
+"A lady?" said Madame, softly. "Yes--continue."
+
+"Well," resumed the Inspector, deceived by the soft voice, "the young
+lady sitting beside you was still wearing her evening dress when I
+arrived here last night. I found that out, although she didn't give me a
+chance to see her."
+
+His words had an effect more dramatic than he could have foreseen.
+
+Madame de St�mer threw her arm around Val Beverley, and hugged her so
+closely to her side that the girl's curly brown head was pressed against
+Madame's shoulder. Thus holding her, she sat rigidly upright, her
+strange, still eyes glaring across the room at Inspector Aylesbury.
+Her whole pose was instinct with challenge, with defiance, and in that
+moment I identified the illusive memory which the eyes of Madame so
+often had conjured up in my mind.
+
+Once, years before, I had seen a wounded tigress standing over her cubs,
+a beautiful, fearless creature, blazing defiance with dying eyes upon
+those who had destroyed her, the mother-instinct supreme to the last;
+for as she fell to rise no more she had thrown her paw around the
+cowering cubs. It was not in shape, nor in colour, but in expression and
+in their stillness, that the eyes of Madame de St�mer resembled the eyes
+of the tigress.
+
+"Oh, Madame, Madame," moaned the girl, "how dare he!"
+
+"Ah!" Madame de St�mer raised her head yet higher, a royal gesture, that
+unmoving stare set upon the face of the discomfited Inspector Aylesbury.
+"Leave my apartment." Her left hand shot out dramatically in the
+direction of the door, but even yet the fingers remained curled.
+"Stupid, gross fool!"
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stood up, his face very flushed.
+
+"I am only doing my duty, Madame," he said.
+
+"Go, go!" commanded Madame, "I insist that you go!"
+
+Convulsively she held Val Beverley to her side, and although I could not
+see the girl's face, I knew that she was weeping.
+
+Those implacable flaming eyes followed with their stare the figure of
+the Inspector right to the doorway, for he essayed no further speech,
+but retired.
+
+I, also, rose, and:
+
+"Madame de St�mer," I said, speaking, I fear, very unnaturally, "I love
+your spirit."
+
+She threw back her head, smiling up at me. I shall never forget that
+look, nor shall I attempt to portray all which it conveyed--for I know I
+should fail.
+
+"My friend!" she said, and extended her hand to be kissed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+AN INSPIRATION
+
+
+
+Inspector Aylesbury had disappeared when I came out of the hall,
+but Pedro was standing there to remind me of the fact that I had not
+breakfasted. I realized that despite all tragic happenings, I was
+ravenously hungry, and accordingly I agreed to his proposal that I
+should take breakfast on the south veranda, as on the previous morning.
+
+To the south veranda accordingly I made my way, rather despising myself
+because I was capable of hunger at such a time and amidst such horrors.
+The daily papers were on my table, for Carter drove into Market Hilton
+every morning to meet the London train which brought them down; but I
+did not open any of them.
+
+Pedro waited upon me in person. I could see that the man was
+pathetically anxious to talk. Accordingly, when he presently brought me
+a fresh supply of hot rolls:
+
+"This has been a dreadful blow to you, Pedro?" I said.
+
+"Dreadful, sir," he returned; "fearful. I lose a splendid master, I lose
+my place, and I am far, far from home."
+
+"You are from Cuba?"
+
+"Yes, yes. I was with Se�or the Colonel Don Juan in Cuba."
+
+"And do you know anything of the previous attempts which had been made
+upon his life, Pedro?"
+
+"Nothing, sir. Nothing at all."
+
+"But the bat wing, Pedro?"
+
+He looked at me in a startled way.
+
+"Yes, sir," he replied. "I found it pinned to the door here."
+
+"And what did you think it meant?"
+
+"I thought it was a joke, sir--not a nice joke--by someone who knew
+Cuba."
+
+"You know the meaning of Bat Wing, then?"
+
+"It is Obeah. I have never seen it before, but I have heard of it."
+
+"And what did you think?" said I, proceeding with my breakfast.
+
+"I thought it was meant to frighten."
+
+"But who did you think had done it?"
+
+"I had heard Se�or Don Juan say that Mr. Camber hated him, so I thought
+perhaps he had sent someone to do it."
+
+"But why should Mr. Camber have hated the Colonel?"
+
+"I cannot say, sir. I wish I could tell."
+
+"Was your master popular in the West Indies?" I asked.
+
+"Well, sir--" Pedro hesitated--"perhaps not so well liked."
+
+"No," I said. "I had gathered as much."
+
+The man withdrew, and I continued my solitary meal, listening to the
+song of the skylarks, and thinking how complex was human existence,
+compared with any other form of life beneath the sun.
+
+How to employ my time until Harley should return I knew not. Common
+delicacy dictated an avoidance of Val Beverley until she should have
+recovered from the effect of Inspector Aylesbury's gross insinuations,
+and I was curiously disinclined to become involved in the gloomy
+formalities which ensue upon a crime of violence. Nevertheless, I
+felt compelled to remain within call, realizing that there might
+be unpleasant duties which Pedro could not perform, and which must
+therefore devolve upon Val Beverley.
+
+I lighted my pipe and walked out on to the sloping lawn. A gardener
+was at work with a big syringe, destroying a patch of weeds which had
+appeared in one corner of the velvet turf. He looked up in a sort of
+startled way as I passed, bidding me good morning, and then resuming his
+task. I thought that this man's activities were symbolic of the way of
+the world, in whose eternal progression one poor human life counts as
+nothing.
+
+Presently I came in sight of that door which opened into the
+rhododendron shrubbery, the door by which Colonel Menendez had come out
+to meet his death. His bedroom was directly above, and as I picked my
+way through the closely growing bushes, which at an earlier time I had
+thought to be impassable, I paused in the very shadow of the tower
+and glanced back and upward. I could see the windows of the little
+smoke-room in which we had held our last interview with Menendez; and I
+thought of the shadow which Harley had seen upon the blind. I was unable
+to disguise from myself the fact that when Inspector Aylesbury should
+learn of this occurrence, as presently he must do, it would give new
+vigour to his ridiculous and unpleasant suspicions.
+
+I passed on, and considering the matter impartially, found myself faced
+by the questions--Whose was the shadow which Harley had seen upon the
+blind? And with what purpose did Colonel Menendez leave the house at
+midnight?
+
+Somnambulism might solve the second riddle, but to the first I could
+find no answer acceptable to my reason. And now, pursuing my aimless
+way, I presently came in sight of a gable of the Guest House. I could
+obtain a glimpse of the hut which had once been Colin Camber's workroom.
+The window, through which Paul Harley had stared so intently, possessed
+sliding panes. These were closed, and a ray of sunlight, striking upon
+the glass, produced, because of an over-leaning branch which crossed the
+top of the window, an effect like that of a giant eye glittering evilly
+through the trees. I could see a constable moving about in the garden.
+Ever and anon the sun shone upon the buttons of his tunic.
+
+By such steps my thoughts led me on to the pathetic figure of Ysola
+Camber. Save for the faithful Ah Tsong she was alone in that house to
+which tragedy had come unbidden, unforeseen. I doubted if she had a
+woman friend in all the countryside. Doubtless, I reflected, the old
+housekeeper, to whom she had referred, would return as speedily as
+possible, but pending the arrival of someone to whom she could confide
+all her sorrows, I found it almost impossible to contemplate the
+loneliness of the tragic little figure.
+
+Such was my mental state, and my thoughts were all of compassion, when
+suddenly, like a lurid light, an inspiration came to me.
+
+I had passed out from the shadow of the tower and was walking in the
+direction of the sentinel yews when this idea, dreadfully complete,
+leapt to my mind. I pulled up short, as though hindered by a palpable
+barrier. Vague musings, evanescent theories, vanished like smoke, and a
+ghastly, consistent theory of the crime unrolled itself before me, with
+all the cold logic of truth.
+
+"My God!" I groaned aloud, "I see it all. I see it all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+MY THEORY OF THE CRIME
+
+
+
+The afternoon was well advanced before Paul Harley returned.
+
+So deep was my conviction that I had hit upon the truth, and so well
+did my theory stand every test which I could apply to it, that I felt
+disinclined for conversation with any one concerned in the tragedy until
+I should have submitted the matter to the keen analysis of Harley. Upon
+the sorrow of Madame de St�mer I naturally did not intrude, nor did I
+seek to learn if she had carried out her project of looking upon the
+dead man.
+
+About mid-day the body was removed, after which an oppressive and
+awesome stillness seemed to descend upon Cray's Folly.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury had not returned from his investigations at the
+Guest House, and learning that Miss Beverley was remaining with Madame
+de St�mer, I declined to face the ordeal of a solitary luncheon in
+the dining room, and merely ate a few sandwiches, walking over to the
+Lavender Arms for a glass of Mrs. Wootton's excellent ale.
+
+Here I found the bar-parlour full of local customers, and although a
+heated discussion was in progress as I opened the door, silence fell
+upon my appearance. Mrs. Wootton greeted me sadly.
+
+"Ah, sir," she said, as she placed a mug before me; "of course you've
+heard?"
+
+"I have, madam," I replied, perceiving that she did not know me to be a
+guest at Cray's Folly.
+
+"Well, well!" She shook her head. "It had to come, with all these
+foreign folk about."
+
+She retired to some sanctum at the rear of the bar, and I drank my beer
+amid one of those silences which sometimes descend upon such a gathering
+when a stranger appears in its midst. Not until I moved to depart was
+this silence broken, then:
+
+"Ah, well," said an old fellow, evidently a farm-hand, "we know now why
+he was priming of hisself with the drink, we do."
+
+"Aye!" came a growling chorus.
+
+I came out of the Lavender Arms full of a knowledge that so far as
+Mid-Hatton was concerned, Colin Camber was already found guilty.
+
+I had hoped to see something of Val Beverley on my return, but she
+remained closeted with Madame de St�mer, and I was left in loneliness
+to pursue my own reflections, and to perfect that theory which had
+presented itself to my mind.
+
+In Harley's absence I had taken it upon myself to give an order to Pedro
+to the effect that no reporters were to be admitted; and in this I had
+done well. So quickly does evil news fly that, between mid-day and
+the hour of Harley's return, no fewer than five reporters, I believe,
+presented themselves at Cray's Folly. Some of the more persistent
+continued to haunt the neighbourhood, and I had withdrawn to the
+deserted library, in order to avoid observation, when I heard a car draw
+up in the courtyard, and a moment later heard Harley asking for me.
+
+I hurried out to meet him, and as I appeared at the door of the library:
+
+"Hullo, Knox," he called, running up the steps. "Any developments?"
+
+"No actual development?" I replied, "except that several members of the
+Press have been here."
+
+"You told them nothing?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+"No; they were not admitted."
+
+"Good, good," he muttered.
+
+"I had expected you long before this, Harley."
+
+"Naturally," he said, with a sort of irritation. "I have been all the
+way to Whitehall and back."
+
+"To Whitehall! What, you have been to London?"
+
+"I had half anticipated it, Knox. The Chief Constable, although quite a
+decent fellow, is a stickler for routine. On the strength of those
+facts which I thought fit to place before him he could see no reason
+for superseding Aylesbury. Accordingly, without further waste of time,
+I headed straight for Whitehall. You may remember a somewhat elaborate
+report which I completed upon the eve of our departure from Chancery
+Lane?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"A very thankless job for the Home Office, Knox. But I received my
+reward to-day. Inspector Wessex has been placed in charge of the case
+and I hope he will be down here within the hour. Pending his arrival I
+am tied hand and foot."
+
+We had walked into the library, and, stopping, suddenly, Harley stared
+me very hard in the face.
+
+"You are bottling something up, Knox," he declared. "Out with it. Has
+Aylesbury distinguished himself again?"
+
+"No," I replied; "on the contrary. He interviewed Madame de St�mer, and
+came out with a flea in his ear."
+
+"Good," said Harley, smiling. "A clever woman, and a woman of spirit,
+Knox."
+
+"You are right," I replied, "and you are also right in supposing that I
+have a communication to make to you."
+
+"Ah, I thought so. What is it?"
+
+"It is a theory, Harley, which appears to me to cover the facts of the
+case."
+
+"Indeed?" said he, continuing to stare at me. "And what inspired it?"
+
+"I was staring up at the window of the smoke-room to-day, and I
+remembered the shadow which you had seen upon the blind."
+
+"Yes?" he cried, eagerly; "and does your theory explain that, too?"
+
+"It does, Harley."
+
+"Then I am all anxiety to hear it."
+
+"Very well, then, I will endeavour to be brief. Do you recollect Miss
+Beverley's story of the unfamiliar footsteps which passed her door on
+several occasions?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"You recollect that you, yourself, heard someone crossing the hall, and
+that both of us heard a door close?"
+
+"We did."
+
+"And finally you saw the shadow of a woman upon the blind of the
+Colonel's private study. Very well. Excluding the preposterous theory of
+Inspector Aylesbury, there is no woman in Cray's Folly whose footsteps
+could possibly have been heard in that corridor, and whose shadow could
+possibly have been seen upon the blind of Colonel Menendez's room."
+
+"I agree," said Harley, quietly. "I have definitely eliminated all the
+servants from the case. Therefore, proceed, Knox, I am all attention."
+
+"I will do so. There is a door on the south side of the house, close to
+the tower and opening into the rhododendron shrubbery. This was the door
+used by Colonel Menendez in his somnambulistic rambles, according to
+his own account. Now, assuming his statement to have been untrue in one
+particular, that is, assuming he was not walking in his sleep, but was
+fully awake--"
+
+"Eh?" exclaimed Harley, his expression undergoing a subtle change. "Do
+you think his statement was untrue?"
+
+"According to my theory, Harley, his statement was untrue, in this
+particular, at least. But to proceed: Might he not have employed this
+door to admit a nocturnal visitor?"
+
+"It is feasible," muttered Harley, watching me closely.
+
+"For the Colonel to descend to this side door when the household was
+sleeping," I continued, "and to admit a woman secretly to Cray's Folly,
+would have been a simple matter. Indeed, on the occasions of these
+visits he might even have unbolted the door himself after Pedro had
+bolted it, in order to enable her to enter without his descending for
+the purpose of admitting her."
+
+"By heavens! Knox," said Harley, "I believe you have it!"
+
+His eyes were gleaming excitedly, and I proceeded:
+
+"Hence the footsteps which passed Miss Beverley's door, hence the shadow
+which you saw upon the blind; and the sounds which you detected in the
+hall were caused, of course, by this woman retiring. It was the door
+leading into the shrubbery which we heard being closed!"
+
+"Continue," said Harley; "although I can plainly see to what this is
+leading."
+
+"You can see, Harley?" I cried; "of course you can see! The enmity
+between Camber and Menendez is understandable at last."
+
+"You mean that Menendez was Mrs. Camber's lover?"
+
+"Don't you agree with me?"
+
+"It is feasible, Knox, dreadfully feasible. But go on."
+
+"My theory also explains Colin Camber's lapse from sobriety. It is
+legitimate to suppose that his wife, who was a Cuban, had been intimate
+with Menendez before her meeting with Camber. Perhaps she had broken the
+tie at the time of her marriage, but this is mere supposition. Then,
+her old lover, his infatuation by no means abated, leases the property
+adjoining that of his successful rival."
+
+"Knox!" exclaimed Paul Harley, "this is brilliant. I am all impatience
+for the _d�nouement_."
+
+"It is coming," I said, triumphantly. "Relations are re�stablished,
+clandestinely. Colin Camber learns of these. A passionate quarrel
+ensues, resulting in a long drinking bout designed to drown his
+sorrows. His love for his wife is so great that he has forgiven her this
+infidelity. Accordingly, she has promised to see her lover no more. Hers
+was the figure which you saw outlined upon the blind on the night before
+the tragedy, Harley! The gestures, which you described as those of
+despair, furnish evidence to confirm my theory. It was a final meeting!"
+
+"Hm," muttered Harley. "It would be taking big chances, because we have
+to suppose, Knox, that these visits to Cray's Folly were made whilst her
+husband was at work in the study. If he had suddenly decided to turn in,
+all would have been discovered."
+
+"True," I agreed, "but is it impossible?"
+
+"No, not a bit. Women are dreadful gamblers. But continue, Knox."
+
+"Very well. Colonel Menendez has refused to accept his dismissal, and
+Mrs. Camber had been compelled to promise, without necessarily intending
+to carry out the promise, that she would see him again on the following
+night. She failed to come; whereupon he, growing impatient, walked out
+into the grounds of Cray's Folly to look for her. She may even have
+intended to come and have been intercepted by her husband. But in any
+event, the latter, seeing the man who had wronged him, standing out
+there in the moonlight, found temptation to be too strong. On the whole,
+I favour the idea that he had intercepted his wife, and snatching up
+a rifle, had actually gone out into the garden with the intention of
+shooting Menendez."
+
+"I see," murmured Harley in a low voice. "This hypothesis, Knox, does
+not embrace the Bat Wing episodes."
+
+"If Menendez has lied upon one point," I returned, "it is permissible to
+suppose that his entire story was merely a tissue of falsehood."
+
+"I see. But why did he bring me to Cray's Folly?"
+
+"Don't you understand, Harley?" I cried, excitedly. "He really feared
+for his life, since he knew that Camber had discovered the intrigue."
+
+Paul Harley heaved a long sigh.
+
+"I must congratulate you, Knox," he said, gravely, "upon a really
+splendid contribution to my case. In several particulars I find myself
+nearer to the truth. But the definite establishment or shattering of
+your theory rests upon one thing."
+
+"What's that?" I asked. "You are surely not thinking of the bat wing
+nailed upon the door?"
+
+"Not at all," he replied. "I am thinking of the seventh yew tree from
+the northeast corner of the Tudor garden."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE
+
+
+
+What reply I should have offered to this astonishing remark I cannot
+say, but at that moment the library door burst open unceremoniously, and
+outlined against the warmly illuminated hall, where sunlight poured down
+through the dome, I beheld the figure of Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"Ah!" he cried, loudly, "so you have come back, Mr. Harley? I thought
+you had thrown up the case."
+
+"Did you?" said Harley, smilingly. "No, I am still persevering in my
+ineffectual way."
+
+"Oh, I see. And have you quite convinced yourself that Colin Camber is
+innocent?"
+
+"In one or two particulars my evidence remains incomplete."
+
+"Oh, in one or two particulars, eh? But generally speaking you don't
+doubt his innocence?"
+
+"I don't doubt it for a moment."
+
+Harley's words surprised me. I recognized, of course, that he might
+merely be bluffing the Inspector, but it was totally alien to his
+character to score a rhetorical success at the expense of what he knew
+to be the truth; and so sure was I of the accuracy of my deductions that
+I no longer doubted Colin Camber to be the guilty man.
+
+"At any rate," continued the Inspector, "he is in detention, and likely
+to remain there. If you are going to defend him at the Assizes, I don't
+envy you your job, Mr. Harley."
+
+He was blatantly triumphant, so that the fact was evident enough that
+he had obtained some further piece of evidence which he regarded as
+conclusive.
+
+"I have detained the man Ah Tsong as well," he went on. "He was an
+accomplice of your innocent friend, Mr. Harley."
+
+"Was he really?" murmured Harley.
+
+"Finally," continued the Inspector, "I have only to satisfy myself
+regarding the person who lured Colonel Menendez out into the grounds
+last night, to have my case complete."
+
+I turned aside, unable to trust myself, but Harley remarked quite
+coolly:
+
+"Your industry is admirable, Inspector Aylesbury, but I seem to perceive
+that you have made a very important discovery of some kind."
+
+"Ah, you have got wind of it, have you?"
+
+"I have no information on the point," replied Harley, "but your manner
+urges me to suggest that perhaps success has crowned your efforts?"
+
+"It has," replied the Inspector. "I am a man that doesn't do things by
+halves. I didn't content myself with just staring out of the window of
+that little hut in the grounds of the Guest House, like you did, Mr.
+Harley, and saying 'twice one are two'--I looked at every book on the
+shelves, and at every page of those books."
+
+"You must have materially added to your information?"
+
+"Ah, very likely, but my enquiries didn't stop there. I had the floor
+up."
+
+"The floor of the hut?"
+
+"The floor of the hut, sir. The planks were quite loose. I had satisfied
+myself that it was a likely hiding place."
+
+"What did you find there, a dead rat?"
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned, and:
+
+"Sergeant Butler," he called.
+
+The sergeant came forward from the hall, carrying a cricket bag. This
+Inspector Aylesbury took from him, placing it upon the floor of the
+library at his feet.
+
+"New, sir," said he, "I borrowed this bag in which to bring the evidence
+away--the hanging evidence which I discovered beneath the floor of the
+hut."
+
+I had turned again, when the man had referred to his discovery; and now,
+glancing at Harley, I saw that his face had grown suddenly very stern.
+
+"Show me your evidence, Inspector?" he asked, shortly.
+
+"There can be no objection," returned the Inspector.
+
+Opening the bag, he took out a rifle!
+
+Paul Harley's hands were thrust in his coat pockets, By the movement
+of the cloth I could see that he had clenched his fists. Here was
+confirmation of my theory!
+
+"A Service rifle," said the Inspector, triumphantly, holding up the
+weapon. "A Lee-Enfield charger-loader. It contains four cartridges,
+three undischarged, and one discharged. He had not even troubled to
+eject it."
+
+The Inspector dropped the weapon into the bag with a dramatic movement.
+
+"Fancy theories about bat wings and Voodoos," he said, scornfully,
+"may satisfy you, Mr. Harley, but I think this rifle will prove more
+satisfactory to the Coroner."
+
+He picked up the bag and walked out of the library.
+
+Harley stood posed in a curiously rigid way, looking after him. Even
+when the door had closed he did not change his position at once. Then,
+turning slowly, he walked to an armchair and sat down.
+
+"Harley," I said, hesitatingly, "has this discovery surprised you?"
+
+"Surprised me?" he returned in a low voice. "It has appalled me."
+
+"Then, although you seemed to regard my theory as sound," I continued
+rather resentfully, "all the time you continued to believe Colin Camber
+to be innocent?"
+
+"I believe so still."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I thought we had determined, Knox," he said, wearily, "that a man of
+Camber's genius, having decided upon murder, must have arranged for an
+unassailable alibi. Very well. Are we now to leap to the other end
+of the scale, and to credit him with such utter stupidity as to place
+hanging evidence where it could not fail to be discovered by the most
+idiotic policeman? Preserve your balance, Knox. Theories are wild
+horses. They run away with us. I know that of old, for which very reason
+I always avoid speculation until I have a solid foundation of fact upon
+which to erect it."
+
+"But, my dear fellow," I cried, "was Camber to foresee that the floor of
+the hut would be taken up?"
+
+Harley sighed, and leaned back in his chair.
+
+"Do you recollect your first meeting with this man, Knox?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"What occurred?"
+
+"He was slightly drunk."
+
+"Yes, but what was the nature of his conversation?"
+
+"He suggested that I had recognized his resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe."
+
+"Quite. What had led him to make this suggestion?"
+
+"The manner in which I had looked at him, I suppose."
+
+"Exactly. Although not quite sober, from a mere glance he was able to
+detect what you were thinking. Do you wish me to believe, Knox, that
+this same man had not foreseen what the police would think when Colonel
+Menendez was found shot within a hundred yards of the garden of the
+Guest House?"
+
+I was somewhat taken aback, for Harley's argument was strictly logical,
+and:
+
+"It is certainly very puzzling," I admitted.
+
+"Puzzling!" he exclaimed; "it is maddening. This case is like a Syrian
+village-mound. Stratum lies under stratum, and in each we meet with
+evidence of more refined activity than in the last. It seems we have yet
+to go deeper."
+
+He took out his pipe and began to fill it.
+
+"Tell me about the interview with Madame de St�mer," he directed.
+
+I took a seat facing him, and he did not once interrupt me throughout my
+account of Inspector Aylesbury's examination of Madame.
+
+"Good," he commented, when I had told how the Inspector was dismissed.
+"But at least, Knox, he has a working theory, to which he sticks like an
+express to the main line, whereas I find myself constantly called upon
+to readjust my perspective. Directly I can enjoy freedom of movement,
+however, I shall know whether my hypothesis is a house of cards or a
+serviceable structure."
+
+"Your hypothesis?" I said. "Then you really have a theory which is
+entirely different from mine?"
+
+"Not entirely different, Knox, merely not so comprehensive. I have
+contented myself thus far with a negative theory, if I may so express
+it."
+
+"Negative theory?"
+
+"Exactly. We are dealing, my dear fellow, with a case of bewildering
+intricacies. For the moment I have focussed upon one feature only."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Upon proving that Colin Camber did not do the murder."
+
+"Did _not_ do it?"
+
+"Precisely, Knox. Respecting the person or persons who did do it, I
+had preserved a moderately open mind, up to the moment that Inspector
+Aylesbury entered the library with the Lee-Enfield."
+
+"And then?" I said, eagerly.
+
+"Then," he replied, "I began to think hard. However, since I practise
+what I preach, or endeavour to do so, I must not permit myself to
+speculate upon this aspect of the matter until I have tested my theory
+of Camber's innocence."
+
+"In other words," I said, bitterly, "although you encouraged me to
+unfold my ideas regarding Mrs. Camber, you were merely laughing at me
+all the time!"
+
+"My dear Knox!" exclaimed Harley, jumping up impulsively, "please don't
+be unjust. Is it like me? On the contrary, Knox"--he looked me squarely
+in the eyes--"you have given me a platform on which already I have begun
+to erect one corner of a theory of the crime. Without new facts I can go
+no further. But this much at least you have done."
+
+"Thanks, Harley," I murmured, and indeed I was gratified; "but where do
+your other corners rest?"
+
+"They rest," he said, slowly, "they rest, respectively, upon a bat wing,
+a yew tree, and a Lee-Enfield charger-loader."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE SEVENTH YEW TREE
+
+
+
+Detective-Inspector Wessex arrived at about five o'clock; a quiet,
+resourceful man, highly competent, and having the appearance of an
+ex-soldier. His respect for the attainments of Paul Harley alone marked
+him a student of character. I knew Wessex well, and was delighted when
+Pedro showed him into the library.
+
+"Thank God you are here, Wessex," said Harley, when we had exchanged
+greetings. "At last I can move. Have you seen the local officer in
+charge?"
+
+"No," replied the Inspector, "but I gather that I have been
+requisitioned over his head."
+
+"You have," said Harley, grimly, "and over the head of the Chief
+Constable, too. But I suppose it is unfair to condemn a man for the
+shortcoming with which nature endowed him, therefore we must endeavour
+to let Inspector Aylesbury down as lightly as possible. I have an idea
+that I heard him return a while ago."
+
+He walked out into the hall to make enquiries, and a few moments later I
+heard Inspector Aylesbury's voice.
+
+"Ah, there you are, Inspector Aylesbury," said Harley, cheerily. "Will
+you please step into the library for a moment?"
+
+The Inspector entered, frowning heavily, followed by my friend.
+
+"There is no earthly reason why we should get at loggerheads over this
+business," Harley continued; "but the fact of the matter is, Inspector
+Aylesbury, that there are depths in this case to which neither you nor
+I have yet succeeded in penetrating. You have a reputation to consider,
+and so have I. Therefore I am sure you will welcome the cooperation of
+Detective-Inspector Wessex of Scotland Yard, as I do."
+
+"What's this, what's this?" said Aylesbury. "I have made no application
+to London."
+
+"Nevertheless, Inspector, it is quite in order," declared Wessex. "I
+have my instructions here, and I have reported to Market Hilton already.
+You see, the man you have detained is an American citizen."
+
+"What of that?"
+
+"Well, he seems to have communicated with his Embassy." Wessex glanced
+significantly at Paul Harley. "And the Embassy communicated with the
+Home Office. You mustn't regard my arrival as any reflection on your
+ability, Inspector Aylesbury. I am sure we can work together quite
+agreeably."
+
+"Oh," muttered the other, in evident bewilderment, "I see. Well, if
+that's the way of it, I suppose we must make the best of things."
+
+"Good," cried Wessex, heartily. "Now perhaps you would like to state
+your case against the detained man?"
+
+"A sound idea, Wessex," said Paul Harley. "But perhaps, Inspector
+Aylesbury, before you begin, you would be good enough to speak to the
+constable on duty at the entrance to the Tudor garden. I am anxious to
+take another look at the spot where the body was found."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury took out his handkerchief and blew his nose loudly,
+continuing throughout the operation to glare at Paul Harley, and
+finally:
+
+"You are wasting your time, Mr. Harley," he declared, "as
+Detective-Inspector Wessex will be the first to admit when I have given
+him the facts of my case. Nevertheless, if you want to examine the
+garden, do so by all means."
+
+He turned without another word and stamped out of the library across the
+hall and into the courtyard.
+
+"I will join you again in a few minutes, Wessex," said Paul Harley,
+following.
+
+"Very good, Mr. Harley," Wessex answered. "I know you wouldn't have had
+me down if the case had been as simple as he seems to think it is."
+
+I joined Harley, and we walked together up the gravelled path, meeting
+Inspector Aylesbury and the constable returning.
+
+"Go ahead, Mr. Harley!" cried the Inspector. "If you can find any
+stronger evidence than the rifle, I shall be glad to take a look at it."
+
+Harley nodded good-humouredly, and together we descended the steps to
+the sunken garden. I was intensely curious respecting the investigation
+which Harley had been so anxious to make here, for I recognized that
+it was associated with something which he had seen from the window of
+Camber's hut.
+
+He walked along the moss-grown path to the sun-dial, and stood for a
+moment looking down at the spot where Menendez had lain. Then he stared
+up the hill toward the Guest House; and finally, directing his attention
+to the yews which lined the sloping bank:
+
+"One, two, three, four," he counted, checking them with his
+fingers--"five, six, seven."
+
+He mounted the bank and began to examine the trunk of one of the trees,
+whilst I watched him in growing astonishment.
+
+Presently he turned and looked down at me.
+
+"Not a trace, Knox," he murmured; "not a trace. Let us try again."
+
+He moved along to the yew adjoining that which he had already inspected,
+but presently shook his head and passed to the next. Then:
+
+"Ah!" he cried. "Come here, Knox!"
+
+I joined him where he was kneeling, staring at what I took to be a large
+nail, or bolt, protruding from the bark of the tree.
+
+"You see!" he exclaimed, "you see!"
+
+I stooped, in order to examine the thing more closely, and as I did
+so, I realized what it was. It was the bullet which had killed Colonel
+Menendez!
+
+Harley stood upright, his face slightly flushed and his eyes very
+bright.
+
+"We shall not attempt to remove it, Knox," he said. "The depth of
+penetration may have a tale to tell. The wood of the yew tree is one of
+the toughest British varieties."
+
+"But, Harley," I said, blankly, as we descended to the path, "this is
+merely another point for the prosecution of Camber. Unless"--I turned to
+him in sudden excitement, "the bullet was of different--"
+
+"No, no," he murmured, "nothing so easy as that, Knox. The bullet was
+fired from a Lee-Enfield beyond doubt."
+
+I stared at him uncomprehendingly.
+
+"Then I am utterly out of my depth, Harley. It, appears to me that the
+case against Camber is finally and fatally complete. Only the motive
+remains to be discovered, and I flatter myself that I have already
+detected this."
+
+"I am certainly inclined to think," admitted Harley, "that there is a
+good deal in your theory."
+
+"Then, Harley," I said in bewilderment, "you do believe that Camber
+committed the murder?"
+
+"On the contrary," he replied, "I am certain that he did not."
+
+I stood quite still.
+
+"You are certain?" I began.
+
+"I told you that the test of my theory, Knox, was to be looked for in
+the seventh yew from the northeast corner of the Tudor garden, did I
+not?"
+
+"You did. And it is there. A bullet fired from a Lee-Enfield rifle;
+beyond any possible shadow of doubt the bullet which killed Colonel
+Menendez."
+
+"Beyond any possible shadow of doubt, as you say, Knox, the bullet which
+killed Colonel Menendez."
+
+"Therefore Camber is guilty?"
+
+"On the contrary, therefore Camber is innocent!"
+
+"What!"
+
+"You are persistently overlooking one little point, Knox," said Harley,
+mounting the steps on to the gravel path. "I spoke of the seventh yew
+tree from the northeast corner of the garden."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, my dear fellow, surely you observed that the bullet was embedded
+in the ninth?"
+
+I was still groping for the significance of this point when, re-crossing
+the hall, we entered the library again, to find Inspector Aylesbury
+posed squarely before the mantelpiece stating his case to Wessex.
+
+"You see," he was saying, in his most oratorical manner, as we entered,
+"every little detail fits perfectly into place. For instance, I find
+that a woman, called Mrs. Powis, who for the past two years had acted as
+housekeeper at the Guest House and never taken a holiday, was sent away
+recently to her married daughter in London. See what that means? Her
+room is at the back of the house, and her evidence would have been
+fatal. Ah Tsong, of course, is a liar. I made up my mind about that the
+moment I clapped eyes on him. Mrs. Camber is the only innocent party.
+She was asleep in the front of the house when the shot was fired, and
+I believe her when she says that she cannot swear to the matter of
+distance."
+
+"A very interesting case, Inspector," said Wessex, glancing at Harley.
+"I have not examined the body yet, but I understand that it was a clean
+wound through the head."
+
+"The bullet entered at the juncture of the nasal and frontal bones,"
+explained Harley, rapidly, "and it came out between the base of the
+occipital and first cervical. Without going into unpleasant surgical
+details, the wound was a perfectly _straight_ one. There was no
+ricochet."
+
+"I understand that a regulation rifle was used?"
+
+"Yes," said Inspector Aylesbury; "we have it."
+
+"And at what range did you say, Inspector?"
+
+"Roughly, a hundred yards."
+
+"Possibly less," murmured Harley.
+
+"Hundred yards or less," said Wessex, musingly; "and the obstruction met
+with in the case of a man shot in that way would be--" He looked towards
+Paul Harley.
+
+"Less than if the bullet had struck the skull higher up," was the reply.
+"It passed clean through."
+
+"Therefore," continued Wessex, "I am waiting to hear, Inspector, where
+you found the bullet lodged?"
+
+"Eh?" said the Inspector, and he slowly turned his prominent eyes in
+Harley's direction. "Oh, I see. That's why you wanted to examine the
+Tudor garden, is it?"
+
+"Exactly," replied Harley.
+
+The face of Inspector Aylesbury grew very red.
+
+"I had deferred looking for the bullet," he explained, "as the case was
+already as clear as daylight. Probably Mr. Harley has discovered it."
+
+"I have," said Harley, shortly.
+
+"Is it the regulation bullet?" asked Wessex.
+
+"It is. I found it embedded in one of the yew trees."
+
+"There you are!" exclaimed Aylesbury. "There isn't the ghost of a
+doubt."
+
+Wessex looked at Harley in undisguised perplexity.
+
+"I must say, Mr. Harley," he admitted, "that I have never met with a
+clearer case."
+
+"Neither have I," agreed Harley, cheerfully. "I am going to ask
+Inspector Aylesbury to return here after nightfall. There is a little
+experiment which I should like to make, and which would definitely
+establish my case."
+
+"_Your_ case?" said Aylesbury.
+
+"My case, yes."
+
+"You are not going to tell me that you still persist in believing Camber
+to be innocent?"
+
+"Not at all. I am merely going to ask you to return at nightfall to
+assist me in this minor investigation."
+
+"If you ask my opinion," said the Inspector, "no further evidence is
+needed."
+
+"I don't agree with you," replied Harley, quietly. "Whatever your own
+ideas upon the subject may be, I, personally, have not yet discovered
+one single piece of convincing evidence for the prosecution of Camber."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Aylesbury, and even Detective-Inspector Wessex stared
+at the speaker incredulously.
+
+"My dear Inspector Aylesbury," concluded Harley, "when you have
+witnessed the experiment which I propose to make this evening you will
+realize, as I have already realized that we are faced by a tremendous
+task."
+
+"What tremendous task?"
+
+"The task of discovering who shot Colonel Menendez."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+YSOLA CAMBER'S CONFESSION
+
+
+
+Paul Harley, with Wessex and Inspector Aylesbury, presently set out for
+Market Hilton, where Colin Camber and Ah Tsong were detained and where
+the body of Colonel Menendez had been conveyed for the purpose of the
+post-mortem. I had volunteered to remain at Cray's Folly, my motive
+being not wholly an unselfish one.
+
+"Refer reporters to me, Mr. Knox," said Inspector Wessex. "Don't let
+them trouble the ladies. And tell them as little as possible, yourself."
+
+The drone of the engine having died away down the avenue, I presently
+found myself alone, but as I crossed the hall in the direction of
+the library, intending to walk out upon the southern lawns, I saw Val
+Beverley coming toward me from Madame de St�mer's room.
+
+She remained rather pale, but smiled at me courageously.
+
+"Have they all gone, Mr. Knox?" she asked. "I have really been hiding. I
+suppose you knew?"
+
+"I suspected it," I said, smiling. "Yes, they are all gone. How is
+Madame de St�mer, now?"
+
+"She is quite calm. Curiously, almost uncannily calm. She is writing.
+Tell me, please, what does Mr. Harley think of Inspector Aylesbury's
+preposterous ideas?"
+
+"He thinks he is a fool," I replied, hotly, "as I do."
+
+"But whatever will happen if he persists in dragging me into this
+horrible case?"
+
+"He will not drag you into it," I said, quietly. "He has been superseded
+by a cleverer man, and the case is practically under Harley's direction
+now."
+
+"Thank Heaven for that," she murmured. "I wonder----" She looked at me
+hesitatingly.
+
+"Yes?" I prompted.
+
+"I have been thinking about poor Mrs. Camber all alone in that gloomy
+house, and wondering----"
+
+"Perhaps I know. You are going to visit her?"
+
+Val Beverley nodded, watching me.
+
+"Can you leave Madame de St�mer with safety?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I think so. Nita can attend to her."
+
+"And may I accompany you, Miss Beverley? For more reasons than one, I,
+too, should like to call upon Mrs. Camber."
+
+"We might try," she said, hesitatingly. "I really only wanted to be
+kind. You won't begin to cross-examine her, will you?"
+
+"Certainly not," I answered; "although there are many things I should
+like her to tell us."
+
+"Well, suppose we go," said the girl, "and let events take their own
+course."
+
+As a result, I presently found myself, Val Beverley by my side, walking
+across the meadow path. With the unpleasant hush of Cray's Folly left
+behind, the day seemed to grow brighter. I thought that the skylarks had
+never sung more sweetly. Yet in this same instant of sheerly physical
+enjoyment I experienced a pang of remorse, remembering the tragic woman
+we had left behind, and the poor little sorrowful girl we were going to
+visit. My emotions were very mingled, then, and I retain no recollection
+of our conversation up to the time that we came to the Guest House.
+
+We were admitted by a really charming old lady, who informed us that her
+name was Mrs. Powis and that she was but an hour returned from London,
+whither she had been summoned by telegram.
+
+She showed us into a quaint, small drawing room which owed its
+atmosphere quite clearly to Mrs. Camber, for whereas the study was
+indescribably untidy, this was a model of neatness without being formal
+or unhomely. Here, in a few moments, Mrs. Camber joined us, an appealing
+little figure of wistful, almost elfin, beauty. I was surprised and
+delighted to find that an instant bond of sympathy sprang up between the
+two girls. I diplomatically left them together for a while, going into
+Camber's room to smoke my pipe. And when I returned:
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox," said Val Beverley, "Mrs. Camber has something to tell
+you which she thinks you ought to know."
+
+"Concerning Colonel Menendez?" I asked, eagerly.
+
+Mrs. Camber nodded her golden head.
+
+"Yes," she replied, but glancing at Val Beverley as if to gather
+confidence. "The truth can never hurt Colin. He has nothing to conceal.
+May I tell you?"
+
+"I am all anxiety to hear," I assured her.
+
+"Would you rather I went, Mrs. Camber?" asked Val Beverley.
+
+Mrs. Camber reached across and took her hand.
+
+"Please, no," she replied. "Stay here with me. I am afraid it is rather
+a long story."
+
+"Never mind," I said. "It will be time well spent if it leads us any
+nearer to the truth."
+
+"Yes?" she questioned, watching me anxiously, "you think so? I think so,
+too."
+
+She became silent, sitting looking straight before her, the pupils of
+her blue eyes widely dilated. Then, at first in a queer, far-away voice,
+she began to speak again.
+
+"I must tell you," she commenced "that before--my marriage, my name was
+Isabella de Valera."
+
+I started.
+
+"Ysola was my baby way of saying it, and so I came to be called Ysola.
+My father was manager of one of Se�or Don Juan's estates, in a small
+island near the coast of Cuba. My mother"--she raised her little hands
+eloquently--"was half-caste. Do you know? And she and my father--"
+
+She looked pleadingly at Val Beverley.
+
+"I understand," whispered the latter with deep sympathy; "but you don't
+think it makes any difference, do you?"
+
+"No?" said Mrs. Camber with a quaint little gesture. "To you, perhaps
+not, but there, where I was born, oh! so much. Well, then, my mother
+died when I was very little. Ah Tsong was her servant. There are many
+Chinese in the West Indies, you see, and I can just remember he carried
+me in to see her. Of course I didn't understand. My father quarrelled
+bitterly with the priests because they would not bury her in holy
+ground. I think he no longer believed afterward. I loved him very much.
+He was good to me; and I was a queen in that little island. All
+the negroes loved me, because of my mother, I think, who was partly
+descended from slaves, as they were. But I had not begun to understand
+how hard it was all going to be when my father sent me to a convent in
+Cuba.
+
+"I hated to go, but while I was there I learned all about myself. I knew
+that I was outcast. It was"--she raised her hand--"not possible to stay.
+I was only fifteen when I came home, but all the same I was a woman. I
+was no more a child, and happy no longer. After a while, perhaps, when
+I forgot what I had suffered at the convent, I became less miserable.
+My father did all in his power to make me happy, and I was glad the
+work-people loved me. But I was very lonely. Ah Tsong understood."
+
+Her eyes filled with tears.
+
+"Can you imagine," she asked, "that when my father was away in distant
+parts of the island at night, Ah Tsong slept outside my door? Some of
+them say, 'Do not trust the Chinese' I say, except my husband and my
+father, I have never known another one to trust but Ah Tsong. Now they
+have taken him away from me."
+
+Tears glittered on her lashes, but she brushed them aside angrily, and
+continued:
+
+"I was still less than twenty, and looked, they told me, only fourteen,
+when Se�or Menendez came to inspect his estate. I had never seen him
+before. There had been a rising in the island, in the year after I was
+born, and he had only just escaped with his life. He was hated. People
+called him Devil Menendez. Especially, no woman was safe from him,
+and in the old days, when his power had been great, he had used it for
+wickedness.
+
+"My father was afraid when he heard he was coming. He would have sent me
+away, but before it could be arranged Se�or the Colonel arrived. He had
+in his company a French lady. I thought her very beautiful and elegant.
+It was Madame de St�mer. It is only four years ago, a little more, but
+her hair was dark brown. She was splendidly dressed and such a wonderful
+horsewoman. The first time I saw her I felt as they had made me feel at
+the convent. I wanted to hide from her. She was so grand a lady, and I
+came from slaves."
+
+She paused hesitatingly and stared down at her own tiny feet.
+
+"Pardon me interrupting you, Mrs. Camber," I said, "but can you tell me
+in what way these two are related?"
+
+She looked up with her na�ve smile.
+
+"I can tell you, yes. A cousin of Se�or Menendez married a sister of
+Madame de St�mer."
+
+"Good heavens!" I exclaimed, "a very remote kinship."
+
+"It was in this way they met, in Paris, I think, and"--she raised her
+hands expressively--"she came with him to the West Indies, although it
+was during the great war. I think she loved him more than her soul, and
+me--me she hated. As Se�or Menendez dismounted from his horse in front
+of the house he saw me."
+
+She sighed and ceased speaking again. Then:
+
+"That very night," she continued, "he began. Do you know? I was trying
+to escape from him when Madame de St�mer found us. She called me a
+shameful name, and my father, who heard it, ordered her out of the
+house. Se�or Menendez spoke sharply, and my father struck him."
+
+She paused once more, biting her lip agitatedly, but presently
+proceeded:
+
+"Do you know what they are like, the Spanish, when their blood is hot?
+Senor Menendez had a revolver, but my father knocked it from his grasp.
+Then they fought with their bare hands. I was too frightened even to cry
+out. It was all a horrible dream. What Madame de St�mer did, I do not
+know. I could see nothing but two figures twined together on the floor.
+At last one of them arose. I saw it was my father, and I remember no
+more."
+
+She was almost overcome by her tragic recollections, but presently, with
+a wonderful courage, which, together with her daintiness of form, spoke
+eloquently of good blood on one side at any rate, continued to speak:
+
+"My father found he must go to Cuba to make arrangements for the future.
+Of course, our life there was finished. Ah Tsong stayed with me. You
+have heard how it used to be in those islands in the old days, but now
+you think it is so different? I used to think it was different, too. On
+the first night my father was away, Ah Tsong, who had gone out, was so
+long returning I became afraid. Then a strange negro came with news that
+he had been taken ill with cholera, and was lying at a place not far
+from the house. I forgot my fears and hurried off with this man. Ah!"
+
+She laughed wildly.
+
+"I did not know I should never return, and I did not know I should never
+see my father again. To you this must seem all wild and strange, because
+there is a law in England. There is a law in Cuba, too, but in some of
+those little islands the only law is the law of the strongest."
+
+She raised her hands to her face and there was silence for a while.
+
+"Of course it was a trap," she presently continued. "I was taken to an
+island called El Manas which belonged to Senor Menendez, and where
+he had a house. This he could do, but"--she threw back her head
+proudly--"my spirit he could not break. Lots and lots of money would
+be mine, and estates of my own; but one thing about him I must tell: he
+never showed me violence. For one, two, three weeks I stayed a prisoner
+in his house. All the servants were faithful to him and I could not
+find a friend among them. Although quite innocent, I was ruined. Do you
+know?"
+
+She raised her eyes pathetically to Val Beverley.
+
+"I thought my heart was broken, for something told me my father was
+dead. This was true."
+
+"What!" I exclaimed. "You don't mean--"
+
+"I don't know, I don't know," she answered, brokenly. "He died on
+his way to Havana. They said it was an accident. Well--at last, Se�or
+Menendez offered me marriage. I thought if I agreed it would give me my
+freedom, and I could run away and find Ah Tsong."
+
+She paused, and a flush coloured her delicate face and faded again,
+leaving it very pale.
+
+"We were married in the house, by a Spanish priest. Oh"--she raised her
+hands pathetically--"do you know what a woman is like? My spirit was not
+broken still, but crushed. I had now nothing but kindness and gifts.
+I might never have known, but Senor Menendez, who thought"--she smiled
+sadly--"I was beautiful, took me to Cuba, where he had a great house.
+Please remember, please," she pleaded, "before you judge of me, that I
+was so young and had never known love, except the love of my father. I
+did not even dream, then, his death was not an accident.
+
+"I was proud of my jewels and fine dresses. But I began to notice that
+Juan did not present any of his friends to me. We went about, but to
+strange places, never to visit people of his own kind, and none came to
+visit us. Then one night I heard someone on the balcony of my room. I
+was so frightened I could not cry out. It was good I was like that, for
+the curtain was pulled open and Ah Tsong came in."
+
+She clutched convulsively at the arms of her chair.
+
+"He told me!" she said in a very low voice.
+
+Then, looking up pitifully:
+
+"Do you know?" she asked in her quaint way. "It was a mock marriage. He
+had done it and thought no shame, because it was so with my mother. Oh!"
+
+Her beautiful eyes flashed, and for the first time since I had met Ysola
+Camber I saw the real Spanish spirit of the woman leap to life.
+
+"He did not know me. Perhaps I did not know myself. That night, with
+no money, without a ring, a piece of lace, a peseta, anything that had
+belonged to him, I went with Ah Tsong. We made our way to a half-sister
+of my father's who lived in Puerto Principe, and at first--she would not
+have me. I was talked about, she said, in all the islands. She told me
+of my poor father. She told me I had dragged the name of de Valera in
+the dirt. At last I made her understand--that what everyone else had
+known, I had never even dreamed of."
+
+She looked up wistfully, as if thinking that we might doubt her.
+
+"Do you know?" she whispered.
+
+"I know--oh! I know!" said Val Beverley. I loved her for the sympathy
+in her voice and in her eyes. "It is very, very brave of you to tell us
+this, Mrs. Camber."
+
+"Yes? Do you think so?" asked the girl, simply. "What does it matter if
+it can help Colin?
+
+"This aunt of mine," she presently continued, "was a poor woman, and
+it was while I was hiding in her house--because spies of Senor Menendez
+were searching for me--that I met--my husband. He was studying in Cuba
+the strange things he writes about, you see. And before I knew what had
+happened--I found I loved him more than all else in the world. It is so
+wonderful, that feeling," she said, looking across at Val Beverley. "Do
+you know?"
+
+The girl flushed deeply, and lowered her eyes, but made no reply.
+
+"Because you are a woman, too, you will perhaps understand," she
+resumed. "I did not tell him. I did not dare to tell him at first. I
+was so madly happy I had no courage to speak. But when"--her voice sank
+lower and lower--"he asked me to marry him, I told him. Nothing he could
+ever do would change my love for him now, because he forgave me and made
+me his wife."
+
+I feared that at last she was going to break down, for her voice became
+very tremulous and tears leapt again into her eyes. She conquered her
+emotion, however, and went on:
+
+"We crossed over to the States, and Colin's family who had heard of his
+marriage--some friend of Se�or Menendez had told them--would not know
+us. It meant that Colin, who would have been a rich man, was very poor.
+It made no difference. He was splendid. And I was so happy it was all
+like a dream. He made me forget I was to blame for his troubles. Then we
+were in Washington--and I saw Se�or Menendez in the hotel!
+
+"Oh, my heart stopped beating. For me it seemed like the end of
+everything. I knew, I knew, he was following me. But he had not seen me,
+and without telling Colin the reason, I made him leave Washington, He
+was glad to go. Wherever we went, in America, they seemed to find out
+about my mother. I got to hate them, hate them all. We came to England,
+and Colin heard about this house, and we took it.
+
+"At last we were really happy. No one knew us. Because we were strange,
+and because of Ah Tsong, they looked at us very funny and kept away, but
+we did not care. Then Sir James Appleton sold Cray's Folly."
+
+She looked up quickly.
+
+"How can I tell you? It must have been by Ah Tsong that he traced me to
+Surrey. Some spy had told him there was a Chinaman living here. Oh, I
+don't know how he found out, but when I heard who was coming to Cray's
+Folly I thought I should die.
+
+"Something I must tell you now. When I had told my story to Colin, one
+thing I had not told him, because I was afraid what he might do. I had
+not told him the name of the man who had caused me to suffer so much. On
+the day I first saw Se�or Menendez walking in the garden of Cray's Folly
+I knew I must tell my husband what he had so often asked me to tell
+him--the name of the man. I told him--and at first I thought he would go
+mad. He began to drink--do you know? It is a failing in his family. But
+because I knew--because I knew--I forgave him, and hoped, always hoped,
+that he would stop. He promised to do so. He had given up going out each
+day to drink, and was working again like he used to work--too hard, too
+hard, but it was better than the other way."
+
+She stopped speaking, and suddenly, before I could divine her intention,
+dropped upon her knees, and raised her clasped hands to me.
+
+"He did not, he did not kill him!" she cried, passionately. "He did not!
+O God! I who love him tell you he did not! You think he did. You do--you
+do! I can see it in your eyes!"
+
+"Believe me, Mrs. Camber," I answered, deeply moved, "I don't doubt your
+word for a moment."
+
+She continued to look at me for a while, and then turned to Val
+Beverley.
+
+"_You_ don't think he did," she sobbed, "do you?"
+
+She looked such a child, such a pretty, helpless child, as she knelt
+there on the carpet, that I felt a lump rising in my throat.
+
+Val Beverley dropped down impulsively beside her and put her arms around
+the slender shoulders.
+
+"Of course I don't," she exclaimed, indignantly. "Of course I don't.
+It's quite unthinkable."
+
+"I know it is," moaned the other, raising her tearful face. "I love him
+and know his great soul. But what do these others know, and they will
+never believe _me_."
+
+"Have courage," I said. "It has never failed you yet. Mr. Paul Harley
+has promised to clear him by to-night."
+
+"He has promised?" she whispered, still kneeling and clutching Val
+Beverley tightly. She looked up at me with hope reborn in her beautiful
+eyes. "He has promised? Oh, I thank him. May God bless him. I know he
+will succeed."
+
+I turned aside, and walked out across the hall and into the empty study.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+PAUL HARLEY'S EXPERIMENT
+
+
+
+I recognize that whosoever may have taken the trouble to follow my
+chronicle thus far will be little disposed to suffer any intrusion of
+my personal affairs at such a point. Therefore I shall pass lightly over
+the walk back to Cray's Folly, during which I contrived to learn
+much about Val Beverley's personal history but little to advance the
+investigation which I was there to assist.
+
+As I had surmised, Miss Beverley had been amply provided for by her
+father, and was bound to Madame de St�mer by no other ties than those of
+friendship and esteem. Very reluctantly I released her, on our returning
+to the house; for she, perforce, hurried off to Madame's room, leaving
+me looking after her in a state of delightful bewilderment, the
+significance of which I could not disguise from myself. The absurd
+suspicions of Inspector Aylesbury were forgotten; so was the shadow upon
+the blind of Colonel Menendez's study. I only knew that love had come to
+me, an unbidden guest, to stay for ever.
+
+Manoel informed me that a number of pressmen, not to be denied, had
+taken photographs of the Tudor garden and of the spot where Colonel
+Menendez had been found, but Pedro, following my instructions, had
+referred them all to Market Hilton.
+
+I was standing in the doorway talking to the man when I heard the
+drone of Harley's motor in the avenue, and a moment later he and Wessex
+stepped out in front of the porch and joined me. I thought that Wessex
+looked stern and rather confused, but Harley was quite his old self, his
+keen eyes gleaming humorously, and an expression of geniality upon his
+tanned features.
+
+"Hullo, Knox!" he cried, "any developments?"
+
+"Yes," I said. "Suppose we go up to your room and talk."
+
+"Good enough."
+
+Inspector Wessex nodded without speaking, and the three of us mounted
+the staircase and entered Paul Harley's room. Harley seated himself
+upon the bed and began to load his pipe, whilst Wessex, who seemed very
+restless, stood staring out of the window. I sat down in the armchair,
+and:
+
+"I have had an interesting interview with Mrs. Camber," I said.
+
+"What?" exclaimed Harley. "Good. Tell us all about it."
+
+Wessex turned, hands clasped behind him, and listened in silence to
+an account which I gave of my visit to the Guest House. When I had
+finished:
+
+"It seems to me," said the Inspector, slowly, "that the only doubtful
+point in the case against Camber is cleared up; namely, his motive."
+
+"It certainly looks like it," agreed Harley. "But how strangely Mrs.
+Camber's story differs from that of Menendez although there are points
+of contact. I regret, however, that you were unable to settle the most
+important matter of all."
+
+"You mean whether or not she had visited Cray's Folly?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Then you still consider my theory to be correct?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"Up to a point it has been proved to be," he returned. "I must
+congratulate you upon a piece of really brilliant reasoning, Knox.
+But respecting the most crucial moment of all, we are still without
+information, unfortunately. However, whilst the presence or otherwise,
+of Mrs. Camber in Cray's Folly on the night preceding the tragedy may
+prove to bear intimately upon the case, an experiment which I propose to
+make presently will give the matter an entirely different significance."
+
+"Hm," said Wessex, doubtfully, "I am looking forward to this experiment
+of yours, Mr. Harley, with great interest. To be perfectly honest,
+I have no more idea than the man in the moon how you hope to clear
+Camber."
+
+"No," replied Harley, musingly, "the weight of evidence against him is
+crushing. But you are a man of great experience, Wessex, in criminal
+investigations. Tell me honestly, have you ever known a murder case in
+which there was such conclusive material for the prosecution?"
+
+"Never," replied the Inspector, promptly. "In this respect, as in
+others, the case is unique."
+
+"You have seen Camber," continued Harley, "and have been enabled to form
+some sort of judgment respecting his character. You will admit that he
+is a clever man, brilliantly clever. Keep this fact in mind. Remember
+his studies, and he does not deny that they have included Voodoo.
+Remember his enquiries into the significance of Bat Wing. Remember, as
+we now learn definitely from Mrs. Camber's evidence, that he was in
+Cuba at the same time as the late Colonel Menendez, and once, at least,
+actually in the same hotel in the United States. Consider the rifle
+found under the floor of the hut; and, having weighed all these points
+judicially, Wessex, tell me frankly, if in the whole course of your
+experience, you have ever met with a more perfect frame-up?"
+
+"What!" shouted Wessex, in sudden excitement. "What!"
+
+"I said a frame-up," repeated Harley, quietly. "An American term, but
+one which will be familiar to you."
+
+"Good God!" muttered the detective, "you have turned all my ideas upside
+down."
+
+"What may be termed the _physical_ evidence," continued Harley, "is
+complete, I admit: too complete. There lies the weak spot. But what
+I will call the psychological evidence points in a totally different
+direction. A man clever enough to have planned this crime, and Camber
+undoubtedly is such a man, could not--it is humanly impossible--have
+been fool enough, deliberately to lay such a train of damning facts.
+It's a frame-up, Wessex! I had begun to suspect this even before I
+met Camber. Having met him, I knew that I was right. Then came an
+inspiration. I saw where there must be a flaw in the plan. It was
+geographically impossible that this could be otherwise."
+
+"Geographically impossible?" I said, in a hushed voice, for Harley had
+truly astounded me.
+
+"Geographical is the term, Knox. I admit that the discovery of the rifle
+beneath the floor of the hut appalled me."
+
+"I could see that it did."
+
+"It was the crowning piece of evidence, Knox, evidence of such fiendish
+cleverness on the part of those who had plotted Menendez's death that I
+began to wonder whether after all it would be possible to defeat them. I
+realized that Camber's life hung upon a hair. For the production of that
+rifle before a jury of twelve moderately stupid men and true could not
+fail to carry enormous weight. Whereas the delicate point upon which
+my counter case rested might be more difficult to demonstrate in court.
+To-night, however, we shall put it to the test, and there are means, no
+doubt, which will occur to me later, of making its significance evident
+to one not acquainted with the locality. The press photographs, which I
+understand have been taken, may possibly help us in this."
+
+Bewildered by my friend's revolutionary ideas, which explained the
+hitherto mysterious nature of his enquiries, I scarcely knew what to
+say; but:
+
+"If it's a frame-up, Mr. Harley," said Wessex, "and the more I think
+about it the more it has that look to me, practically speaking, we have
+not yet started on the search for the murderer."
+
+"We have not," replied Harley, grimly. "But I have a dawning idea of a
+method by which we shall be enabled to narrow down this enquiry."
+
+It must be unnecessary for me to speak of the state of suppressed
+excitement in which we passed the remainder of that afternoon and
+evening. Dr. Rolleston called again to see Madame de St�mer, and
+reported that she was quite calm. In fact, he almost echoed Val
+Beverley's words spoken earlier in the day.
+
+"She is unnaturally calm, Mr. Knox," he said in confidence. "I
+understand that the dead man was a cousin, but I almost suspect that she
+was madly in love with him."
+
+I nodded shortly, admiring his acute intelligence.
+
+"I think you are right, doctor," I replied, "and if it is so, her
+amazing fortitude is all the more admirable."
+
+"Admirable?" he echoed. "As I said before, she has the courage of ten
+men."
+
+A formal dinner was out of the question, of course; indeed, no one
+attempted to dress. Val Beverley excused herself, saying that she would
+dine in Madame's room, and Harley, Wessex, and I, partook of wine and
+sandwiches in the library.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury arrived about eight o'clock in a mood of repressed
+irritation. Pedro showed him in to where the three of us were seated,
+and:
+
+"Good evening, gentlemen," said he, "here I am, as arranged, but as I am
+up to my eyes in work on the case, I will ask you, Mr. Harley, to carry
+out this experiment of yours as quickly as possible."
+
+"No time shall be lost," replied my friend, quietly. "May I request you
+to accompany Detective-Inspector Wessex and Mr. Knox to the Guest House
+by the high road? Do not needlessly alarm Mrs. Camber. Indeed, I
+think you might confine your attention to Mrs. Powis. Merely request
+permission to walk down the garden to the hut, and be good enough to
+wait there until I join you, which will be in a few minutes after your
+arrival."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury uttered an inarticulate, grunting sound, but I, who
+knew Harley so well, could see that he felt himself to be upon the eve
+of a signal triumph. What he proposed to do, I had no idea, save that
+it was designed to clear Colin Camber. I prayed that it might also clear
+his pathetic girl-wife; and in a sort of gloomy silence I set out with
+Wessex and Aylesbury, down the drive, past the lodge, which seemed to be
+deserted to-night, and along the tree-lined high road, cool and sweet in
+the dusk of evening.
+
+Aylesbury was very morose, and Wessex, who had lighted his pipe, did not
+seem to be in a talkative mood either. He had the utmost faith in Paul
+Harley, but it was evident enough that he was oppressed by the weight of
+evidence against Camber. I divined the fact that he was turning over
+in his mind the idea of the frame-up, and endeavouring to re-adjust the
+established facts in accordance with this new point of view.
+
+We were admitted to the Guest House by Mrs. Powis, a cheery old soul;
+one of those born optimists whose special task in life seems to be that
+of a friend in need.
+
+As she opened the door, she smiled, shook her head, and raised her
+finger to her lips.
+
+"Be as quiet as you can, sir," she said. "I have got her to sleep."
+
+She spoke of Mrs. Camber as one refers to a child, and, quite
+understanding her anxiety:
+
+"There will be no occasion to disturb her, Mrs. Powis," I replied.
+"We merely wish to walk down to the bottom of the garden to make a few
+enquiries."
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," she whispered, quietly closing the door as we all
+entered the hall.
+
+She led us through the rear portion of the house, and past the quarters
+of Ah Tsong into that neglected garden which I remembered so well.
+
+"There you are, sir, and may Heaven help you to find the truth."
+
+"Rest assured that the truth will be found, Mrs. Powis," I answered.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat, but Wessex, puffing at his pipe,
+made no remark whatever until we were all come to the hut overhanging
+the little ravine.
+
+"This is where I found the rifle, Detective-Inspector," explained
+Aylesbury.
+
+Wessex nodded absently.
+
+It was another perfect night, with only a faint tracery of cloud to be
+seen like lingering smoke over on the western horizon. Everything seemed
+very still, so that although we were several miles from the railway
+line, when presently a train sped on its way one might have supposed,
+from the apparent nearness of the sound, that the track was no farther
+off than the grounds of Cray's Folly.
+
+Toward those grounds, automatically, our glances were drawn; and we
+stood there staring down at the ghostly map of the gardens, and all
+wondering, no doubt, what Harley was doing and when he would be joining
+us.
+
+Very faintly I could hear the water of the little stream bubbling
+beneath us. Then, just as this awkward silence was becoming intolerable,
+there came a scraping and scratching from the shadows of the gully, and:
+
+"Give me a hand, Knox!" cried the voice of Harley from below. "I want to
+avoid the barbed wire if possible."
+
+He had come across country, and as I scrambled down the slope to meet
+him I could not help wondering with what object he had sent us ahead by
+the high road. Presently, when he came clambering up into the garden,
+this in a measure was explained, for:
+
+"You are all wondering," he began, rapidly, "what I am up to, no doubt.
+Let me endeavour to make it clear. In order that my test should be
+conclusive, and in no way influenced by pre-knowledge of certain
+arrangements which I had made, I sent you on ahead of me. Not wishing to
+waste time, I followed by the shorter route. And now, gentlemen, let us
+begin."
+
+"Good," muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"But first of all," continued Harley, "I wish each one of you in turn
+to look out of the window of the hut, and down into the Tudor garden of
+Cray's Folly. Will you begin, Wessex?"
+
+Wessex, taking his pipe out of his mouth, and staring hard at the
+speaker, nodded, entered the hut, and kneeling on the wooden seat,
+looked out of the window.
+
+"Open the panes," said Harley, "so that you have a perfectly clear
+view."
+
+Wessex slid the panes open and stared intently down into the valley.
+
+"Do you see anything unusual in the garden?"
+
+"Nothing," he reported.
+
+"And now, Inspector Aylesbury."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stamped noisily across the little hut, and peered
+out, briefly.
+
+"I can see the garden," he said.
+
+"Can you see the sun-dial?"
+
+"Quite clearly."
+
+"Good. And now you, Knox."
+
+I followed, filled with astonishment.
+
+"Do you see the sun-dial?" asked Harley, again.
+
+"Quite clearly."
+
+"And beyond it?"
+
+"Yes, I can see beyond it. I can even see its shadow lying like a black
+band on the path."
+
+"And you can see the yew trees?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"But nothing else? Nothing unusual?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Very well," said Harley, tersely. "And now, gentlemen, we take to the
+rough ground, proceeding due east. Will you be good enough to follow?"
+
+Walking around the hut he found an opening in the hedge, and scrambled
+down into the place where rank grass grew and through which he and I
+on a previous occasion had made our way to the high road. To-night,
+however, he did not turn toward the high road, but proceeded along the
+crest of the hill.
+
+I followed him, excited by the novelty of the proceedings. Wessex, very
+silent, came behind me, and Inspector Aylesbury, swearing under his
+breath, waded through the long grass at the rear.
+
+"Will you all turn your attention to the garden again, please?" cried
+Harley.
+
+We all paused, looking to the right.
+
+"Anything unusual?"
+
+We were agreed that there was not.
+
+"Very well," said my friend. "You will kindly note that from this point
+onward the formation of the ground prevents our obtaining any other view
+of Cray's Folly or its gardens until we reach the path to the valley,
+or turn on to the high road. From a point on the latter the tower may
+be seen but that is all. The first part of my experiment is concluded,
+gentlemen. We will now return."
+
+Giving us no opportunity for comment, he plunged on in the direction of
+the stream, and at a point which I regarded as unnecessarily difficult,
+crossed it, to the great discomfiture of the heavy Inspector Aylesbury.
+A few minutes later we found ourselves once more in the grounds of
+Cray's Folly.
+
+Harley, evidently with a definite objective in view, led the way up the
+terraces, through the rhododendrons, and round the base of the tower. He
+crossed to the sunken garden, and at the top of the steps paused.
+
+"Be good enough to regard the sun-dial from this point," he directed.
+
+Even as he spoke, I caught my breath, and I heard Aylesbury utter a sort
+of gasping sound.
+
+Beyond the sun-dial and slightly to the left of it, viewed from where we
+stood, a faint, elfin light flickered, at a point apparently some four
+or five feet above the ground!
+
+"What's this?" muttered Wessex.
+
+"Follow again, gentlemen," said Harley quietly.
+
+He led the way down to the garden and along the path to the sun-dial.
+This he passed, pausing immediately in front of the yew tree in which I
+knew the bullet to be embedded.
+
+He did not speak, but, extending his finger, pointed.
+
+A piece of candle, some four inches long, was attached by means of a
+nail to the bark of the tree, so that its flame burned immediately in
+front of the bullet embedded there!
+
+For perhaps ten seconds no one spoke; indeed I think no one moved. Then:
+
+"Good God!" murmured Wessex. "You have done some clever things to my
+knowledge, Mr. Harley, but this crowns them all."
+
+"Clever things!" said Inspector Aylesbury. "I think it's a lot of damned
+tomfoolery."
+
+"Do you, Inspector?" asked the Scotland Yard man, quietly. "I don't. I
+think it has saved the life of an innocent man."
+
+"What's that? What's that?" cried Aylesbury.
+
+"This candle was burning here on the yew tree," explained Harley, "at
+the time that you looked out of the window of the hut. You could not see
+it. You could not see it from the crest adjoining the Guest House--the
+only other spot in the neighbourhood from which this garden is visible.
+Now, since the course of a bullet is more or less straight, and since
+the nature of the murdered man's wound proves that it was not deflected
+in any way, I submit that the one embedded in the yew tree before you
+could not possibly have been fired from the Guest House! The second part
+of my experiment, gentlemen, will be designed to prove from whence it
+_was_ fired."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+PAUL HARLEY'S EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED
+
+
+
+Up to the very moment that Paul Harley, who had withdrawn, rejoined us
+in the garden, Inspector Aylesbury had not grasped the significance of
+that candle burning upon the yew tree. He continued to stare at it as
+if hypnotized, and when my friend re-appeared, carrying a long ash staff
+and a sheet of cardboard, I could have laughed to witness the expression
+upon the Inspector's face, had I not been too deeply impressed with that
+which underlay this strange business.
+
+Wessex, on the other hand, was watching my friend eagerly, as an earnest
+student in the class-room might watch a demonstration by some celebrated
+lecturer.
+
+"You will notice," said Paul Harley, "that I have had a number of boards
+laid down upon the ground yonder, near the sun-dial. They cover a spot
+where the turf has worn very thin. Now, this garden, because of its
+sunken position, is naturally damp. Perhaps, Wessex, you would take up
+these planks for me."
+
+Inspector Wessex obeyed, and Harley, laying the ash stick and cardboard
+upon the ground, directed the ray of an electric torch upon the spot
+uncovered.
+
+"The footprints of Colonel Menendez!" he explained. "Here he turned
+from the tiled path. He advanced three paces in the direction of the
+sun-dial, you observe, then stood still, facing we may suppose, since
+this is the indication of the prints, in a southerly direction."
+
+"Straight toward the Guest House," muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"Roughly," corrected Harley. "He was fronting in that direction,
+certainly, but his head may have been turned either to the right or to
+the left. You observe from the great depth of the toe-marks that on
+this spot he actually fell. Then, here"--he moved the light--"is the
+impression of his knee, and here again--"
+
+He shone the white ray upon a discoloured patch of grass, and then
+returned the lamp to his pocket.
+
+"I am going to make a hole in the turf," he continued, "directly between
+these two footprints, which seem to indicate that the Colonel was
+standing in the military position of attention at the moment that he met
+his death."
+
+With the end of the ash stick, which was pointed, he proceeded to do
+this.
+
+"Colonel Menendez," he went on, "stood rather over six feet in his
+shoes. The stick which now stands upright in the turf measures six feet,
+from the chalk mark up to which I have buried it to the slot which I
+have cut in the top. Into this slot I now wedge my sheet of cardboard."
+
+As he placed the sheet of cardboard in the slot which he had indicated,
+I saw that a round hole was cut in it some six inches in diameter. We
+watched these proceedings in silence, then:
+
+"If you will allow me to adjust the candle, gentlemen," said Harley,
+"which has burned a little too low for my purpose, I shall proceed to
+the second part of this experiment."
+
+He walked up to the yew tree, and by means of bending the nail upward
+he raised the flame of the candle level with the base of the embedded
+bullet.
+
+"By heavens!" cried Wessex, suddenly divining the object of these
+proceedings, "Mr. Harley, this is genius!"
+
+"Thank you, Wessex," Harley replied, quietly, but nevertheless he was
+unable to hide his gratification. "You see my point?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"In ten minutes we shall know the truth."
+
+"Oh, I see," muttered Inspector Aylesbury; "we shall know the truth, eh?
+If you ask me the truth, it's this, that we are a set of lunatics."
+
+"My dear Inspector Aylesbury," said Harley, good humouredly, "surely you
+have grasped the lesson of experiment number one?"
+
+"Well," admitted the other, "it's funny, certainly. I mean, it wants a
+lot of explaining, but I can't say I'm convinced."
+
+"That's a pity," murmured Wessex, "because I am."
+
+"You see, Inspector," Harley continued, patiently, "the body of Colonel
+Menendez as it lay formed a straight line between the sun-dial and the
+hut in the garden of the Guest House. That is to say: a line drawn from
+the window of the hut to the sun-dial must have passed through the body.
+Very well. Such an imaginary line, if continued _beyond_ the sun-dial,
+would have terminated near the base of the _seventh yew_ tree.
+Accordingly, I naturally looked for the _bullet_ there. It was not
+there. But I found it, as you know, in the ninth tree. Therefore, the
+shot could not possibly have been fired from the Guest House, because
+the spot in the ninth yew where the bullet had lodged is not visible
+from the Guest House."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury removed his cap and scratched his head vigorously.
+
+"In order that we may avoid waste of valuable time," said Harley,
+finally, "let us take a hasty observation from here. As a matter
+of fact, I have done so already, as nearly as was possible, without
+employing this rough apparatus."
+
+He knelt down beside the yew tree, lowering his head so that the
+candlelight shone upon the brown, eager face, and looked upward, over
+the top of the sun-dial and through the hole in the cardboard.
+
+"Yes," he muttered, a note of rising excitement in his voice. "As I
+thought, as I thought. Come, gentlemen, let us hurry."
+
+He walked rapidly out of the garden, and up the steps, whilst we
+followed dumb with wonder--or such at any rate was the cause of my own
+silence.
+
+In the hall Pedro was standing, a bunch of keys in his hand, and
+evidently expecting Harley.
+
+"Will you take us by the shortest way to the tower stairs?" my friend
+directed.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Doubting, wondering, scarcely knowing whether to be fearful or jubilant,
+I followed, along a carpeted corridor, and thence, a heavy, oaken
+door being unlocked, across a dusty and deserted apartment apparently
+intended for a drawing room. From this, through a second doorway we
+were led into a small, square, unfurnished room, which I knew must be
+situated in the base of the tower. Yet a third door was unlocked, and:
+
+"Here is the stair, sir," said Pedro.
+
+In Indian file we mounted to the first floor, to find ourselves in a
+second, identical room, also stripped of furniture and decorations.
+Harley barely glanced out of the northern window, shook his head, and:
+
+"Next floor, Pedro," he directed.
+
+Up we went, our footsteps arousing a cloud of dust from the uncarpeted
+stairs, and the sound of our movements echoing in hollow fashion around
+the deserted rooms.
+
+Gaining the next floor, Harley, unable any longer to conceal his
+excitement, ran to the north window, looked out, and:
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "my experiment is complete!"
+
+He turned, his back to the window, and faced us in the dusk of the room.
+
+"Assuming the ash stick to represent the upright body of Colonel
+Menendez," he continued, "and the sheet of cardboard to represent his
+head, the hole which I have cut in it corresponds fairly nearly to
+the position of his forehead. Further assuming the bullet to have
+illustrated Euclid's definition of a straight line, such a line,
+_followed back_ from the yew tree to the spot where the rifle rested,
+would pass through the hole in the cardboard! In other words, there is
+only one place from which it is possible to see the flame of the candle
+_through the hole in the cardboard_: the place where the rifle rested!
+Stand here in the left-hand angle of the window and stoop down! Will you
+come first, Knox?"
+
+I stepped across the room, bent down, and stared out of the window,
+across the Tudor garden. Plainly I could see the sun-dial with the
+ash stick planted before it. I could see the piece of cardboard which
+surmounted it--and, through the hole cut in the cardboard, I could see
+the feeble flame of the candle nailed to the ninth yew tree!
+
+I stood upright, knowing that I had grown pale, and conscious of a moist
+sensation upon my forehead.
+
+"Merciful God!" I said in a hollow voice. "It was from _this window_
+that the shot was fired which killed him!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE CREEPING SICKNESS
+
+
+
+From the ensuing consultation in the library we did not rise until close
+upon midnight. To the turbid intelligence of Inspector Aylesbury the
+fact by this time had penetrated that Colin Camber was innocent, that
+he was the victim of a frame-up, and that Colonel Juan Menendez had been
+shot from a window of his own house.
+
+By a process of lucid reasoning which must have convinced a junior
+schoolboy, Paul Harley, there in the big library, with its garish
+bookcases and its Moorish ornaments, had eliminated every member of the
+household from the list of suspects. His concluding words, I remember,
+were as follows:
+
+"Of the known occupants of Cray's Folly on the night of the tragedy we
+now find ourselves reduced to four, any one of whom, from the point
+of view of an impartial critic uninfluenced by personal character,
+question, or motive, or any consideration other than that of physical
+possibility, might have shot Colonel Menendez. They are, firstly:
+Myself.
+
+"In order to believe me guilty, it would be necessary to discount the
+evidence of Knox, who saw me on the gravel path below at the time that
+the shot was fired from the tower window.
+
+"Secondly: Knox; whose guilt, equally, could only be assumed by means of
+eliminating _my_ evidence, since I saw him at the window of my room at
+the time that the shot was fired.
+
+"Thirdly: Madame de St�mer. Regarding this suspect, in the first place
+she could not have gained access to the tower room without assistance,
+and in the second place she was so passionately devoted to the late
+Colonel Menendez that Dr. Rolleston is of opinion that her reason may
+remain permanently impaired by the shock of his death. Fourthly and
+lastly: Miss Val Beverley."
+
+Over my own feelings, as he had uttered the girl's name, I must pass in
+silence.
+
+"Miss Val Beverley is the only one of the four suspects who is not in a
+position to establish a sound alibi so far as I can see at the moment;
+but in this case entire absence of motive renders the suspicion absurd.
+Having dealt with the _known_ occupants, I shall not touch upon the
+possibility that some stranger had gained access to the house. This
+opens up a province of speculation which we must explore at greater
+leisure, for it would be profitless to attempt such an exploration now."
+
+Thus the gathering had broken up, Inspector Aylesbury returning to
+Market Hilton to make his report and to release Colin Camber and Ah
+Tsong, and Wessex to seek his quarters at the Lavender Arms.
+
+I remember that having seen them off, Harley and I stood in the hall,
+staring at one another in a very odd way, and so we stood when Val
+Beverley came quietly from Madame de St�mer's room and spoke to us.
+
+"Pedro has told me what you have done, Mr. Harley," she said in a low
+voice. "Oh, thank God you have cleared him. But what, in Heaven's name,
+does your new discovery mean?"
+
+"You may well ask," Harley answered, grimly. "If my first task was a
+hard one, that which remains before me looks more nearly hopeless than
+anything I have ever been called upon to attempt."
+
+"It is horrible, it is horrible," said the girl, shudderingly. "Oh,
+Mr. Knox," she turned to me, "I have felt all along that there was some
+stranger in the house----"
+
+"You have told me so."
+
+"Conundrums! Conundrums!" muttered Harley, irritably. "Where am I to
+begin, upon what am I to erect any feasible theory?" He turned abruptly
+to Val Beverley. "Does Madame de St�mer know?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, nodding her head; "and hearing the others depart,
+she asked me to tell you that sleep is impossible until you have
+personally given her the details of your discovery."
+
+"She wishes to see me?" asked Harley, eagerly.
+
+"She insists upon seeing you," replied the girl, "and also requests
+Mr. Knox to visit her." She paused, biting her lip. "Madame's manner is
+very, very odd. Dr. Rolleston cannot understand her at all. I expect he
+has told you? She has been sitting there for hours and hours, writing."
+
+"Writing?" exclaimed Harley. "Letters?"
+
+"I don't know what she has been writing," confessed Val Beverley. "She
+declines to tell me, or to show me what she has written. But there is
+quite a little stack of manuscript upon the table beside her bed. Won't
+you come in?"
+
+I could see that she was more troubled than she cared to confess, and
+I wondered if Dr. Rolleston's unpleasant suspicions might have solid
+foundation, and if the loss of her cousin had affected Madame de
+St�mer's brain.
+
+Presently, then, ushered by Val Beverley, I found myself once more in
+the violet and silver room in which on that great bed of state Madame
+reclined amid silken pillows. Her art never deserted her, not even in
+moments of ultimate stress, and that she had prepared herself for this
+interview was evident enough.
+
+I had thought previously that one night of horror had added five years
+to her apparent age. I thought now that she looked radiantly beautiful.
+That expression in her eyes, which I knew I must forevermore associate
+with the memory of the dying tigress, had faded entirely. They remained
+still, as of old, but to-night they were velvety soft. The lips were
+relaxed in a smile of tenderness. I observed, with surprise, that she
+wore much jewelery, and upon her white bosom gleamed the famous rope
+of pearls which I knew her to treasure above almost anything in her
+possession.
+
+Again the fear touched me coldly that much sorrow had made her mad. But
+at her very first word of greeting I was immediately reassured.
+
+"Ah, my friend," she said, as I entered, a caressing note in her deep,
+vibrant voice, "you have great news, they tell me? Mr. Harley, I was
+afraid that you had deserted me, sir. If you had done so I should have
+been very angry with you. Set the two armchairs here on my right, Val,
+dear, and sit close beside me."
+
+Then, as we seated ourselves:
+
+"You are not smoking, my friends," she continued, "and I know that you
+are both so fond of a smoke."
+
+Paul Harley excused himself but I accepted a cigarette which Val
+Beverley offered me from a silver box on the table, and presently:
+
+"I am here, like a prisoner of the Bastille," declared Madame, shrugging
+her shoulders, "where only echoes reach me. Now, Mr. Harley, tell me of
+this wonderful discovery of yours."
+
+Harley inclined his head gravely, and in that succinct fashion which he
+had at command acquainted Madame with the result of his two experiments.
+As he completed the account:
+
+"Ah," she sighed, and lay back upon her pillows, "so to-night he is
+again a free man, the poor Colin Camber. And his wife is happy once
+more?"
+
+"Thank God," I murmured. "Her sorrow was pathetic."
+
+"Only the pure in heart can thank God," said Madame, strangely, "but
+I, too, am glad. I have written, here"--she pointed to a little heap
+of violet note-paper upon a table placed at the opposite side of the
+bed--"how glad I am."
+
+Harley and I stared vaguely across at the table. I saw Val Beverley
+glancing uneasily in the same direction. Save for the writing materials
+and little heap of manuscript, it held only a cup and saucer, a few
+sandwiches, and a medicine bottle containing the prescription which Dr.
+Rolleston had made up for the invalid.
+
+"I am curious to know what you have written, Madame," declared Harley.
+
+"Yes, you are curious?" she said. "Very well, then, I will tell you, and
+afterward you may read if you wish." She turned to me. "You, my friend,"
+she whispered, and reaching over she laid her jewelled hand upon my arm,
+"you have spoken with Ysola de Valera this afternoon, they tell me?"
+
+"With Mrs. Camber?" I asked, startled. "Yes, that is true."
+
+"Ah, Mrs. Camber," murmured Madame. "I knew her as Ysola de Valera. She
+is beautiful, in her golden doll way. You think so?" Then, ere I had
+time to reply: "She told you, I suppose, eh?"
+
+"She told me," I replied with a certain embarrassment, "that she had met
+you some years ago in Cuba."
+
+"Ah, yes, although _I_ told the fat Inspector it was not so. How we lie,
+we women! And of course she told you in what relation I stood to Juan
+Menendez?"
+
+"She did not, Madame de St�mer."
+
+"No-no? Well, it was nice of her. No matter. _I_ will tell you. I was
+his mistress."
+
+She spoke without bravado, but quite without shame, seeming to glory in
+the statement.
+
+"I met him in Paris," she continued, half closing her eyes. "I was
+staying at the house of my sister, and my sister, you understand, was
+married to Juan's cousin. That is how we met. I was married. Yes, it is
+true. But in France our parents find our husbands and our lovers find
+our hearts. Yet sometimes these marriages are happy. To me this good
+thing had not happened, and in the moment when Juan's hand touched mine
+a living fire entered into my heart and it has been burning ever since;
+burning-burning, always till I die.
+
+"Very well, I am a shameless woman, yes. But I have lived, and I have
+loved, and I am content. I went with him to Cuba, and from Cuba to
+another island where he had estates, and the name of which I shall not
+pronounce, because it hurts me so, even yet. There he set eyes upon
+Ysola de Valera, the daughter of his manager, and, pouf!"
+
+She shrugged and snapped her fingers.
+
+"He was like that, you understand? I knew it well. They did not call
+him Devil Menendez for nothing. There was a scene, a dreadful scene, and
+after that another, and yet a third. I have pride. If I had seemed to
+forget it, still it was there. I left him, and went back to France. I
+tried to forget. I entered upon works of charity for the soldiers at a
+time when others were becoming tired. I spent a great part of my fortune
+upon establishing a hospital, and this child"--she threw her arm around
+Val Beverley--"worked with me night and day. I think I wanted to die.
+Often I tried to die. Did I not, dear?"
+
+"You did, Madame," said the girl in a very low voice.
+
+"Twice I was arrested in the French lines, where I had crept dressed
+like a _poilu_, from where I shot down many a Prussian. Is it not so?"
+
+"It is true," answered the girl, nodding her head.
+
+"They caught me and arrested me," said Madame, with a sort of triumph.
+"If it had been the British"--she raised her hand in that Bernhardt
+gesture--"with me it would have gone hard. But in France a woman's smile
+goes farther than in England. I had had my fun. They called me 'good
+comrade!' Perhaps I paid with a kiss. What does it matter? But they
+heard of me, those Prussian dogs. They knew and could not forgive. How
+often did they come over to bomb us, Val, dear?"
+
+"Oh, many, many times," said the girl, shudderingly.
+
+"And at last they succeeded," added Madame, bitterly. "God! the black
+villains! Let me not think of it."
+
+She clenched her hands and closed her eyes entirely, but presently
+resumed again:
+
+"If they had killed me I should have been glad, but they only made of
+me a cripple. M. de St�mer had been killed a few weeks before this. I
+am sorry I forgot to mention it. I was a widow. And when after this
+catastrophe I could be moved, I went to a little villa belonging to my
+husband at Nice, to gain strength, and this child came with me, like a
+ray of sunshine.
+
+"Here, to wake the fire in my heart, came Juan, deserted, broken,
+wounded in soul, but most of all in pride, in that evil pride which
+belongs to his race, which is so different from the pride of France, but
+for which all the same I could never hate him.
+
+"Ysola de Valera had run away from his great house in Cuba. Yes! A woman
+had dared to leave him, the man who had left so many women. To me it was
+pathetic. I was sorry for him. He had been searching the world for her.
+He loved this little golden-haired girl as he had never loved me. But
+to me he came with his broken heart, and I"--her voice trembled--"I took
+him back. He still cared for me, you understand. Ah!" She laughed. "I am
+not a woman who is lightly forgotten. But the great passion that burned
+in his Spanish soul was revenge.
+
+"He was a broken man not only in mind, but in body. Let me tell you. In
+that island which I have not named there is a horrible disease called
+by the natives the Creeping Sickness. It is supposed to come from a
+poisonous place named the Black Belt, and a part of this Black Belt is
+near, too near, to the hacienda in which Juan sometimes lived."
+
+Paul Harley started and glanced at me significantly.
+
+"They think, those simple negroes, that it is witchcraft, Voodoo, the
+work of the Obeah man. It is of two kinds, rapid and slow. Those who
+suffer from the first kind just decline and decline and die in great
+agony. Others recover, or seem to do so. It is, I suppose, a matter of
+constitution. Juan had had this sickness and had recovered, or so the
+doctors said, but, ah!"
+
+She lay back, shaking her finger characteristically.
+
+"In one year, in two, three, a swift pain comes, like a needle,
+you understand? Perhaps in the foot, in the hand, in the arm. It is
+exquisite, deathly, while it lasts, but it only lasts for a few moments.
+It is agony. And then it goes, leaving nothing to show what has caused
+it. But, my friends, it is a death warning!
+
+"If it comes here"--she raised one delicate white hand--"you may have
+five years to live; if in the foot, ten, or more. But"--she sank her
+voice dramatically--"the nearer it is to the heart, the less are the
+days that remain to you of life."
+
+"You mean that it recurs?" asked Harley.
+
+"Perhaps in a week, perhaps not for another year, it comes again, that
+quick agony. This time in the shoulder, in the knee. It is the second
+warning. Three times it may come, four times, but at last"--she laid
+her hand upon her breast--"it comes here, in the heart, and all is
+finished."
+
+She paused as if exhausted, closing her eyes again, whilst we three
+who listened looked at one another in an awestricken silence, until the
+vibrant voice resumed:
+
+"There is only one man in Europe who understands this thing, this
+Creeping Sickness. He is a Frenchman who lives in Paris. To him Juan had
+been, and he had told him, this clever man, 'If you are very quiet and
+do not exert yourself, and only take as much exercise as is necessary
+for your general health, you have one year to live--'"
+
+"My God!" groaned Harley.
+
+"Yes, such was the verdict. And there is no cure. The poor sufferer must
+wait and wait, always wait, for that sudden pang, not knowing if it will
+come in his heart and be the finish. Yes. This living death, then, and
+revenge, were the things ruling Juan's life at the time of which I tell
+you. He had traced Ysola de Valera to England. A chance remark in a
+London hotel had told him that a Chinaman had been seen in a Surrey
+village and of course had caused much silly chatter. He enquired at
+once, and he found out that Colin Camber, the man who had taken Ysola
+from him, was living with her at the Guest House, here, on the hill. How
+shall I tell you the rest?"
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Harley, his glance set upon her, with a
+sort of horror in his gray eyes, "I think I can guess."
+
+She turned to him rapidly.
+
+"M. Harley," she said, "you are a clever man. I believe you are a
+genius. And I have the strength to tell you because I am happy to-night.
+Because of his great wealth Juan succeeded in buying Cray's Folly from
+Sir James Appleton to whom it belonged. He told everybody he leased it,
+but really he bought it. He paid him more than twice its value, and so
+obtained possession.
+
+"But the plan was not yet complete, although it had taken form in
+that clever, wicked brain of his. Oh! I could tell you stories of the
+Menendez, and of the things they have done for love and revenge, which
+even you, who know much of life, would doubt, I think. Yes, you would
+not believe. But to continue. Shall I tell you upon what terms he had
+returned to me, eh? I will. Once more he would suffer that pang of death
+in life, for he had courage, ah! such great courage, and then, when the
+waiting for the next grew more than even his fearless heart could bear,
+I, who also had courage, and who loved him, should----" She paused, "Do
+you understand?"
+
+Harley nodded dumbly, and suddenly I found Val Beverley's little fingers
+twined about mine.
+
+"I agreed," continued the deep voice. "It was a boon which I, too, would
+have asked from one who loved me. But to die, knowing another cherished
+the woman who had been torn from him, was an impossibility for
+Juan Menendez. What he had schemed to do at first I never knew. But
+presently, because of our situation here, and because of that which he
+had asked of me, it came, the great plan.
+
+"On the night he told me, a night I shall never forget, I drew back in
+horror from him--I, Marie de St�mer, who thought I knew the blackest
+that was in him. I shrank. And because of that scene it came to him
+again in the early morning--the moment of agony, the needle pain, here,
+low down in his left breast.
+
+"He pleaded with me to do the wicked thing that he had planned,
+and because I dared not refuse, knowing he might die at my feet, I
+consented. But, my friends, I had my own plan, too, of which he knew
+nothing. On the next day he went to Paris, and was told he had two
+months to live, with great, such great care, but perhaps only a week,
+a day, if he should permit his hot passions to inflame that threatened
+heart. Very well.
+
+"I said yes, yes, to all that he suggested, and he began to lay the
+trail--the trail to lead to his enemy. It was his hobby, this vengeance.
+He was like a big, cruel boy. It was he, himself, Juan Menendez, who
+broke into Cray's Folly. It was he who nailed the bat wing to the door.
+It was he who bought two rifles of a kind of which so many millions were
+made during the war that anybody might possess one. And it was he who
+concealed the first of these, one cartridge discharged, under the floor
+of the hut in the garden of the Guest House. The other, which was to be
+used, he placed--"
+
+"In the shutter-case of one of the tower rooms," continued Paul Harley.
+"I know! I found it there to-night."
+
+"What?" I asked, "you found it, Harley?"
+
+"I returned to look for it," he said. "At the present moment it is
+upstairs in my room."
+
+"Ah, M. Harley," exclaimed Madame, smiling at him radiantly, "I love
+your genius. Then it was," she continued, "that he thought himself
+ready, ready for revenge and ready for death. He summoned you, M.
+Harley, to be an expert witness. He placed with you evidence which could
+not fail to lead to the arrest of M. Camber. Very well. I allowed him to
+do all this. His courage, _mon Dieu_, how I worshipped his courage!
+
+"At night, when everyone slept, and he could drop the mask, I have seen
+what he suffered. I have begged him, begged him upon my knees, to allow
+me to end it then and there; to forget his dream of revenge, to die
+without this last stain upon his soul. But he, expecting at any hour, at
+any minute, to know again the agony which cannot be described, which is
+unlike any other suffered by the flesh--refused, refused! And I"--she
+raised her eyes ecstatically--"I have worshipped this courage of his,
+although it was evil--bad.
+
+"The full moon gives the best light, and so he planned it for the night
+of the full moon. But on the night before, because of some scene which
+he had with you, M. Harley, nearly I thought his plans would come to
+nothing. Nearly I thought the last act of love which he asked of me
+would never be performed. He sat there, up in the little room which he
+liked best, the coldness upon him which always came before the pang,
+waiting, waiting, a deathly dew on his forehead, for the end; and I, I
+who loved him better than life, watched him. And, so Fate willed it, the
+pang never came."
+
+"You watched him?" I whispered.
+
+Harley turned to me slowly.
+
+"Don't you understand, Knox?" he said, in a voice curiously unlike his
+own.
+
+"Ah, my friend," Madame de St�mer laid her hand upon my arm with that
+caressing gesture which I knew, "you do understand, don't you? The power
+to use my limbs returned to me during the last week that I lived in
+Nice."
+
+She bent forward and raised her face, in an almost agonized appeal to
+Val Beverley.
+
+"My dear, my dear," she said, "forgive me, forgive me! But I loved him
+so. One day, I think"--her glance sought my face--"you will know. Then
+you will forgive."
+
+"Oh, Madame, Madame," whispered the girl, and began to sob silently.
+
+"Is it enough?" asked Madame de St�mer, raising her head, and looking
+defiantly at Paul Harley. "Last night, you, M. Harley, who have genius,
+nearly brought it all to nothing. You passed the door in the shrubbery
+just when Juan was preparing to go out. I was watching from the window
+above. Then, when you had gone, he came out--smoking his last cigarette.
+
+"I went to my place, entering the tower room by the door from that
+corridor. I opened the window. It had been carefully oiled. It was
+soundless. I was cold as one already dead, but love made me strong. I
+had seen him suffer. I took the rifle from its hiding-place, the heavy
+rifle which so few women could use. It was no heavier than some which I
+had used before, and to good purpose."
+
+Again she paused, and I saw her lips trembling. Before my mind's eye
+the picture arose which I had seen from Harley's window, the picture
+of Colonel Juan Menendez walking in the moonlight along the path to
+the sun-dial, with halting steps, with clenched fists, but upright as a
+soldier on parade. Walking on, dauntlessly, to his execution. Out of a
+sort of haze, which seemed to obscure both sight and hearing, I heard
+Madame speaking again.
+
+"He turned his head toward me. He threw me a kiss--and I fired. Did you
+think a woman lived who could perform such a deed, eh? If you did not
+think so, it is because you have never looked into the eyes of one who
+loved with her body, her mind, and with her soul. I think, yes, I think
+I went mad. The rifle I remember I replaced. But I remember no more.
+Ah!"
+
+She sighed in a resigned, weary way, untwining her arm from about Val
+Beverley, and falling back upon her pillows.
+
+"It is all written here," she said; "every word of it, my friends, and
+signed at the bottom. I am a murderess, but it was a merciful deed. You
+see, I had a plan of which Juan knew nothing. This was my plan." She
+pointed to the heap of manuscript. "I would give him relief from his
+agonies, yes. For although he was an evil man, I loved him better than
+life. I would let him die happy, thinking his revenge complete. But
+others to suffer? No, no! a thousand times no! Ah, I am so tired."
+
+She took up the little medicine bottle, poured its contents into the
+glass, and emptied it at a draught.
+
+Paul Harley, as though galvanized, sprang to his feet. "My God!" he
+cried, huskily, "Stop her, stop her!" Val Beverley, now desperately
+white, clutched at me with quivering fingers, her agonized glance set
+upon the smiling face of Madame de St�mer.
+
+"No fuss, dear friends," said Madame, gently, "no trouble, no nasty
+stomach-pumps; for it is useless. I shall just fall asleep in a few
+moments now, and when I wake Juan will be with me."
+
+Her face was radiant. It became lighted up magically. I knew in that
+grim hour what a beautiful woman Madame de St�mer must have been. She
+rested her hand upon Val Beverley's head, and looked at me with her
+strange, still eyes.
+
+"Be good to her, my friend," she whispered. "She is English, but not
+cold like some. She, too, can love."
+
+She closed her eyes and dropped back upon her pillows for the last time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+AN AFTERWORD
+
+
+
+This shall be a brief afterword, for I have little else to say. As
+Madame had predicted, all antidotes and restoratives were of no avail.
+She had taken enough of some drug which she had evidently had in her
+possession for this very purpose to ensure that there should be no
+awakening, and although Dr. Rolleston was on the spot within half an
+hour, Madame de St�mer was already past human aid.
+
+There are perhaps one or two details which may be of interest. For
+instance, as a result of the post-mortem examination of Colonel
+Menendez, no trace of disease was discovered in any of the organs, but
+from information supplied by his solicitors, Harley succeeded in tracing
+the Paris specialist to whom Madame de St�mer had referred; and he
+confirmed her statement in every particular. The disease, to which he
+gave some name which I have forgotten, was untraceable, he declared, by
+any means thus far known to science.
+
+As we had anticipated, the bulk of Colonel Don Juan's wealth he had
+bequeathed to Madame de St�mer, and she in turn had provided that all
+of which she might die possessed should be divided between certain
+charities and Val Beverley.
+
+I thus found myself at the time when all these legal processes
+terminated engaged to marry a girl as wealthy as she was beautiful.
+Therefore, except for the many grim memories which it had left with me,
+nothing but personal good fortune resulted from my sojourn at Cray's
+Folly, beneath the shadow of that Bat Wing which had had no existence
+outside the cunning imagination of Colonel Juan Menendez.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
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+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
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+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <title>
+      Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
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+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
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+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bat Wing
+
+Author: Sax Rohmer
+
+
+Release Date: August, 2004  [EBook #6382]
+This file was first posted on December 4, 2002
+Last Updated: October 12, 2016
+
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+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAT WING ***
+
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+</pre>
+
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      BAT WING
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Sax Rohmer
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <b>CONTENTS</b>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. THE VOODOO SWAMP </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. THE VAMPIRE BAT </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. CRAY&rsquo;S FOLLY </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. VAL BEVERLEY </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. THE BARRIER </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. AT THE LAVENDER ARMS </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. THE CALL OF M&rsquo;KOMBO </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. OBEAH </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. THE NIGHT WALKER </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. MORNING MISTS </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. AT THE GUEST HOUSE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. YSOLA CAMBER </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. UNREST </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. RED EVE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET
+      HILTON </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. COMPLICATIONS </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. A SPANISH CIGARETTE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. THE WING OF A BAT </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. COLIN CAMBER&rsquo;S SECRET </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+      </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV. AN OFFICIAL MOVE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV. AYLESBURY&rsquo;S THEORY </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI. IN MADAME&rsquo;S ROOM </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII. AN INSPIRATION </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER XXVIII. MY THEORY OF THE CRIME </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER XXIX. A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER XXX. THE SEVENTH YEW TREE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0031"> CHAPTER XXXI. YSOLA CAMBER&rsquo;S CONFESSION </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0032"> CHAPTER XXXII. PAUL HARLEY&rsquo;S EXPERIMENT </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0033"> CHAPTER XXXIII. PAUL HARLEY&rsquo;S EXPERIMENT
+      CONCLUDED </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0034"> CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CREEPING SICKNESS </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0035"> CHAPTER XXXV. AN AFTERWORD </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Toward the hour of six on a hot summer&rsquo;s evening Mr. Paul Harley was
+      seated in his private office in Chancery Lane reading through a number of
+      letters which Innes, his secretary, had placed before him for signature.
+      Only one more remained to be passed, but it was a long, confidential
+      report upon a certain matter, which Harley had prepared for His Majesty&rsquo;s
+      Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department. He glanced with a
+      sigh of weariness at the little clock upon his table before commencing to
+      read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall detain you only a few minutes, now, Knox,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded, smiling. I was quite content to sit and watch my friend at work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley occupied a unique place in the maelstrom of vice and ambition
+      which is sometimes called London life. Whilst at present he held no
+      official post, some of the most momentous problems of British policy
+      during the past five years, problems imperilling inter-state relationships
+      and not infrequently threatening a renewal of the world war, had owed
+      their solution to the peculiar genius of this man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No clue to his profession appeared upon the plain brass plate attached to
+      his door, and little did those who regarded Paul Harley merely as a
+      successful private detective suspect that he was in the confidence of some
+      who guided the destinies of the Empire. Paul Harley&rsquo;s work in
+      Constantinople during the feverish months preceding hostilities with
+      Turkey, although unknown to the general public, had been of a most
+      extraordinary nature. His recommendations were never adopted,
+      unfortunately. Otherwise, the tragedy of the Dardanelles might have been
+      averted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His surroundings as he sat there, gaze bent upon the typewritten pages,
+      were those of any other professional man. So it would have seemed to the
+      casual observer. But perhaps there was a quality in the atmosphere of the
+      office which would have told a more sensitive visitor that it was the
+      apartment of no ordinary man of business. Whilst there were filing
+      cabinets and bookshelves laden with works of reference, many of them
+      legal, a large and handsome Burmese cabinet struck an unexpected note.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On closer inspection, other splashes of significant colour must have been
+      detected in the scheme, notably a very fine engraving of Edgar Allan Poe,
+      from the daguerreotype of 1848; and upon the man himself lay the indelible
+      mark of the tropics. His clean-cut features had that hint of underlying
+      bronze which tells of years spent beneath a merciless sun, and the touch
+      of gray at his temples only added to the eager, almost fierce vitality of
+      the dark face. Paul Harley was notable because of that intellectual
+      strength which does not strike one immediately, since it is purely
+      temperamental, but which, nevertheless, invests its possessor with an aura
+      of distinction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Writing his name at the bottom of the report, Paul Harley enclosed the
+      pages in a long envelope and dropped the envelope into a basket which
+      contained a number of other letters. His work for the day was ended, and
+      glancing at me with a triumphant smile, he stood up. His office was a part
+      of a residential suite, but although, like some old-time burgher of the
+      city, he lived on the premises, the shutting of a door which led to his
+      private rooms marked the close of the business day. Pressing a bell which
+      connected with the public office occupied by his secretary, Paul Harley
+      stood up as Innes entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing further, is there, Innes?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, Mr. Harley, if you have passed the Home Office report?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley laughed shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There it is,&rdquo; he replied, pointing to the basket; &ldquo;a tedious and
+      thankless job, Innes. It is the fifth draft you have prepared and it will
+      have to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took up a letter which lay unsealed upon the table. &ldquo;This is the Rokeby
+      affair,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have decided to hold it over, after all, until my
+      return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Innes, quietly glancing at each envelope as he took it from the
+      basket. &ldquo;I see you have turned down the little job offered by the
+      Marquis.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have,&rdquo; replied Harley, smiling grimly, &ldquo;and a fee of five hundred
+      guineas with it. I have also intimated to that distressed nobleman that
+      this is a business office and that a laundry is the proper place to take
+      his dirty linen. No, there&rsquo;s nothing further to-night, Innes. You can get
+      along now. Has Miss Smith gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But as if in answer to his enquiry the typist, who with Innes made up the
+      entire staff of the office, came in at that moment, a card in her hand.
+      Harley glanced across in my direction and then at the card, with a wry
+      expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Juan Menendez,&rdquo; he read aloud, &ldquo;Cavendish Club,&rdquo; and glanced
+      reflectively at Innes. &ldquo;Do we know the Colonel?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not,&rdquo; answered Innes; &ldquo;the name is unfamiliar to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; murmured Harley. He glanced across at me. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an awful
+      nuisance, Knox, but just as I thought the decks were clear. Is it
+      something really interesting, or does he want a woman watched? However,
+      his name sounds piquant, so perhaps I had better see him. Ask him to come
+      in, Miss Smith.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Innes and Miss Smith retiring, there presently entered a man of most
+      striking and unusual presence. In the first place, Colonel Menendez must
+      have stood fully six feet in his boots, and he carried himself like a
+      grandee of the golden days of Spain. His complexion was extraordinarily
+      dusky, whilst his hair, which was close cropped, was iron gray. His heavy
+      eyebrows and curling moustache with its little points were equally black,
+      so that his large teeth gleamed very fiercely when he smiled. His eyes
+      were large, dark, and brilliant, and although he wore an admirably cut
+      tweed suit, for some reason I pictured him as habitually wearing riding
+      kit. Indeed I almost seemed to hear the jingle of his spurs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He carried an ebony cane for which I mentally substituted a crop, and his
+      black derby hat I thought hardly as suitable as a sombrero. His age might
+      have been anything between fifty and fifty-five.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Standing in the doorway he bowed, and if his smile was Mephistophelean,
+      there was much about Colonel Juan Menendez which commanded respect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he began, and his high, thin voice afforded yet another
+      surprise, &ldquo;I feel somewhat ill at ease to&mdash;how do you say it?&mdash;appropriate
+      your time, as I am by no means sure that what I have to say justifies my
+      doing so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke most fluent, indeed florid, English. But his sentences at times
+      were oddly constructed; yet, save for a faint accent, and his frequent
+      interpolation of such expressions as &ldquo;how do you say?&rdquo;&mdash;a sort of
+      nervous mannerism&mdash;one might have supposed him to be a Britisher who
+      had lived much abroad. I formed the opinion that he had read extensively,
+      and this, as I learned later, was indeed the case.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; said Harley with quiet geniality.
+      &ldquo;Officially, my working day is ended, I admit, but if you have no
+      objection to the presence of my friend, Mr. Knox, I shall be most happy to
+      chat with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled in a way all his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If your business is of a painfully professional nature,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;I
+      must beg you to excuse me for fourteen days, as I am taking a badly needed
+      holiday with my friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, is it so?&rdquo; replied the Colonel, placing his hat and cane upon the
+      table, and sitting down rather wearily in a big leathern armchair which
+      Harley had pushed forward. &ldquo;If I intrude I am sorry, but indeed my
+      business is urgent, and I come to you on the recommendation of my friend,
+      Senor Don Merry del Val, the Spanish Ambassador.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his eyes to Harley&rsquo;s face with an expression of peculiar appeal.
+      I rose to depart, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley, and turned again to the visitor. &ldquo;Please
+      proceed,&rdquo; he requested. &ldquo;Mr. Knox has been with me in some of the most
+      delicate cases which I have ever handled, and you may rely upon his
+      discretion as you may rely upon mine.&rdquo; He pushed forward a box of cigars.
+      &ldquo;Will you smoke?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, no,&rdquo; was the answer; &ldquo;you see, I rarely smoke anything but my
+      cigarettes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez extracted a slip of rice paper from a little packet which
+      he carried, next, dipping two long, yellow fingers into his coat pocket,
+      he brought out a portion of tobacco, laid it in the paper, and almost in
+      the twinkling of an eye had made, rolled, and lighted a very creditable
+      cigarette. His dexterity was astonishing, and seeing my surprise he raised
+      his heavy eyebrows, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Practice makes perfect, is it not said?&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders and dropped the extinguished match in an ash
+      tray, whilst I studied him with increasing interest. Some dread, real or
+      imaginary, was oppressing the man&rsquo;s mind, I mused. I felt my presence to
+      be unwelcome, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; he began, suddenly. &ldquo;I expect, Mr. Harley, that you will be
+      disposed to regard what I have to tell you rather as a symptom of what you
+      call nerves than as evidence of any agency directed against me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stared curiously at the speaker. &ldquo;Do I understand you to
+      suspect that someone is desirous of harming you?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez slowly nodded his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such is my meaning,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You refer to bodily harm?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But yes, emphatically.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; said Harley; and taking out a tin of tobacco from a cabinet beside
+      him he began in leisurely manner to load a briar. &ldquo;No doubt you have good
+      reasons for this suspicion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I had not good reasons, Mr. Harley, nothing could have induced me to
+      trouble you. Yet, even now that I have compelled myself to come here, I
+      find it difficult, almost impossible, to explain those reasons to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An expression of embarrassment appeared upon the brown face, and now
+      Colonel Menendez paused and was plainly at a loss for words with which to
+      continue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley replaced the tin in the cupboard and struck a match. Lighting his
+      pipe he nodded good humouredly as if to say, &ldquo;I quite understand.&rdquo; As a
+      matter of fact, he probably thought, as I did, that this was a familiar
+      case of a man of possibly blameless life who had become subject to that
+      delusion which leads people to believe themselves threatened by mysterious
+      and unnameable danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our visitor inhaled deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, of course, are waiting for the facts,&rdquo; he presently resumed,
+      speaking with a slowness which told of a mind labouring for the right mode
+      of expression. &ldquo;These are so scanty, I fear, of so, shall I say, phantom a
+      kind, that even when they are in your possession you will consider me to
+      be merely the victim of a delusion. In the first place, then, I have
+      reason to believe that someone followed me from my home to your office.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Paul Harley, sympathetically, for this I perceived was
+      exactly what he had anticipated, and merely tended to confirm his
+      suspicion. &ldquo;Some member of your household?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you actually see this follower?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear sir,&rdquo; cried Colonel Menendez, excitement emphasizing his accent,
+      &ldquo;if I had seen him, so much would have been made clear, so much! I have
+      never seen him, but I have heard him and felt him&mdash;felt his presence,
+      I mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what way?&rdquo; asked Harley, leaning back in his chair and studying the
+      fierce face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On several occasions on turning out the light in my bedroom and looking
+      across the lawn from my window I have observed the shadow of someone&mdash;how
+      do you say?&mdash;lurking in the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shadow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely. The person himself was concealed beneath a tree. When he moved
+      his shadow was visible on the ground.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were not deceived by a waving branch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not. I speak of a still, moonlight night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly, then, it was the shadow of a tramp,&rdquo; suggested Harley. &ldquo;I
+      gather that you refer to a house in the country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not,&rdquo; declared Colonel Menendez, emphatically; &ldquo;it was not. I wish
+      to God I could believe it had been. Then there was, a month ago, an
+      attempt to enter my house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley exhibited evidence of a quickening curiosity. He had
+      perceived, as I had perceived, that the manner of the speaker differed
+      from that of the ordinary victim of delusion, with whom he had become
+      professionally familiar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had actual evidence of this?&rdquo; he suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was due to insomnia, sleeplessness, brought about, yes, I will admit
+      it, by apprehension, that I heard the footsteps of this intruder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you did not see him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only his shadow&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can obtain the evidence of all my household that someone had actually
+      entered,&rdquo; declared Colonel Menendez, eagerly. &ldquo;Of this, at least, I can
+      give you the certain facts. Whoever it was had obtained access through a
+      kitchen window, had forced two locks, and was coming stealthily along the
+      hallway when the sound of his footsteps attracted my attention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I came out on to the landing and looked down the stairs. But even the
+      slight sound which I made had been sufficient to alarm the midnight
+      visitor, for I had never a glimpse of him. Only, as he went swiftly back
+      in the direction from which he had come, the moonlight shining in through
+      a window in the hall cast his shadow on the carpet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Strange,&rdquo; murmured Harley. &ldquo;Very strange, indeed. The shadow told you
+      nothing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez hesitated momentarily, and glanced swiftly across at
+      Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was just a vague&mdash;do you say blur?&mdash;and then it was gone.
+      But&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Harley. &ldquo;But?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; Colonel Menendez blew a cloud of smoke into the air, &ldquo;I come now to
+      the matter which I find so hard to explain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He inhaled again deeply and was silent for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing was stolen?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing whatever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And no clue was left behind?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No clue except the filed fastening of a window and two open doors which
+      had been locked as usual when the household retired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; mused Harley again; &ldquo;this incident, of course, may have been an
+      isolated one and in no way connected with the surveillance of which you
+      complain. I mean that this person who undoubtedly entered your house might
+      prove to be an ordinary burglar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On a table in the hallway of Cray&rsquo;s Folly,&rdquo; replied Colonel Menendez,
+      impressively&mdash;&ldquo;so my house is named&mdash;stands a case containing
+      presentation gold plate. The moonlight of which I have spoken was shining
+      fully upon this case, and does the burglar live who will pass such a prize
+      and leave it untouched?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite agree,&rdquo; said Harley, quietly, &ldquo;that this is a very big point.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are beginning at last,&rdquo; suggested the Colonel, &ldquo;to believe that my
+      suspicions are not quite groundless?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a distinct possibility that they are more than suspicions,&rdquo;
+       agreed Harley; &ldquo;but may I suggest that there is something else? Have you
+      an enemy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who that has ever held public office is without enemies?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, quite so. Then I suggest again that there is something else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He gazed keenly at his visitor, and the latter, whilst meeting the look
+      unflinchingly with his large dark eyes, was unable to conceal the fact
+      that he had received a home thrust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are two points, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he finally confessed, &ldquo;almost
+      certainly associated one with the other, if you understand, but both these
+      so&mdash;shall I say remote?&mdash;from my life, that I hesitate to
+      mention them. It seems fantastic to suppose that they contain a clue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg of you,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;to keep nothing back, however remote it may
+      appear to be. It is sometimes the seemingly remote things which prove upon
+      investigation to be the most intimate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; resumed Colonel Menendez, beginning to roll a second
+      cigarette whilst continuing to smoke the first, &ldquo;I know that you are
+      right, of course, but it is nevertheless very difficult for me to explain.
+      I mentioned the attempted burglary, if so I may term it, in order to clear
+      your mind of the idea that my fears were a myth. The next point which I
+      have concerns a man, a neighbour of mine in Surrey. Before I proceed I
+      should like to make it clear that I do not believe for a moment that he is
+      responsible for this unpleasant business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stared at him curiously. &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;there must be
+      some data in your possession which suggest to your mind that he has some
+      connection with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are, Mr. Harley, but they belong to things so mystic and far away
+      from ordinary crime that I fear you will think me,&rdquo; he shrugged his great
+      shoulders, &ldquo;a man haunted by strange superstitions. Do you say &lsquo;haunted?&rsquo; 
+      Good. You understand. I should tell you, then, that although of pure
+      Spanish blood, I was born in Cuba. The greater part of my life has been
+      spent in the West Indies, where prior to &lsquo;98 I held an appointment under
+      the Spanish Government. I have property, not only in Cuba, but in some of
+      the smaller islands which formerly were Spanish, and I shall not conceal
+      from you that during the latter years of my administration I incurred the
+      enmity of a section of the population. Do I make myself clear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded and exchanged a swift glance with me. I formed a rapid
+      mental picture of native life under the governorship of Colonel Juan
+      Menendez and I began to consider his story from a new viewpoint. Seemingly
+      rendered restless by his reflections, he stood up and began to pace the
+      floor, a tall but curiously graceful figure. I noticed the bulldog
+      tenacity of his chin, the intense pride in his bearing, and I wondered
+      what kind of menace had induced him to seek the aid of Paul Harley; for
+      whatever his failings might be, and I could guess at the nature of several
+      of them, that this thin-lipped Spanish soldier knew the meaning of fear I
+      was not prepared to believe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before you proceed further, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;might I ask
+      when you left Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some three years ago,&rdquo; was his reply. &ldquo;Because&mdash;&rdquo; he hesitated
+      curiously&mdash;&ldquo;of health motives, I leased a property in England,
+      believing that here I should find peace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In other words, you were afraid of something or someone in Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez turned in a flash, glaring down at the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never feared any man in my life, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why are you here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel placed the stump of his first cigarette in an ash tray and
+      lighted that which he had newly made.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;Forgive me. Yet what I said was that I never
+      feared any man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood squarely in front of the Burmese cabinet, resting one hand upon
+      his hip. Then he added a remark which surprised me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know anything of Voodoo?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley took his pipe from between his teeth and stared at the speaker
+      silently for a moment. &ldquo;Voodoo?&rdquo; he echoed. &ldquo;You mean negro magic?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My studies have certainly not embraced it,&rdquo; replied Harley, quietly, &ldquo;nor
+      has it hitherto come within my experience. But since I have lived much in
+      the East, I am prepared to learn that Voodoo may not be a negligible
+      quantity. There are forces at work in India which we in England improperly
+      understand. The same may be true of Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The same <i>is</i> true of Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez glared almost fiercely across the room at Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And do I understand,&rdquo; asked the latter, &ldquo;that the danger which you
+      believe to threaten you is associated with Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, Mr. Harley, is for you to decide when all the facts shall be in
+      your possession. Do you wish that I proceed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By all means. I must confess that I am intensely interested.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Mr. Harley. I have something to show you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From an inside breast pocket Colonel Menendez drew out a gold-mounted
+      case, and from the case took some flat, irregularly shaped object wrapped
+      in a piece of tissue paper. Unfolding the paper, he strode across and laid
+      the object which it had contained upon the blotting pad in front of my
+      friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Impelled by curiosity I stood up and advanced to inspect it. It was of a
+      dirty brown colour, some five or six inches long, and appeared to consist
+      of a kind of membrane. Harley, his elbow on the table, was staring down at
+      it questioningly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;some kind of leaf?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Harley, looking up into the dark face of the Spanish
+      colonel; &ldquo;I think I know what it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I, also, know what it is.&rdquo; declared Colonel Menendez, grimly. &ldquo;But tell
+      me what to you it seems like, Mr. Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s expression was compounded of incredulity, wonder, and
+      something else, as, continuing to stare at the speaker, he replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the wing of a bat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. THE VOODOO SWAMP
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Often enough my memory has recaptured that moment in Paul Harley&rsquo;s office,
+      when Harley, myself, and the tall Spaniard stood looking down at the bat
+      wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My brilliant friend at times displayed a sort of prescience, of which I
+      may have occasion to speak later, but I, together with the rest of
+      pur-blind humanity, am commonly immune from the prophetic instinct.
+      Therefore I chronicle the fact for what it may be worth, that as I gazed
+      with a sort of disgust at the exhibit lying upon the table I became
+      possessed of a conviction, which had no logical basis, that a door had
+      been opened through which I should step into a new avenue of being; I felt
+      myself to stand upon the threshold of things strange and terrible, but
+      withal alluring. Perhaps it is true that in the great crises of life the
+      inner eye becomes momentarily opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With intense curiosity I awaited the Colonel&rsquo;s next words, but, a
+      cigarette held nervously between his fingers, he stood staring at Harley,
+      and it was the latter who broke that peculiar silence which had fallen
+      upon us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wing of a bat,&rdquo; he murmured, then touched it gingerly. &ldquo;Of what kind
+      of bat, Colonel Menendez? Surely not a British species?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But emphatically not a British species,&rdquo; replied the Spaniard. &ldquo;Yet even
+      so the matter would be strange.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all anxiety to learn the remainder of your story, Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good. Your interest comforts me very greatly, Mr. Harley. But when first
+      I came, you led me to suppose that you were departing from London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such, at the time, was my intention, sir.&rdquo; Paul Harley smiled slightly.
+      &ldquo;Accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, I had proposed to indulge in a
+      fortnight&rsquo;s fishing upon the Norfolk Broads.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fishing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A peaceful occupation, Mr. Harley, and a great rest-cure for one who like
+      yourself moves much amid the fiercer passions of life. You were about to
+      make holiday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is cruel of me to intrude upon such plans,&rdquo; continued Colonel
+      Menendez, dexterously rolling his cigarette around between his fingers.
+      &ldquo;Yet because of my urgent need I dare to do so. Would yourself and your
+      friend honour me with your company at Cray&rsquo;s Folly for a few days? I can
+      promise you good entertainment, although I regret that there is no
+      fishing; but it may chance that there will be other and more exciting
+      sport.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley glanced at me significantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do I understand you to mean, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;that you have
+      reason to believe that this conspiracy directed against you is about to
+      come to a head?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez nodded, at the same time bringing his hand down sharply
+      upon the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, his high, thin voice sunken almost to a whisper,
+      &ldquo;Wednesday night is the night of the full moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The full moon?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is at the full moon that the danger comes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stood up, and watched by the Spanish colonel paced slowly
+      across the office. At the outer door he paused and turned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that you would willingly waste the time of a
+      busy man I do not for a moment believe, therefore I shall ask you as
+      briefly as possible to state your case in detail. When I have heard it, if
+      it appears to me that any good purpose can be served by my friend and
+      myself coming to Cray&rsquo;s Folly I feel sure that he will be happy to accept
+      your proffered hospitality.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I am likely to be of the slightest use I shall be delighted,&rdquo; said I,
+      which indeed was perfectly true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whilst I had willingly agreed to accompany Harley to Norfolk I had none of
+      his passion for the piscatorial art, and the promise of novel excitement
+      held out by Colonel Menendez appealed to me more keenly than the lazy days
+      upon the roads which Harley loved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen&rdquo;&mdash;the Colonel bowed profoundly&mdash;&ldquo;I am honoured and
+      delighted. When you shall have heard my story I know what your decision
+      will be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He resumed his seat, and began, it seemed almost automatically, to roll a
+      fresh cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all attention,&rdquo; declared Harley, and his glance strayed again in a
+      wondering fashion to the bat wing lying on his table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will speak briefly,&rdquo; resumed our visitor, &ldquo;and any details which may
+      seem to you to be important can be discussed later when you are my guests.
+      You must know then that I first became acquainted with the significance
+      belonging to the term &lsquo;Bat Wing&rsquo; and to the object itself some twenty
+      years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely,&rdquo; interrupted Harley, incredulously, &ldquo;you are not going to
+      tell me that the menace of which you complain is of twenty years&rsquo; 
+      standing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At your express request, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; returned the Colonel a trifle
+      brusquely, &ldquo;I am dealing with possibilities which are remote, because in
+      your own words it is sometimes the remote which proves to be the intimate.
+      It was then rather more than twenty years ago, at a time when great
+      political changes were taking place in the West Indies, that my business
+      interests, which are mainly concerned with sugar, carried me to one of the
+      smaller islands which had formerly been under&mdash;my jurisdiction, do
+      you say? Here I had a house and estate, and here in the past I had
+      experienced much trouble with the natives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not disguise from you that I was unpopular, and on my return I met
+      with unmistakable signs of hostility. My native workmen were
+      insubordinate. In fact, it was the reports from my overseers which had led
+      me to visit the island. I made a tour of the place, believing it to be
+      necessary to my interests that I should get once more in touch with negro
+      feeling, since I had returned to my home in Cuba after the upheavals in
+      &lsquo;98. Very well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The manager of my estate, a capable man, was of opinion that there
+      existed a secret organization amongst the native labourers operating&mdash;you
+      understand?&mdash;against my interests. He produced certain evidences of
+      this. They were not convincing; and all my enquiries and examinations of
+      certain inhabitants led to no definite results. Yet I grew more and more
+      to feel that enemies surrounded me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused to light his third cigarette, and whilst he did so I conjured up
+      a mental picture of his &ldquo;examinations of certain inhabitants.&rdquo; I recalled
+      hazily those stories of Spanish mismanagement and cruelty which had
+      directly led to United States interferences in the islands. But whilst I
+      could well believe that this man&rsquo;s life had not been safe in those bad old
+      days in the West Indies, I found it difficult to suppose that a native
+      plot against his safety could have survived for more than twenty years and
+      have come to a climax in England. However, I realized that there was more
+      to follow, and presently, having lighted his cigarette, the Colonel
+      resumed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the neighbourhood of the hacienda which had once been my official
+      residence there was a belt of low-lying pest country&mdash;you understand
+      pest country?&mdash;which was a hot-bed of poisonous diseases. It followed
+      the winding course of a nearly stagnant creek. From the earliest times the
+      Black Belt&mdash;it was so called&mdash;had been avoided by European
+      inhabitants, and indeed by the coloured population as well. Apart from the
+      malaria of the swampy ground it was infested with reptiles and with
+      poisonous insects of a greater variety and of a more venomous character
+      than I have ever known in any part of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must explain that what I regarded as a weak point in my manager&rsquo;s
+      theory was this: Whilst he held that the native labourers to a man were
+      linked together under some head, or guiding influence, he had never
+      succeeded in surprising anything in the nature of a negro meeting. Indeed,
+      he had prohibited all gatherings of this kind. His answer to my criticism
+      was a curious one. He declared that the members of this mysterious society
+      met and received their instructions at some place within the poison area
+      to which I have referred, believing themselves there to be safe from
+      European interference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For a long time I disputed this with poor Valera&mdash;for such was my
+      manager&rsquo;s name; when one night as I was dismounting from my horse before
+      the veranda, having returned from a long ride around the estate, a shot
+      was fired from the border of the Black Belt which at one point crept up
+      dangerously close to the hacienda.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shot was a good one. I had caught my spur in the stirrup in
+      dismounting, and stumbled. Otherwise I must have been a dead man. The
+      bullet pierced the crown of my hat, only missing my skull by an inch or
+      less. The alarm was given. But no search-party could be mustered, do you
+      say?&mdash;which was prepared to explore the poison swamp&mdash;or so
+      declared my native servants. Valera, however, seized upon this incident to
+      illustrate his theory that there were those in the island who did not
+      hesitate to enter the Black Belt popularly supposed to cast up noxious
+      vapours at dusk of a sort fatal to any traveller.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That night over our wine we discussed the situation, and he pointed out
+      to me that now was the hour to test his theory. Orders had evidently been
+      given for my assassination and the attempt had failed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;There will be a meeting,&rsquo; said Valera, &lsquo;to discuss the next move. And it
+      will take place to-morrow night!&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I challenged him with a glance and I replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;To-morrow night is a full moon, and if you are agreeable we will make a
+      secret expedition into the swamp, and endeavour to find the clearing which
+      you say is there, and which you believe to be the rendezvous of the
+      conspirators.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even in the light of the lamp I saw Valera turn pale, but he was a
+      Spaniard and a man of courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;I agree, señor,&rsquo; he replied. &lsquo;If my information is correct we shall find
+      the way.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must explain that the information to which he referred had been
+      supplied by a native girl who loved him. That this clearing was a
+      meeting-place she had denied. But she had admitted that it was possible to
+      obtain access to it, and had even described the path.&rdquo; He paused. &ldquo;She
+      died of a lingering sickness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez spoke these last words with great deliberation and
+      treated each of us to a long and significant stare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Presently,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;I will tell you what was nailed to the wall of her
+      hut on the night that she fell ill. But to continue my narrative. On the
+      following evening, suitably equipped, Valera and myself set out, leaving
+      by a side door and striking into the woods at a point east of the
+      hacienda, where, according to his information, a footpath existed, which
+      would lead us to the clearing we desired to visit. Of that journey,
+      gentlemen, I have most terrible memories.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Imagine a dense and poisonous jungle, carpeted by rotten vegetation in
+      which one&rsquo;s feet sank deeply and from which arose a visible and stenching
+      vapour. Imagine living things, slimy things, moving beneath the tread,
+      sometimes coiling about our riding boots, sometimes making hissing sounds.
+      Imagine places where the path was overgrown, and we must thrust our way
+      through bushes where great bloated spiders weaved their webs, where clammy
+      night things touched us as we passed, where unfamiliar and venomous
+      insects clung to our garments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We proceeded onward for more than half an hour guided by the moonlight,
+      but this, although tropically brilliant, at some places scarcely
+      penetrated the thick vapour which arose from the jungle. In those days I
+      was a young and vigorous man; my companion was several years my senior;
+      and his sufferings were far greater than my own. But if the jungle was
+      horrible, worse was yet to come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Presently we stumbled upon an open space almost quite bare of vegetation,
+      a poisonous green carpet spread in the heart of the woods. Here the vapour
+      was more dense than ever, but I welcomed the sight of open ground after
+      the reptile-infested thicket. Alas! it was a snare, a death-trap, a sort
+      of morass, in which we sank up to our knees. Pah! it was filthy&mdash;vile!
+      And I became aware of great&mdash;lassitude, do you say?&mdash;whilst
+      Valera&rsquo;s panting breath told that he had almost reached the end of his
+      resources.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A faint breeze moved through the clearing and for a few moments we were
+      enabled to perceive one another more distinctly. I uttered an exclamation
+      of horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My companion&rsquo;s garments were a mass of strange-looking patches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even as I noticed them I glanced rapidly down&mdash;and found myself in
+      similar condition. As I did so one of these patches upon the sleeve of my
+      tunic intruded coldly upon my bare wrist. At that I cried out aloud in
+      fear. Valera and I commenced what was literally a fight for life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, we were attacked by some kind of blood-red leeches, which came
+      out of the slime! In detaching them one detached patches of skin, and they
+      swarmed over our bodies like ants upon carrion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They penetrated beneath our garments, these swollen, lustful, unclean
+      things; and it was whilst we staggered on through the swamp in agony of
+      mind and body that we saw the light of many torches amid the trees ahead
+      of us, and in their smoky glare witnessed the flight of hundreds of bats.
+      The moonlight creeping dimly through the mist, and the torchlight&mdash;how
+      do you say?&mdash;enflaming the vegetation, created a scene like that of
+      Inferno, in which naked figures danced wildly, uttering animal cries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Above the shrieking and howling, which rose and fell in a sort of unholy
+      chorus, I heard one long, wailing sound, repeated and repeated. It was an
+      African word. But I knew its meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was &lsquo;<i>Bat Wing</i>!&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My doubts were dispersed. This was a meeting-place of Devil-worshippers,
+      or devotees of the cult of Voodoo! One man only could I see clearly so as
+      to remember him, a big negro employed upon one of my estates. He seemed to
+      be a sort of high priest or president of the orgies. Attached to his arms
+      were giant imitations of bat wings which he moved grotesquely as if in
+      flight. There were many women in the throng, which numbered fully I should
+      think a hundred people. But the final collapse of my brave, unhappy Valera
+      at this point brought home to me the nature of the peril in which I stood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He lay at my feet, moving convulsively, and sinking ever deeper in the
+      swamp, red leeches moving slowly, slowly over his fast-disappearing body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez paused in his appalling narrative and wiped his moist
+      forehead with a silk handkerchief. Neither Harley nor I spoke. I knew not
+      if my friend believed the Spaniard&rsquo;s story. For my own part I found it
+      difficult to do so. But that the narrator was deeply moved was a fact
+      beyond dispute.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He suddenly commenced again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My next recollection is of awakening in my own bed at the hacienda. I had
+      staggered back as far as the veranda, in raving delirium, and in the grip
+      of a strange fever which prostrated me for many months, and which defied
+      the knowledge of all the specialists who could be procured from Cuba and
+      the United States. My survival was due to an iron constitution; but I have
+      never been the same man. I was ordered to leave the West Indies directly
+      it became possible for me to be moved. I arranged my affairs accordingly,
+      and did not return for many years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Finally, however, I again took up my residence in Cuba, and for a time
+      all went well, and might have continued to do so, but for the following
+      incident. One night, being troubled by insomnia&mdash;sleeplessness&mdash;and
+      the heat, I walked out on to the balcony in front of my bedroom window. As
+      I did so, a figure which had been&mdash;you say lurking?&mdash;somewhere
+      under the veranda ran swiftly off; but not so swiftly that I failed to
+      obtain a glimpse of the uplifted face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the big negro! Although many years had elapsed since I had seen
+      him wearing the bat wings at those unholy rites, I knew him instantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On a little table close behind me where I stood lay a loaded revolver. I
+      snatched it in a flash and fired shot after shot at the retreating
+      figure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders and selected a fresh cigarette
+      paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;from that moment until this I have gone in
+      hourly peril of my life. Whether I hit my man or missed him, I have never
+      known to this day. If he lives or is dead I cannot say. But&mdash;&rdquo; he
+      paused impressively&mdash;&ldquo;I have told you of something that was nailed to
+      the hut of a certain native girl? Before she died I knew that it was a
+      death-token.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the morning after the episode which I have just related attached to
+      the main door of the hacienda was found that same token.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And it was??&rdquo; said Harley, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the wing of a bat!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am perhaps a hasty man. It is in my blood. I tore the unclean thing
+      from the panel and stamped it under my feet. No one of the servants who
+      had drawn my attention to its presence would consent to touch it. Indeed,
+      they all shrank from me as though I, too, were unclean. I endeavoured to
+      forget it. Who was I to be influenced by the threats of natives?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That night, just at the hour of sunset, a shot was fired at me from a
+      neighbouring clump of trees, only missing me I think by the fraction of an
+      inch. I realized that the peril was real, and was one against which I
+      could not fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Permit me to be brief, gentlemen. Six attempts of various kinds were made
+      upon my life in Cuba. I crossed to the United States. In Washington, the
+      political capital of the country, an assassin gained access to my hotel
+      apartment and but for the fact that a friend chanced to call me up on the
+      telephone at that late hour of the night, thereby awakening me, I should
+      have received a knife in my heart. I saw the knife in the dim light; I saw
+      the shadowy figure. I leapt out on the opposite side of the bed, seized a
+      table-lamp which stood there, and hurled it at my assailant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was a crash, a stifled exclamation, shuffling, the door opened, and
+      my would-be assassin was gone. But I had learned something, and to my old
+      fears a new one was added.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What had you learned?&rdquo; asked Harley, whose interest in the narrative was
+      displayed by the fact that his pipe had long since gone out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Vaguely, vaguely, you understand, for there was little light, I had seen
+      the face of the man. He wore some kind of black cloak doubtless to conceal
+      his movements. His silhouette resembled that of a bat. But, gentlemen, he
+      was neither a negro nor even a half-caste; he was of the white races, to
+      that I could swear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez lighted the cigarette which he had been busily rolling,
+      and fixed his dark eyes upon Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You puzzle me, sir,&rdquo; said the latter. &ldquo;Do you wish me to believe that
+      this cult of Voodoo claims European or American devotees?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you to believe,&rdquo; returned the Colonel, &ldquo;that although as the
+      result of the alarm which I gave the hotel was searched and the Washington
+      police exerted themselves to the utmost, no trace was ever found of the
+      man who had tried to murder me, except&rdquo;&mdash;he extended a long, yellow
+      forefinger, and pointed to the wing of the bat lying upon Harley&rsquo;s table&mdash;&ldquo;a
+      bat wing was found pinned to my bedroom door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Silence fell for a while; an impressive silence. Truly this was the
+      strangest story to which I had ever listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long ago was that?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only two years ago. At about the time that the great war terminated. I
+      came to Europe and believed that at last I had found security. I lived for
+      a time in London amidst a refreshing peace that was new to me. Then,
+      chancing to hear of a property in Surrey which was available, I leased it
+      for a period of years, installing&mdash;is it correct?&mdash;my cousin,
+      Madame de Stämer, as housekeeper. Madame, alas, is an invalid, but&rdquo;&mdash;he
+      kissed his fingers&mdash;&ldquo;a genius. She has with her, as companion, a very
+      charming English girl, Miss Val Beverley, the orphaned daughter of a
+      distinguished surgeon of Edinburg. Miss Beverley was with my cousin in the
+      hospital which she established in France during the war. If you will
+      honour me with your presence at Cray&rsquo;s Folly to-morrow, gentlemen, you
+      will not lack congenial company, I can assure you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his heavy eyebrows, looking interrogatively from Harley to
+      myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For my own part,&rdquo; said my friend, slowly, &ldquo;I shall be delighted. What do
+      you say, Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I also.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;your presence here today, Colonel Menendez,
+      suggests to my mind that England has not proved so safe a haven as you had
+      anticipated?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez crossed the room and stood once more before the Burmese
+      cabinet, one hand resting upon his hip; a massive yet graceful figure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;four days ago my butler, who is a Spaniard,
+      brought me&mdash;&rdquo; He pointed to the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+      &ldquo;He had found it pinned to an oaken panel of the main entrance door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it prior to this discovery, or after it,&rdquo; asked Harley, &ldquo;that you
+      detected the presence of someone lurking in the neighbourhood of the
+      house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the burglarious entrance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That took place rather less than a month ago. On the eve of the full
+      moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stood up and relighted his pipe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are quite a number of other details, Colonel,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which I
+      shall require you to place in my possession. Since I have determined to
+      visit Cray&rsquo;s Folly, these can wait until my arrival. I particularly refer
+      to a remark concerning a neighbour of yours in Surrey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez nodded, twirling his cigarette between his long, yellow
+      fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a delicate matter, gentlemen,&rdquo; he confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must take time to consider how I shall place it before you. But I may
+      count upon your arrival tomorrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly. I am looking forward to the visit with keen interest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is important,&rdquo; declared our visitor; &ldquo;for on Wednesday is the full
+      moon, and the full moon is in some way associated with the sacrificial
+      rites of Voodoo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. THE VAMPIRE BAT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      An hour had elapsed since the departure of our visitor, and Paul Harley
+      and I sat in the cosy, book-lined study discussing the strange story which
+      had been related to us. Harley, who had a friend attached to the Spanish
+      Embassy, had succeeded in getting in touch with him at his chambers, and
+      had obtained some few particulars of interest concerning Colonel Don Juan
+      Sarmiento Menendez, for such were the full names and titles of our late
+      caller.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was apparently the last representative of a once great Spanish family,
+      established for many generations in Cuba. His wealth was incalculable,
+      although the value of his numerous estates had depreciated in recent
+      years. His family had produced many men of subtle intellect and powerful
+      administrative qualities; but allied to this they had all possessed traits
+      of cruelty and debauchery which at one time had made the name of Menendez
+      a by-word in the West Indies. That there were many people in that part of
+      the world who would gladly have assassinated the Colonel, Paul Harley&rsquo;s
+      informant did not deny. But although this information somewhat enlarged
+      our knowledge of my friend&rsquo;s newest client, it threw no fresh light upon
+      that side of his story which related to Voodoo and the extraordinary bat
+      wing episodes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said Harley, after a long silence, &ldquo;there is one possibility
+      of which we must not lose sight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What possibility is that?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That Menendez may be mad. Remorse for crimes of cruelty committed in his
+      youth, and beyond doubt he has been guilty of many, may have led to a sort
+      of obsession. I have known such cases.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was my first impression,&rdquo; I confessed, &ldquo;but it faded somewhat as the
+      Colonel&rsquo;s story proceeded. I don&rsquo;t think any such explanation would cover
+      the facts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither do I,&rdquo; agreed my friend; &ldquo;but it is distinctly possible that such
+      an obsession exists, and that someone is deliberately playing upon it for
+      his own ends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that someone who knows of these episodes in the earlier life of
+      Menendez is employing them now for a secret purpose of his own?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It renders the case none the less interesting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite agree, Knox. With you, I believe, that even if the Colonel is not
+      quite sane, at the same time his fears are by no means imaginary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He gingerly took up the bat wing from the arm of his chair where he had
+      placed it after a detailed examination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to be pretty certain,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that this thing is the wing of
+      a Desmodus or Vampire Bat. Now, according to our authority&rdquo;&mdash;he
+      touched a work which lay open on the other arm of his chair&mdash;&ldquo;these
+      are natives of tropical America, therefore the presence of a living
+      vampire bat in Surrey is not to be anticipated. I am personally satisfied,
+      however, that this unpleasant fragment has been preserved in some way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that it is part of a specimen from someone&rsquo;s collection?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite possibly. But even a collection of such bats would be quite a
+      novelty. I don&rsquo;t know that I can recollect one outside the Museums. To
+      follow this bat wing business further: there was one very curious point in
+      the Colonel&rsquo;s narrative. You recollect his reference to a native girl who
+      had betrayed certain information to the manager of the estate?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A bat wing was affixed to the wall of her hut and she died, according to
+      our informant, of a lingering sickness. Now this lingering sickness might
+      have been anæmia, and anæmia may be induced, either in man or beast, by
+      frequent but unsuspected visits of a Vampire Bat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens, Harley!&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;what a horrible idea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It <i>is</i> a horrible idea, but in countries infested by these
+      creatures such things happen occasionally. I distinctly recollect a story
+      which I once heard, of a little girl in some district of tropical America
+      falling into such a decline, from which she was only rescued in the nick
+      of time by the discovery that one of these Vampire Bats, a particularly
+      large one, had formed the habit of flying into her room at night and
+      attaching itself to her bare arm which lay outside the coverlet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did it penetrate the mosquito curtains?&rdquo; I enquired, incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The very point, Knox, which led to the discovery of the truth. The thing,
+      exhibiting a sort of uncanny intelligence, used to work its way up under
+      the edge of the netting. This disturbance of the curtains was noticed on
+      several occasions by the nurse who occupied an adjoining room, and finally
+      led to the detection of the bat!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;such a visitation would awaken any sleeper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, it induces deeper sleep. But I have not yet come to my
+      point, Knox. The vengeance of the High Priest of Voodoo, who figured in
+      the Colonel&rsquo;s narrative, was characteristic in the case of the native
+      woman, since her symptoms at least simulated those which would result from
+      the visits of a Vampire Bat, although of course they may have been due to
+      a slow poison. But you will not have failed to note that the several
+      attacks upon the Colonel personally were made with more ordinary weapons.
+      On two occasions at least a rifle was employed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I replied, slowly. &ldquo;You are wondering why the lingering sickness
+      did not visit him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am, Knox. I can only suppose that he proved to be immune. You recall
+      his statement that he made an almost miraculous recovery from the fever
+      which attacked him after his visit to the Black Belt? This would seem to
+      point to the fact that he possesses that rare type of constitution which
+      almost defies organisms deadly to ordinary men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. Hence the dagger and the rifle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it would appear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Harley,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;what appalling crime can the man have committed
+      to call down upon his head a vengeance which has survived for so many
+      years?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley shrugged his shoulders in a whimsical imitation of the
+      Spaniard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I doubt if the feud dates any earlier,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;than the time of
+      Menendez&rsquo;s last return to Cuba. On that occasion he evidently killed the
+      High Priest of Voodoo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I uttered an exclamation of scorn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;the whole thing is too utterly fantastic. I
+      begin to believe again that we are dealing with a madman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley glanced down at the wing of the bat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; he murmured. &ldquo;Even if the only result of our visit is to
+      make the acquaintance of the Colonel&rsquo;s household our time will not have
+      been wasted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that is true enough. I am looking forward to meeting Madame
+      de Stämer&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Colonel&rsquo;s invalid cousin,&rdquo; added Harley, tonelessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And her companion, Miss Beverley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so. Nor must we forget the Spanish butler, and the Colonel himself,
+      whose acquaintance I am extremely anxious to renew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole thing is wildly bizarre, Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox,&rdquo; he replied, stretching himself luxuriously in the long
+      lounge chair, &ldquo;the most commonplace life hovers on the edge of the
+      bizarre. But those of us who overstep the border become preposterous in
+      the eyes of those who have never done so. This is not because the unusual
+      is necessarily the untrue, but because writers of fiction have claimed the
+      unusual as their particular province, and in doing so have divorced it
+      from fact in the public eye. Thus I, myself, am a myth, and so are you,
+      Knox!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his hand and pointed to the doorway communicating with the
+      office.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We owe our mythological existence to that American genius whose portrait
+      hangs beside the Burmese cabinet and who indiscreetly created the
+      character of C. Auguste Dupin. The doings of this amateur investigator
+      were chronicled by an admirer, you may remember, since when no private
+      detective has been allowed to exist outside the pages of fiction. My most
+      trivial habits confirm my unreality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For instance, I have a friend who is good enough sometimes to record my
+      movements. So had Dupin. I smoke a pipe. So did Dupin. I investigate
+      crime, and I am sometimes successful. Here I differ from Dupin. Dupin was
+      always successful. But my argument is this&mdash;you complain that the
+      life of Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, on his own showing, has been
+      at least as romantic as his name. It would not be accounted romantic by
+      the adventurous, Knox; it is only romantic to the prosaic mind. In the
+      same way his name is only unusual to our English ears. In Spain it would
+      pass unnoticed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see your point,&rdquo; I said, grudgingly; &ldquo;but think of I Voodoo in the
+      Surrey Hills.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am thinking of it, Knox, and it affords me much delight to think of it.
+      You have placed your finger I upon the very point I was endeavouring to
+      make. Voodoo in the Surrey Hills! Quite so. Voodoo in some island of the
+      Caribbean Seas, yes, but Voodoo in the Surrey Hills, no. Yet, my dear
+      fellow, there is a regular steamer service between South America and
+      England. Or one may embark at Liverpool and disembark in the Spanish Main.
+      Why, then, may not one embark in the West Indies and disembark at
+      Liverpool? This granted, you will also grant that from Liverpool to Surrey
+      is a feasible journey. Why, then, should you exclaim, &lsquo;but Voodoo in the
+      Surrey Hills!&rsquo; You would be surprised to meet an Esquimaux in the Strand,
+      but there is no reason why an Esquimaux should not visit the Strand. In
+      short, the most annoying thing about fact is its resemblance to fiction. I
+      am looking forward to the day, Knox, when I can retire from my present
+      fictitious profession and become a recognized member of the community;
+      such as a press agent, a theatrical manager, or some other dealer in
+      Fact!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He burst out laughing, and reaching over to a side-table refilled my glass
+      and his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There lies the wing of a Vampire Bat,&rdquo; he said, pointing, &ldquo;in Chancery
+      Lane. It is impossible. Yet,&rdquo; he raised his glass, &ldquo;&lsquo;Pussyfoot&rsquo; Johnson
+      has visited Scotland, the home of Whisky!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were silent for a while, whilst I considered his remarks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The conclusion to which I have come,&rdquo; declared Harley, &ldquo;is that nothing
+      is so strange as the commonplace. A rod and line, a boat, a luncheon
+      hamper, a jar of good ale, and the peculiar peace of a Norfolk river&mdash;these
+      joys I willingly curtail in favour of the unknown things which await us at
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Remember, Knox,&rdquo; he stared at me queerly, &ldquo;Wednesday is the
+      night of the full moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. CRAY&rsquo;S FOLLY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley lay back upon the cushions and glanced at me with a quizzical
+      smile. The big, up-to-date car which Colonel Menendez had placed at our
+      disposal was surmounting a steep Surrey lane as though no gradient had
+      existed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some engine!&rdquo; he said, approvingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded in agreement, but felt disinclined for conversation, being
+      absorbed in watching the characteristically English scenery. This, indeed,
+      was very beautiful. The lane along which we were speeding was narrow,
+      winding, and over-arched by trees. Here and there sunlight penetrated to
+      spread a golden carpet before us, but for the most part the way lay in
+      cool and grateful shadow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On one side a wooded slope hemmed us in blackly, on the other lay dell
+      after dell down into the cradle of the valley. It was a poetic corner of
+      England, and I thought it almost unbelievable that London was only some
+      twenty miles behind. A fit place this for elves and fairies to survive, a
+      spot in which the presence of a modern automobile seemed a desecration.
+      Higher we mounted and higher, the engine running strongly and smoothly;
+      then, presently, we were out upon a narrow open road with the crescent of
+      the hills sweeping away on the right and dense woods dipping valleyward to
+      the left and behind us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chauffeur turned, and, meeting my glance:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cray&rsquo;s Folly, sir,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He jerked his hand in the direction of a square, gray-stone tower somewhat
+      resembling a campanile, which uprose from a distant clump of woods
+      cresting a greater eminence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; murmured Harley, &ldquo;the famous tower.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Following the departure of the Colonel on the previous evening, he had
+      looked up Cray&rsquo;s Folly and had found it to be one of a series of houses
+      erected by the eccentric and wealthy man whose name it bore. He had had a
+      mania for building houses with towers, in which his rival&mdash;and
+      contemporary&mdash;had been William Beckford, the author of &ldquo;Vathek,&rdquo; a
+      work which for some obscure reason has survived as well as two of the
+      three towers erected by its writer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I became conscious of a keen sense of anticipation. In this, I think, the
+      figure of Miss Val Beverley played a leading part. There was something
+      pathetic in the presence of this lonely English girl in so singular a
+      household; for if the menage at Cray&rsquo;s Folly should prove half so strange
+      as Colonel Menendez had led us to believe, then truly we were about to
+      find ourselves amid unusual people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the road inclined southward somewhat and we entered the fringe
+      of the trees. I noticed one or two very ancient cottages, but no trace of
+      the modern builder. This was a fragment of real Old England, and I was not
+      sorry when presently we lost sight of the square tower; for amidst such
+      scenery it was an anomaly and a rebuke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What Paul Harley&rsquo;s thoughts may have been I cannot say, but he preserved
+      an unbroken silence up to the very moment that we came to the gate lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gates were monstrosities of elaborate iron scrollwork, craftsmanship
+      clever enough in its way, but of an ornate kind more in keeping with the
+      orange trees of the South than with this wooded Surrey countryside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A very surly-looking girl, quite obviously un-English (a daughter of
+      Pedro, the butler, I learned later), opened the gates, and we entered upon
+      a winding drive literally tunnelled through the trees. Of the house we had
+      never a glimpse until we were right under its walls, nor should I have
+      known that we were come to the main entrance if the car had not stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Looks like a monastery,&rdquo; muttered Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed that part of the building&mdash;the north front&mdash;which was
+      visible from this point had a strangely monastic appearance, being built
+      of solid gray blocks and boasting only a few small, heavily barred
+      windows. The eccentricity of the Victorian gentleman who had expended
+      thousands of pounds upon erecting this house was only equalled, I thought,
+      by that of Colonel Menendez, who had chosen it for a home. An out-jutting
+      wing shut us in on the west, and to the east the prospect was closed by
+      the tallest and most densely grown box hedge I had ever seen, trimmed most
+      perfectly and having an arched opening in the centre. Thus, the entrance
+      to Cray&rsquo;s Folly lay in a sort of bay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But even as we stepped from the car, the great church-like oaken doors
+      were thrown open, and there, framed in the monkish porch, stood the tall,
+      elegant figure of the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;welcome to Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He advanced smiling, and in the bright sunlight seemed even more
+      Mephistophelean than he had seemed in Harley&rsquo;s office.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pedro,&rdquo; he called, and a strange-looking Spanish butler who wore his
+      side-whiskers like a bull fighter appeared behind his master; a sallow,
+      furtive fellow with whom I determined I should never feel at ease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the Colonel greeted us heartily enough, and conducted us through
+      a kind of paved, covered courtyard into a great lofty hall. Indeed it more
+      closely resembled a studio, being partly lighted by a most curious dome.
+      It was furnished in a manner quite un-English, but very luxuriously. A
+      magnificent oaken staircase communicated with a gallery on the left, and
+      at the foot of this staircase, in a mechanical chair which she managed
+      with astonishing dexterity, sat Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had snow-white hair crowning the face of a comparatively young woman,
+      and large, dark-brown eyes which reminded me strangely of the eyes of some
+      animal although in the first moment of meeting I could not identify the
+      resemblance. Her hands were very slender and beautiful, and when, as the
+      Colonel presented us, she extended her fingers, I was not surprised to see
+      Harley stoop and kiss them in Continental fashion; for this Madame
+      evidently expected. I followed suit; but truth to tell, after that first
+      glance at the masterful figure in the invalid chair I had had no eyes for
+      Madame de Stämer, being fully employed in gazing at someone who stood
+      beside her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was an evasively pretty girl, or such was my first impression. That
+      is to say, that whilst her attractiveness was beyond dispute, analysis of
+      her small features failed to detect from which particular quality this
+      charm was derived. The contour of her face certainly formed a delightful
+      oval, and there was a wistful look in her eyes which was half appealing
+      and half impish. Her demure expression was not convincing, and there
+      rested a vague smile, or promise of a smile, upon lips which were
+      perfectly moulded, and indeed the only strictly regular feature of a
+      nevertheless bewitching face. She had slightly curling hair and the line
+      of her neck and shoulder was most graceful and charming. Of one thing I
+      was sure: She was glad to see visitors at Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Colonel Menendez, &ldquo;having presented you to
+      Madame, my cousin, permit me to present you to Miss Val Beverley, my
+      cousin&rsquo;s companion, and our very dear friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl bowed in a formal English fashion, which contrasted sharply with
+      the Continental manner of Madame. Her face flushed slightly, and as I met
+      her glance she lowered her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now M. Harley and M. Knox,&rdquo; said Madame, vivaciously, &ldquo;you are quite at
+      home. Pedro will show you to your rooms and lunch will be ready in half an
+      hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waved her white hand coquettishly, and ignoring the proffered aid of
+      Miss Beverley, wheeled her chair away at a great rate under a sort of arch
+      on the right of the hall, which communicated with the domestic offices of
+      the establishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is she not wonderful?&rdquo; exclaimed Colonel Menendez, taking Harley&rsquo;s left
+      arm and my right and guiding us upstairs followed by Pedro and the
+      chauffeur, the latter carrying our grips. &ldquo;Many women would be prostrated
+      by such an affliction, but she&mdash;&rdquo; he shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I had been placed in adjoining rooms. I had never seen such
+      rooms as those in Cray&rsquo;s Folly. The place contained enough oak to have
+      driven a modern builder crazy. Oak had simply been lavished upon it. My
+      own room, which was almost directly above the box hedge to which I have
+      referred, had a beautiful carved ceiling and a floor as highly polished as
+      that of a ballroom. It was tastefully furnished, but the foreign note was
+      perceptible everywhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have here some grand prospects,&rdquo; said the Colonel, and truly enough
+      the view from the great, high, wide window was a very fine one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I perceived that the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly were extensive and carefully
+      cultivated. I had a glimpse of a Tudor sunken garden, but the best view of
+      this was from the window of Harley&rsquo;s room, which because it was the end
+      room on the north front overlooked another part of the grounds, and
+      offered a prospect of the east lawns and distant park land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When presently Colonel Menendez and I accompanied my friend there I was
+      charmed by the picturesque scene below. Here was a real old herbal garden,
+      gay with flowers and intersected by tiled moss-grown paths. There were
+      bushes exhibiting fantastic examples of the topiary art, and here, too,
+      was a sun-dial. My first impression of this beautiful spot was one of
+      delight. Later I was to regard that enchanted demesne with something akin
+      to horror; but as we stood there watching a gardener clipping the bushes I
+      thought that although Cray&rsquo;s Folly might be adjudged ugly, its grounds
+      were delightful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly Harley turned to our host. &ldquo;Where is the famous tower?&rdquo; he
+      enquired. &ldquo;It is not visible from the front of the house, nor from the
+      drive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; replied the Colonel, &ldquo;it is right out at the end of the east
+      wing, which is disused. I keep it locked up. There are four rooms in the
+      tower and a staircase, of course, but it is inconvenient. I cannot imagine
+      why it was built.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The architect may have had some definite object in view,&rdquo; said Harley,
+      &ldquo;or it may have been merely a freak of his client. Is there anything
+      characteristic about the topmost room, for instance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez shrugged his massive shoulders. &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; he replied.
+      &ldquo;It is the same as the others below, except that there is a stair leading
+      to a gallery on the roof. Presently I will take you up, if you wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be interested,&rdquo; murmured Harley, and tactfully changed the
+      subject, which evidently was not altogether pleasing to our host. I
+      concluded that he had found the east wing of the house something of a
+      white elephant, and was accordingly sensitive upon the point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, then, he left us and I returned to my own room, but before long
+      I rejoined Harley. I did not knock but entered unceremoniously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Halloa!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;What have you seen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was standing staring out of the window, nor did he turn as I entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; I said, joining him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced at me oddly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An impression,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but it has gone now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; I said, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Familiarity with crime in many guises and under many skies had developed
+      in Paul Harley a sort of sixth sense. It was a fugitive, fickle thing, as
+      are all the powers which belong to the realm of genius or inspiration.
+      Often enough it failed him entirely, he had assured me, that odd, sudden
+      chill as of an abrupt lowering of the temperature, which, I understood,
+      often advised him of the nearness of enmity actively malignant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, standing at the window, looking down into that old-world garden, he
+      was &ldquo;sensing&rdquo; the atmosphere keenly, seeking for the note of danger. It
+      was sheer intuition, perhaps, but whilst he could never rely upon its
+      answering his summons, once active it never misled him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think some real menace overhangs Colonel Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure of it.&rdquo; He stared into my face. &ldquo;There is something very, very
+      strange about this bat wing business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you still incline to the idea that he has been followed to England?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley reflected for a moment, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That explanation would be almost too simple,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There is
+      something bizarre, something unclean&mdash;I had almost said unholy&mdash;at
+      work in this house, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has foreign servants.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall make it my business to become acquainted with all of them,&rdquo; he
+      replied, &ldquo;but the danger does not come from there. Let us go down to
+      lunch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. VAL BEVERLEY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The luncheon was so good as to be almost ostentatious. One could not have
+      lunched better at the Carlton. Yet, since this luxurious living was
+      evidently customary in the colonel&rsquo;s household, a charge of ostentation
+      would not have been deserved. The sinister-looking Pedro proved to be an
+      excellent servant; and because of the excitement of feeling myself to
+      stand upon the edge of unusual things, the enjoyment of a perfectly served
+      repast, and the sheer delight which I experienced in watching the play of
+      expression upon the face of Miss Beverley, I count that luncheon at Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly a memorable hour of my life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Frankly, Val Beverley puzzled me. It may or may not have been curious,
+      that amidst such singular company I selected for my especial study a girl
+      so freshly and typically English. I had thought at the moment of meeting
+      her that she was provokingly pretty; I determined, as the lunch proceeded,
+      that she was beautiful. Once I caught Harley smiling at me in his
+      quizzical fashion, and I wondered guiltily if I were displaying an undue
+      interest in the companion of Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many topics were discussed, I remember, and beyond doubt the colonel&rsquo;s
+      cousin-housekeeper dominated the debate. She possessed extraordinary force
+      of personality. Her English was not nearly so fluent as that spoken by the
+      colonel, but this handicap only served to emphasize the masculine strength
+      of her intellect. Truly she was a remarkable woman. With her blanched hair
+      and her young face, and those fine, velvety eyes which possessed a quality
+      almost hypnotic, she might have posed for the figure of a sorceress. She
+      had unfamiliar gestures and employed her long white hands in a manner that
+      was new to me and utterly strange.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I could detect no family resemblance between the cousins, and I wondered
+      if their kinship were very distant. One thing was evident enough: Madame
+      de Stämer was devoted to the Colonel. Her expression when she looked at
+      him changed entirely. For a woman of such intense vitality her eyes were
+      uncannily still; that is to say that whilst she frequently moved her head
+      she rarely moved her eyes. Again and again I found myself wondering where
+      I had seen such eyes before. I lived to identify that memory, as I shall
+      presently relate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In vain I endeavoured to define the relationship between these three
+      people, so incongruously set beneath one roof. Of the fact that Miss
+      Beverly was not happy I became assured. But respecting her exact position
+      in the household I was reduced to surmises.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel improved on acquaintance. I decided that he belonged to an
+      order of Spanish grandees now almost extinct. I believed he would have
+      made a very staunch friend; I felt sure he would have proved a most
+      implacable enemy. Altogether, it was a memorable meal, and one notable
+      result of that brief companionship was a kind of link of understanding
+      between myself and Miss Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, when I had been studying Madame de Stämer, and again, as I removed
+      my glance from the dark face of Colonel Menendez, I detected the girl
+      watching me; and her eyes said, &ldquo;You understand; so do I.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some things perhaps I did understand, but how few the near future was to
+      show.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The signal for our departure from table was given by Madame de Stämer. She
+      whisked her chair back with extraordinary rapidity, the contrast between
+      her swift, nervous movements and those still, basilisk eyes being almost
+      uncanny.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Off you go, Juan,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;your visitors would like to see the garden,
+      no doubt. I must be away for my afternoon siesta. Come, my dear&rdquo;&mdash;to
+      the girl&mdash;&ldquo;smoke one little cigarette with me, then I will let you
+      go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She retired, wheeling herself rapidly out of the room, and my glance
+      lingered upon the graceful figure of Val Beverley until both she and
+      Madame were out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, gentlemen,&rdquo; said the Colonel, resuming his seat and pushing the
+      decanter toward Paul Harley, &ldquo;I am at your service either for business or
+      amusement. I think&rdquo;&mdash;to Harley&mdash;&ldquo;you expressed a desire to see
+      the tower?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; my friend replied, lighting his cigar, &ldquo;but only if it would
+      amuse you to show me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Decidedly. Mr. Knox will join us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley, unseen by the Colonel, glanced at me in a way which I knew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks all the same,&rdquo; I said, smiling, &ldquo;but following a perfect luncheon
+      I should much prefer to loll upon the lawn, if you don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But certainly I do not mind,&rdquo; cried the Colonel. &ldquo;I wish you to be
+      happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Join you in a few minutes, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley as he went out with our
+      host.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;I should like to take a stroll around the
+      gardens. You will join me there later, no doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I walked out into the bright sunshine I wondered why Paul Harley had
+      wished to be left alone with Colonel Menendez, but knowing that I should
+      learn his motive later, I strolled on through the gardens, my mind filled
+      with speculations respecting these unusual people with whom Fate had
+      brought me in contact. I felt that Miss Beverley needed protection of some
+      kind, and I was conscious of a keen desire to afford her that protection.
+      In her glance I had read, or thought I had read, an appeal for sympathy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not the least mystery of Cray&rsquo;s Folly was the presence of this girl. Only
+      toward the end of luncheon had I made up my mind upon a point which had
+      been puzzling me. Val Beverley&rsquo;s gaiety was a cloak. Once I had detected
+      her watching Madame de Stämer with a look strangely like that of fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Puffing contentedly at my cigar I proceeded to make a tour of the house.
+      It was constructed irregularly. Practically the entire building was of
+      gray stone, which created a depressing effect even in the blazing
+      sunlight, lending Cray&rsquo;s Folly something of an austere aspect. There were
+      fine lofty windows, however, to most of the ground-floor rooms overlooking
+      the lawns, and some of those above had balconies of the same gray stone.
+      Quite an extensive kitchen garden and a line of glasshouses adjoined the
+      west wing, and here were outbuildings, coach-houses and a garage, all
+      connected by a covered passage with the servants&rsquo; quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pursuing my enquiries, I proceeded to the north front of the building,
+      which was closely hemmed in by trees, and which as we had observed on our
+      arrival resembled the entrance to a monastery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Passing the massive oaken door by which we had entered and which was now
+      closed again, I walked on through the opening in the box hedge into a part
+      of the grounds which was not so sprucely groomed as the rest. On one side
+      were the yews flanking the Tudor garden and before me uprose the famous
+      tower. As I stared up at the square structure, with its uncurtained
+      windows, I wondered, as others had wondered before me, what could have
+      ever possessed any man to build it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Visible at points for many miles around, it undoubtedly disfigured an
+      otherwise beautiful landscape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I pressed on, noting that the windows of the rooms in the east wing were
+      shuttered and the apartments evidently disused. I came to the base of the
+      tower, To the south, the country rose up to the highest point in the
+      crescent of hills, and peeping above the trees at no great distance away,
+      I detected the red brick chimneys of some old house in the woods. North
+      and east, velvet sward swept down to the park.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I stood there admiring the prospect and telling myself that no Voodoo
+      devilry could find a home in this peaceful English countryside, I detected
+      a faint sound of voices far above. Someone had evidently come out upon the
+      gallery of the tower. I looked upward, but I could not see the speakers. I
+      pursued my stroll, until, near the eastern base of the tower, I
+      encountered a perfect thicket of rhododendrons. Finding no path through
+      this shrubbery, I retraced my steps, presently entering the Tudor garden;
+      and there strolling toward me, a book in her hand, was Miss Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Holloa, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she called; &ldquo;I thought you had gone up the tower?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, laughing, &ldquo;I lack the energy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you?&rdquo; she said, softly, &ldquo;then sit down and talk to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She dropped down upon a grassy bank, looking up at me invitingly, and I
+      accepted the invitation without demur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I love this old garden,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;although of course it is really
+      no older than the rest of the place. I always think there should be
+      peacocks, though.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I agreed, &ldquo;peacocks would be appropriate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And little pages dressed in yellow velvet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She met my glance soberly for a moment and then burst into a peal of merry
+      laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know, Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said, watching her, &ldquo;I find it hard to
+      place you in the household of the Colonel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; she said simply; &ldquo;you must.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, then you realize that you are&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Out of place here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled, shook her head, and changed the subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am so glad Mr. Paul Harley has come down,&rdquo; she confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know my friend by name, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;someone I met in Nice spoke of him, and I know he is
+      very clever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In Nice? Did you live in Nice before you came here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley nodded slowly, and her glance grew oddly retrospective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I lived for over a year with Madame de Stämer in a little villa on the
+      Promenade des Anglaise,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;That was after Madame was injured.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She sustained her injuries during the war, I understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. Poor Madame. The hospital of which she was in charge was bombed and
+      the shock left her as you see her. I was there, too, but I luckily escaped
+      without injury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, you were there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. That was where I first met Madame de Stämer. She used to be very
+      wealthy, you see, and she established this hospital in France at her own
+      expense, and I was one of her assistants for a time. She lost both her
+      husband and her fortune in the war, and as if that were not bad enough,
+      lost the use of her limbs, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor woman,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I had no idea her life had been so tragic. She has
+      wonderful courage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Courage!&rdquo; exclaimed the girl, &ldquo;if you knew all that I know about her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her face grew sweetly animated as she bent toward me excitedly and
+      confidentially.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, she is simply wonderful. I learned to respect her in those days
+      as I have never respected any other woman in the world; and when, after
+      all her splendid work, she, so vital and active, was stricken down like
+      that, I felt that I simply could not leave her, especially as she asked me
+      to stay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you went with her to Nice?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. Then the Colonel took this house, and we came here, but&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated, and glanced at me curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are not quite happy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I am not. You see it was different in France. I knew so
+      many people. But here at Cray&rsquo;s Folly it is so lonely, and Madame is&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again she hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she laughed in an embarrassed fashion, &ldquo;I am afraid of her at
+      times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, in a silly, womanish sort of way. Of course she is a wonderful
+      manager; she rules the house with a rod of iron. But really I haven&rsquo;t
+      anything to do here, and I feel frightfully out of place sometimes. Then
+      the Colonel&mdash;Oh, but what am I talking about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you tell me what it is that the Colonel fears?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know that he fears something, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course. That is why Paul Harley is here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A change came over the girl&rsquo;s face; a look almost of dread.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish I knew what it all meant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are aware, then, that there is something wrong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally I am. Sometimes I have been so frightened that I have made up
+      my mind to leave the very next day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that you have been frightened at night?&rdquo; I asked with curiosity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreadfully frightened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you tell me in what way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up at me swiftly, then turned her head aside, and bit her lip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not now,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then at least tell me why you stayed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she smiled rather pathetically, &ldquo;for one thing, I haven&rsquo;t anywhere
+      else to go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you no friends in England?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. There was only poor daddy, and he died over two years ago. That was
+      when I went to Nice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor little girl,&rdquo; I said; and the words were spoken before I realized
+      their undue familiarity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An apology was on the tip of my tongue, but Miss Beverley did not seem to
+      have noticed the indiscretion. Indeed my sympathy was sincere, and I think
+      she had appreciated the fact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up again with a bright smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why are we talking about such depressing things on this simply heavenly
+      day?&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Goodness knows,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Will you show me round these lovely gardens?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Delighted, sir!&rdquo; replied the girl, rising and sweeping me a mocking
+      curtsey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereupon we set out, and at every step I found a new delight in some
+      wayward curl, in a gesture, in the sweet voice of my companion. Her merry
+      laugh was music, but in wistful mood I think she was even more alluring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The menace, if menace there were, which overhung Cray&rsquo;s Folly, ceased to
+      exist&mdash;for me, at least, and I blessed the lucky chance which had led
+      to my presence there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were presently rejoined by Colonel Menendez and Paul Harley, and I
+      gathered that my surmise that it had been their voices which I had heard
+      proceeding from the top of the tower to have been only partly accurate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you will excuse me, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said the Colonel, &ldquo;for detailing
+      the duty to Pedro, but my wind is not good enough for the stairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He used idiomatic English at times with that facility which some
+      foreigners acquire, but always smiled in a self-satisfied way when he had
+      employed a slang term.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite understand, Colonel,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;The view from the top was
+      very fine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, gentlemen,&rdquo; continued the Colonel, &ldquo;if Miss Beverley will excuse
+      us, we will retire to the library and discuss business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As you wish,&rdquo; said Harley; &ldquo;but I have an idea that it is your custom to
+      rest in the afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;It used to be,&rdquo; he admitted,
+      &ldquo;but I have too much to think about in these days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see that you have much to tell me,&rdquo; admitted Harley; &ldquo;and therefore
+      I am entirely at your service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley smiled and walked away swinging her book, at the same time
+      treating me to a glance which puzzled me considerably. I wondered if I had
+      mistaken its significance, for it had seemed to imply that she had
+      accepted me as an ally. Certainly it served to awaken me to the fact that
+      I had discovered a keen personal interest in the mystery which hung over
+      this queerly assorted household.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I glanced at my friend as the Colonel led the way into the house. I saw
+      him staring upward with a peculiar expression upon his face, and following
+      the direction of his glance I could see an awning spread over one of the
+      gray-stone balconies. Beneath it, reclining in a long cane chair, lay
+      Madame de Stämer. I think she was asleep; at any rate, she gave no sign,
+      but lay there motionless, as Harley and I walked in through the open
+      French window followed by Colonel Menendez.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Odd and unimportant details sometimes linger long in the memory. And I
+      remember noticing that a needle of sunlight, piercing a crack in the
+      gaily-striped awning rested upon a ring which Madame wore, so that the
+      diamonds glittered like sparks of white-hot fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE BARRIER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez conducted us to a long, lofty library in which might be
+      detected the same note of un-English luxury manifested in the other
+      appointments of the house. The room, in common with every other which I
+      had visited in Cray&rsquo;s Folly, was carried out in oak: doors, window frames,
+      mantelpiece, and ceiling representing fine examples of this massive
+      woodwork. Indeed, if the eccentricity of the designer of Cray&rsquo;s Folly were
+      not sufficiently demonstrated by the peculiar plan of the building, its
+      construction wholly of granite and oak must have remarked him a man of
+      unusual if substantial ideas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were four long windows opening on to a veranda which commanded a
+      view of part of the rose garden and of three terraced lawns descending to
+      a lake upon which I perceived a number of swans. Beyond, in the valley,
+      lay verdant pastures, where cattle grazed. A lark hung carolling blithely
+      far above, and the sky was almost cloudless. I could hear a steam reaper
+      at work somewhere in the distance. This, with the more intimate rattle of
+      a lawn-mower wielded by a gardener who was not visible from where I stood,
+      alone disturbed the serene silence, except that presently I detected the
+      droning of many bees among the roses. Sunlight flooded the prospect; but
+      the veranda lay in shadow, and that long, oaken room was refreshingly cool
+      and laden with the heavy perfume of the flowers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the windows, then, one beheld a typical English summer-scape, but the
+      library itself struck an altogether more exotic note. There were many
+      glazed bookcases of a garish design in ebony and gilt, and these were
+      laden with a vast collection of works in almost every European language,
+      reflecting perhaps the cosmopolitan character of the colonel&rsquo;s household.
+      There was strange Spanish furniture upholstered in perforated leather and
+      again displaying much gilt. There were suits of black armour and a great
+      number of Moorish ornaments. The pictures were fine but sombre, and all of
+      the Spanish school.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One Velasquez in particular I noted with surprise, reflecting that,
+      assuming it to be an authentic work of the master, my entire worldly
+      possessions could not have enabled me to buy it. It was the portrait of a
+      typical Spanish cavalier and beyond doubt a Menendez. In fact, the
+      resemblance between the haughty Spanish grandee, who seemed about to step
+      out of the canvas and pick a quarrel with the spectator, and Colonel Don
+      Juan himself was almost startling. Evidently, our host had imported most
+      of his belongings from Cuba.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, as we entered, &ldquo;make yourselves quite at home, I
+      beg. All my poor establishment contains is for your entertainment and
+      service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He drew up two long, low lounge chairs, the arms provided with receptacles
+      to contain cooling drinks; and the mere sight of these chairs mentally
+      translated me to the Spanish Main, where I pictured them set upon the
+      veranda of that hacienda which had formerly been our host&rsquo;s residence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I became seated and Colonel Menendez disposed himself upon a
+      leather-covered couch, nodding apologetically as he did so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My health requires that I should recline for a certain number of hours
+      every day,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;So you will please forgive me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;I feel sure that you are
+      interrupting your siesta in order to discuss the unpleasant business which
+      finds us in such pleasant surroundings. Allow me once again to suggest
+      that we postpone this matter until, shall we say, after dinner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no! No, no,&rdquo; protested the Colonel, waving his hand deprecatingly.
+      &ldquo;Here is Pedro with coffee and some curaçao of a kind which I can really
+      recommend, although you may be unfamiliar with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was certainly unfamiliar with the liqueur which he insisted we must
+      taste, and which was contained in a sort of square, opaque bottle unknown,
+      I think, to English wine merchants. Beyond doubt it was potent stuff; and
+      some cigars which the Spaniard produced on this occasion and which were
+      enclosed in little glass cylinders resembling test-tubes and elaborately
+      sealed, I recognized to be priceless. They convinced me, if conviction had
+      not visited me already, that Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez belonged
+      to that old school of West Indian planters by whom the tradition of the
+      Golden Americas had been for long preserved in the Spanish Main.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We discussed indifferent matters for a while, sipping this wonderful
+      curaçao of our host&rsquo;s. The effect created by the Colonel&rsquo;s story faded
+      entirely, and when, the latter being unable to conceal his drowsiness,
+      Harley stood up, I took the hint with gratitude; for at that moment I did
+      not feel in the mood to discuss serious business or indeed business of any
+      kind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; said the Colonel, also rising, in spite of our protests, &ldquo;I
+      will observe your wishes. My guests&rsquo; wishes are mine. We will meet the
+      ladies for tea on the terrace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I walked out into the garden together, our courteous host
+      standing in the open window, and bowing in that exaggerated fashion which
+      in another might have been ridiculous but which was possible in Colonel
+      Menendez, because of the peculiar grace of deportment which was his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we descended the steps I turned and glanced back, I know not why. But
+      the impression which I derived of the Colonel&rsquo;s face as he stood there in
+      the shadow of the veranda was one I can never forget.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His expression had changed utterly, or so it seemed to me. He no longer
+      resembled Velasquez&rsquo; haughty cavalier; gone, too, was the debonnaire
+      bearing, I turned my head aside swiftly, hoping that he had not detected
+      my backward glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I felt that I had violated hospitality. I felt that I had seen what I
+      should not have seen. And the result was to bring about that which no
+      story of West Indian magic could ever have wrought in my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A dreadful, cold premonition claimed me, a premonition that this was a
+      doomed man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The look which I had detected upon his face was an indefinable, an
+      indescribable look; but I had seen it in the eyes of one who had been
+      bitten by a poisonous reptile and who knew his hours to be numbered. It
+      was uncanny, unnerving; and whereas at first the atmosphere of Colonel
+      Menendez&rsquo;s home had seemed to be laden with prosperous security, now that
+      sense of ease and restfulness was gone&mdash;and gone for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, speaking almost at random, &ldquo;this promises to be the
+      strangest case you have ever handled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Promises?&rdquo; Paul Harley laughed shortly. &ldquo;It <i>is</i> the strangest case,
+      Knox. It is a case of wheels within wheels, of mystery crowning mystery.
+      Have you studied our host?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Closely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what conclusion have you formed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None at the moment; but I think one is slowly crystalizing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; muttered Harley, as we paced slowly on amid the rose trees. &ldquo;Of one
+      thing I am satisfied.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That Colonel Menendez is not afraid of Bat Wing, whoever or whatever Bat
+      Wing may be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not afraid?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly he is not afraid, Knox. He has possibly been afraid in the
+      past, but now he is resigned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Resigned to what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Resigned to death!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God, Harley, you are right!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;You are right! I saw it in
+      his eyes as we left the library.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stopped and turned to me sharply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You saw this in the Colonel&rsquo;s eyes?&rdquo; he challenged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which corroborates my theory,&rdquo; he said, softly; &ldquo;for <i>I</i> had seen it
+      elsewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where do you mean, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the face of Madame de Stämer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Knox&rdquo;&mdash;Harley rested his hand upon my arm and looked about him
+      cautiously&mdash;&ldquo;<i>she knows.</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But knows what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is the question which we are here to answer, but I am as sure as it
+      is humanly possible to be sure of anything that whatever Colonel Menendez
+      may tell us to-night, one point at least he will withhold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you expect him to withhold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The meaning of the sign of the Bat Wing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you think he knows its meaning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has told us that it is the death-token of Voodoo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stared at Harley in perplexity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you believe his explanation to be false?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not necessarily, Knox. It may be what he claims for it. But he is keeping
+      something back. He speaks all the time from behind a barrier which he,
+      himself, has deliberately erected against me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot understand why he should do so,&rdquo; I declared, as he looked at me
+      steadily. &ldquo;Within the last few moments I have become definitely convinced
+      that his appeal to you was no idle one. Therefore, why should he not offer
+      you every aid in his power?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, indeed?&rdquo; muttered Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The same thing,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;applies to Madame de Stämer. If ever I
+      have seen love-light in a woman&rsquo;s eyes I have seen it in hers, to-day,
+      whenever her glance has rested upon Colonel Menendez. Harley, I believe
+      she literally worships the ground he walks upon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She does, she does!&rdquo; cried my companion, and emphasized the words with
+      beats of his clenched fist. &ldquo;It is utterly, damnably mystifying. But I
+      tell you, she knows, Knox, she knows!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean she knows that he is a doomed man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley nodded rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They both know,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but there is something which they dare not
+      divulge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced at me swiftly, and his bronzed face wore a peculiar expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you had an opportunity of any private conversation with Miss Val
+      Beverley?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Surely you remember that you found me chatting with her
+      when you returned from your inspection of the tower.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember perfectly well, but I thought you might have just met. Now it
+      appears to me, Knox, that you have quickly established yourself in the
+      good books of a very charming girl. My only reason for visiting the tower
+      was to afford you just this opportunity! Don&rsquo;t frown. Beyond reminding you
+      of the fact that she has been on intimate terms with Madame de Stämer for
+      some years, I will not intrude in any way upon your private plans in that
+      direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stared at him, and I suppose my expression was an angry one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely you don&rsquo;t misunderstand me?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A cultured English girl of
+      that type cannot possibly have lived with these people without learning
+      something of the matters which are puzzling us so badly. Am I asking too
+      much?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see what you mean,&rdquo; I said, slowly. &ldquo;No, I suppose you are right,
+      Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; he muttered. &ldquo;I will leave that side of the enquiry in your very
+      capable hands, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, and began to stare about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From this point,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we have an unobstructed view of the tower.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We turned and stood looking up at the unsightly gray structure, with its
+      geometrical rows of windows and the minaret-like gallery at the top.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course&rdquo;&mdash;I broke a silence of some moments duration&mdash;&ldquo;the
+      entire scheme of Cray&rsquo;s Folly is peculiar, but the rooms, except for a
+      uniformity which is monotonous, and an unimaginative scheme of decoration
+      which makes them all seem alike, are airy and well lighted, eminently sane
+      and substantial. The tower, however, is quite inexcusable, unless the idea
+      was to enable the occupant to look over the tops of the trees in all
+      directions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; agreed Harley, &ldquo;it is an ugly landmark. But yonder up the slope I
+      can see the corner of what seems to be a very picturesque house of some
+      kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I caught a glimpse of it earlier to-day,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Yes, from this
+      point a little more of it is visible. Apparently quite an old place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I paused, staring up the hillside, but Harley, hands locked behind him and
+      chin lowered reflectively, was pacing on. I joined him, and we proceeded
+      for some little distance in silence, passing a gardener who touched his
+      cap respectfully and to whom I thought at first my companion was about to
+      address some remark. Harley passed on, however, still occupied, it seemed,
+      with his reflections, and coming to a gravel path which, bordering one
+      side of the lawns, led down from terrace to terrace into the valley,
+      turned, and began to descend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us go and interview the swans,&rdquo; he murmured absently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. AT THE LAVENDER ARMS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In certain moods Paul Harley was impossible as a companion, and I, who
+      knew him well, had learned to leave him to his own devices at such times.
+      These moods invariably corresponded with his meeting some problem to the
+      heart of which the lance of his keen wit failed to penetrate. His humour
+      might not display itself in the spoken word, he merely became oblivious of
+      everything and everybody around him. People might talk to him and he
+      scarce noted their presence, familiar faces appear and he would see them
+      not. Outwardly he remained the observant Harley who could see further into
+      a mystery than any other in England, but his observation was entirely
+      introspective; although he moved amid the hustle of life he was
+      spiritually alone, communing with the solitude which dwells in every man&rsquo;s
+      heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, then, as we came to the lake at the foot of the sloping lawns,
+      where water lilies were growing and quite a number of swans had their
+      habitation, I detected the fact that I had ceased to exist so far as
+      Harley was concerned. Knowing this mood of old, I pursued my way alone,
+      pressing on across the valley and making for a swing gate which seemed to
+      open upon a public footpath. Coming to this gate I turned and looked back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley was standing where I had left him by the edge of the lake,
+      staring as if hypnotized at the slowly moving swans. But I would have been
+      prepared to wager that he saw neither swans nor lake, but mentally was far
+      from the spot, deep in some complex maze of reflection through which no
+      ordinary mind could hope to follow him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I glanced at my watch and found that it was but little after two o&rsquo;clock.
+      Luncheon at Cray&rsquo;s Folly was early. I therefore had some time upon my
+      hands and I determined to employ it in exploring part of the
+      neighbourhood. Accordingly I filled and lighted my pipe and strolled
+      leisurely along the footpath, enjoying the beauty of the afternoon, and
+      admiring the magnificent timber which grew upon the southerly slopes of
+      the valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Larks sang high above me and the air was fragrant with those wonderful
+      earthy scents which belong to an English countryside. A herd of very fine
+      Jersey cattle presently claimed inspection, and a little farther on I
+      found myself upon a high road where a brown-faced fellow seated aloft upon
+      a hay-cart cheerily gave me good-day as I passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quite at random I turned to the left and followed the road, so that
+      presently I found myself in a very small village, the principal building
+      of which was a very small inn called the &ldquo;Lavender Arms.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s curaçao, combined with the heat of the day, had made me
+      thirsty; for which reason I stepped into the bar-parlour determined to
+      sample the local ale. I wars served by the landlady, a neat, round, red
+      little person, and as she retired, having placed a foam-capped mug upon
+      the counter, her glance rested for a moment upon the only other occupant
+      of the room, a man seated in an armchair immediately to the right of the
+      door. A glass of whisky stood on the window ledge at his elbow, and that
+      it was by no means the first which he had imbibed, his appearance seemed
+      to indicate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having tasted the cool contents of my mug, I leaned back against the
+      counter and looked at this person curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was apparently of about medium height, but of a somewhat fragile
+      appearance. He was dressed like a country gentleman, and a stick and soft
+      hat lay upon the ledge near his glass. But the thing about him which had
+      immediately arrested my attention was his really extraordinary resemblance
+      to Paul Harley&rsquo;s engraving of Edgar Allan Poe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I wondered at first if Harley&rsquo;s frequent references to the eccentric
+      American genius, to whom he accorded a sort of hero-worship, were
+      responsible for my imagining a close resemblance where only a slight one
+      existed. But inspection of that strange, dark face convinced me of the
+      fact that my first impression had been a true one. Perhaps, in my
+      curiosity, I stared rather rudely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will pardon me, sir,&rdquo; said the stranger, and I was startled to note
+      that he spoke with a faint American accent, &ldquo;but are you a literary man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I had judged to be the case, he was slightly bemused, but by no means
+      drunk, and although his question was abrupt it was spoken civilly enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Journalism is one of the several occupations in which I have failed,&rdquo; I
+      replied, lightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not a fiction writer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I lack the imagination necessary for that craft, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The other wagged his head slowly and took a drink of whisky.
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; he said, and raised his finger solemnly, &ldquo;you were
+      thinking that I resembled Edgar Allan Poe!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I exclaimed, for the man had really amazed me. &ldquo;You
+      clearly resemble him in more ways than one. I must really ask you to
+      inform me how you deduced such a fact from a mere glance of mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you, sir,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;But, first, I must replenish my
+      glass, and I should be honoured if you would permit me to replenish
+      yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks very much,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;but I would rather you excused me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As you wish, sir,&rdquo; replied the American with grave courtesy, &ldquo;as you
+      wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stepped up to the counter and rapped upon it with half a crown, until
+      the landlady appeared. She treated me to a pathetic glance, but refilled
+      the empty glass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My American acquaintance having returned to his seat and having added a
+      very little water to the whisky went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;my name is Colin Camber, formerly of Richmond,
+      Virginia, United States of America, but now of the Guest House, Surrey,
+      England, at your service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking my cue from Mr. Camber&rsquo;s gloomy but lofty manner, I bowed formally
+      and mentioned my name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he assured me; &ldquo;and
+      now, sir, to answer your question. When you came in a few moments ago you
+      glanced at me. Your eyes did not open widely as is the case when one
+      recognizes, or thinks one recognizes, an acquaintance, they narrowed. This
+      indicated retrospection. For a moment they turned aside. You were
+      focussing a fugitive idea, a memory. You captured it. You looked at me
+      again, and your successive glances read as follows: The hair worn
+      uncommonly long, the mathematical brow, the eyes of a poet, the slight
+      moustache, small mouth, weak chin; the glass at his elbow. The resemblance
+      is complete. Knowing how complete it is myself, sir, I ventured to test my
+      theory, and it proved to be sound.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, as Mr. Colin Camber had thus spoken in the serious manner of a
+      slightly drunken man, I had formed the opinion that I stood in the
+      presence of a very singular character. Here was that seeming mésalliance
+      which not infrequently begets genius: a powerful and original mind allied
+      to a weak will. I wondered what Mr. Colin Camber&rsquo;s occupation might be,
+      and somewhat, too, I wondered why his name was unfamiliar to me. For that
+      the possessor of that brow and those eyes could fail to make his mark in
+      any profession which he might take up I was unwilling to believe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your exposition has been very interesting, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You are
+      a singularly close observer, I perceive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I have passed my life in observing the ways of my
+      fellowmen, a study which I have pursued in various parts of the world
+      without appreciable benefit to myself. I refer to financial benefit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He contemplated me with a look which had grown suddenly pathetic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would not have you think, sir,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;that I am an habitual toper.
+      I have latterly been much upset by&mdash;domestic worries, and&mdash;er&mdash;&rdquo;
+       He emptied his glass at a draught. &ldquo;Surely, Mr. Knox, you are going to
+      replenish? Whilst you are doing so, would you kindly request Mrs. Wootton
+      to extend the same favour to myself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But at that moment Mrs. Wootton in person appeared behind the counter.
+      &ldquo;Time, please, gentlemen,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it is gone half-past two.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; exclaimed Mr. Camber, rising. &ldquo;What is that? You decline to serve
+      me, Mrs. Wootton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, not at all, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; answered the landlady, &ldquo;but I can serve no
+      one now; it&rsquo;s after time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You decline to serve me,&rdquo; he muttered, his speech becoming slurred. &ldquo;Am
+      I, then, to be insulted?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I caught a glance of entreaty from the landlady. &ldquo;My dear sir,&rdquo; I said,
+      genially, &ldquo;we must bow to the law, I suppose. At least we are better off
+      here than in America.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that is true,&rdquo; agreed Mr. Camber, throwing his head back and speaking
+      the words as though they possessed some deep dramatic significance. &ldquo;Yes,
+      but such laws are an insult to every intelligent man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+He sat down again rather heavily, and I stood looking from him to the
+landlady, and wondering what I should do. The matter was decided for
+me, however, in a way which I could never have foreseen. For, hearing
+a light footfall upon the step which led up to the bar-parlour, I
+turned&mdash;and there almost beside me stood a wrinkled little Chinaman!
+
+ He wore a blue suit and a tweed cap, he wore queer, thick-soled
+slippers, and his face was like a smiling mask hewn out of very old
+ivory. I could scarcely credit the evidence of my senses, since the
+Lavender Arms was one of the last places in which I should have looked
+for a native of China.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Colin Camber rose again, and fixing his melancholy eyes upon the
+      newcomer:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong,&rdquo; he said in a tone of cold anger, &ldquo;what are you doing here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Quite unmoved the Chinaman replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Blingee you chit, sir, vellee soon go back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; demanded Mr. Camber. &ldquo;Answer me, Ah Tsong: who sent
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lilly missee,&rdquo; crooned the Chinaman, smiling up into the other&rsquo;s face
+      with a sort of childish entreaty. &ldquo;Lilly missee.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Mr. Camber in a changed voice. &ldquo;Oh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood very upright for a moment, his gaze set upon the wrinkled Chinese
+      face. Then he looked at Mrs. Wootton and bowed, and looked at me and
+      bowed, very stiffly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must excuse myself, sir,&rdquo; he announced. &ldquo;My wife desires my presence at
+      home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I returned his bow, and as he walked quite steadily toward the door,
+      followed by Ah Tsong, he paused, turned, and said: &ldquo;Mr. Knox, I should
+      esteem it a friendly action if you would spare me an hour of your company
+      before you leave Surrey. My visitors are few. Any one, any one, will
+      direct you to the Guest House. I am persuaded that we have much in common.
+      Good-day, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He went down the steps, disappearing in company with the Chinaman, and
+      having watched them go, I turned to Mrs. Wootton, the landlady, in silent
+      astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded her head and sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The same every day and every evening for months past,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I am
+      afraid it&rsquo;s going to be the death of him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that Mr. Camber comes here every day and is always fetched by
+      the Chinaman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twice every day,&rdquo; corrected the landlady, &ldquo;and his poor wife sends here
+      regularly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a tragedy,&rdquo; I muttered, &ldquo;and such a brilliant man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said she, busily removing jugs and glasses from the counter, &ldquo;it
+      does seem a terrible thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has Mr. Camber lived for long in this neighbourhood?&rdquo; I ventured to
+      inquire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was about three years ago, sir, that he took the old Guest House at
+      Mid-Hatton. I remember the time well enough because of all the trouble
+      there was about him bringing a Chinaman down here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can imagine it must have created something of a sensation,&rdquo; I murmured.
+      &ldquo;Is the Guest House a large property?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no, sir, only ten rooms and a garden, and it had been vacant for a
+      long time. It belongs to what is called the Crayland Park Estate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber, I take it, is a literary man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I believe, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Wootton, having cleared the counter, glanced up at the clock and then
+      at me with a cheery but significant smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that it is after time,&rdquo; I said, returning the smile, &ldquo;but the queer
+      people who seem to live hereabouts interest me very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t wonder at that, sir!&rdquo; said the landlady, laughing outright.
+      &ldquo;Chinamen and Spanish men and what-not. If some of the old gentry that
+      lived here before the war could see it, they wouldn&rsquo;t recognize the place,
+      of that I am sure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well,&rdquo; said I, pausing at the step, &ldquo;I shall hope to see more of Mr.
+      Camber, and of yourself too, madam, for your ale is excellent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, sir, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; said the landlady much gratified, &ldquo;but as to
+      Mr. Camber, I really doubt if he would know you if you met him again. Not
+      if he was sober, I mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s a fact, believe me. Just in the last six months or so he has
+      started on the rampage like, but some of the people he has met in here and
+      asked to call upon him have done it, thinking he meant it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And they have not been well received?&rdquo; said I, lingering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have had the door shut in their faces!&rdquo; declared Mrs. Wootton with a
+      certain indignation. &ldquo;He either does not remember what he says or does
+      when he is in drink, or he pretends he doesn&rsquo;t. Oh, dear, it&rsquo;s a funny
+      world. Well, good-day, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-day,&rdquo; said I, and came out of the Lavender Arms full of sympathy
+      with the views of the &ldquo;old gentry,&rdquo; as outlined by Mrs. Wootton; for
+      certainly it would seem that this quiet spot in the Surrey Hills had
+      become a rallying ground for peculiar people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. THE CALL OF M&rsquo;KOMBO
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Of tea upon the veranda of Cray&rsquo;s Folly that afternoon I retain several
+      notable memories. I got into closer touch with my host and hostess,
+      without achieving anything like a proper understanding of either of them,
+      and I procured a new viewpoint of Miss Val Beverley. Her repose was
+      misleading. She deliberately subjugated her own vital personality to that
+      of Madame de Stämer, why, I knew not, unless she felt herself under an
+      obligation to do so. That her blue-gray eyes could be wistful was true
+      enough, they could also be gay; and once I detected in them a look of
+      sadness which dispelled the butterfly illusion belonging to her dainty
+      slenderness, to her mobile lips, to the vagabond curling hair of russet
+      brown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s manner remained absent, but I who knew his moods so well
+      recognized that this abstraction was no longer real. It was a pose which
+      he often adopted when in reality he was keenly interested in his
+      surroundings. It baffled me, however, as effectively as it baffled others,
+      and whilst at one moment I decided that he was studying Colonel Menendez,
+      in the next I became convinced that Madame de Stämer was the subject upon
+      his mental dissecting table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That he should find in Madame a fascinating problem did not surprise me.
+      She must have afforded tempting study for any psychologist. I could not
+      fathom the nature of the kinship existing between herself and the Spanish
+      colonel, for Madame de Stämer was French to her fingertips. Her
+      expressions, her gestures, her whole outlook on life proclaimed the
+      fashionable Parisienne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She possessed a vigorous masculine intelligence and was the most
+      entertaining companion imaginable. She was daringly outspoken, and it was
+      hard to believe that her gaiety was forced. Yet, as the afternoon wore on,
+      I became more and more convinced that such was the case.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought that before affliction visited her Madame de Stämer must have
+      been a vivacious and a beautiful woman. Her vivacity remained and much of
+      her beauty, so that it was difficult to believe her snow-white hair to be
+      a product of nature. Again and again I found myself regarding it as a
+      powdered coiffure of the Pompadour period and wondering why Madame wore no
+      patches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That a deep and sympathetic understanding existed between herself and
+      Colonel Menendez was unmistakable. More than once I intercepted glances
+      from the dark eyes of Madame which were lover-like, yet laden with a
+      profound sorrow. She was playing a rôle, and I was convinced that Harley
+      knew this. It was not merely a courageous fight against affliction on the
+      part of a woman of the world, versed in masking her real self from the
+      prying eyes of society, it was a studied performance prompted by some
+      deeper motive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She dressed with exquisite taste, and to see her seated there amid her
+      cushions, gesticulating vivaciously, one would never have supposed that
+      she was crippled. My admiration for her momentarily increased, the more so
+      since I could see that she was sincerely fond of Val Beverley, whose every
+      movement she followed with looks of almost motherly affection. This was
+      all the more strange as Madame de Stämer whose age, I supposed, lay
+      somewhere on the sunny side of forty, was of a type which expects, and
+      wins, admiration, long after the average woman has ceased to be
+      attractive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One endowed with such a temperament is as a rule unreasonably jealous of
+      youth and good looks in another. I could not determine if Madame&rsquo;s
+      attitude were to be ascribed to complacent self-satisfaction or to a
+      nobler motive. It sufficed for me that she took an unfeigned joy in the
+      youthful sweetness of her companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Val, dear,&rdquo; she said, presently, addressing the girl, &ldquo;you should make
+      those sleeves shorter, my dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had a rapid way of speaking, and possessed a slightly husky but
+      fascinatingly vibrant voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your arms are very pretty. You should not hide them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley blushed, and laughed to conceal her embarrassment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my dear,&rdquo; exclaimed Madame, &ldquo;why be ashamed of arms? All women have
+      arms, but some do well to hide them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right, Marie,&rdquo; agreed the Colonel, his thin voice affording an odd
+      contrast to the deeper tones of his cousin. &ldquo;But it is the scraggy ones
+      who seem to delight in displaying their angles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The English, yes,&rdquo; Madame admitted, &ldquo;but the French, no. They are too
+      clever, Juan.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frenchwomen think too much about their looks,&rdquo; said Val Beverley,
+      quietly. &ldquo;Oh, you know they do, Madame. They would rather die than be
+      without admiration.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So would I, my dear,&rdquo; she confessed, &ldquo;although I cannot walk. Without
+      admiration there is&rdquo;&mdash;she snapped her fingers&mdash;&ldquo;nothing. And who
+      would notice a linnet when a bird of paradise was about, however sweet her
+      voice? Tell me that, my dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley aroused himself and laughed heartily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I think with Miss Beverley, that this love of elegance
+      does not always make for happiness. Surely it is the cause of half the
+      domestic tragedies in France?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, the French love elegance,&rdquo; cried Madame, shrugging, &ldquo;they cannot help
+      it. To secure what is elegant a Frenchwoman will sometimes forget her
+      husband, yes, but never forget herself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Marie,&rdquo; protested the Colonel, &ldquo;you say most strange things!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that so, Juan?&rdquo; she replied, casting one of her queer glances in his
+      direction; &ldquo;but how would you like to be surrounded by a lot of drabs, eh?
+      That man, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she extended one white hand in the direction of
+      Colonel Menendez, the fingers half closed, in a gesture which curiously
+      reminded me of Sarah Bernhardt, &ldquo;that man would notice if a parlourmaid
+      came into the room with a shoe unbuttoned. Poof! if we love elegance it is
+      because without it the men would never love <i>us</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez bent across the table and kissed the white fingers in his
+      courtier-like fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My sweet cousin,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I should love you in rags.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame smiled and flushed like a girl, but withdrawing her hand she
+      shrugged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They would have to be <i>pretty</i> rags!&rdquo; she added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this little scene I detected Val Beverley looking at me in a
+      vaguely troubled way, and it was easy to guess that she was wondering what
+      construction I should place upon it. However:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going into the town,&rdquo; declared Madame de Stämer, energetically.
+      &ldquo;Half the things ordered from Hartley&rsquo;s have never been sent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame, please let <i>me</i> go,&rdquo; cried Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; pronounced Madame, &ldquo;I will not let you go, but I will let you
+      come with me if you wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She rang a little bell which stood upon the tea-table beside the urn, and
+      Pedro came out through the drawing room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pedro,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;is the car ready?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spanish butler bowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell Carter to bring it round. Hurry, dear,&rdquo; to the girl, &ldquo;if you are
+      coming with me. I shall not be a minute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereupon she whisked her mechanical chair about, waved her hand to
+      dismiss Pedro, and went steering through the drawing room at a great rate,
+      with Val Beverley walking beside her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we resumed our seats Colonel Menendez lay back with half-closed eyes,
+      his glance following the chair and its occupant until both were swallowed
+      up in the shadows of the big drawing room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer is a very remarkable woman,&rdquo; said Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remarkable?&rdquo; replied the Colonel. &ldquo;The spirit of all the old chivalry of
+      France is imprisoned within her, I think.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He passed cigarettes around, of a long kind resembling cheroots and
+      wrapped in tobacco leaf. I thought it strange that having thus emphasized
+      Madame&rsquo;s nationality he did not feel it incumbent upon him to explain the
+      mystery of their kinship. However, he made no attempt to do so, and almost
+      before we had lighted up, a racy little two-seater was driven around the
+      gravel path by Carter, the chauffeur who had brought us to Cray&rsquo;s Folly
+      from London.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man descended and began to arrange wraps and cushions, and a few
+      moments later back came Madame again, dressed for driving. Carter was
+      about to lift her into the car when Colonel Menendez stood up and
+      advanced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Juan, sit down!&rdquo; said Madame, sharply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A look of keen anxiety, I had almost said of pain, leapt into her eyes,
+      and the Colonel hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How often must I tell you,&rdquo; continued the throbbing voice, &ldquo;that you must
+      not exert yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez accepted the rebuke humbly, but the incident struck me as
+      grotesque; for it was difficult to associate delicacy with such a fine
+      specimen of well-preserved manhood as the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, Carter performed the duty of assisting Madame into her little
+      car, and when for a moment he supported her upright, before placing her
+      among the cushions, I noted that she was a tall woman, slender and
+      elegant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All smiles and light, sparkling conversation, she settled herself
+      comfortably at the wheel and Val Beverley got in beside her. Madame nodded
+      to Carter in dismissal, waved her hand to Colonel Menendez, cried &ldquo;Au
+      revoir!&rdquo; and then away went the little car, swinging around the angle of
+      the house and out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our host stood bare-headed upon the veranda listening to the sound of the
+      engine dying away among the trees. He seemed to be lost in reflection from
+      which he only aroused himself when the purr of the motor became inaudible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, and suppressed a sigh, &ldquo;we have much to
+      talk about. This spot is cool, but is it sufficiently private? Perhaps,
+      Mr. Harley, you would prefer to talk in the library?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley flicked ash from the end of his cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Better still in your own study, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, do you suspect eavesdroppers?&rdquo; asked the Colonel, his manner
+      becoming momentarily agitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at Harley as though he suspected the latter of possessing
+      private information.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We should neglect no possible precaution,&rdquo; answered my friend. &ldquo;That
+      agencies inimical to your safety are focussed upon the house your own
+      statement amply demonstrates.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez seemed to be on the point of speaking again, but he
+      checked himself and in silence led the way through the ornate library to a
+      smaller room which opened out of it, and which was furnished as a study.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the motif was distinctly one of officialdom. Although the Southern
+      element was not lacking, it was not so marked as in the library or in the
+      hall. The place was appointed for utility rather than ornament. Everything
+      was in perfect order. In the library, with the blinds drawn, one might
+      have supposed oneself in Trinidad; in the study, under similar conditions,
+      one might equally well have imagined Downing Street to lie outside the
+      windows. Essentially, this was the workroom of a man of affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having settled ourselves comfortably, Paul Harley opened the conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In several particulars,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I find my information to be
+      incomplete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He consulted the back of an envelope, upon which, I presumed during the
+      afternoon, he had made a number of pencilled notes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For instance,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;your detection of someone watching the
+      house, and subsequently of someone forcing an entrance, had no visible
+      association with the presence of the bat wing attached to your front
+      door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the Colonel, slowly, &ldquo;these episodes took place a month
+      ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly a month ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They took place immediately before the last full moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, before the full moon. And because you associate the activities of
+      Voodoo with the full moon, you believe that the old menace has again
+      become active?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel nodded emphatically. He was busily engaged in rolling one of
+      his eternal cigarettes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This belief of yours was recently confirmed by the discovery of the bat
+      wing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I no longer doubted,&rdquo; said Colonel Menendez, shrugging his shoulders.
+      &ldquo;How could I?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so,&rdquo; murmured Harley, absently, and evidently pursuing some private
+      train of thought. &ldquo;And now, I take it that your suspicions, if expressed
+      in words would amount to this: During your last visit to Cuba you (<i>a</i>)
+      either killed some high priest of Voodoo, or (<i>b</i>) seriously injured
+      him? Assuming the first theory to be the correct one, your death was
+      determined upon by the sect over which he had formerly presided. Assuming
+      the second to be accurate, however, it is presumably the man himself for
+      whom we must look. Now, Colonel Menendez, kindly inform me if you recall
+      the name of this man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I recall it very well,&rdquo; replied the Colonel. &ldquo;His name was M&rsquo;kombo, and
+      he was a Benin negro.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Assuming that he is still alive, what, roughly, would his age be to-day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel seemed to meditate, pushing a box of long Martinique cigars
+      across the table in my direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He would be an old man,&rdquo; he pronounced. &ldquo;I, myself, am fifty-two, and I
+      should say that M&rsquo;kombo if alive to-day would be nearer to seventy than
+      sixty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; murmured Harley, &ldquo;and did he speak English?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A few words, I believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley fixed his gaze upon the dark, aquiline face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In short,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;do you really suspect that it was M&rsquo;kombo whose
+      shadow you saw upon the lawn, who a month ago made a midnight entrance
+      into Cray&rsquo;s Folly, and who recently pinned a bat wing to the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez seemed somewhat taken aback by this direct question. &ldquo;I
+      cannot believe it,&rdquo; he confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you believe that this order or religion of Voodooism has any existence
+      outside those places where African negroes or descendents of negroes are
+      settled?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should not have been prepared to believe it, Mr. Harley, prior to my
+      experiences in Washington and elsewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you do believe that there are representatives of this cult to be met
+      with in Europe and America?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should have been prepared to believe it possible in America, for in
+      America there are many negroes, but in England&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would remind you,&rdquo; said Harley, quietly, &ldquo;that there are also quite a
+      number of negroes in England. If you seriously believe Voodoo to follow
+      negro migration, I can see no objection to assuming it to be a universal
+      cult.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such an idea is incredible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet by what other hypothesis,&rdquo; asked Harley, &ldquo;are we to cover the facts
+      of your own case as stated by yourself? Now,&rdquo; he consulted his pencilled
+      notes, &ldquo;there is another point. I gather that these African sorcerers rely
+      largely upon what I may term intimidation. In other words, they claim the
+      power of wishing an enemy to death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his eyes and stared grimly at the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should not like to suppose that a man of your courage and culture could
+      subscribe to such a belief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not, sir,&rdquo; declared the Colonel, warmly. &ldquo;No Obeah man could ever
+      exercise his will upon <i>me!</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet, if I may say so,&rdquo; murmured Harley, &ldquo;your will to live seems to have
+      become somewhat weakened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez stood up, his delicate nostrils dilated. He glared
+      angrily at Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that I perceive a certain resignation in your manner of which I do
+      not approve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not <i>approve?</i>&rdquo; said Colonel Menendez, softly; and I thought
+      as he stood looking down upon my friend that I had rarely seen a more
+      formidable figure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley had roused him unaccountably, and knowing my friend for a
+      master of tact I knew also that this had been deliberate, although I could
+      not even dimly perceive his object.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I occupy the position of a specialist,&rdquo; Harley continued, &ldquo;and you occupy
+      that of my patient. Now, you cannot disguise from me that your mental
+      opposition to this danger which threatens has become slackened. Allow me
+      to remind you that the strongest defence is counter-attack. You are angry,
+      Colonel Menendez, but I would rather see you angry than apathetic. To come
+      to my last point. You spoke of a neighbour in terms which led me to
+      suppose that you suspected him of some association with your enemies. May
+      I ask for the name of this person?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez sat down again, puffing furiously at his cigarette,
+      whilst beginning to roll another. He was much disturbed, was fighting to
+      regain mastery of himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I apologize from the bottom of my heart,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;for a breach of good
+      behaviour which really was unforgivable. I was angry when I should have
+      been grateful. Much that you have said is true. Because it is true, I
+      despise myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He flashed a glance at Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Awake,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;I care for no man breathing, black or white; but
+      <i>asleep</i>&rdquo;&mdash;he shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;It is in sleep that these
+      dealers in unclean things obtain their advantage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You excite my curiosity,&rdquo; declared Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; Colonel Menendez bent forward, resting his elbows upon his
+      knees. Between the yellow fingers of his left hand he held the newly
+      completed cigarette whilst he continued to puff vigorously at the old one.
+      &ldquo;You recollect my speaking of the death of a certain native girl?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The real cause of her death was never known, but I obtained evidence to
+      show that on the night after the wing of a bat had been attached to her
+      hut, she wandered out in her sleep and visited the Black Belt. Can you
+      doubt that someone was calling her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Calling her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley, she was obeying the call of M&rsquo;kombo!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The <i>call</i> of M&rsquo;kombo? You refer to some kind of hypnotic
+      suggestions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I illustrate,&rdquo; replied the Colonel, &ldquo;to help to make clear something
+      which I have to tell you. On the night when last the moon was full&mdash;on
+      the night after someone had entered the house&mdash;I had retired early to
+      bed. Suddenly I awoke, feeling very cold. I awoke, I say, and where do you
+      suppose I found myself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all anxiety to hear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the point of entering the Tudor garden&mdash;you call it Tudor garden?&mdash;which
+      is visible from the window of your room!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most extraordinary,&rdquo; murmured Harley; &ldquo;and you were in your night
+      attire?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what had awakened you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An accident. I believe a lucky accident. I had cut my bare foot upon the
+      gravel and the pain awakened me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had no recollection of any dream which had prompted you to go down
+      into the garden?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None whatever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does your room face in that direction?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It does not. It faces the lake on the south of the house. I had descended
+      to a side door, unbarred it, and walked entirely around the east wing
+      before I awakened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your room faces the lake,&rdquo; murmured Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Their glances met, and in Paul Harley&rsquo;s expression there seemed to be a
+      challenge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have not yet told me,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;the name of your neighbour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez lighted his new cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he confessed, &ldquo;I regret that I ever referred to this
+      suspicion of mine. Indeed it is hardly a suspicion, it is what I may call
+      a desperate doubt. Do you say that, a desperate doubt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I follow you,&rdquo; said Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fact is this, I only know of one person within ten miles of Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly who has ever visited Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no other scrap of evidence to associate him I with my shadowy
+      enemy. This being so, you will pardon me if I ask you to forget that I
+      ever referred to his existence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke the words with a sort of lofty finality, and accompanied them
+      with a gesture of the hands which really left Harley no alternative but to
+      drop the subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again their glances met, and it was patent to me that underlying all this
+      conversation was something beyond my ken. What it was that Harley
+      suspected I could not imagine, nor what it was that Colonel Menendez
+      desired to conceal; but tension was in the very air. The Spaniard was on
+      the defensive, and Paul Harley was puzzled, irritated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a strange interview, and one which in the light of after events I
+      recognized to possess extraordinary significance. That sixth sense of
+      Harley&rsquo;s was awake, was prompting him, but to what extent he understood
+      its promptings at that hour I did not know, and have never known to this
+      day. Intuitively, I believe, as he sat there staring at Colonel Menendez,
+      he began to perceive the shadow within a shadow which was the secret of
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly, which was the thing called Bat Wing, which was the devilish
+      force at that very hour alive and potent in our midst.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. OBEAH
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This conversation in Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s study produced a very unpleasant
+      impression upon my mind. The atmosphere of Cray&rsquo;s Folly seemed to become
+      charged with unrest. Of Madame de Stämer and Miss Beverley I saw nothing
+      up to the time that I retired to dress. Having dressed I walked into
+      Harley&rsquo;s room, anxious to learn if he had formed any theory to account for
+      the singular business which had brought us to Surrey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley had excused himself directly we had left the study, stating that he
+      wished to get to the village post-office in time to send a telegram to
+      London. Our host had suggested a messenger, but this, as well as the offer
+      of a car, Harley had declined, saying that the exercise would aid
+      reflection. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find his room empty, for I
+      could not imagine why the sending of a telegram should have detained him
+      so long.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dusk was falling, and viewed from the open window the Tudor garden below
+      looked very beautiful, part of it lying in a sort of purplish shadow and
+      the rest being mystically lighted as though viewed through a golden veil.
+      To the whole picture a sort of magic quality was added by a speck of
+      high-light which rested upon the face of the old sun-dial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought that here was a fit illustration for a fairy tale; then I
+      remembered the Colonel&rsquo;s account of how he had awakened in the act of
+      entering this romantic plaisance, and I was touched anew by an
+      unrestfulness, by a sense of the uncanny.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I observed a book lying upon the dressing table, and concluding that it
+      was one which Harley had brought with him, I took it up, glancing at the
+      title. It was &ldquo;Negro Magic,&rdquo; and switching on the light, for there was a
+      private electric plant in Cray&rsquo;s Folly, I opened the book at random and
+      began to read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The religion of the negro,&rdquo; said this authority, &ldquo;is emotional, and more
+      often than not associated with beliefs in witchcraft and in the rites
+      known as Voodoo or Obi Mysteries. It has been endeavoured by some students
+      to show that these are relics of the Fetish worship of equatorial Africa,
+      but such a genealogy has never been satisfactorily demonstrated. The
+      cannibalistic rituals, human sacrifices, and obscene ceremonies resembling
+      those of the Black Sabbath of the Middle Ages, reported to prevail in
+      Haiti and other of the islands, and by some among the negroes of the
+      Southern States of America, may be said to rest on doubtful authority.
+      Nevertheless, it is a fact beyond doubt that among the negroes both of the
+      West Indies and the United States there is a widespread belief in the
+      powers of the Obeah man. A native who believes himself to have come under
+      the spell of such a sorcerer will sink into a kind of decline and
+      sometimes die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this point I discovered several paragraphs underlined in pencil, and
+      concluding that the underlining had been done by Paul Harley, I read them
+      with particular care. They were as follows: &ldquo;According to Hesketh J. Bell,
+      the term Obeah is most probably derived from the substantive Obi, a word
+      used on the East coast of Africa to denote witchcraft, sorcery, and
+      fetishism in general. The etymology of Obi has been traced to a very
+      antique source, stretching far back into Egyptian mythology. A serpent in
+      the Egyptian language was called Ob or Aub. Obion is still the Egyptian
+      name for a serpent. Moses, in the name of God, forbade the Israelites ever
+      to enquire of the demon, Ob, which is translated in our Bible: Charmer or
+      wizard, divinator or sorcerer. The Witch of Endor is called Oub or Ob,
+      translated Pythonissa; and Oubois was the name of the basilisk or royal
+      serpent, emblem of the Sun and an ancient oracular deity of Africa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A paragraph followed which was doubly underlined, and pursuing my reading
+      I made a discovery which literally caused me to hold my breath. This is
+      what I read:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a recent contribution to the <i>Occult Review</i>, Mr. Colin Camber,
+      the American authority, offered some very curious particulars in support
+      of a theory to show that whereas snakes and scorpions have always been
+      recognized as sacred by Voodoo worshippers, the real emblem of their
+      unclean religion is the bat, especially <i>the Vampire Bat of South
+      America.</i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He pointed out that the symptoms of one dying beneath the spell of an
+      Obeah man are closely paralleled in the cases of men and animals who have
+      suffered from nocturnal attacks of blood-sucking bats.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I laid the open book down upon the bed. My brain was in a tumult. The
+      several theories, or outlines of theories which hitherto I had
+      entertained, were, by these simple paragraphs, cast into the utmost
+      disorder. I thought of the Colonel&rsquo;s covert references to a neighbour whom
+      he feared, of his guarded statement that the devotees of Voodoo were not
+      confined to the West Indies, of the attack upon him in Washington, of the
+      bat wing pinned to the door of Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Incredulously, I thought of my acquaintance of the Lavender Arms, with his
+      bemused expression and his magnificent brow; and a great doubt and wonder
+      grew up in my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I became increasingly impatient for the return of Paul Harley. I felt that
+      a clue of the first importance had fallen into my possession; so that
+      when, presently, as I walked impatiently up and down the room, the door
+      opened and Harley entered, I greeted him excitedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley!&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;Harley! I have learned a most extraordinary thing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Even as I spoke and looked into the keen, eager face, the expression in
+      Harley&rsquo;s eyes struck me. I recognized that in him, too, intense excitement
+      was pent up. Furthermore, he was in one of his irritable moods. But, full
+      of my own discoveries:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I chanced to glance at this book,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;whilst I was waiting for
+      you. You have underlined certain passages.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared at me queerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I discovered the book in my own library after you had gone last night,
+      Knox, and it was then that I marked the passages which struck me as
+      significant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Harley,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;the man who is quoted here, Colin Camber, lives
+      in this very neighbourhood!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! You know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I learned it from Inspector Aylesbury of the County Police half an hour
+      ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley frowned perplexedly. &ldquo;Then, why, in Heaven&rsquo;s name didn&rsquo;t you tell
+      me?&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;It would have saved me a most disagreeable journey
+      into Market Hilton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Market Hilton! What, have you been into the town?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is exactly where I have been, Knox. I &lsquo;phoned through to Innes from
+      the village post-office after lunch to have the car sent down. There is a
+      convenient garage by the Lavender Arms.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the Colonel has three cars,&rdquo; I exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The horse has four legs,&rdquo; replied Harley, irritably, &ldquo;but although I have
+      only two, there are times when I prefer to use them. I am still wondering
+      why you failed to mention this piece of information when you had obtained
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Harley,&rdquo; said I, patiently, &ldquo;how could I possibly be expected to
+      attach any importance to the matter? You must remember that at the time I
+      had never seen this work on negro sorcery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Harley, dropping down upon the bed, &ldquo;that is perfectly true,
+      Knox. I am afraid I have a liver at times; a distinct Indian liver. Excuse
+      me, old man, but to tell you the truth I feel strangely inclined to pack
+      my bag and leave for London without a moment&rsquo;s delay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I know you would be sorry to go, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley, smiling, &ldquo;and
+      so, for many reasons, should I. But I have the strongest possible
+      objection to being trifled with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid I don&rsquo;t quite understand you, Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, just consider the matter for a moment. Do you suppose that Colonel
+      Menendez is ignorant of the fact that his nearest neighbour is a
+      recognized authority upon Voodoo and allied subjects?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are speaking, of course, of Colin Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of none other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, thoughtfully, &ldquo;the Colonel must know, of course, that
+      Camber resides in the neighbourhood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that he knows something of the nature of Camber&rsquo;s studies his remarks
+      sufficiently indicate,&rdquo; added Harley. &ldquo;The whole theory to account for
+      these attacks upon his life rests on the premise that agents of these
+      Obeah people are established in England and America. Then, in spite of my
+      direct questions, he leaves me to find out for myself that Colin Camber&rsquo;s
+      property practically adjoins his own!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really! Does he reside so near as that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; cried Harley, &ldquo;he lives at a place called the Guest
+      House. You can see it from part of the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly. We were
+      looking at it to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! the house on the hillside?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the Guest House! What do you make of it, Knox? That Menendez
+      suspects this man is beyond doubt. Why should he hesitate to mention his
+      name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; I replied, slowly, &ldquo;probably because to associate practical
+      sorcery and assassination with such a character would be preposterous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the man is admittedly a student of these things, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He may be, and that he is a genius of some kind I am quite prepared to
+      believe. But having had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Colin Camber, I am not
+      prepared to believe him capable of murder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I suppose I spoke with a certain air of triumph, for Paul Harley regarded
+      me silently for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to be taking this case out of my hands, Knox,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whilst
+      I have been systematically at work racing about the county in quest of
+      information you would appear to have blundered further into the labyrinth
+      than all my industry has enabled me to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He remained in a very evil humour, and now the cause of this suddenly came
+      to light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have spent a thoroughly unpleasant afternoon,&rdquo; he continued,
+      &ldquo;interviewing an impossible country policeman who had never heard of my
+      existence!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This display of human resentment honestly delighted me. It was refreshing
+      to know that the omniscient Paul Harley was capable of pique.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; he went on, bitterly, &ldquo;a large person bearing
+      a really interesting resemblance to a walrus, but lacking that creature&rsquo;s
+      intelligence. It was not until Superintendent East had spoken to him from
+      Scotland Yard that he ceased to treat me as a suspect. But his new
+      attitude was almost more provoking than the old one. He adopted the manner
+      of a regimental sergeant-major reluctantly interviewing a private with a
+      grievance. If matters should so develop that we are compelled to deal with
+      that fish-faced idiot, God help us all!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He burst out laughing, his good humour suddenly quite restored, and taking
+      out his pipe began industriously to load it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can smoke while I am changing,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and you can sit there and
+      tell me all about Colin Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I did as he requested, and Harley, who could change quicker than any man I
+      had ever known, had just finished tying his bow as I completed my story of
+      the encounter at the Lavender Arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; he muttered, as I ceased speaking. &ldquo;At every turn I realize that
+      without you I should have been lost, Knox. I am afraid I shall have to
+      change your duties to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Change my duties? What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I warn you that the new ones will be less pleasant than the old! In other
+      words, I must ask you to tear yourself away from Miss Val Beverley for an
+      hour in the morning, and take advantage of Mr. Camber&rsquo;s invitation to call
+      upon him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frankly, I doubt if he would acknowledge me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless, you have a better excuse than I. In the circumstances it is
+      most important that we should get in touch with this man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; I said, ruefully. &ldquo;I will do my best. But you don&rsquo;t seriously
+      think, Harley, that the danger comes from there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley took his dinner jacket from the chair upon which the man had
+      laid it out, and turned to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you may remember that I spoke, recently, of
+      retiring from this profession?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My retirement will not be voluntary, Knox. I shall be kicked out as an
+      incompetent ass; for, respecting the connection, if any, between the
+      narrative of Colonel Menendez, the bat wing nailed to the door of the
+      house, and Mr. Colin Camber, I have not the foggiest notion. In this, at
+      last, I have triumphed over Auguste Dupin. Auguste Dupin never confessed
+      defeat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. THE NIGHT WALKER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      If luncheon had seemed extravagant, dinner at Cray&rsquo;s Folly proved to be a
+      veritable Roman banquet. To associate ideas of selfishness with Miss
+      Beverley was hateful, but the more I learned of the luxurious life of this
+      queer household hidden away in the Surrey Hills the less I wondered at any
+      one&rsquo;s consenting to share such exile. I had hitherto counted an American
+      freak dinner, organized by a lucky plunger and held at the Café de Paris,
+      as the last word in extravagant feasting. But I learned now that what was
+      caviare in Monte Carlo was ordinary fare at Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez was an epicure with an endless purse. The excellence of
+      one of the courses upon which I had commented led to a curious incident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You approve of the efforts of my chef?&rdquo; said the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is worthy of his employer,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez bowed in his cavalierly fashion and Madame de Stämer
+      positively beamed upon me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall speak for him,&rdquo; said the Spaniard. &ldquo;He was with me in Cuba, but
+      has no reputation in London. There are hotels that would snap him up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked at the speaker in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely he is not leaving you?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel exhibited a momentary embarrassment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no. No, no,&rdquo; he replied, waving his hand gracefully, &ldquo;I was only
+      thinking that he&mdash;&rdquo; there was a scarcely perceptible pause&mdash;&ldquo;might
+      wish to better himself. You understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I understood only too well; and recollecting the words spoken by Paul
+      Harley that afternoon, respecting the Colonel&rsquo;s will to live, I became
+      conscious of an uncomfortable sense of chill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If I had doubted that in so speaking he had been contemplating his own
+      death, the behaviour of Madame de Stämer must have convinced me. Her
+      complexion was slightly but cleverly made up, with all the exquisite art
+      of the Parisienne, but even through the artificial bloom I saw her cheeks
+      blanch. Her face grew haggard and her eyes burned unnaturally. She turned
+      quickly aside to address Paul Harley, but I knew that the significance of
+      this slight episode had not escaped him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was by no means at ease. In the first place, he was badly puzzled; in
+      the second place, he was angry. He felt it incumbent upon him to save this
+      man from a menace which he, Paul Harley, evidently recognized to be real,
+      although to me it appeared wildly chimerical, and the very person upon
+      whose active coöperation he naturally counted not only seemed resigned to
+      his fate, but by deliberate omission of important data added to Harley&rsquo;s
+      difficulties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How much of this secret drama proceeding in Cray&rsquo;s Folly was appreciated
+      by Val Beverley I could not determine. On this occasion, I remember, she
+      was simply but perfectly dressed and, in my eyes, seemed the most sweetly
+      desirable woman I had ever known. Realizing that I had already revealed my
+      interest in the girl, I was oddly self-conscious, and a hundred times
+      during the progress of dinner I glanced across at Harley, expecting to
+      detect his quizzical smile. He was very stern, however, and seemed more
+      reserved than usual. He was uncertain of his ground, I could see. He
+      resented the understanding which evidently existed between Colonel
+      Menendez and Madame de Stämer, and to which, although his aid had been
+      sought, he was not admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to me, personally, that an almost palpable shadow lay upon the
+      room. Although, save for this one lapse, our host throughout talked gaily
+      and entertainingly, I was obsessed by a memory of the expression which I
+      had detected upon his face that morning, the expression of a doomed man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What, in Heaven&rsquo;s name, I asked myself, did it all mean? If ever I saw the
+      fighting spirit looking out of any man&rsquo;s eyes, it looked out of the eyes
+      of Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez. Why, then, did he lie down to the menace
+      of this mysterious Bat Wing, and if he counted opposition futile, why had
+      he summoned Paul Harley to Cray&rsquo;s Folly?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the passing of every moment I sympathized more fully with the
+      perplexity of my friend, and no longer wondered that even his highly
+      specialized faculties had failed to detect an explanation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Remembering Colin Camber as I had seen him at the Lavender Arms, it was
+      simply impossible to suppose that such a man as Menendez could fear such a
+      man as Camber. True, I had seen the latter at a disadvantage, and I knew
+      well enough that many a genius has been also a drunkard. But although I
+      was prepared to find that Colin Camber possessed genius, I found it hard
+      to believe that this was of a criminal type. That such a character could
+      be the representative of some remote negro society was an idea too
+      grotesque to be entertained for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was tempted to believe that his presence in the neighbourhood of this
+      haunted Cuban was one of those strange coincidences which in criminal
+      history have sometimes proved so tragic for their victims.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer, avoiding the Colonel&rsquo;s glances, which were pathetically
+      apologetic, gradually recovered herself, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; she said to Val Beverley, &ldquo;you look perfectly sweet to-night.
+      Don&rsquo;t you think she looks perfectly sweet, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ignoring a look of entreaty from the blue-gray eyes:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; cried the girl, &ldquo;why do you encourage her? She says
+      embarrassing things like that every time I put on a new dress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her reference to a new dress set me speculating again upon the apparent
+      anomaly of her presence at Cray&rsquo;s Folly. That she was not a professional
+      &ldquo;companion&rdquo; was clear enough. I assumed that her father had left her
+      suitably provided for, since she wore such expensively simple gowns. She
+      had a delightful trick of blushing when attention was focussed upon her,
+      and said Madame de Stämer:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be able to blush like that I would give my string of pearls&mdash;no,
+      half of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Marie,&rdquo; declared Colonel Menendez, &ldquo;I have seen you blush
+      perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; Madame disclaimed the suggestion with one of those Bernhardt
+      gestures, &ldquo;I blushed my last blush when my second husband introduced me to
+      my first husband&rsquo;s wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame!&rdquo; exclaimed Val Beverley, &ldquo;how can you say such things?&rdquo; She
+      turned to me. &ldquo;Really, Mr. Knox, they are all fables.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In fables we renew our youth,&rdquo; said Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; sighed Colonel Menendez; &ldquo;our youth, our youth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why sigh, Juan, why regret?&rdquo; cried Madame, immediately. &ldquo;Old age is only
+      tragic to those who have never been young.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She directed a glance toward him as she spoke those words, and as I had
+      felt when I had seen his tragic face on the veranda that morning I felt
+      again in detecting this look of Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s. The yearning yet
+      selfless love which it expressed was not for my eyes to witness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God, Marie,&rdquo; replied the Colonel, and gallantly kissed his hand to
+      her, &ldquo;we have both been young, gloriously young.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When, at the termination of this truly historic dinner, the ladies left
+      us:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember, Juan,&rdquo; said Madame, raising her white, jewelled hand, and
+      holding the fingers characteristically curled, &ldquo;no excitement, no
+      billiards, no cards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez bowed deeply, as the invalid wheeled herself from the
+      room, followed by Miss Beverley. My heart was beating delightfully, for in
+      the moment of departure the latter had favoured me with a significant
+      glance, which seemed to say, &ldquo;I am looking forward to a chat with you
+      presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said Colonel Menendez, when we three men found ourselves alone,
+      &ldquo;truly I am blessed in the autumn of my life with such charming
+      companionship. Beauty and wit, youth and discretion. Is he not a happy man
+      who possesses all these?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He should be,&rdquo; said Harley, gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The saturnine Pedro entered with some wonderful crusted port, and Colonel
+      Menendez offered cigars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe you are a pipe-smoker,&rdquo; said our courteous host to Harley, &ldquo;and
+      if this is so, I know that you will prefer your favourite mixture to any
+      cigar that ever was rolled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Many thanks,&rdquo; said Harley, to whom no more delicate compliment could have
+      been paid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was indeed an inveterate pipe-smoker, and only rarely did he truly
+      enjoy a cigar, however choice its pedigree. With a sigh of content he
+      began to fill his briar. His mood was more restful, and covertly I watched
+      him studying our host. The night remained very warm and one of the two
+      windows of the dining room, which was the most homely apartment in Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly, was wide open, offering a prospect of sweeping velvet lawns touched
+      by the magic of the moonlight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A short silence fell, to be broken by the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I trust you do not regret your fishing excursion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could cheerfully pass the rest of my days in such ideal surroundings,&rdquo;
+       replied Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded in agreement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; continued my friend, speaking very deliberately, &ldquo;I have to
+      remember that I am here upon business, and that my professional reputation
+      is perhaps at stake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared very hard at Colonel Menendez.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have spoken with your butler, known as Pedro, and with some of the
+      other servants, and have learned all that there is to be learned about the
+      person unknown who gained admittance to the house a month ago, and
+      concerning the wing of a bat, found attached to the door more recently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And to what conclusion have you come?&rdquo; asked Colonel Menendez, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He bent forward, resting his elbows upon his knees, a pose which he
+      frequently adopted. He was smoking a cigar, but his total absorption in
+      the topic under discussion was revealed by the fact that from a pocket in
+      his dinner jacket he had taken out a portion of tobacco, had laid it in a
+      slip of rice paper, and was busily rolling one of his eternal cigarettes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I might be enabled to come to one,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;if you would answer
+      a very simple question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is this question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is this&mdash;Have you any idea who nailed the bat&rsquo;s wing to your
+      door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s eyes opened very widely, and his face became more
+      aquiline than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have heard my story, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, softly. &ldquo;If I know the
+      explanation, why do I come to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley puffed at his pipe. His expression did not alter in the
+      slightest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I merely wondered if your suspicions tended in the direction of Mr. Colin
+      Camber,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colin Camber!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Colonel spoke the name either I became victim of a strange delusion
+      or his face was momentarily convulsed. If my senses served me aright then
+      his pronouncing of the words &ldquo;Colin Camber&rdquo; occasioned him positive agony.
+      He clutched the arms of his chair, striving, I thought, to retain
+      composure, and in this he succeeded, for when he spoke again his voice was
+      quite normal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any particular reason for your remark, Mr. Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a reason,&rdquo; replied Paul Harley, &ldquo;but don&rsquo;t misunderstand me. I
+      suggest nothing against Mr. Camber. I should be glad, however, to know if
+      you are acquainted with him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have never met.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You possibly know him by repute?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard of him, Mr. Harley. But to be perfectly frank, I have little
+      in common with citizens of the United States.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A note of arrogance, which at times crept into his high, thin voice,
+      became perceptible now, and the aristocratic, aquiline face looked very
+      supercilious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How the conversation would have developed I know not, but at this moment
+      Pedro entered and delivered a message in Spanish to the Colonel, whereupon
+      the latter arose and with very profuse apologies begged permission to
+      leave us for a few moments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he had retired:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going upstairs to write a letter, Knox,&rdquo; said Paul Harley. &ldquo;Carry on
+      with your old duties to-day, your new ones do not commence until
+      to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that he laughed and walked out of the dining room, leaving me
+      wondering whether to be grateful or annoyed. However, it did not take me
+      long to find my way to the drawing room where the two ladies were seated
+      side by side upon a settee, Madame&rsquo;s chair having been wheeled into a
+      corner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; exclaimed Madame as I entered, &ldquo;have the others deserted,
+      then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Scarcely deserted, I think. They are merely straggling.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Absent without leave,&rdquo; murmured Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I laughed, and drew up a chair. Madame de Stämer was smoking, but Miss
+      Beverley was not. Accordingly, I offered her a cigarette, which she
+      accepted, and as I was lighting it with elaborate care, every moment
+      finding a new beauty in her charming face, Pedro again appeared and
+      addressed some remark in Spanish to Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My chair, Pedro,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;I will come at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spanish butler wheeled the chair across to the settee, and lifting her
+      with an ease which spoke of long practice, placed her amidst the cushions
+      where she spent so many hours of her life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you will excuse me, dear,&rdquo; she said to Val Beverley, &ldquo;because I
+      feel sure that Mr. Knox will do his very best to make up for my absence.
+      Presently, I shall be back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pedro holding the door open, she went wheeling out, and I found myself
+      alone with Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time I was much too delighted to question the circumstances which
+      had led to this tête-à-tête, but had I cared to give the matter any
+      consideration, it must have presented rather curious features. The call
+      first of host and then of hostess was inconsistent with the courtesy of
+      the master of Cray&rsquo;s Folly, which, like the appointments of his home and
+      his mode of life, was elaborate. But these ideas did not trouble me at the
+      moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly, however, indeed before I had time to speak, the girl started and
+      laid her hand upon my arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear something?&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;a queer sort of sound?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;what kind of sound?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An odd sort of sound, almost like&mdash;the flapping of wings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw that she had turned pale, I saw the confirmation of something which
+      I had only partly realised before: that her life at Cray&rsquo;s Folly was a
+      constant fight against some haunting shadow. Her gaiety, her lightness,
+      were but a mask. For now, in those wide-open eyes, I read absolute horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said, grasping her hand reassuringly, &ldquo;you alarm me.
+      What has made you so nervous to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-night!&rdquo; she echoed, &ldquo;to-night? It is every night. If you had not come&mdash;&rdquo;
+       she corrected herself&mdash;&ldquo;if someone had not come, I don&rsquo;t think I
+      could have stayed. I am sure I could not have stayed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doubtless the attempted burglary alarmed you?&rdquo; I suggested, intending to
+      sooth her fears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Burglary?&rdquo; She smiled unmirthfully. &ldquo;It was no burglary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you say so, Miss Beverley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think I don&rsquo;t know why Mr. Harley is here?&rdquo; she challenged. &ldquo;Oh,
+      believe me, I know&mdash;I know. I, too, saw the bat&rsquo;s wing nailed to the
+      door, Mr. Knox. You are surely not going to suggest that this was the work
+      of a burglar?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I seated myself beside her on the settee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have great courage,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Believe me, I quite understand all that
+      you have suffered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is my acting so poor?&rdquo; she asked, with a pathetic smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, it is wonderful, but to a sympathetic observer only acting,
+      nevertheless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I noted that my presence reassured her, and was much comforted by this
+      fact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you like to tell me all about it,&rdquo; I continued; &ldquo;or would this
+      merely renew your fears?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to tell you,&rdquo; she replied in a low voice, glancing about
+      her as if to make sure that we were alone. &ldquo;Except for odd people,
+      friends, I suppose, of the Colonel&rsquo;s, we have had so few visitors since we
+      have been at Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Apart from all sorts of queer happenings which
+      really&rdquo;&mdash;she laughed nervously&mdash;&ldquo;may have no significance
+      whatever, the crowning mystery to my mind is why Colonel Menendez should
+      have leased this huge house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He does not entertain very much, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Scarcely at all. The &lsquo;County&rsquo;&mdash;do you know what I mean by the
+      &lsquo;County?&rsquo;&mdash;began by receiving him with open arms and ended by sending
+      him to Coventry. His lavish style of entertainment they labelled &lsquo;swank&rsquo;&mdash;horrible
+      word but very expressive! They concluded that they did not understand him,
+      and of everything they don&rsquo;t understand they disapprove. So after the
+      first month or so it became very lonely at Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Our foreign
+      servants&mdash;there are five of them altogether&mdash;got us a dreadfully
+      bad name. Then, little by little, a sort of cloud seemed to settle on
+      everything. The Colonel made two visits abroad, I don&rsquo;t know exactly where
+      he went, but on his return from the first visit Madame de Stämer changed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Changed?&mdash;in what way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid it would be hopeless to try to make you understand, Mr. Knox,
+      but in some subtle way she changed. Underneath all her vivacity she is a
+      tragic woman, and&mdash;oh, how can I explain?&rdquo; Val Beverley made a little
+      gesture of despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you mean,&rdquo; I suggested, &ldquo;that she seemed to become even less
+      happy than before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, looking at me eagerly. &ldquo;Has Colonel Menendez told you
+      anything to account for it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;He has left us strangely in the dark. But you say he
+      went abroad on a second and more recent occasion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, not much more than a month ago. And after that, somehow or other,
+      matters seemed to come to a head. I confess I became horribly frightened,
+      but to have left would have seemed like desertion, and Madame de Stämer
+      has been so good to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you actually witness any of the episodes which took place about a
+      month ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never saw anything really definite,&rdquo; she replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet, evidently you either saw or heard something which alarmed you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that is true, but it is so difficult to explain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you try to explain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will try if you wish, for really I am longing to talk to someone about
+      it. For instance, on several occasions I have heard footsteps in the
+      corridor outside my room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, at night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Strange footsteps?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is the uncanny part of it. You know how familiar one grows with the
+      footsteps of persons living in the same house? Well, these footsteps were
+      quite unfamiliar to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you say they passed your door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. My rooms are almost directly overhead. And right at the end of the
+      corridor, that is on the southeast corner of the building, is Colonel
+      Menendez&rsquo;s bedroom, and facing it a sort of little smoke-room. It was in
+      this direction that the footsteps went.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. They were light, furtive footsteps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This took place late at night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite late, long after everyone had retired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused, staring at me with a sort of embarrassment, and presently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Were the footsteps those of a man or a woman?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of a woman. Someone, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she bent forward, and that look of fear
+      began to creep into her eyes again, &ldquo;with whose footsteps I was quite
+      unfamiliar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean a stranger to the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. Oh, it was uncanny.&rdquo; She shuddered. &ldquo;The first time I heard it I had
+      been lying awake listening. I was nervous. Madame de Stämer had told me
+      that morning that the Colonel had seen someone lurking about the lawns on
+      the previous night. Then, as I lay awake listening for the slightest
+      sound, I suddenly detected these footsteps; and they paused&mdash;right
+      outside my door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;What did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frankly, I was too frightened to do anything. I just lay still with my
+      heart beating horribly, and presently they passed on, and I heard them no
+      more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was your door locked?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo; She laughed nervously. &ldquo;But it has been locked every night since
+      then!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And these sounds were repeated on other nights?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I have often heard them, Mr. Knox. What makes it so strange is that
+      all the servants sleep out in the west wing, as you know, and Pedro locks
+      the communicating door every night before retiring.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is certainly strange,&rdquo; I muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is horrible,&rdquo; declared the girl, almost in a whisper. &ldquo;For what can it
+      mean except that there is someone in Cray&rsquo;s Folly who is never seen during
+      the daytime?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that is incredible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not so incredible in a big house like this. Besides, what other
+      explanation can there be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There must be one,&rdquo; I said, reassuringly. &ldquo;Have you spoken of this to
+      Madame de Stämer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley&rsquo;s expression grew troubled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had she any explanation to offer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None. Her attitude mystified me very much. Indeed, instead of reassuring
+      me, she frightened me more than ever by her very silence. I grew to dread
+      the coming of each night. Then&mdash;&rdquo; she hesitated again, looking at me
+      pathetically&mdash;&ldquo;twice I have been awakened by a loud cry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What kind of cry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not tell you, Mr. Knox. You see I have always been asleep when it
+      has come, but I have sat up trembling and dimly aware that what had
+      awakened me was a cry of some kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have no idea from whence it proceeded?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None whatever. Of course, all these things may seem trivial to you, and
+      possibly they can be explained in quite a simple way. But this feeling of
+      something pending has grown almost unendurable. Then, I don&rsquo;t understand
+      Madame and the Colonel at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She suddenly stopped speaking and flushed with embarrassment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean that Madame de Stämer is in love with her cousin, I agree
+      with you,&rdquo; I said, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, is it so evident as that?&rdquo; murmured Val Beverley. She laughed to
+      cover her confusion. &ldquo;I wish I could understand what it all means.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this point our tête-à-tête was interrupted by the return of Madame de
+      Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, la la!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;the Colonel must have allowed himself to become
+      too animated this evening. He is threatened with one of his attacks and I
+      have insisted upon his immediate retirement. He makes his apologies, but
+      knows you will understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I expressed my concern, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was unaware that Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s health was impaired,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; Madame shrugged characteristically. &ldquo;Juan has travelled too much of
+      the road of life on top speed, Mr. Knox.&rdquo; She snapped her white fingers
+      and grimaced significantly. &ldquo;Excitement is bad for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She wheeled her chair up beside Val Beverley, and taking the girl&rsquo;s hand
+      patted it affectionately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look pale to-night, my dear,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;All this bogey business is
+      getting on your nerves, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, not at all,&rdquo; declared the girl. &ldquo;It is very mysterious and annoying,
+      of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But M. Paul Harley will presently tell us what it is all about,&rdquo;
+       concluded Madame. &ldquo;Yes, I trust so. We want no Cuban devils here at Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I had hoped that she would speak further of the matter, but having thus
+      apologized for our host&rsquo;s absence, she plunged into an amusing account of
+      Parisian society, and of the changes which five years of war had brought
+      about. Her comments, although brilliant, were superficial, the only point
+      I recollect being her reference to a certain Baron Bergmann, a Swedish
+      diplomat, who, according to Madame, had the longest nose and the shortest
+      memory in Paris, so that in the cold weather, &ldquo;he even sometimes forgot to
+      blow his nose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her brightness I thought was almost feverish. She chattered and laughed
+      and gesticulated, but on this occasion she was overacting. Underneath all
+      her vivacity lay something cold and grim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley rejoined us in half an hour or so, but I could see that he was as
+      conscious of the air of tension as I was. All Madame&rsquo;s high spirits could
+      not enable her to conceal the fact that she was anxious to retire. But
+      Harley&rsquo;s evident desire to do likewise surprised me very greatly; for from
+      the point of view of the investigation the day had been an unsatisfactory
+      one. I knew that there must be a hundred and one things which my friend
+      desired to know, questions which Madame de Stämer could have answered.
+      Nevertheless, at about ten o&rsquo;clock we separated for the night, and
+      although I was intensely anxious to talk to Harley, his reticent mood had
+      descended upon him again, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sleep well, Knox,&rdquo; he said, as he paused at my door. &ldquo;I may be awakening
+      you early.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With which cryptic remark and not another word he passed on and entered
+      his own room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps it was childish on my part, but I accepted this curt dismissal
+      very ill-humouredly. That Harley, for some reason of his own, wished to be
+      alone, was evident enough, but I resented being excluded from his
+      confidence, even temporarily. It would seem that he had formed a theory in
+      the prosecution of which my coöperation was not needed. And what with
+      profitless conjectures concerning its nature, and memories of Val
+      Beverley&rsquo;s pathetic parting glance as we had bade one another good-night,
+      sleep seemed to be out of the question, and I stood for a long time
+      staring out of the open window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The weather remained almost tropically hot, and the moon floated in a
+      cloudless sky. I looked down upon the closely matted leaves of the box
+      hedge, which rose to within a few feet of my window, and to the left I
+      could obtain a view of the close-hemmed courtyard before the doors of
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly. On the right the yews began, obstructing my view of the
+      Tudor garden, but the night air was fragrant, and the outlook one of
+      peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a time, then, as no sound came from the adjoining room, I turned in,
+      and despite all things was soon fast asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Almost immediately, it seemed, I was awakened. In point of fact, nearly
+      four hours had elapsed. A hand grasped my shoulder, and I sprang up in bed
+      with a stifled cry, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right, Knox,&rdquo; came Harley&rsquo;s voice. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t make a noise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley!&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Harley! what has happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, nothing. I am sorry to have to disturb your beauty sleep, but in
+      the absence of Innes I am compelled to use you as a dictaphone, Knox. I
+      like to record impressions while they are fresh, hence my having awakened
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what has happened?&rdquo; I asked again, for my brain was not yet fully
+      alert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, don&rsquo;t light up!&rdquo; said Harley, grasping my wrist as I reached out
+      toward the table-lamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His figure showed as a black silhouette against the dim square of the
+      window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s nearly two o&rsquo;clock. The light might be observed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two o&rsquo;clock?&rdquo; I exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. I think we might smoke, though. Have you any cigarettes? I have left
+      my pipe behind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I managed to find my case, and in the dim light of the match which I
+      presently struck I saw that Paul Harley&rsquo;s face was very fixed and grim. He
+      seated himself on the edge of my bed, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been guilty of a breach of hospitality, Knox,&rdquo; he began. &ldquo;Not only
+      have I secretly had my own car sent down here, but I have had something
+      else sent, as well. I brought it in under my coat this evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To what do you refer, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You remember the silken rope-ladder with bamboo rungs which I brought
+      from Hongkong on one occasion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I have it in my bag now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear fellow, what possible use can it be to you at Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been of great use,&rdquo; he returned, shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It enabled me to descend from my window a couple of hours ago and to
+      return again quite recently without disturbing the household. Don&rsquo;t
+      reproach me, Knox. I know it is a breach of confidence, but so is the
+      behaviour of Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You refer to his reticence on certain points?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do. I have a reputation to lose, Knox, and if an ingenious piece of
+      Chinese workmanship can save it, it shall be saved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear Harley, why should you want to leave the house secretly at
+      night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s cigarette glowed in the dark, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My original object,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;was to endeavour to learn if any one
+      were really watching the place. For instance, I wanted to see if all
+      lights were out at the Guest House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And were they?&rdquo; I asked, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were. Secondly,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;I wanted to convince myself that
+      there were no nocturnal prowlers from within or without.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean by within or without?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen, Knox.&rdquo; He bent toward me in the dark, grasping my shoulder
+      firmly. &ldquo;One window in Cray&rsquo;s Folly was lighted up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At what hour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The light is there yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That he was about to make some strange revelation I divined. I detected
+      the fact, too, that he believed this revelation would be unpleasant to me;
+      and in this I found an explanation of his earlier behaviour. He had seemed
+      distraught and ill at ease when he had joined Madame de Stämer, Miss
+      Beverley, and myself in the drawing room. I could only suppose that this
+      and the abrupt parting with me outside my door had been due to his holding
+      a theory which he had proposed to put to the test before confiding it to
+      me. I remember that I spoke very slowly as I asked him the question:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whose is the lighted window, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has Colonel Menendez taken you into a little snuggery or smoke-room which
+      faces his bedroom in the southeast corner of the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but Miss Beverley has mentioned the room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah. Well, there is a light in that room, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly the Colonel has not retired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;According to Madame de Stämer he went to bed several hours ago, you may
+      remember.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; I murmured, fumbling for the significance of his words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The next point is this,&rdquo; he resumed. &ldquo;You saw Madame retire to her own
+      room, which, as you know, is on the ground floor, and I have satisfied
+      myself that the door communicating with the servants&rsquo; wing is locked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. But to what is all this leading, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To a very curious fact, and the fact is this: The Colonel is not alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sat bolt upright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so loud,&rdquo; warned Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Harley&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow, we must face facts. I repeat, the Colonel is not alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you say so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twice I have seen a shadow on the blind of the smoke-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His own shadow, probably.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again Paul Harley&rsquo;s cigarette glowed in the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am prepared to swear,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that it was the shadow of a woman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get excited, Knox. I am dealing with the strangest case of my
+      career, and I am jumping to no conclusions. But just let us look at the
+      circumstances judicially. The whole of the domestic staff we may dismiss,
+      with the one exception of Mrs. Fisher, who, so far as I can make out,
+      occupies the position of a sort of working housekeeper, and whose rooms
+      are in the corner of the west wing immediately facing the kitchen garden.
+      Possibly you have not met Mrs. Fisher, Knox, but I have made it my
+      business to interview the whole of the staff and I may say that Mrs.
+      Fisher is a short, stout old lady, a native of Kent, I believe, whose
+      outline in no way corresponds to that which I saw upon the blind.
+      Therefore, unless the door which communicates with the servants&rsquo; quarters
+      was unlocked again to-night&mdash;to what are we reduced in seeking to
+      explain the presence of a woman in Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s room? Madame de
+      Stämer, unassisted, could not possibly have mounted the stairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop, Harley!&rdquo; I said, sternly. &ldquo;Stop.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He ceased speaking, and I watched the steady glow of his cigarette in the
+      darkness. It lighted up his bronzed face and showed me the steely gleam of
+      his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are counting too much on the locking of the door by Pedro,&rdquo; I
+      continued, speaking very deliberately. &ldquo;He is a man I would trust no
+      farther than I could see him, and if there is anything dark underlying
+      this matter you depend that he is involved in it. But the most natural
+      explanation, and also the most simple, is this&mdash;Colonel Menendez has
+      been taken seriously ill, and someone is in his room in the capacity of a
+      nurse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Her behaviour was scarcely that of a nurse in a sick-room,&rdquo; murmured
+      Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake tell me the truth,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Tell me all you saw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite prepared to do so, Knox. On three occasions, then, I saw the
+      figure of a woman, who wore some kind of loose robe, quite clearly
+      silhouetted upon the linen blind. Her gestures strongly resembled those of
+      despair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of despair?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. I gathered that she was addressing someone, presumably Colonel
+      Menendez, and I derived a strong impression that she was in a condition of
+      abject despair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;on your word of honour did you recognize anything in
+      the movements, or in the outline of the figure, by which you could
+      identify the woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not,&rdquo; he replied, shortly. &ldquo;It was a woman who wore some kind of
+      loose robe, possibly a kimono. Beyond that I could swear to nothing,
+      except that it was not Mrs. Fisher.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We fell silent for a while. What Paul Harley&rsquo;s thoughts may have been I
+      know not, but my own were strange and troubled. Presently I found my voice
+      again, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;that I should report to you something which
+      Miss Beverley told me this evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said he, eagerly. &ldquo;I am anxious to hear anything which may be of
+      the slightest assistance. You are no doubt wondering why I retired so
+      abruptly to-night. My reason was this: I could see that you were full of
+      some story which you had learned from Miss Beverley, and I was anxious to
+      perform my tour of inspection with a perfectly unprejudiced mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that your suspicions rested upon an inmate of Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not upon any particular inmate, but I had early perceived a distinct
+      possibility that these manifestations of which the Colonel complained
+      might be due to the agency of someone inside the house. That this person
+      might be no more than an accomplice of the prime mover I also recognized,
+      of course. But what did you learn to-night, Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I repeated Val Beverley&rsquo;s story of the mysterious footsteps and of the
+      cries which had twice awakened her in the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; muttered Harley, when I had ceased speaking. &ldquo;Assuming her account
+      to be true&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should you doubt it?&rdquo; I interrupted, hotly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox, it is my business to doubt everything until I have
+      indisputable evidence of its truth. I say, assuming her story to be true,
+      we find ourselves face to face with the fantastic theory that some woman
+      unknown is living secretly in Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps in one of the tower rooms,&rdquo; I suggested, eagerly. &ldquo;Why, Harley,
+      that would account for the Colonel&rsquo;s marked unwillingness to talk about
+      this part of the house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My sight was now becoming used to the dusk, and I saw Harley vigorously
+      shake his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;I have seen all the tower rooms. I can swear that
+      no one inhabits them. Besides, is it feasible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then whose were the footsteps that Miss Beverley heard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Obviously those of the woman who, at this present moment, so far as I
+      know, is in the smoking-room with Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sighed wearily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is a strange business, Harley. I begin to think that the mystery is
+      darker than I ever supposed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We fell silent again. The weird cry of a night hawk came from somewhere in
+      the valley, but otherwise everything within and without the great house
+      seemed strangely still. This stillness presently imposed its influence
+      upon me, for when I spoke again, I spoke in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;my imagination is playing me tricks. I thought I heard
+      the fluttering of wings at that moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fortunately, my imagination remains under control,&rdquo; he replied, grimly;
+      &ldquo;therefore I am in a position to inform you that you did hear the
+      fluttering of wings. An owl has just flown into one of the trees
+      immediately outside the window.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said I, and uttered a sigh of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is extremely fortunate that my imagination is so carefully trained,&rdquo;
+       continued Harley; &ldquo;otherwise, when the woman whose shadow I saw upon the
+      blind to-night raised her arms in a peculiar fashion, I could not well
+      have failed to attach undue importance to the shape of the shadow thus
+      created.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was the shape of the shadow, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remarkably like that of a bat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke the words quietly, but in that still darkness, with dawn yet a
+      long way off, they possessed the power which belongs to certain chords in
+      music, and to certain lines in poetry. I was chilled unaccountably, and I
+      peopled the empty corridors of Cray&rsquo;s Folly with I know not what uncanny
+      creatures; nightmare fancies conjured up from memories of haunted manors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was my mood, then, when suddenly Paul Harley stood up. My eyes were
+      growing more and more used to the darkness, and from something strained in
+      his attitude I detected the fact that he was listening intently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He placed his cigarette on the table beside the bed and quietly crossed
+      the room. I knew from his silent tread that he wore shoes with rubber
+      soles. Very quietly he turned the handle and opened the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Harley?&rdquo; I whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dimly I saw him raise his hand. Inch by inch he opened the door. My nerves
+      in a state of tension, I sat there watching him, when without a sound he
+      slipped out of the room and was gone. Thereupon I arose and followed as
+      far as the doorway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley was standing immediately outside in the corridor. Seeing me, he
+      stepped back, and: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t move, Knox,&rdquo; he said, speaking very close to my
+      ear. &ldquo;There is someone downstairs in the hall. Wait for me here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that he moved stealthily off, and I stood there, my heart beating
+      with unusual rapidity, listening&mdash;listening for a challenge, a cry, a
+      scuffle&mdash;I knew not what to expect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cavernous and dimly lighted, the corridor stretched away to my left. On
+      the right it branched sharply in the direction of the gallery overlooking
+      the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The seconds passed, but no sound rewarded my alert listening&mdash;until,
+      very faintly, but echoing in a muffled, church-like fashion around that
+      peculiar building, came a slight, almost sibilant sound, which I took to
+      be the gentle closing of a distant door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whilst I was still wondering if I had really heard this sound or merely
+      imagined it:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who goes there?&rdquo; came sharply in Harley&rsquo;s voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard a faint click, and knew that he had shone the light of an electric
+      torch down into the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I hesitated no longer, but ran along to join him. As I came to the head of
+      the main staircase, however, I saw him crossing the hall below. He was
+      making in the direction of the door which shut off the servants&rsquo; quarters.
+      Here he paused, and I saw him trying the handle. Evidently the door was
+      locked, for he turned and swept the white ray all about the place. He
+      tried several other doors, but found them all to be locked, for presently
+      he came upstairs again, smiling grimly when he saw me there awaiting him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear it, Knox?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A sound like the closing of a door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It <i>was</i> the closing of a door,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but before that I had
+      distinctly heard a stair creak. Someone crossed the hall then, Knox. Yet,
+      as you perceive for yourself, it affords no hiding-place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His glance met and challenged mine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Colonel&rsquo;s visitor has left him,&rdquo; he murmured. &ldquo;Unless something quite
+      unforeseen occurs, I shall throw up the case to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. MORNING MISTS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The man known as Manoel awakened me in the morning. Although
+      characteristically Spanish, he belonged to a more sanguine type than the
+      butler and spoke much better English than Pedro. He placed upon the table
+      beside me a tray containing a small pot of China tea, an apple, a peach,
+      and three slices of toast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How soon would you like your bath, sir?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In about half an hour,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Breakfast is served at 9.30 if you wish, sir,&rdquo; continued Manoel, &ldquo;but the
+      ladies rarely come down. Would you prefer to breakfast in your room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is Mr. Harley doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He tells me that he does not take breakfast, sir. Colonel Don Juan
+      Menendez will be unable to ride with you this morning, but a groom will
+      accompany you to the heath if you wish, which is the best place for a
+      gallop. Breakfast on the south veranda is very pleasant, sir, if you are
+      riding first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; I replied, for indeed I felt strangely heavy; &ldquo;it shall be the
+      heath, then, and breakfast on the veranda.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Having drunk a cup of tea and dressed I went into Harley&rsquo;s room, to find
+      him propped up in bed reading the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> and smoking a
+      cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am off for a ride,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you join me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He fixed his pillows more comfortably, and slowly shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a bit of it, Knox,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I find exercise to be fatal to
+      concentration.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you have weird theories on the subject, but this is a beautiful
+      morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I grant you the beautiful morning, Knox, but here you will find me when
+      you return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I knew him too well to debate the point, and accordingly I left him to his
+      newspaper and cigarette, and made my way downstairs. A housemaid was busy
+      in the hall, and in the courtyard before the monastic porch a negro groom
+      awaited me with two fine mounts. He touched his hat and grinned
+      expansively as I appeared. A spirited young chestnut was saddled for my
+      use, and the groom, who informed me that his name was Jim, rode a smaller,
+      Spanish horse, a beautiful but rather wicked-looking creature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We proceeded down the drive. Pedro was standing at the door of the lodge,
+      talking to his surly-looking daughter. He saluted me very ceremoniously as
+      I passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pursuing an easterly route for a quarter of a mile or so, we came to a
+      narrow lane which branched off to the left in a tremendous declivity.
+      Indeed it presented the appearance of the dry bed of a mountain torrent,
+      and in wet weather a torrent this lane became, so I was informed by Jim.
+      It was very rugged and dangerous, and here we dismounted, the groom
+      leading the horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we were upon a well-laid main road, and along this we trotted on to a
+      tempting stretch of heath-land. There was a heavy mist, but the scent of
+      the heather in the early morning was delightful, and there was something
+      exhilarating in the dull thud of the hoofs upon the springy turf. The
+      negro was a natural horseman, and he seemed to enjoy the ride every bit as
+      much as I did. For my own part I was sorry to return. But the vapours of
+      the night had been effectively cleared from my mind, and when presently we
+      headed again for the hills, I could think more coolly of those problems
+      which overnight had seemed well-nigh insoluble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We returned by a less direct route, but only at one point was the path so
+      steep as that by which we had descended. This brought us out on a road
+      above and about a mile to the south of Cray&rsquo;s Folly. At one point, through
+      a gap in the trees, I found myself looking down at the gray stone building
+      in its setting of velvet lawns and gaily patterned gardens. A faint mist
+      hovered like smoke over the grass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Five minutes later we passed a queer old Jacobean house, so deeply hidden
+      amidst trees that the early morning sun had not yet penetrated to it,
+      except for one upstanding gable which was bathed in golden light. I should
+      never have recognized the place from that aspect, but because of its
+      situation I knew that this must be the Guest House. It seemed very gloomy
+      and dark, and remembering how I was pledged to call upon Mr. Colin Camber
+      that day, I apprehended that my reception might be a cold one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently we left the road and cantered across the valley meadows, in
+      which I had walked on the previous day, reentering Cray&rsquo;s Folly on the
+      south, although we had left it on the north. We dismounted in the
+      stable-yard, and I noted two other saddle horses in the stalls, a pair of
+      very clean-looking hunters, as well as two perfectly matched ponies,
+      which, Jim informed me, Madame de Stämer sometimes drove in a chaise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Feeling vastly improved by the exercise, I walked around to the veranda,
+      and through the drawing room to the hall. Manoel was standing there, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your bath is ready, sir,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded and went upstairs. It seemed to me that life at Cray&rsquo;s Folly was
+      quite agreeable, and such was my mood that the shadowy Bat Wing menace
+      found no place in it save as the chimera of a sick man&rsquo;s imagination. One
+      thing only troubled me: the identity of the woman who had been with
+      Colonel Menendez on the previous night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, such unconscious sun worshippers are we all that in the glory of
+      that summer morning I realized that life was good, and I resolutely put
+      behind me the dark suspicions of the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked into Harley&rsquo;s room ere descending, and, as he had assured me
+      would be the case, there he was, propped up in bed, the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>
+      upon the floor beside him and the <i>Times</i> now open upon the coverlet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am ravenously hungry,&rdquo; I said, maliciously, &ldquo;and am going down to eat a
+      hearty breakfast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; he returned, treating me to one of his quizzical smiles. &ldquo;It is
+      delightful to know that someone is happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Manoel had removed my unopened newspapers from the bedroom, placing them
+      on the breakfast table on the south veranda; and I had propped the <i>Mail</i>
+      up before me and had commenced to explore a juicy grapefruit when
+      something, perhaps a faint breath of perfume, a slight rustle of
+      draperies, or merely that indefinable aura which belongs to the presence
+      of a woman, drew my glance upward and to the left. And there was Val
+      Beverley smiling down at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Oh, please don&rsquo;t interrupt your
+      breakfast. May I sit down and talk to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be most annoyed if you refused.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was dressed in a simple summery frock which left her round,
+      sun-browned arms bare above the elbow, and she laid a huge bunch of roses
+      upon the table beside my tray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am the florist of the establishment,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;These will
+      delight your eyes at luncheon. Don&rsquo;t you think we are a lot of barbarians
+      here, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if I had not taken pity upon you, here you would have bat over a
+      lonely breakfast just as though you were staying at a hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Delightful,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;now that you are here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said she, and smiled roguishly, &ldquo;that afterthought just saved you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But honestly,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;the hospitality of Colonel Menendez is true
+      hospitality. To expect one&rsquo;s guests to perform their parlour tricks around
+      a breakfast table in the morning is, on the other hand, true barbarism.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite agree with you,&rdquo; she said, quietly. &ldquo;There is a perfectly
+      delightful freedom about the Colonel&rsquo;s way of living. Only some horrid old
+      Victorian prude could possibly take exception to it. Did you enjoy your
+      ride?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Immensely,&rdquo; I replied, watching her delightedly as she arranged the roses
+      in carefully blended groups.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her fingers were very delicate and tactile, and such is the character
+      which resides in the human hand, that whereas the gestures of Madame de
+      Stämer were curiously stimulating, there was something in the movement of
+      Val Beverley&rsquo;s pretty fingers amidst the blooms which I found most
+      soothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I passed the Guest House on my return,&rdquo; I continued. &ldquo;Do you know Mr.
+      Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at me in a startled way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t. Do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I met him by chance yesterday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really? I thought he was quite unapproachable; a sort of ogre.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, he is a man of great charm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Val Beverley, &ldquo;well, since you have said so, I might as well
+      admit that he has always seemed a charming man to me. I have never spoken
+      to him, but he looks as though he could be very fascinating. Have you met
+      his wife?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. Is she also American?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My companion shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;I have seen her several times of course,
+      and she is one of the daintiest creatures imaginable, but I know nothing
+      about her nationality.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is young, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very young, I should say. She looks quite a child.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The reason of my interest,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;is that Mr. Camber asked me to
+      call upon him, and I propose to do so later this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again I detected the startled expression upon Val Beverley&rsquo;s face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is rather curious, since you are staying here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she looked about her nervously, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know the reason, but the
+      name of Mr. Camber is anathema in Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Menendez told me last night that he had never met Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley shrugged her shoulders, a habit which it was easy to see she
+      had acquired from Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps not,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;but I am certain he hates him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hates Mr. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; Her expression grew troubled. &ldquo;It is another of those mysteries
+      which seem to be part of Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s normal existence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is this dislike mutual?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That I cannot say, since I have never met Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Madame de Stämer, does she share it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fully, I think. But don&rsquo;t ask me what it means, because I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She dismissed the subject with a light gesture and poured me out a second
+      cup of coffee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to leave you now,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I have to justify my existence
+      in my own eyes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must you really go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must really.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then tell me something before you go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She gathered up the bunches of roses and looked down at me with a wistful
+      expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, what is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you detect those mysterious footsteps again last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The look of wistfulness changed to another which I hated to see in her
+      eyes, an expression of repressed fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she replied in a very low voice, &ldquo;but why do you ask the question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Doubt of her had been far enough from my mind, but that something in the
+      tone of my voice had put her on her guard I could see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am naturally curious,&rdquo; I replied, gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she repeated, &ldquo;I have not heard the sound for some time now.
+      Perhaps, after all, my fears were imaginary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a constraint in her manner which was all too obvious, and when
+      presently, laden with the spoil of the rose garden, she gave me a parting
+      smile and hurried into the house, I sat there very still for a while, and
+      something of the brightness had faded from the coming, nor did life seem
+      so glad a business as I had thought it quite recently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. AT THE GUEST HOUSE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I presented myself at the Guest House at half-past eleven. My mental state
+      was troubled and indescribably complex. Perhaps my own uneasy, thoughts
+      were responsible for the idea, but it seemed to me that the atmosphere of
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly had changed yet again. Never before had I experienced a sense
+      of foreboding like that which had possessed me throughout the hours of
+      this bright summer&rsquo;s morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez had appeared about nine o&rsquo;clock. He exhibiting no traces
+      of illness that were perceptible to me. But this subtle change which I had
+      detected, or thought I had detected, was more marked in Madame Stämer than
+      in any one. In her strange, still eyes I had read what I can only describe
+      as a stricken look. It had none of the heroic resignation and acceptance
+      of the inevitable which had so startled me in the face of the Colonel on
+      the previous day. There was a bitterness in it, as of one who has made a
+      great but unwilling sacrifice, and again I had found myself questing that
+      faint but fugitive memory, conjured up by the eyes of Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never had the shadow lain so darkly upon the house as it lay this morning
+      with the sun blazing gladly out of a serene sky. The birds, the flowers,
+      and Mother Earth herself bespoke the joy of summer. But beneath the roof
+      of Cray&rsquo;s Folly dwelt a spirit of unrest, of apprehension. I thought of
+      that queer lull which comes before a tropical storm, and I thought I read
+      a knowledge of pending evil even in the glances of the servants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had spoken to Harley of this fear. He had smiled and nodded grimly,
+      saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Evidently, Knox, you have forgotten that to-night is the night of the
+      full moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was in no easy state of mind, then, that I opened the gate and walked
+      up to the porch of the Guest House. That the solution of the grand mystery
+      of Cray&rsquo;s Folly would automatically resolve these lesser mysteries I felt
+      assured, and I was supported by the idea that a clue might lie here.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The house, which from the roadway had an air of neglect, proved on close
+      inspection to be well tended, but of an unprosperous aspect. The brass
+      knocker, door knob, and letter box were brilliantly polished, whilst the
+      windows and the window curtains were spotlessly clean. But the place cried
+      aloud for the service of the decorator, and it did not need the deductive
+      powers of a Paul Harley to determine that Mr. Colin Camber was in
+      straitened circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In response to my ringing the door was presently opened by Ah Tsong. His
+      yellow face exhibited no trace of emotion whatever. He merely opened the
+      door and stood there looking at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Mr. Camber at home?&rdquo; I enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master no got,&rdquo; crooned Ah Tsong.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He proceeded quietly to close the door again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;one moment. I wish, at any rate, to leave my card.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Tsong allowed the door to remain open, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No usee palaber so fashion,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;No feller comee here. Sabby?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I savvy, right enough,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but all the same you have got to take my
+      card in to Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I handed him a card as I spoke, and suddenly addressing him in &ldquo;pidgin,&rdquo;
+       of which, fortunately, I had a smattering:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Belong very quick, Ah Tsong,&rdquo; I said, sharply, &ldquo;or plenty big trouble,
+      savvy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sabby, sabby,&rdquo; he muttered, nodding his head; and leaving me standing in
+      the porch he retired along the sparsely carpeted hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This hall was very gloomily lighted, but I could see several pieces of
+      massive old furniture and a number of bookcases, all looking incredibly
+      untidy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rather less than a minute elapsed, I suppose, when from some place at the
+      farther end of the hallway Mr. Camber appeared in person. He wore a
+      threadbare dressing gown, the silken collar and cuffs of which were very
+      badly frayed. His hair was dishevelled and palpably he had not shaved this
+      morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was smoking a corncob pipe, and he slowly approached, glancing from the
+      card which he held in his hand in my direction, and then back again at the
+      card, with a curious sort of hesitancy. In spite of his untidy appearance
+      I could not fail to mark the dignity of his bearing, and the almost
+      arrogant angle at which he held his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr&mdash;er&mdash;Malcolm Knox?&rdquo; he began, fixing his large eyes upon me
+      with a look in which I could detect no sign of recognition. &ldquo;I am advised
+      that you desire to see me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is so, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; I replied, cheerily. &ldquo;I fear I have interrupted
+      your work, but as no other opportunity may occur of renewing an
+      acquaintance which for my part I found extremely pleasant&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of renewing an acquaintance, you say, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite.&rdquo; He looked me up and down critically. &ldquo;To be sure, we have met
+      before, I understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We met yesterday, Mr. Camber, you may recall. Having chanced to come
+      across a contribution of yours of the <i>Occult Review</i>, I have availed
+      myself of your invitation to drop in for a chat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His expression changed immediately and the sombre eyes lighted up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, of course,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;you are a student of the transcendental.
+      Forgive my seeming rudeness, Mr. Knox, but indeed my memory is of the
+      poorest. Pray come in, sir; your visit is very welcome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He held the door wide open, and inclined his head in a gesture of curious
+      old-world courtesy which was strange in so young a man. And congratulating
+      myself upon the happy thought which had enabled me to win such instant
+      favour, I presently found myself in a study which I despair of describing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In some respects it resembled the lumber room of an antiquary, whilst in
+      many particulars it corresponded to the interior of one of those
+      second-hand bookshops which abound in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross
+      Road. The shelves with which it was lined literally bulged with books, and
+      there were books on the floor, books on the mantelpiece, and books, some
+      open and some shut, some handsomely bound, and some having the covers torn
+      off, upon every table and nearly every chair in the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Volume seven of Burton&rsquo;s monumental &ldquo;Thousand Nights and a Night&rdquo; lay upon
+      a littered desk before which I presumed Mr. Camber had been seated at the
+      time of my arrival. Some wet vessel, probably a cup of tea or coffee, had
+      at some time been set down upon the page at which this volume was open,
+      for it was marked with a dark brown ring. A volume of Fraser&rsquo;s &ldquo;Golden
+      Bough&rdquo; had been used as an ash tray, apparently, since the binding was
+      burned in several places where cigarettes had been laid upon it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this interesting, indeed unique apartment, East met West, unabashed by
+      Kipling&rsquo;s dictum. Roman tear-vases and Egyptian tomb-offerings stood upon
+      the same shelf as empty Bass bottles; and a hideous wooden idol from the
+      South Sea Islands leered on eternally, unmoved by the presence upon his
+      distorted head of a soft felt hat made, I believe, in Philadelphia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strange implements from early British barrows found themselves in the
+      company of <i>Thugee</i> daggers There were carved mammals&rsquo; tusks and
+      snake emblems from Yucatan; against a Chinese ivory model of the Temple of
+      Ten Thousand Buddhas rested a Coptic crucifix made from a twig of the Holy
+      Rose Tree. Across an ancient Spanish coffer was thrown a Persian rug into
+      which had been woven the monogram of Shah-Jehan and a text from the Koran.
+      It was easy to see that Mr. Colin Camber&rsquo;s studies must have imposed a
+      severe strain upon his purse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Mr. Knox, sit down,&rdquo; he said, sweeping a vellum-bound volume of
+      Eliphas Levi from a chair, and pushing the chair forward. &ldquo;The visit of a
+      fellow-student is a rare pleasure for me. And you find me, sir,&rdquo; he seated
+      himself in a curious, carved chair which stood before the desk, &ldquo;you find
+      me engaged upon enquiries, the result of which will constitute chapter
+      forty-two of my present book. Pray glance at the contents of this little
+      box.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He placed in my hands a small box of dark wood, evidently of great age. It
+      contained what looked like a number of shrivelled beans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having glanced at it curiously I returned it to him, shaking my head
+      blankly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are puzzled?&rdquo; he said, with a kind of boyish triumph, which lighted
+      up his face, which rejuvenated him and gave me a glimpse of another man.
+      &ldquo;These, sir,&rdquo; he touched the shrivelled objects with a long, delicate
+      forefinger &ldquo;are seeds of the sacred lotus of Ancient Egypt. They were
+      found in the tomb of a priest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And in what way do they bear upon the enquiry to which you referred, Mr.
+      Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In this way,&rdquo; he replied, drawing toward him a piece of newspaper upon
+      which rested a mound of coarse shag. &ldquo;I maintain that the vital principle
+      survives within them. Now, I propose to cultivate these seeds, Mr. Knox.
+      Do you grasp the significance, of this experiment?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He knocked out the corn-cob upon the heel of his slipper and began to
+      refill the hot bowl with shag from the newspaper at his elbow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From a physical point of view, yes,&rdquo; I replied, slowly. &ldquo;But I should not
+      have supposed such an experiment to come within the scope of your own
+      particular activities, Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; he returned, triumphantly, at the same time stuffing tobacco into
+      the bowl of the corn-cob, &ldquo;it is for this very reason that chapter
+      forty-two of my book must prove to be the hub of the whole, and the whole,
+      Mr. Knox, I am egotist enough to believe, shall establish a new focus for
+      thought, an intellectual Rome bestriding and uniting the Seven Hills of
+      Unbelief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He lighted his pipe and stared at me complacently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whilst I had greatly revised my first estimate of the man, my revisions
+      had been all in his favour. Respecting his genius my first impression was
+      confirmed. That he was ahead of his generation, perhaps a new Galileo, I
+      was prepared to believe. He had a pride of bearing which I think was
+      partly racial, but which in part, too, was the insignia of intellectual
+      superiority. He stood above the commonplace, caring little for the views
+      of those around and beneath him. From vanity he was utterly free. His was
+      strangely like the egotism of true genius.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, sir,&rdquo; he continued, puffing furiously at his corn-cob, &ldquo;I observed
+      you glancing a moment ago at this volume of the &lsquo;Golden Bough.&rsquo;&rdquo; He
+      pointed to the scarred book which I have already mentioned. &ldquo;It is a work
+      of profound scholarship. But having perused its hundreds of pages, what
+      has the student learned? Does he know why the twenty-sixth chapter of the
+      &lsquo;Book of the dead&rsquo; was written upon lapis-lazuli, the twenty-seventh upon
+      green felspar, the twenty-ninth upon cornelian, and the thirtieth upon
+      serpentine? He does not. Having studied Part Four, has he learned the
+      secret of why Osiris was a black god, although he typified the Sun? Has he
+      learned why modern Christianity is losing its hold upon the nations,
+      whilst Buddhism, so called, counts its disciples by millions? He has not.
+      This is because the scholar is rarely the seer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite agree with you,&rdquo; I said, thinking that I detected the drift of
+      his argument.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I am an American citizen, Mr. Knox, which is
+      tantamount to stating that I belong to the greatest community of traders
+      which has appeared since the Phoenicians overran the then known world.
+      America has not produced the mystic, yet Judæa produced the founder of
+      Christianity, and Gautama Buddha, born of a royal line, established the
+      creed of human equity. In what way did these magicians, for a
+      miracle-worker is nothing but a magician, differ from ordinary men? In one
+      respect only: They had learned to control that force which we have to-day
+      termed Will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke those words Colin Camber directed upon me a glance from his
+      luminous eyes which frankly thrilled me. The bemused figure of the
+      Lavender Arms was forgotten. I perceived before me a man of power, a man
+      of extraordinary knowledge and intellectual daring. His voice, which was
+      very beautiful, together with his glance, held me enthralled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What we call Will,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;is what the Ancient Egyptians called
+      <i>Khu</i>. It is not mental: it is a property of the soul. At this point,
+      Mr. Knox, I depart from the laws generally accepted by my contemporaries.
+      I shall presently propose to you that the eye of the Divine Architect
+      literally watches every creature upon the earth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Literally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Literally, Mr. Knox. We need no images, no idols, no paintings. All
+      power, all light comes from one source. That source is the sun! The sun
+      controls Will, and the Will is the soul. If there were a cavern in the
+      earth so deep that the sun could never reach it, and if it were possible
+      for a child to be born in that cavern, do you know what that child would
+      be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Almost certainly blind,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;beyond which my imagination fails
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will inform you, Mr. Knox. It would be a demon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; I cried, and was momentarily touched with the fear that this was a
+      brilliant madman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; he said, and pointed with the stem of his pipe. &ldquo;Why, in all
+      ancient creeds, is Hades depicted as below? For the simple reason that
+      could such a spot exist and be inhabited, it must be <i>sunless</i>, when
+      it could only be inhabited by devils; and what are devils but creatures
+      without souls?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that a child born beyond reach of the sun&rsquo;s influence would have
+      no soul?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such is my meaning, Mr. Knox. Do you begin to see the importance of my
+      experiment with the lotus seeds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I shook my head slowly. Whereupon, laying his corn-cob upon the desk,
+      Colin Camber burst into a fit of boyish laughter, which seemed to
+      rejuvenate him again, which wiped out the image of the magus completely,
+      and only left before me a very human student of strange subjects, and
+      withal a fascinating companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear, sir,&rdquo; he said, presently, &ldquo;that my steps have led me farther into
+      the wilderness than it has been your fate to penetrate. The whole secret
+      of the universe is contained in the words Day and Night, Darkness and
+      Light. I have studied both the light and the darkness, deliberately and
+      without fear. A new age is about to dawn, sir, and a new age requires new
+      beliefs, new truths. Were you ever in the country of the Hill Dyaks?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This abrupt question rather startled me, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You refer to the Borneo hill-country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I was never there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then this little magical implement will be new to you,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Standing up, he crossed to a cabinet littered untidily with all sorts of
+      strange-looking objects, carved bones, queer little inlaid boxes, images,
+      untidy manuscripts, and what-not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took up what looked like a very ungainly tobacco-pipe, made of some
+      rich brown wood, and, handing it to me:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Examine this, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said, the boyish smile of triumph returning
+      again to his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I did as he requested and made no discovery of note. The thing clearly was
+      not intended for a pipe. The stem was soiled and, moreover, there was
+      carving inside the bowl. So that presently I returned it to him, shaking
+      my head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless one should be informed of the properties of this little
+      instrument,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;discovery by experiment is improbable. Now,
+      note.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He struck the hollow of the bowl upon the palm of his hand, and it
+      delivered a high, bell-like note which lingered curiously. Then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Note again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He made a short striking motion with the thing, similar to that which one
+      would employ who had designed to jerk something out of the bowl. And at
+      the very spot on the floor where any object contained in the bowl would
+      have fallen, came a reprise of the bell note! Clearly, from almost at my
+      feet, it sounded, a high, metallic ring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He struck upward, and the bell-note sounded on the ceiling; to the right,
+      and it came from the window; in my direction, and the tiny bell seemed to
+      ring beside my ear! I will honestly admit that I was startled, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dyak magic,&rdquo; said Colin Camber; &ldquo;one of nature&rsquo;s secrets not yet
+      discovered by conventional Western science. It was known to the Egyptian
+      priesthood, of course; hence the Vocal Memnon. It was known to Madame
+      Blavatsky, who employed an &lsquo;astral bell&rsquo;; and it is known to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned the little instrument to its place upon the cabinet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder if the fact will strike you as significant,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that the
+      note which you have just heard can only be produced between sunrise and
+      sunset?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without giving me time to reply:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The most notable survival of black magic&mdash;that is, the scientific
+      employment of darkness against light&mdash;is to be met with in Haiti and
+      other islands of the West Indies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are referring to Voodooism?&rdquo; I said, slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He nodded, replacing his pipe between his teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A subject, Mr. Knox, which I investigated exhaustively some years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was watching him closely as he spoke, and a shadow, a strange shadow,
+      crept over his face, a look almost of exaltation&mdash;of mingled sorrow
+      and gladness which I find myself quite unable to describe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the West Indies, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he continued, in a strangely altered
+      voice, &ldquo;I lost all and found all. Have you ever realized, sir, that sorrow
+      is the price we must pay for joy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I did not understand his question, and was still wondering about it when I
+      heard a gentle knock, the door opened, and a woman came in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. YSOLA CAMBER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I find it difficult, now, to recapture my first impression of that
+      meeting. About the woman, hesitating before me, there was something
+      unexpected, something wholly unfamiliar. She belonged to a type with which
+      I was not acquainted. Nor was it wonderful that she should strike me in
+      this fashion, since my wanderings, although fairly extensive, had never
+      included the West Indies, nor had I been to Spain; and this girl&mdash;I
+      could have sworn that she was under twenty&mdash;was one of those rare
+      beauties, a golden Spaniard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That she was not purely Spanish I learned later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was small, and girlishly slight, with slender ankles and exquisite
+      little feet; indeed I think she had the tiniest feet of any woman I had
+      ever met. She wore a sort of white pinafore over her dress, and her arms,
+      which were bare because of the short sleeves of her frock, were of a
+      child-like roundness, whilst her creamy skin was touched with a faint
+      tinge of bronze, as though, I remember thinking, it had absorbed and
+      retained something of the Southern sunshine. She had the swaying carriage
+      which usually belongs to a tall woman, and her head and neck were Grecian
+      in poise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her hair, which was of a curious dull gold colour, presented a mass of
+      thick, tight curls, and her beauty was of that unusual character which
+      makes a Cleopatra a subject of deathless debate. What I mean to say is
+      this: whilst no man could have denied, for instance, that Val Beverley was
+      a charmingly pretty woman, nine critics out of ten must have failed to
+      classify this golden Spaniard correctly or justly. Her complexion was
+      peach-like in the Oriental sense, that strange hint of gold underlying the
+      delicate skin, and her dark blue eyes were shaded by really wonderful
+      silken lashes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emotion had the effect of enlarging the pupils, a phenomenon rarely met
+      with, so that now as she entered the room and found a stranger present
+      they seemed to be rather black than blue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her embarrassment was acute, and I think she would have retired without
+      speaking, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola,&rdquo; said Colin Camber, regarding her with a look curiously compounded
+      of sorrow and pride, &ldquo;allow me to present Mr. Malcolm Knox, who has
+      honoured us with a visit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;it gives me great pleasure that you should meet my
+      wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps I had expected this, indeed, subconsciously, I think I had.
+      Nevertheless, at the words &ldquo;my wife&rdquo; I felt that I started. The analogy
+      with Edgar Allan Poe was complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Mrs. Camber extended her hand with a sort of appealing timidity, it
+      appeared to me that she felt herself to be intruding. The expression in
+      her beautiful eyes when she glanced at her husband could only be described
+      as one of adoration; and whilst it was impossible to doubt his love for
+      her, I wondered if his colossal egotism were capable of stooping to
+      affection. I wondered if he knew how to tend and protect this delicate
+      Southern girl wife of his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Remembering the episode of the Lavender Arms, I felt justified in doubting
+      her happiness, and in this I saw an explanation of the mingled sorrow and
+      pride with which Colin Camber regarded her. It might betoken recognition
+      of his own shortcomings as a husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How nice of you to come and see us. Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke in a faintly husky manner which was curiously attractive,
+      although lacking the deep, vibrant tones of Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s memorable
+      voice. Her English was imperfect, but her accent good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your husband has been carrying me to enchanted lands, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I
+      replied. &ldquo;I have never known a morning to pass so quickly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she replied, and laughed with a childish glee which I was glad to
+      witness. &ldquo;Did he tell you all about the book which is going to make the
+      world good? Did he tell you it will make us rich as well?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rich?&rdquo; said Camber, frowning slightly. &ldquo;Nature&rsquo;s riches are health and
+      love. If we hold these the rest will come. Now that you have joined us,
+      Ysola, I shall beg Mr. Knox, in honour of this occasion, to drink a glass
+      of wine and break a biscuit as a pledge of future meetings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I watched him as he spoke, a lean, unkempt figure invested with a curious
+      dignity, and I found it almost impossible to believe that this was the
+      same man who had sat in the bar of the Lavender Arms, sipping whisky and
+      water. The resemblance to the portrait in Harley&rsquo;s office became more
+      marked than ever. There was an air of high breeding about the delicate
+      features which, curiously enough, was accentuated by the unshaven chin. I
+      recognized that refusal would be regarded as a rebuff, and therefore:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very kind,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber inclined his head gravely and courteously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are very glad to have you with us, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He clapped his hands, and, silent as a shadow, Ah Tsong appeared. I noted
+      that although it was Camber who had summoned him, it was to Mrs. Camber
+      that the Chinaman turned for orders. I had thought his yellow face
+      incapable of expression, but as his oblique eyes turned in the direction
+      of the girl I read in them a sort of dumb worship, such as one sees in the
+      eyes of a dog.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke to him rapidly in Chinese.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hoi, hoi,&rdquo; he muttered, &ldquo;hoi, hoi,&rdquo; nodded his head, and went out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw that Colin Camber had detected my interest, for:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong is really my wife&rsquo;s servant,&rdquo; he explained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she said in a low voice, and looked at me earnestly, &ldquo;Ah Tsong
+      nursed me when I was a little baby so high.&rdquo; She held her hand about four
+      feet from the floor and laughed gleefully. &ldquo;Can you imagine what a funny
+      little thing I was?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must have been a wonder-child, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I replied with
+      sincerity; &ldquo;and Ah Tsong has remained with you ever since?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ever since,&rdquo; she echoed, shaking her head in a vaguely pathetic way. &ldquo;He
+      will never leave me, do you think, Colin?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; replied her husband; &ldquo;you are all he loves in the world. A case,
+      Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he turned to me, &ldquo;of deathless fidelity rarely met with
+      nowadays and only possible, perhaps, in its true form in an Oriental.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Camber having seated herself upon one of the few chairs which was not
+      piled with books, her husband had resumed his place by the writing desk,
+      and I sought in vain to interpret the glances which passed between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fact that these two were lovers none could have mistaken. But here
+      again, as at Cray&rsquo;s Folly, I detected a shadow. I felt that something had
+      struck at the very root of their happiness, in fact, I wondered if they
+      had been parted, and were but newly reunited for there was a sort of
+      constraint between them, the more marked on the woman&rsquo;s side than on the
+      man&rsquo;s. I wondered how long they had been married, but felt that it would
+      have been indiscreet to ask.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even as the idea occurred to me, however, an opportunity arose of learning
+      what I wished to know. I heard a bell ring, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is someone at the door, Colin,&rdquo; said Mrs. Camber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will go,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Ah Tsong has enough to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without another word he stood up and walked out of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said Mrs. Camber, smiling in her naive way, &ldquo;we only have one
+      servant, except Ah Tsong, her name is Mrs. Powis. She is visiting her
+      daughter who is married. We made the poor old lady take a holiday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is difficult to imagine you burdened with household responsibilities,
+      Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Please forgive me but I cannot help wondering
+      how long you have been married?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For nearly four years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;You must have been married very young?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was twenty. Do I look so young?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I gazed at her in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You astonish me,&rdquo; I declared, which was quite true and no mere
+      compliment. &ldquo;I had guessed your age to be eighteen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she laughed, and resting her hands upon the settee leaned forward
+      with sparkling eyes, &ldquo;how funny. Sometimes I wish I looked older. It is
+      dreadful in this place, although we have been so happy here. At all the
+      shops they look at me so funny, so I always send Mrs. Powis now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are really quite wonderful,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You are Spanish, are you not,
+      Mrs. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She slightly shook her head, and I saw the pupils begin to dilate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not really Spanish,&rdquo; she replied, haltingly. &ldquo;I was born in Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it was in Cuba that you met Mr. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded again, watching me intently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is strange that a Virginian should settle in Surrey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; she murmured, &ldquo;you think so? But really it is not strange at all.
+      Colin&rsquo;s people are so proud, so proud. Do you know what they are like,
+      those Virginians? Oh! I hate them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You hate them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I cannot hate them, for he is one. But he will never go back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should he never go back, Mrs. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that you do not wish to settle in America?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not&mdash;not where he comes from. They would not have me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyes grew misty, and she quickly lowered her lashes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would not have you?&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No?&rdquo; she said, and smiled up at me very gravely. &ldquo;It is simple. I am a
+      Cuban, one, as they say, of an inferior race&mdash;and of mixed blood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her golden head as if to dismiss the subject, and stood up, as
+      Camber entered, followed by Ah Tsong bearing a tray of refreshments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of the ensuing conversation I remember nothing. My mind was focussed upon
+      the one vital fact that Mrs. Camber was a Cuban Creole. Dimly I felt that
+      here was the missing link for which Paul Harley was groping. For it was in
+      Cuba that Colin Camber had met his wife, it was from Cuba that the menace
+      of Bat Wing came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What could it mean? Surely it was more than a coincidence that these two
+      families, both associated with the West Indies, should reside within sight
+      of one another in the Surrey Hills. Yet, if it were the result of design,
+      the design must be on the part of Colonel Menendez, since the Cambers had
+      occupied the Guest House before he had leased Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I know not if I betrayed my absentmindedness during the time that I was
+      struggling vainly with these maddening problems, but presently, Mrs.
+      Camber having departed about her household duties, I found myself walking
+      down the garden with her husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the summer house of which I was speaking, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said, and
+      I regret to state that I retained no impression of his having previously
+      mentioned the subject. &ldquo;During the time that Sir James Appleton resided at
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly, I worked here regularly in the summer months. It was Sir
+      James, of course, who laid out the greater part of the gardens and who
+      rescued the property from the state of decay into which it had fallen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I aroused myself from the profitless reverie in which I had become lost.
+      We were standing before a sort of arbour which marked the end of the
+      grounds of the Guest House. It overhung the edge of a miniature ravine, in
+      which, over a pebbly course, a little stream pursued its way down the
+      valley to feed the lake in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From this point of vantage I could see the greater part of Colonel
+      Menendez&rsquo;s residence. I had an unobstructed view of the tower and of the
+      Tudor garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I abandoned my work-shop,&rdquo; pursued Colin Camber, &ldquo;when the&mdash;er&mdash;the
+      new tenant took up his residence. I work now in the room in which you
+      found me this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sighed, and turning abruptly, led the way back to the house, holding
+      himself very erect, and presenting a queer figure in his threadbare
+      dressing gown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now a perfect summer&rsquo;s day, and I commented upon the beauty of the
+      old garden, which in places was bordered by a crumbling wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a quaint old spot,&rdquo; said Camber. &ldquo;I thought at one time, because of
+      the name of the house, that it might have been part of a monastery or
+      convent. This was not the case, however. It derives its name from a
+      certain Sir Jaspar Guest, who flourished, I believe, under King Charles of
+      merry memory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;the Guest House is a charming survival of more
+      spacious days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; returned Colin Camber, gravely. &ldquo;Here it is possible to lead one&rsquo;s
+      own life, away from the noisy world,&rdquo; he sighed again wearily. &ldquo;Yes, I
+      shall regret leaving the Guest House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! You are leaving?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am leaving as soon as I can find another residence, suited both to my
+      requirements and to my slender purse. But these domestic affairs can be of
+      no possible interest to you. I take it, Mr. Knox, that you will grant my
+      wife and myself the pleasure of your company at lunch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Many thanks,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but really I must return to Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I spoke the words I had moved a little ahead at a point where the path
+      was overgrown by a rose bush, for the garden was somewhat neglected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will quite understand,&rdquo; I said, and turned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never can I forget the spectacle which I beheld.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber&rsquo;s peculiarly pale complexion had assumed a truly ghastly
+      pallor, and he stood with tightly clenched hands, glaring at me almost
+      insanely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; I cried, with concern, &ldquo;are you unwell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He moistened his dry lips, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are returning&mdash;to Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo; he said, speaking, it seemed,
+      with difficulty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am, sir. I am staying with Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He clutched the collar of his pyjama jacket and wrenched so strongly that
+      the button was torn off. His passion was incredible, insane. The power of
+      speech had almost left him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a guest of&mdash;of Devil Menendez,&rdquo; he whispered, and the
+      speaking of the name seemed almost to choke him. &ldquo;Of&mdash;Devil Menendez.
+      You&mdash;you&mdash;are a spy. You have stolen my hospitality&mdash;you
+      have obtained access to my house under false pretences. God! if I had
+      known!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; I said, sternly, and realized that I, too, had clenched my
+      fists, for the man&rsquo;s language was grossly insulting, &ldquo;you forget
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I do,&rdquo; he muttered, thickly; &ldquo;and therefore&rdquo;&mdash;he raised a
+      quivering forefinger&mdash;&ldquo;go! If you have any spark of compassion in
+      your breast, go! Leave my house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nostrils dilated, he stood with that quivering finger outstretched, and
+      now having become as speechless as he, I turned and walked rapidly up to
+      the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong! Ah Tsong!&rdquo; came a cry from behind me in tones which I can only
+      describe as hysterical&mdash;&ldquo;Mr. Knox&rsquo;s hat and stick. Quickly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I walked in past the study door the Chinaman came to meet me, holding
+      my hat and cane. I took them from him without a word, and, the door being
+      held open by Ah Tsong, walked out on to the road.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My heart was beating rapidly. I did not know what to think nor what to do.
+      This ignominious dismissal afforded an experience new to me. I was
+      humiliated, mortified, but above all, wildly angry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How far I had gone on my homeward journey I cannot say, when the sound of
+      quickly pattering footsteps intruded upon my wild reverie. I stopped,
+      turned, and there was Ah Tsong almost at my heels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Blinga chit flom lilly missee,&rdquo; he said, and held the note toward me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I hesitated, glaring at him in a way that must have been very unpleasant;
+      but recovering myself I tore open the envelope, and read the following
+      note, written in pencil and very shakily:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MR. KNOX. Please forgive him. If you knew what we have suffered from Senor
+      Don Juan Menendez, I know you would forgive him. Please, for my sake.
+      YSOLA CAMBER.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Chinaman was watching me, that strangely pathetic expression in his
+      eyes, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell your mistress that I quite understand and will write to her,&rdquo; I
+      said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hoi, hoi.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Tsong turned, and ran swiftly off, as I pursued my way back to Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly in a mood which I shall not attempt to describe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. UNREST
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I sat in Paul Harley&rsquo;s room. Luncheon was over, and although, as on the
+      previous day, it had been a perfect repast, perfectly served, the sense of
+      tension which I had experienced throughout the meal had made me horribly
+      ill at ease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That shadow of which I have spoken elsewhere seemed to have become almost
+      palpable. In vain I had ascribed it to a morbid imagination: persistently
+      it lingered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s gaiety rang more false than ever. She twirled the rings
+      upon her slender fingers and shot little enquiring glances all around the
+      table. This spirit of unrest, from wherever it arose, had communicated
+      itself to everybody. Madame&rsquo;s several bon mots one and all were failures.
+      She delivered them without conviction like an amateur repeating lines
+      learned by heart. The Colonel was unusually silent, eating little but
+      drinking much. There was something unreal, almost ghastly, about the whole
+      affair; and when at last Madame de Stämer retired, bearing Val Beverley
+      with her, I felt certain that the Colonel would make some communication to
+      us. If ever knowledge of portentous evil were written upon a man&rsquo;s face it
+      was written upon his, as he sat there at the head of the table, staring
+      straightly before him. However:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if your enquiries here have led to no result of,
+      shall I say, a tangible character, at least I feel sure that you must have
+      realized one thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stared at him sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have realized, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that something is
+      pending.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; murmured the Colonel, and he clutched the edge of the table with his
+      strong brown hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; continued my friend, &ldquo;I have realized something more. You have
+      asked for my aid, and I am here. Now you have deliberately tied my hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, sir?&rdquo; asked the other, softly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will speak plainly. I mean that you know more about the nature of this
+      danger than you have ever communicated to me. Allow me to proceed, if you
+      please, Colonel Menendez. For your delightful hospitality I thank you. As
+      your guest I could be happy, but as a professional investigator whose
+      services have been called upon under most unusual circumstances, I cannot
+      be happy and I do not thank you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Their glances met. Both were angry, wilful, and self-confident. Following
+      a few moments of silence:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said the Colonel, &ldquo;you have something further to
+      say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have this to say,&rdquo; was the answer: &ldquo;I esteem your friendship, but I
+      fear I must return to town without delay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel&rsquo;s jaws were clenched so tightly that I could see the muscles
+      protruding. He was fighting an inward battle; then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you would desert me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never deserted any man who sought my aid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have sought your aid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then accept it!&rdquo; cried Harley. &ldquo;This, or allow me to retire from the
+      case. You ask me to find an enemy who threatens you, and you withhold
+      every clue which could aid me in my search.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What clue have I withheld?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stood up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is useless to discuss the matter further, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he said,
+      coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel rose also, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, and his high voice was ill-controlled, &ldquo;if I
+      give you my word of honour that I dare not tell you more, and if, having
+      done so, I beg of you to remain at least another night, can you refuse
+      me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stood at the end of the table watching him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this would appear to be a game in which my
+      handicap rests on the fact that I do not know against whom I am pitted.
+      Very well. You leave me no alternative but to reply that I will stay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you, Mr. Harley. As I fear I am far from well, dare I hope to be
+      excused if I retire to my room for an hour&rsquo;s rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I bowed, and the Colonel, returning our salutations, walked
+      slowly out, his bearing one of grace and dignity. So that memorable
+      luncheon terminated, and now we found ourselves alone and faced with a
+      problem which, from whatever point one viewed it, offered no single
+      opening whereby one might hope to penetrate to the truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley was pacing up and down the room in a state of such nervous
+      irritability as I never remembered to have witnessed in him before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had just finished an account of my visit to the Guest House and of the
+      indignity which had been put upon me, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Conundrums! conundrums!&rdquo; my friend exclaimed. &ldquo;This quest of Bat Wing is
+      like the quest of heaven, Knox. A hundred open doors invite us, each one
+      promising to lead to the light, and if we enter where do they lead?&mdash;to
+      mystification. For instance, Colonel Menendez has broadly hinted that he
+      looks upon Colin Camber as an enemy. Judging from your reception at the
+      Guest House to-day, such an enmity, and a deadly enmity, actually exists.
+      But whereas Camber has resided here for three years, the Colonel is a
+      newcomer. We are, therefore, offered the spectacle of a trembling victim
+      seeking the sacrifice. Bah! it is preposterous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you had seen Colin Camber&rsquo;s face to-day, you might not have thought it
+      so preposterous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I should, Knox! I should! It is impossible to suppose that Colonel
+      Menendez was unaware when he leased Cray&rsquo;s Folly that Camber occupied the
+      Guest House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Mrs. Camber is a Cuban,&rdquo; I murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t, Knox!&rdquo; my friend implored. &ldquo;This case is driving me mad. I have a
+      conviction that it is going to prove my Waterloo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;this mood is new to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you advise me to remember Auguste Dupin?&rdquo; asked Harley,
+      bitterly. &ldquo;That great man, preserving his philosophical calm, doubtless by
+      this time would have pieced together these disjointed clues, and have
+      produced an elegant pattern ready to be framed and exhibited to the
+      admiring public.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He dropped down upon the bed, and taking his briar from his pocket, began
+      to load it in a manner which was almost vicious. I stood watching him and
+      offered no remark, until, having lighted the pipe, he began to smoke. I
+      knew that these &ldquo;Indian moods&rdquo; were of short duration, and, sure enough,
+      presently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God bless us all, Knox,&rdquo; he said, breaking into an amused smile, &ldquo;how we
+      bristle when someone tries to prove that we are not infallible! How human
+      we are, Knox, but how fortunate that we can laugh at ourselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sighed with relief, for Harley at these times imposed a severe strain
+      even upon my easy-going disposition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us go down to the billiard room,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;I will play you a
+      hundred up. I have arrived at a point where my ideas persistently work in
+      circles. The best cure is golf; failing golf, billiards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The billiard room was immediately beneath us, adjoining the last apartment
+      in the east wing, and there we made our way. Harley played keenly,
+      deliberately, concentrating upon the game. I was less successful, for I
+      found myself alternately glancing toward the door and the open window, in
+      the hope that Val Beverley would join us. I was disappointed, however. We
+      saw no more of the ladies until tea-time, and if a spirit of constraint
+      had prevailed throughout luncheon, a veritable demon of unrest presided
+      upon the terrace during tea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer made apologies on behalf of the Colonel. He was
+      prolonging his siesta, but he hoped to join us at dinner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is the Colonel&rsquo;s heart affected?&rdquo; Harley asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, blankly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is mysterious, the state of his health,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;An old trouble,
+      which began years and years ago in Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley nodded sympathetically, but I could see that he was not satisfied.
+      Yet, although he might doubt her explanation, he had noted, and so had I,
+      that Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s concern was very real. Her slender hands were
+      strangely unsteady; indeed her condition bordered on one of distraction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley concealed his thoughts, whatever they may have been, beneath that
+      mask of reserve which I knew so well, whilst I endeavoured in vain to draw
+      Val Beverley into conversation with me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I gathered that Madame de Stämer had been to visit the invalid, and that
+      she was all anxiety to return was a fact she was wholly unable to conceal.
+      There was a tired look in her still eyes, as though she had undertaken a
+      task beyond her powers to perform, and, so unnatural a quartette were we,
+      that when presently she withdrew I was glad, although she took Val
+      Beverley with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley resumed his seat, staring at me with unseeing eyes. A sound
+      reached us through the drawing room which told us that Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s
+      chair was being taken upstairs, a task always performed when Madame
+      desired to visit the upper floors by Manoel and Pedro&rsquo;s daughter, Nita,
+      who acted as Madame&rsquo;s maid. These sounds died away, and I thought how
+      silent everything had become. Even the birds were still, and presently, my
+      eye being attracted to a black speck in the sky above, I learned why the
+      feathered choir was mute. A hawk was hovering loftily overhead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Noting my upward glance, Paul Harley also raised his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;a hawk. All the birds are cowering in their nests.
+      Nature is a cruel mistress, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. RED EVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Over the remainder of that afternoon I will pass in silence. Indeed,
+      looking backward now, I cannot recollect that it afforded one incident
+      worthy of record. But because great things overshadow small, so it may be
+      that whereas my recollections of quite trivial episodes are sharp enough
+      up to a point, my memories from this point onward to the horrible and
+      tragic happening which I have set myself to relate are hazy and
+      indistinct. I was troubled by the continued absence of Val Beverley. I
+      thought that she was avoiding me by design, and in Harley&rsquo;s gloomy
+      reticence I could find no shadow of comfort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We wandered aimlessly about the grounds, Harley staring up in a vague
+      fashion at the windows of Cray&rsquo;s Folly; and presently, when I stopped to
+      inspect a very perfect rose bush, he left me without a word, and I found
+      myself alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Later, as I sauntered toward the Tudor garden, where I had hoped to
+      encounter Miss Beverley, I heard the clicking of billiard balls; and there
+      was Harley at the table, practising fancy shots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced up at me as I paused by the open window, stopped to relight his
+      pipe, and then bent over the table again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave me alone, Knox,&rdquo; he muttered; &ldquo;I am not fit for human society.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Understanding his moods as well as I did, I merely laughed and withdrew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I strolled around into the library and inspected scores of books without
+      forming any definite impression of the contents of any of them. Manoel
+      came in whilst I was there and I was strongly tempted to send a message to
+      Miss Beverley, but common sense overcame the inclination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When at last my watch told me that the hour for dressing was arrived, I
+      heaved a sigh of relief. I cannot say that I was bored, my ill-temper
+      sprang from a deeper source than this. The mysterious disappearance of the
+      inmates of Cray&rsquo;s Folly, and a sort of brooding stillness which lay over
+      the great house, had utterly oppressed me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I passed along the terrace I paused to admire the spectacle afforded by
+      the setting sun. The horizon was on fire from north to south and the
+      countryside was stained with that mystic radiance which is sometimes
+      called the Blood of Apollo. Turning, I saw the disk of the moon coldly
+      rising in the heavens. I thought of the silent birds and the hovering
+      hawk, and I began my preparations for dinner mechanically, dressing as an
+      automaton might dress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s personality was never more marked than in his evil moods.
+      His power to fascinate was only equalled by his power to repel. Thus,
+      although there was a light in his room and I could hear Lim moving about,
+      I did not join him when I had finished dressing, but lighting a cigarette
+      walked downstairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The beauty of the night called to me, although as I stepped out upon the
+      terrace I realized with a sort of shock that the gathering dusk held a
+      menace, so that I found myself questioning the shadows and doubting the
+      rustle of every leaf. Something invisible, intangible yet potent, brooded
+      over Cray&rsquo;s Folly. I began to think more kindly of the disappearance of
+      Val Beverley during the afternoon. Doubtless she, too, had been touched by
+      this spirit of unrest and in solitude had sought to dispel it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So thinking. I walked on in the direction of the Tudor garden. The place
+      was bathed in a sort of purple half-light, lending it a fairy air of
+      unreality, as though banished sun and rising moon yet disputed for mastery
+      over earth. This idea set me thinking of Colin Camber, of Osiris, whom he
+      had described as a black god, and of Isis, whose silver disk now held
+      undisputed sovereignty of the evening sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Resentment of the treatment which I had received at the Guest House still
+      burned hotly within me, but the mystery of it all had taken the keen edge
+      off my wrath, and I think a sort of melancholy was the keynote of my
+      reflections as, descending the steps to the sunken garden, I saw Val
+      Beverley, in a delicate blue gown, coming toward me. She was the spirit of
+      my dreams, and the embodiment of my mood. When she lowered her eyes at my
+      approach, I knew by virtue of a sort of inspiration that she had been
+      avoiding me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I have been looking for you all the afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you? I have been in my room writing letters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I paced slowly along beside her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you would be very frank with me,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced up swiftly, and as swiftly lowered her lashes again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think I am not frank?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do think so. I understand why.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you really understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I do. Your woman&rsquo;s intuition has told you that there is something
+      wrong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are afraid of your thoughts. You can see that Madame de Stämer and
+      Colonel Menendez are deliberately concealing something from Paul Harley,
+      and you don&rsquo;t know where your duty lies. Am I right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She met my glance for a moment in a startled way, then: &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said,
+      softly; &ldquo;you are quite right. How have you guessed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have tried very hard to understand you,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;and so perhaps up
+      to a point I have succeeded.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox.&rdquo; She suddenly laid her hand upon my arm. &ldquo;I am oppressed
+      with such a dreadful foreboding, yet I don&rsquo;t know how to explain it to
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand. I, too, have felt it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have?&rdquo; She paused, and looked at me eagerly. &ldquo;Then it is not just
+      morbid imagination on my part. If only I knew what to do, what to believe.
+      Really, I am bewildered. I have just left Madame de Stämer&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; I said, for she had paused in evident doubt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, she has utterly broken down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Broken down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She came to my room and sobbed hysterically for nearly an hour this
+      afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what was the cause of her grief?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I simply cannot understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it possible that Colonel Menendez is dangerously ill?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be so, Mr. Knox, but in that event why have they not sent for a
+      physician?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; I murmured; &ldquo;and no one has been sent for?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you seen Colonel Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not since lunch-time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you ever known him to suffer in this way before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never. It is utterly unaccountable. Certainly during the last few months
+      he has given up riding practically altogether, and in other ways has
+      changed his former habits, but I have never known him to exhibit traces of
+      any real illness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has any medical man attended him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not that I know of. Oh, there is something uncanny about it all. Whatever
+      should I do if you were not here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had spoken on impulse, and seeing her swift embarrassment:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I am delighted to know that my company cheers
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Truth to tell my heart was beating rapidly, and, so selfish is the nature
+      of man, I was more glad to learn that my company was acceptable to Val
+      Beverley than I should have been to have had the riddle of Cray&rsquo;s Folly
+      laid bare before me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those sweetly indiscreet words, however, had raised a momentary barrier
+      between us, and we walked on silently to the house, and entered the
+      brightly lighted hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The silver peal of a Chinese tubular gong rang out just when we reached
+      the veranda, and as Val Beverley and I walked in from the garden, Madame
+      de Stämer came wheeling through the doorway, closely followed by Paul
+      Harley. In her the art of the toilette amounted almost to genius, and she
+      had so successfully concealed all traces of her recent grief that I
+      wondered if this could have been real.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I seem to be fated always to apologize for
+      other people. The Colonel is truly desolate, but he cannot join us for
+      dinner. I have already explained to Mr. Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley inclined his head sympathetically, and assisted to arrange Madame
+      in her place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Colonel requests us to smoke a cigar with him after dinner, Knox,&rdquo; he
+      said, glancing across to me. &ldquo;It would seem that troubles never come
+      singly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; Madame shrugged her shoulders, which her low gown left daringly
+      bare, &ldquo;they come in flocks, or not at all. But I suppose we should feel
+      lonely in the world without a few little sorrows, eh, Mr. Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I loved her unquenchable spirit, and I have wondered often enough what I
+      should have thought of her if I had known the truth. France has bred some
+      wonderful women, both good and bad, but none I think more wonderful than
+      Marie de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If such a thing were possible, we dined more extravagantly than on the
+      previous night. Madame&rsquo;s wit was at its keenest; she was truly brilliant.
+      Pedro, from the big bouffet at the end of the room, supervised this feast
+      of Lucullus, and except for odd moments of silence in which Madame seemed
+      to be listening for some distant sound, there was nothing, I think, which
+      could have told a casual observer that a black cloud rested upon the
+      house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, interrupting a tête-à-tête between Val Beverley and Paul Harley:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not encourage her, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said Madame, &ldquo;she is a desperate
+      flirt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame,&rdquo; cried Val Beverley and blushed deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know you are, my dear, and you are very wise. Flirt all your life,
+      but never fall in love. It is fatal, don&rsquo;t you think so, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;&mdash;turning
+      to me in her rapid manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked into her still eyes, which concealed so much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say, rather, that it is Fate,&rdquo; I murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that is more pretty, but not so true. If I could live my life again,
+      M. Knox,&rdquo; she said, for she sometimes used the French and sometimes the
+      English mode of address, &ldquo;I should build a stone wall around my heart. It
+      could peep over, but no one could ever reach it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Oddly enough, then, as it seems to me now, the spirit of unrest seemed
+      almost to depart for awhile, and in the company of the vivacious
+      Frenchwoman time passed very quickly up to the moment when Harley and I
+      walked slowly upstairs to join the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the latter part of dinner an idea had presented itself to me which
+      I was anxious to mention to Harley, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;an explanation of the Colonel&rsquo;s absence has occurred to
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really!&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;possibly the same one that has occurred to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley paused on the stairs, turning to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are thinking that he has taken cover from the danger which he
+      believes particularly to threaten him to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may be right,&rdquo; he murmured, proceeding upstairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He led the way to a little smoke-room which hitherto I had never visited,
+      and in response to his knock:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in,&rdquo; cried the high voice of Colonel Menendez.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We entered to find ourselves in a small and very cosy room. There was a
+      handsome oak bureau against one wall, which was littered with papers of
+      various kinds, and there was also a large bookcase occupied almost
+      exclusively by French novels. It occurred to me that the Colonel spent a
+      greater part of his time in this little snuggery than in the more formal
+      study below. At the moment of our arrival he was stretched upon a settee
+      near which stood a little table; and on this table I observed the remains
+      of what appeared to me to have been a fairly substantial repast. For some
+      reason which I did not pause to analyze at the moment I noted with
+      disfavour the presence of a bowl of roses upon the silver tray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez was smoking a cigarette, and Manoel was in the act of
+      removing the tray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; said the Colonel, &ldquo;I have no words in which to express my
+      sorrow. Manoel, pull up those armchairs. Help yourself to port, Mr.
+      Harley, and fill Mr. Knox&rsquo;s glass. I can recommend the cigars in the long
+      box.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As we seated ourselves:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am extremely sorry to find you indisposed, sir,&rdquo; said Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was watching the dark face keenly, and probably thinking, as I was
+      thinking, that it exhibited no trace of illness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez waved his cigarette gracefully, settling himself amid the
+      cushions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An old trouble, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, lightly; &ldquo;a legacy from
+      ancestors who drank too deep of the wine of life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are surely taking medical advice?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez shrugged slightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no doctor in England who would understand the case,&rdquo; he replied.
+      &ldquo;Besides, there is nothing for it but rest and avoidance of excitement.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that event, Colonel,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;we will not disturb you for long.
+      Indeed, I should not have consented to disturb you at all, if I had not
+      thought that you might have some request to make upon this important
+      night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; Colonel Menendez shot a swift glance in his direction. &ldquo;You have
+      remembered about to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your interest comforts me very greatly, gentlemen, and I am only sorry
+      that my uncertain health has made me so poor a host. Nothing has occurred
+      since your arrival to help you, I am aware. Not that I am anxious for any
+      new activity on the part of my enemies. But almost anything which should
+      end this deathly suspense would be welcome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke the final words with a peculiar intonation. I saw Harley watching
+      him closely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;However,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;everything is in the hands of Fate, and if your
+      visit should prove futile, I can only apologize for having interrupted
+      your original plans. Respecting to-night&rdquo;&mdash;he shrugged&mdash;&ldquo;what
+      can I say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing has occurred,&rdquo; asked Harley, slowly, &ldquo;nothing fresh, I mean, to
+      indicate that the danger which you apprehend may really culminate
+      to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing fresh, Mr. Harley, unless you yourself have observed anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; murmured Paul Harley, &ldquo;let us hope that the threat will never be
+      fulfilled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez inclined his head gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us hope so,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the whole, he was curiously subdued. He was most solicitous for our
+      comfort and his exquisite courtesy had never been more marked. I often
+      think of him now&mdash;his big but graceful figure reclining upon the
+      settee, whilst he skilfully rolled his eternal cigarettes and chatted in
+      that peculiar, light voice. Before the memory of Colonel Don Juan
+      Sarmiento Menendez I sometimes stand appalled. If his Maker had but
+      endowed him with other qualities of mind and heart equal to his
+      magnificent courage, then truly he had been a great man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I stood at Harley&rsquo;s open window&mdash;looking down in the Tudor garden.
+      The moon, like a silver mirror, hung in a cloudless sky. Over an hour had
+      elapsed since I had heard Pedro making his nightly rounds. Nothing
+      whatever of an unusual nature had occurred, and although Harley and I had
+      listened for any sound of nocturnal footsteps, our vigilance had passed
+      unrewarded. Harley, unrolling the Chinese ladder, had set out upon a
+      secret tour of the grounds, warning me that it must be a long business,
+      since the brilliance of the moonlight rendered it necessary that he should
+      make a wide detour, in order to avoid possible observation from the
+      windows. I had wished to join him, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I count it most important that one of us should remain in the house,&rdquo; he
+      had replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a result, here was I at the open window, questioning the shadows to
+      right and left of me, and every moment expecting to see Harley reappear. I
+      wondered what discoveries he would make. It would not have surprised me to
+      learn that there were lights in many windows of Cray&rsquo;s Folly to-night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although, when we had rejoined the ladies for half an hour, after leaving
+      Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s room, there had been no overt reference to the menace
+      overhanging the house, yet, as we separated for the night, I had detected
+      again in Val Beverley&rsquo;s eyes that look of repressed fear. Indeed, she was
+      palpably disinclined to retire, but was carried off by the masterful
+      Madame, who declared that she looked tired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I wondered now, as I gazed down into the moon-bathed gardens, if Harley
+      and I were the only wakeful members of the household at that hour. I
+      should have been prepared to wager that there were others. I thought of
+      the strange footsteps which so often passed Miss Beverley&rsquo;s room, and I
+      discovered this thought to be an uncomfortable one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Normally, I was sceptical enough, but on this night of the full moon as I
+      stood there at the window, the horrors which Colonel Menendez had related
+      to us grew very real in my eyes, and I thought that the mysteries of
+      Voodoo might conceal strange and ghastly truths, &ldquo;The scientific
+      employment of darkness against light.&rdquo; Colin Camber&rsquo;s words leapt unbidden
+      to my mind; and, such is the magic of moonlight, they became invested with
+      a new and a deeper significance. Strange, that theories which one rejects
+      whilst the sun is shining should assume a spectral shape in the light of
+      the moon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such were my musings, when suddenly I heard a faint sound as of footsteps
+      crunching upon gravel. I leaned farther out of the window, listening
+      intently. I could not believe that Harley would be guilty of such an
+      indiscretion as this, yet who else could be walking upon the path below?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I watched, craning from the window, a tall figure appeared, and, slowly
+      crossing the gravel path, descended the moss-grown steps to the Tudor
+      garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Colonel Menendez!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was bare-headed, but fully dressed as I had seen him in the
+      smoking-room; and not yet grasping the portent of his appearance at that
+      hour, but merely wondering why he had not yet retired, I continued to
+      watch him. As I did so, something in his gait, something unnatural in his
+      movements, caught hold of my mind with a sudden great conviction. He had
+      reached the path which led to the sun-dial, and with short, queer, ataxic
+      steps was proceeding in its direction, a striking figure in the brilliant
+      moonlight which touched his gray hair with a silvery sheen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His unnatural, automatic movements told their own story. He was walking in
+      his sleep! Could it be in obedience to the call of M&rsquo;kombo?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My throat grew dry and I knew not how to act. Unwillingly it seemed, with
+      ever-halting steps, the figure moved onward. I could see that his fists
+      were tightly clenched and that he held his head rigidly upright. All
+      horrors, real and imaginary, which I had ever experienced, culminated in
+      the moment when I saw this man of inflexible character, I could have sworn
+      of indomitable will, moving like a puppet under the influence of some
+      unnameable force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was almost come to the sun-dial when I determined to cry out. Then,
+      remembering the shock experienced by a suddenly awakened somnambulist, and
+      remembering that the Chinese ladder hung from the window at my feet, I
+      changed my mind. Checking the cry upon my lips, I got astride of the
+      window ledge, and began to grope for the bamboo rungs beneath me. I had
+      found the first of these, and, turning, had begun to descend, when:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Knox! Knox!&rdquo; came softly from the opening in the box hedge, &ldquo;what the
+      devil are you about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Paul Harley returned from his tour of the building.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley!&rdquo; I whispered, descending, &ldquo;quick! the Colonel has just gone into
+      the Tudor garden!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; There was a note of absolute horror in the exclamation. &ldquo;You
+      should have stopped him, Knox, you should have stopped him!&rdquo; cried Harley,
+      and with that he ran off in the same direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Disentangling my foot from the rungs of the ladder which lay upon the
+      ground, I was about to follow, when it happened&mdash;that strange and
+      ghastly thing toward which, secretly, darkly, events had been tending.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The crack of a rifle sounded sharply in the stillness, echoing and
+      re-echoing from wing to wing of Cray&rsquo;s Folly and then, more dimly, up the
+      wooded slopes beyond! Somewhere ahead of me I heard Harley cry out:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God, I am too late! They have got him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, hotfoot, I was making for the entrance to the garden. Just as I came
+      to it and raced down the steps I heard another sound the memory of which
+      haunts me to this day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Where it came from I had no idea. Perhaps I was too confused to judge
+      accurately. It might have come from the house, or from the slopes beyond
+      the house, But it was a sort of shrill, choking laugh, and it set the
+      ultimate touch of horror upon a <i>scène macabre</i> which, even as I
+      write of it, seems unreal to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I ran up the path to where Harley was kneeling beside the sun-dial.
+      Analysis of my emotions at this moment were futile; I can only say that I
+      had come to a state of stupefaction. Face downward on the grass, arms
+      outstretched and fists clenched, lay Colonel Menendez. I think I saw him
+      move convulsively, but as I gained his side Harley looked up at me, and
+      beneath the tan which he never lost his face had grown pale. He spoke
+      through clenched teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Merciful God,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;he is shot through the head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      One glance I gave at the ghastly wound in the base of the Colonel&rsquo;s skull,
+      and then swayed backward in a sort of nausea. To see a man die in the heat
+      of battle, a man one has known and called friend, is strange and terrible.
+      Here in this moon-bathed Tudor garden it was a horror almost beyond my
+      powers to endure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley, without touching the prone figure, stood up. Indeed no
+      examination of the victim was necessary. A rifle bullet had pierced his
+      brain, and he lay there dead with his head toward the hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I clutched at Harley&rsquo;s shoulder, but he stood rigidly, staring up the
+      slope past the angle of the tower, to where a gable of the Guest House
+      jutted out from the trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear&mdash;that cry?&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;immediately after the shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A moment longer he stood fixedly watching, and then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a wisp of smoke,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You note the direction in which he was
+      facing when he fell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke in a stern and unnatural voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do. He must have turned half right when he came to the sun-dial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where were you when the shot was fired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Running in this direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You saw no flash?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither did I,&rdquo; groaned Harley; &ldquo;neither did I. And short of throwing a
+      cordon round the hills what can be done? How can I move?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had somewhat relaxed, but now as I continued to clutch his arm, I felt
+      the muscles grow rigid again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look, Knox!&rdquo; he whispered&mdash;&ldquo;look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I followed the direction of his fixed stare, and through the trees on the
+      hillside a dim light shone out. Someone had lighted a lamp in the Guest
+      House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A faint, sibilant sound drew my glance upward, and there overhead a bat
+      circled&mdash;circled&mdash;dipped&mdash;and flew off toward the distant
+      woods. So still was the night that I could distinguish the babble of the
+      little stream which ran down into the lake. Then, suddenly, came a loud
+      flapping of wings. The swans had been awakened by the sound of the shot.
+      Others had been awakened, too, for now distant voices became audible, and
+      then a muffled scream from somewhere within Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Back to the house, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley, hoarsely. &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake keep the
+      women away. Get Pedro, and send Manoel for the nearest doctor. It&rsquo;s
+      useless but usual. Let no one deface his footprints. My worst
+      anticipations have come true. The local police must be informed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the time that he spoke he continued to search the moon-bathed
+      landscape with feverish eagerness, but except for a faint movement of
+      birds in the trees, for they, like the swans on the lake, had been alarmed
+      by the shot, nothing stirred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It came from the hillside,&rdquo; he muttered. &ldquo;Off you go, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And even as I started on my unpleasant errand, he had set out running
+      toward the gate in the southern corner of the garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For my part I scrambled unceremoniously up the bank, and emerged where the
+      yews stood sentinel beside the path. I ran through the gap in the box
+      hedge just as the main doors were thrown open by Pedro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He started back as he saw me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pedro! Pedro!&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;have the ladies been awakened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes! there is terrible trouble, sir. What has happened? What has
+      happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A tragedy,&rdquo; I said, shortly. &ldquo;Pull yourself together. Where is Madame de
+      Stämer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pedro uttered some exclamation in Spanish and stood, pale-faced, swaying
+      before me, a dishevelled figure in a dressing gown. And now in the
+      background Mrs. Fisher appeared. One frightened glance she cast in my
+      direction, and would have hurried across the hall but I intercepted her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you going, Mrs. Fisher?&rdquo; I demanded. &ldquo;What has happened here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Madame, to Madame,&rdquo; she sobbed, pointing toward the corridor which
+      communicated with Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s bedchamber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard a frightened cry proceeding from that direction, and recognized
+      the voice of Nita, the girl who acted as Madame&rsquo;s maid. Then I heard Val
+      Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and fetch Mrs. Fisher, Nita, at once&mdash;and try to behave yourself.
+      I have trouble enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I entered the corridor and pulled up short. Val Beverley, fully dressed,
+      was kneeling beside Madame de Stämer, who wore a kimono over her
+      night-robe, and who lay huddled on the floor immediately outside the door
+      of her room!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox!&rdquo; cried the girl, pitifully, and raised frightened eyes to
+      me. &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake, what has happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nita, the Spanish girl, who was sobbing hysterically, ran along to join
+      Mrs. Fisher.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you in a moment,&rdquo; I said, quietly, rendered cool, as one
+      always is, by the need of others. &ldquo;But first tell me&mdash;how did Madame
+      de Stämer get here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, I don&rsquo;t know! I was startled by the shot. It has awakened
+      everybody. And just as I opened my door to listen, I heard Madame cry out
+      in the hall below. I ran down, turned on the light, and found her lying
+      here. She, too, had been awakened, I suppose, and was endeavouring to drag
+      herself from her room when her strength failed her and she swooned. She is
+      too heavy for me to lift,&rdquo; added the girl, pathetically, &ldquo;and Pedro is out
+      of his senses, and Nita, who was the first of the servants to come, is
+      simply hysterical, as you can see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded reassuringly, and stooping, lifted the swooning woman. She was
+      much heavier than I should have supposed, but, Val Beverley leading the
+      way, I carried her into her apartment and placed her upon the bed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will leave her to you,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You have courage, and so I will tell
+      you what has happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, tell me, oh, tell me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laid her hands upon my shoulders appealingly, and looked up into my
+      eyes in a way that made me long to take her in my arms and comfort her, an
+      insane longing which I only crushed with difficulty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Someone has shot Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; I said, in a low voice, for Mrs.
+      Fisher had just entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley opened and closed her eyes, clutching at me dizzily for a
+      moment, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;she must have known, and that was why she
+      swooned. Oh, my God! how horrible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I made her sit down in an armchair, and watched her anxiously, but
+      although every speck of colour had faded from her cheeks, she was
+      splendidly courageous, and almost immediately she smiled up at me, very
+      wanly, but confidently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will look after her,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Mr. Harley will need your assistance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When I returned to the hall I found it already filled with a number of
+      servants incongruously attired. Carter the chauffeur, who lived at the
+      lodge, was just coming in at the door, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Carter,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;get a car out quickly, and bring the nearest doctor. If
+      there is another man who can drive, send him for the police. Your master
+      has been shot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET HILTON
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury, &ldquo;I will take evidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dawn was creeping grayly over the hills, and the view from the library
+      windows resembled a study by Bastien-Lepage. The lamps burned yellowly,
+      and the exotic appointments of the library viewed in that cold light for
+      some reason reminded me of a stage set seen in daylight. The Velasquez
+      portrait mentally translated me to the billiard room where something lay
+      upon the settee with a white sheet drawn over it; and I wondered if my own
+      face looked as wan and comfortless as did the faces of my companions, that
+      is, of two of them, for I must except Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Squarely before the oaken mantel he stood, a large, pompous man, but in
+      this hour I could find no humour in Paul Harley&rsquo;s description of him as
+      resembling a walrus. He had a large auburn moustache tinged with gray, and
+      prominent brown eyes, but the lower part of his face, which terminated in
+      a big double chin, was ill-balanced by his small forehead. He was bulkily
+      built, and I had conceived an unreasonable distaste for his puffy hands.
+      His official air and oratorical manner were provoking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley sat in the chair which he had occupied during our last interview
+      with Colonel Menendez in the library, and I had realized&mdash;a
+      realization which had made me uncomfortable&mdash;that I was seated upon
+      the couch on which the Colonel had reclined. Only one other was present,
+      Dr. Rolleston of Mid-Hatton, a slight, fair man with a brisk, military
+      manner, acquired perhaps during six years of war service. He was standing
+      beside me smoking a cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have taken all the necessary particulars concerning the position of the
+      body,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, &ldquo;the nature of the wound, contents of
+      pockets, etc., and I now turn to you, Mr. Harley, as the first person to
+      discover the murdered man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley lay back in the armchair watching the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before we come to what happened here to-night I should like to be quite
+      clear about your own position in the matter, Mr. Harley. Now&rdquo;&mdash;Inspector
+      Aylesbury raised one finger in forensic manner&mdash;&ldquo;now, you visited me
+      yesterday afternoon, Mr. Harley, and asked for certain information
+      regarding the neighbourhood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; said Harley, shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The questions which you asked me were,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, slowly
+      and impressively, &ldquo;did I know of any negro or coloured people living in,
+      or about, Mid-Hatton, and could I give you a list of the residents within
+      a two-mile radius of Cray&rsquo;s Folly. I gave you the information which you
+      required, and now it is your turn to give me some. Why did you ask those
+      questions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For this reason,&rdquo; was the reply&mdash;&ldquo;I had been requested by Colonel
+      Menendez to visit Cray&rsquo;s Folly, accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, in
+      order that I might investigate certain occurrences which had taken place
+      here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, raising his eyebrows, &ldquo;I see. You were here to
+      make investigations?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And these occurrences, will you tell me what they were?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Simple enough in themselves,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;Someone broke into the
+      house one night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Broke into the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But this was never reported to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly not, but someone broke in, nevertheless. Secondly, Colonel
+      Menendez had detected someone lurking about the lawns, and thirdly, the
+      wing of a bat was nailed to the main door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury lowered his eyebrows and concentrated a frowning
+      glance upon the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to jump to conclusions, but you
+      are not by any chance trying to be funny at a time like this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My sense of humour has failed me entirely,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;I am merely
+      stating bald facts in reply to your questions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector cleared his throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Someone broke into Cray&rsquo;s Folly, then, a fact which was not reported to
+      me, a suspicious loiterer was seen in the grounds, again not reported, and
+      someone played a silly practical joke by nailing the wing of a bat, you
+      say, to the door. Might I ask, Mr. Harley, why you mention this matter?
+      The other things are serious, but why you should mention the trick of some
+      mischievous boy at a time like this I can&rsquo;t imagine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Harley, wearily, &ldquo;it does sound absurd, Inspector; I quite
+      appreciate the fact. But, you see, Colonel Menendez regarded it as the
+      most significant episode of them all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! The bat wing nailed on the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bat wing, decidedly. He believed it to be the token of a negro secret
+      society which had determined upon his death, hence my enquiries regarding
+      coloured men in the neighbourhood. Do you understand, Inspector?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury took a large handkerchief from his pocket and blew his
+      nose. Replacing the handkerchief he cleared his throat, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I to understand,&rdquo; he enquired, &ldquo;that the late Colonel Menendez had
+      expected to be attacked?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may understand that,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;It explains my presence in the
+      house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;I see. It looks as though he might have done
+      better if he had applied to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley glanced across in my direction and smiled grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As I had predicted, Knox,&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;my Waterloo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that you say about Waterloo, Mr. Harley?&rdquo; demanded the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing germane to the case,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;It was a reference to a
+      battle, not to a railway station.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury stared at him dully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You quite understand that you are giving evidence?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It were impossible not to appreciate the fact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then. The late Colonel Menendez thought he was in danger from
+      negroes. Why did he think that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was a retired West Indian planter,&rdquo; replied Harley, patiently, &ldquo;and he
+      was under the impression that he had offended a powerful native society,
+      and that for many years their vengeance had pursued him. Attempts to
+      assassinate him had already taken place in Cuba and in the United States.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What sort of attempts?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was shot at, several times, and once, in Washington, was attacked by a
+      man with a knife. He maintained in my presence and in the presence of my
+      friend, Mr. Knox, here, that these various attempts were due to members of
+      a sect or religion known as Voodoo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Voodoo?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Voodoo, Inspector, also known as Obeah, a cult which has spread from the
+      West Coast of Africa throughout the West Indies and to parts of the United
+      States. The bat wing is said to be a sign used by these people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now let me get this thing clear,&rdquo; said he: &ldquo;Colonel Menendez believed
+      that people called Voodoos wanted to kill him? Before we go any farther,
+      why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty years ago in the West Indies he had shot an important member of
+      this sect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty years ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;According to a statement which he made to me, yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. Then for twenty years these Voodoos have been trying to kill him?
+      Then he comes and settles here in Surrey and someone nails a bat wing to
+      his door? Did you see this bat wing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did. I have it upstairs in my bag if you would care to examine it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;I see. And thinking he had been followed to
+      England he came to you to see if you could save him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did he go to you in preference to the local police, the proper
+      authorities?&rdquo; demanded the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was advised to do so by the Spanish ambassador, or so he informed me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that so? Well, I suppose it had to be. Coming from foreign parts. I
+      expect he didn&rsquo;t know what our police are for.&rdquo; He cleared his throat.
+      &ldquo;Very well, I understand now what you were doing here, Mr. Harley. The
+      next thing is, what were you doing tonight, as I see that both you and Mr.
+      Knox are still in evening dress?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were keeping watch,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury turned to me ponderously, raising a fat hand. &ldquo;One
+      moment, Mr. Knox, one moment,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;The evidence of one witness
+      at a time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were keeping watch,&rdquo; said Harley, deliberately echoing my words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More or less we were here for that purpose. You see, on the night of the
+      full moon, according to Colonel Menendez, Obeah people become particularly
+      active.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why on the night of the full moon?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This I cannot tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. You were keeping watch. Where were you keeping watch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In my room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In which part of the house is your room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Northeast. It overlooks the Tudor garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At what time did you retire?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About half-past ten.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you leave the Colonel well?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he had been unwell all day. He had remained in his room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had he asked you to sit up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all; our vigil was quite voluntary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then, you were in your room when the shot was fired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, I was on the path in front of the house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. The front door was open, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all. Pedro had locked up for the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And locked you out?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I descended from my window by means of a ladder which I had brought
+      with me for the purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With a ladder? That&rsquo;s rather extraordinary, Mr Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is extraordinary. I have strange habits.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again and looked frowningly across
+      at my friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What part of the grounds were you in when the shot was fired?&rdquo; he
+      demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Halfway along the north side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What were you doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was running.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Running?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Inspector, I regarded it as my duty to patrol the grounds of the
+      house at nightfall, since, for all I knew to the contrary, some of the
+      servants might be responsible for the attempts of which the Colonel
+      complained. I had descended from the window of my room, had passed
+      entirely around the house east to west, and had returned to my
+      starting-point when Mr. Knox, who was looking out of the window, observed
+      Colonel Menendez entering the Tudor garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh. Colonel Menendez was not visible to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not from my position below, but being informed by my friend, who was
+      hurriedly descending the ladder, that the Colonel had entered the garden,
+      I set off running to intercept him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He had acquired a habit of walking in his sleep, and I presumed that he
+      was doing so on this occasion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. So being told by the gentleman at the window that Colonel
+      Menendez was in the garden, you started to run toward him. While you were
+      running you heard a shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where do you think it came from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing is more difficult to judge, Inspector, especially when one is
+      near to a large building surrounded by trees.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; said the Inspector, again raising his finger and frowning
+      at Harley, &ldquo;you cannot tell me that you formed no impression on the point.
+      For instance, was it near, or a long way off?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was fairly near.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ten yards, twenty yards, a hundred yards, a mile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Within a hundred yards. I cannot be more exact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Within a hundred yards, and you have no idea from which direction the
+      shot was fired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the sound I could form none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. And what did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ran on and down into the sunken garden. I saw Colonel Menendez lying
+      upon his face near the sun-dial. He was moving convulsively. Running up to
+      him, I that he had been shot through the head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What steps did you take?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friend, Mr. Knox, had joined me, and I sent him for assistance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what steps did you take to apprehend the murderer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley looked at him quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What steps should you have taken?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I should have let my man slip through my fingers like
+      that,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Why! by now he may be out of the county.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your theory is quite feasible,&rdquo; said Harley, tonelessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were actually on the spot when the shot was fired, you admit that it
+      was fired within a hundred yards, yet you did nothing to apprehend the
+      murderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;I was ridiculously inactive. You see, I am a mere
+      amateur, Inspector. For my future guidance I should be glad to know what
+      the correct procedure would have been.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury blew his nose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know my job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I had been called in there might have been a
+      different tale to tell. But he was a foreigner, and he paid for his
+      ignorance, poor fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley took out his pipe and began to load it in a deliberate and
+      lazy manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury turned his prominent eyes in my direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX. COMPLICATIONS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid of this man Aylesbury,&rdquo; said Paul Harley. We sat in the
+      deserted dining room. I had contributed my account of the evening&rsquo;s
+      happenings, Dr. Rolleston had made his report, and Inspector Aylesbury was
+      now examining the servants in the library. Harley and I had obtained his
+      official permission to withdraw, and the physician was visiting Madame de
+      Stämer, who lay in a state of utter prostration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that he will presently make some tragic blunder. Good God, Knox,
+      to think that this man had sought my aid, and that I stood by idly whilst
+      he walked out to his death. I shall never forgive myself.&rdquo; He banged the
+      table with his fist. &ldquo;Even now that these unknown fiends have achieved
+      their object, I am helpless, helpless. There was not a wisp of smoke to
+      guide me, Knox, and one man cannot search a county.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sighed wearily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know, Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I am thinking of a verse of Kipling&rsquo;s.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know!&rdquo; he interrupted, almost savagely.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  &ldquo;A Snider squibbed in the jungle.
+  Somebody laughed and fled&mdash;&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I know, Knox. I heard that damnable laughter, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God,&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;who was it? What was it? Where did it come from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As well ask where the shot came from, Knox. Out amongst all those trees,
+      with a house that might have been built for a sounding-board, who could
+      presume to say where either came from? One thing we know, that the shot
+      came from the south.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He leaned upon a corner of the table, staring at me intently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the south?&rdquo; I echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley glanced in the direction of the open door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Presently,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we shall have to tell Aylesbury everything that we
+      know. After all, he represents the law; but unless we can get Inspector
+      Wessex down from Scotland Yard, I foresee a miscarriage of justice.
+      Colonel Menendez lay on his face, and the line made by his recumbent body
+      pointed almost directly toward&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded, watching him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, Harley&mdash;toward the Guest House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley inclined his head, grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The first light which we saw,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;was in a window of the
+      Guest House. It may have had no significance. Awakened by the sound of a
+      rifle-shot near by, any one would naturally get up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And having decided to come downstairs and investigate,&rdquo; I continued,
+      &ldquo;would naturally light a lamp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so.&rdquo; He stared at me very hard. &ldquo;Yet,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;unless Mr. Colin
+      Camber can produce an alibi I foresee a very stormy time for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So do I, Harley. A deadly hatred existed between these two men, and
+      probably this horrible deed was done on the spur of the moment. It is of
+      his poor little girl-wife that I am thinking. As though her troubles were
+      not heavy enough already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;I am almost tempted to hold my tongue, Knox, until I
+      have personally interviewed these people. But of course if our blundering
+      friend directly questions me, I shall have no alternative. I shall have to
+      answer him. His talent for examination, however, scarcely amounts to
+      genius, so that we may not be called upon for further details at the
+      moment. I wonder how I can induce him to requisition Scotland Yard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rested his chin in his hand and stared down reflectively at the carpet.
+      I thought that he looked very haggard, as he sat there in the early
+      morning light, dressed as for dinner. There was something pathetic in the
+      pose of his bowed head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaning across, I placed my hand on his shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get despondent, old chap,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You have not failed yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but I have, Knox!&rdquo; he cried, fiercely, &ldquo;I have! He came to me for
+      protection. Now he lies dead in his own house. Failed? I have failed
+      utterly, miserably.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned aside as the door opened and Dr. Rolleston came in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I wanted to see you before leaving. I have just
+      been to visit Madame de Stämer again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Harley, eagerly; &ldquo;how is she?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr. Rolleston lighted a cigarette, frowning perplexedly the while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be honest,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;her condition puzzles me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked across to the fireplace and dropped the match, staring at Harley
+      with a curious expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has any one told her the truth?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that Colonel Menendez is dead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Dr. Rolleston. &ldquo;I understood that no one had told her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one has done so to my knowledge,&rdquo; said Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then the sympathy between them must have been very acute,&rdquo; murmured the
+      physician, &ldquo;for she certainly knows!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you really think she knows?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am certain of it. She must have had knowledge of a danger to be
+      apprehended, and being awakened by the sound of the rifle shot, have
+      realized by a sort of intuition that the expected tragedy had happened. I
+      should say, from the presence of a small bruise which I found upon her
+      forehead, that she had actually walked out into the corridor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Walked?&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the physician. &ldquo;She is a shell-shock case, of course, and we
+      sometimes find that a second shock counteracts the effect of the first.
+      This, temporarily at any rate, seems to have happened to-night. She is now
+      in a very curious state: a form of hysteria, no doubt, but very curious
+      all the same.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley is with her?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr. Rolleston nodded affirmatively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a very capable nurse. I am glad to know that Madame de Stämer is in
+      such good hands. I am calling again early in the morning, and I have told
+      Mrs. Fisher to see that nothing is said within hearing of the room which
+      could enable Madame de Stämer to obtain confirmation of the idea, which
+      she evidently entertains, that Colonel Menendez is dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does she actually assert that he is dead?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear sir,&rdquo; replied Dr. Rolleston, &ldquo;she asserts nothing. She sits there
+      like Niobe changed to stone, staring straight before her. She seems to be
+      unaware of the presence of everyone except Miss Beverley. The only words
+      she has spoken since recovering consciousness have been, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t leave
+      me!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; muttered Harley. &ldquo;You have not attended Madame de Stämer before,
+      doctor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; was the reply, &ldquo;this is the first time I have entered Cray&rsquo;s Folly
+      since it was occupied by Sir James Appleton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was about to take his departure when the door opened and Inspector
+      Aylesbury walked in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I have two more witnesses to interview: Madame de Stämer
+      and Miss Beverley. From these witnesses I hope to get particulars of the
+      dead man&rsquo;s life which may throw some light upon the identity of his
+      murderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is impossible to see either of them at present,&rdquo; replied Dr. Rolleston
+      briskly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that, doctor?&rdquo; asked the Inspector. &ldquo;Are they hysterical, or
+      something?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a result of the shock, Madame de Stämer is dangerously ill,&rdquo; replied
+      the physician, &ldquo;and Miss Beverley is remaining with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. But Miss Beverley could come out for a few minutes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She could,&rdquo; admitted the physician, sharply, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t wish her to do
+      so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but the law must be served, doctor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so, but not at the expense of my patient&rsquo;s reason.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a resolute man, this country practitioner, and I saw Harley smiling
+      in grim approval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have expressed my opinion,&rdquo; he said, finally, walking out of the room;
+      &ldquo;I shall leave the responsibility to you, Inspector Aylesbury. Good
+      morning, gentlemen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s awkward,&rdquo; he muttered. &ldquo;The evidence of this woman is highly
+      important.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned toward us, doubtingly, whereupon Harley stood up, yawning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I can be of any further assistance to you, Inspector,&rdquo; said my friend,
+      &ldquo;command me. Otherwise, I feel sure you will appreciate the fact that both
+      Mr. Knox and myself are extremely tired, and have passed through a very
+      trying ordeal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Inspector Aylesbury, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s all very well, but I find
+      myself at a deadlock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You surprise me,&rdquo; declared Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see nothing to be surprised about,&rdquo; cried the Inspector. &ldquo;When I
+      was called in it was already too late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most unfortunate,&rdquo; murmured Harley, disagreeably. &ldquo;Come along, Knox, you
+      look tired to death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment, gentlemen,&rdquo; the Inspector insisted, as I stood up. &ldquo;One
+      moment. There is a little point which you may be able to clear up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley paused, his hand on the door knob, and turned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The point is this,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, frowning portentously and
+      lowering his chin so that it almost disappeared into the folds of his
+      neck, &ldquo;I have now interviewed all the inmates of Cray&rsquo;s Folly except the
+      ladies. It appears to me that four people had not gone to bed. There are
+      you two gentlemen, who have explained why I found you in evening dress,
+      Colonel Menendez, who can never explain, and there is one other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, looking from Harley to myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had come, the question which I had dreaded, the question which I had
+      been asking myself ever since I had seen Val Beverley kneeling in the
+      corridor, dressed as she had been when we had parted for the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I refer to Miss Val Beverley,&rdquo; the police-court voice proceeded. &ldquo;This
+      lady had evidently not retired, and neither, it would appear, had the
+      Colonel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither had I,&rdquo; murmured Harley, &ldquo;and neither had Mr. Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your reason I understand,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;or at least your
+      explanation is a possible one. But if the party broke up, as you say it
+      did, somewhere about half-past ten o&rsquo;clock, and if Madame de Stämer had
+      gone to bed, why should Miss Beverley have remained up?&rdquo; He paused
+      significantly. &ldquo;As well as Colonel Menendez?&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; I interrupted, I speaking in a very
+      quiet tone, I remember, &ldquo;your insinuations annoy me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said he, turning his prominent eyes in my direction, &ldquo;I see. They
+      annoy you? If they annoy you, sir, perhaps you can explain this point
+      which is puzzling me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot explain it, but doubtless Miss Beverley can do so when you ask
+      her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to have asked her now, and I can&rsquo;t make out why she refuses
+      to see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has not refused to see you,&rdquo; replied Harley, smoothly. &ldquo;She is
+      probably unaware of the fact that you wish to see her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know so much,&rdquo; muttered the Inspector. &ldquo;In my opinion I am being
+      deliberately baffled on all sides. You can throw no light on this matter,
+      then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None,&rdquo; I answered, shortly, and Paul Harley shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you must remember, Inspector,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;that the entire
+      household was in a state of unrest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In other words, everybody was waiting for this very thing to happen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Consciously, or subconsciously, everybody was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean by consciously or subconsciously?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;I mean that those of us who were aware of the previous attempts on
+the life of the Colonel apprehended this danger. And I believe that
+something of this apprehension had extended even to the servants.&rdquo;
+ 
+ &ldquo;Oh, to the servants? Now, I have seen all the servants, except the
+chef, who lives at a house on the outskirts of Mid-Hatton, as you may
+know. Can you give me any information about this man?&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have seen him,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;and have congratulated him upon his
+      culinary art. His name, I believe, is Deronne. He is a Spaniard, and a
+      little fat man. Quite an amiable creature,&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm.&rdquo; The Inspector cleared his throat noisily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If that is all,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;I should welcome an opportunity of a few
+      hours&rsquo; sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector. &ldquo;Well, I suppose that is quite natural, but I
+      shall probably have a lot more questions to ask you later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; muttered Harley, &ldquo;quite. Come on, Knox. Good-night, Inspector
+      Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley walked out of the dining room and across the deserted hall. He
+      slowly mounted the stairs and I followed him into his room. It was now
+      quite light, and as my friend dropped down upon the bed I thought that he
+      looked very tired and haggard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;shut the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I closed the door and turned to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You heard that question about Miss Beverley?&rdquo; I began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard it, and I am wondering what her answer will be when the Inspector
+      puts it to her personally.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely it is obvious?&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;A cloud of apprehension had settled on
+      the house last night, Harley, which was like the darkness of Egypt. The
+      poor girl was afraid to go to bed. She was probably sitting up reading.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; said Harley, drumming his feet upon the carpet. &ldquo;Of course you
+      realize that there is one person in Cray&rsquo;s Folly who holds the clue to the
+      heart of the mystery?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He nodded grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When the rifle cracked out, Knox, she knew! Remember, no one had told her
+      the truth. Yet can you doubt that she knows?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t doubt it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither do I.&rdquo; He clenched his teeth tightly and beat his fists upon the
+      coverlet. &ldquo;I was dreading that our friend the Inspector would ask a
+      question which to my mind was very obvious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, what investigator whose skull contained anything more useful than
+      bubbles would have failed to ask if Colonel Menendez had an enemy in the
+      neighbourhood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one,&rdquo; I admitted; &ldquo;but I fear the poor man is sadly out of his depth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is wading hopelessly, Knox, but even he cannot fail to learn about
+      Camber to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared at me in a curiously significant manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean, Harley,&rdquo; I began, &ldquo;that you really think&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox,&rdquo; he interrupted, &ldquo;forgetting, if you like, all that
+      preceded the tragedy, with what facts are we left? That Colonel Menendez,
+      at the moment when the bullet entered his brain, must have been standing
+      facing directly toward the Guest House. Now, you have seen the direction
+      of the wound?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was shot squarely between the eyes. A piece of wonderful
+      marksmanship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; Harley nodded his head. &ldquo;But the bullet came out just at the
+      vertex of the spine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, as if waiting for some comment, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that the shot came from above?&rdquo; I said, slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Obviously it came from above, Knox. Keep these two points in your mind,
+      and then consider the fact that someone lighted a lamp in the Guest House
+      only a few moments after the shot had been fired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember. I saw it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So did I,&rdquo; said Harley, grimly, &ldquo;and I saw something else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you went off to summon assistance I ran across the lawn, scrambled
+      through the bushes, and succeeded in climbing down into the little gully
+      in which the stream runs, and up on the other side. I had proceeded
+      practically in a straight line from the sun-dial, and do you know where I
+      found myself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can guess,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course you can. You have visited the place. I came out immediately
+      beside a little hut, Knox, which stands at the end of the garden of the
+      Guest House. Ahead of me, visible through a tangle of bushes in the
+      neglected garden, a lamp was burning. I crept cautiously forward, and
+      presently obtained a view of the interior of a kitchen. Just as I arrived
+      at this point of vantage the lamp was extinguished, but not before I had
+      had a glimpse of the only occupant of the room&mdash;the man who had
+      extinguished the lamp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who was it?&rdquo; I asked, in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a Chinaman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong!&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doubtless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens, Harley, do you think&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what to think, Knox. A possible explanation is that the
+      household had been aroused by the sound of the shot, and that Ah Tsong had
+      been directed to go out and see if he could learn what had happened. At
+      any rate, I waited no longer, but returned by the same route. If our
+      portly friend from Market Hilton had possessed the eyes of an Auguste
+      Dupin, he could not have failed to note that my dress boots were caked
+      with light yellow clay; which also, by the way, besmears my trousers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stooped and examined the garments as he spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A number of thorns are also present,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;In short, from the
+      point of view of an investigation, I am a most provoking object.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sighed wearily, and stared out of the window in the direction of the
+      Tudor garden. There was a slight chilliness in the air, which, or perhaps
+      a sudden memory of that which lay in the billiard room beneath us, may
+      have accounted for the fact that I shivered violently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley glanced up with a rather sad smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The morning after Waterloo,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Sleep well, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX. A SPANISH CIGARETTE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sleep was not for me, despite Harley&rsquo;s injunction, and although I was
+      early afoot, the big house was already astir with significant movements
+      which set the imagination on fire, to conjure up again the moonlight scene
+      in the garden, making mock of the song of the birds and of the glory of
+      the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Manoel replied to my ring, and prepared my bath, but it was easy to see
+      that he had not slept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No sound came from Harley&rsquo;s room, therefore I did not disturb him, but
+      proceeded downstairs in the hope of finding Miss Beverley about. Pedro was
+      in the hall, talking to Mrs. Fisher, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Inspector Aylesbury here?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, but he will be returning at about half-past eight, so he said.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is Madame de Stämer, Mrs. Fisher?&rdquo; I enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, poor, poor Madame,&rdquo; said the old lady, &ldquo;she is asleep, thank God. But
+      I am dreading her awakening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The blow is a dreadful one,&rdquo; I admitted; &ldquo;and Miss Beverley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t go to her room until after four o&rsquo;clock, sir, but Nita tells
+      me that she will be down any moment now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said I, and lighting a cigarette, I walked out of the open doors
+      into the courtyard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I dreaded all the ghastly official formalities which the day would bring,
+      since I realized that the brunt of the trouble must fall upon the
+      shoulders of Miss Beverley in the absence of Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I wandered about restlessly, awaiting the girl&rsquo;s appearance. A little two
+      seater was drawn up in the courtyard, but I had not paid much attention to
+      it, until, wandering through the opening in the box hedge and on along the
+      gravel path, I saw unfamiliar figures moving in the billiard room, and
+      turned, hastily retracing my steps. Officialdom was at work already, and I
+      knew that there would be no rest for any of us from that hour onward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I reëntered the hall I saw Val Beverley coming down the staircase. She
+      looked pale, but seemed to be in better spirits than I could have hoped
+      for, although there were dark shadows under her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Mr. Knox. It was good of you to come down so early.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had hoped for a chat with you before Inspector Aylesbury returned,&rdquo; I
+      explained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at me pathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose he will want me to give evidence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will. We had great difficulty in persuading him not to demand your
+      presence last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was impossible,&rdquo; she protested. &ldquo;It would have been cruel to make me
+      leave Madame in the circumstances.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We realized this, Miss Beverley, but you will have to face the ordeal
+      this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We walked through into the library, where a maid white-faced and
+      frightened looking, was dusting in a desultory fashion. She went out as we
+      entered, and Val Beverley stood looking from the open window out into the
+      rose garden bathed in the morning sunlight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Heavens,&rdquo; she said, clenching her hands desperately, &ldquo;even now I
+      cannot realize that the horrible thing is true.&rdquo; She turned to me. &ldquo;Who
+      can possibly have committed this cold-blooded crime?&rdquo; she said in a low
+      voice. &ldquo;What does Mr. Harley think? Has he any idea, any idea whatever?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not that he has confided to me,&rdquo; I said, watching her intently. &ldquo;But tell
+      me, does Madame de Stämer know yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean has she been told the truth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she replied; &ldquo;I am positive that no one has told her. I was with her
+      all the time, up to the very moment that she fell asleep. Yet&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She knows! Oh, Mr. Knox! to me that is the most horrible thing of all:
+      that she knows, that she must have known all along&mdash;that the mere
+      sound of the shot told her everything!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You realize, now,&rdquo; I said, quietly, &ldquo;that she had anticipated the end?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes. This was the meaning of the sorrow which I had seen so often in
+      her eyes, the meaning of so much that puzzled me in her words, the
+      explanation of lots of little things which have made me wonder in the
+      past.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was silent for a while, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If she was so certain that no one could save him,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;she must have
+      had information which neither he nor she ever imparted to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure she had,&rdquo; declared Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But can you think of any reason why she should not have confided in Paul
+      Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot, I cannot&mdash;unless&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she looked at me strangely, &ldquo;they were both under some
+      vow of silence. Oh! it sounds ridiculous, wildly ridiculous, but what
+      other explanation can there be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What other, indeed? And now, Miss Beverley, I know one of the questions
+      Inspector Aylesbury will ask you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has learned, from one of the servants I presume, as he did not see
+      you, that you had not retired last night at the time of the tragedy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had not,&rdquo; said Val Beverley, quietly. &ldquo;Is that so singular?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To me it is no more than natural.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never been so frightened in all my life as I was last night. Sleep
+      was utterly out of the question. There was mystery in the very air. I
+      knew, oh, Mr. Knox, in some way I knew that a tragedy was going to
+      happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe I knew, too,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Good God, to think that we might have
+      saved him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think&mdash;&rdquo; began Val Beverley, and then paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; I prompted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I was going to say a strange thing that suddenly occurred to me, but
+      it is utterly foolish, I suppose. Inspector Aylesbury is coming back at
+      nine o&rsquo;clock, is he not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At half-past eight, so I understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid I have very little to tell him. I was sitting in my room in
+      an appalling state of nerves when the shot was fired. I was not even
+      reading; I was just waiting, waiting, for something to happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand. My own experience was nearly identical.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; continued the girl, &ldquo;as I unlocked my door and peeped out, feeling
+      too frightened to venture farther in the darkness, I heard Madame&rsquo;s voice
+      in the hall below.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Crying for help?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the girl, a puzzled frown appearing between her brows. &ldquo;She
+      cried out something in French. The intonation told me that it was French,
+      although I could not detect a single word. Then I thought I heard a moan.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you ran down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. I summoned up enough courage to turn on the light in the corridor
+      and to run down to the hall. And there she was lying just outside the door
+      of her room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was her room in darkness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. I turned on the light and succeeded in partly raising her, but she
+      was too heavy for me to lift. I was still trying to revive her when Pedro
+      opened the door of the servants&rsquo; quarters. Oh,&rdquo; she closed her eyes
+      wearily, &ldquo;I shall never forget it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I took her hand and pressed it reassuringly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your courage has been wonderful throughout,&rdquo; I declared, &ldquo;and I hope it
+      will remain so to the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled, and flushed slightly, as I released her hand again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must go and take a peep at Madame now,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but of course I
+      shall not disturb her if she is still sleeping.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We turned and walked slowly back to the hall, and there just entering from
+      the courtyard was Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;good morning, Mr. Knox. This is Miss Beverley, I
+      presume?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Inspector,&rdquo; replied the girl. &ldquo;I understand that you wish to speak
+      to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do, Miss, but I shall not detain you for many minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; she said, and as she turned and retraced her steps, he
+      followed her back into the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I walked out to the courtyard, and avoiding the Tudor garden and the
+      billiard room, turned in the other direction, passing the stables where
+      Jim, the negro groom, saluted me very sadly, and proceeded round to the
+      south side of the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury, I perceived, had wasted no time. I counted no fewer
+      than four men, two of them in uniform, searching the lawns and the slopes
+      beyond, although what they were looking for I could not imagine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Giving the library a wide berth, I walked along the second terrace, and
+      presently came in sight of the east wing and the tower. There, apparently
+      engaged in studying the rhododendrons, I saw Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He signalled to me, and, crossing the lawn, I joined him where he stood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Without any word of greeting:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Knox,&rdquo; he said, speaking in the eager manner which betokened a
+      rapidly working brain, &ldquo;this is the path which the Colonel must have
+      followed last night. Yonder is the door by which, according to his own
+      account, he came out on a previous occasion, walking in his sleep. Do you
+      remember?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Pedro found it unlocked this morning. You see it faces practically
+      due south, and the Colonel&rsquo;s bedroom is immediately above us where we
+      stand.&rdquo; He stared at me queerly. &ldquo;I must have passed this door last night
+      only a few moments before the Colonel came out, for I was just crossing
+      the courtyard and could see you at my window at the moment when you saw
+      poor Menendez enter the Tudor garden. He must have actually been walking
+      around the east wing at the same time that I was walking around the west.
+      Now, I am going to show you something, Knox, something which I have just
+      discovered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From his waistcoat pocket he took out a half-smoked cigarette. I stared at
+      it uncomprehendingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;the weather has been bone dry for more than a
+      week now, and it may have lain there for a long time, but to me, Knox, to
+      me it looks suspiciously fresh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the point?&rdquo; I asked, perplexedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The point is that it is a hand-made cigarette, one of the Colonel&rsquo;s.
+      Don&rsquo;t you recognize it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;yes, of course it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned it to his pocket without another word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may mean nothing,&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;or it may mean everything. And now,
+      Knox, we are going to escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To escape?&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely. We are going to anticipate the probable movements of our
+      blundering Aylesbury. In short, I wish you to present me to Mr. Colin
+      Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; I exclaimed, staring at him incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to ask you,&rdquo; he began, and then, breaking off: &ldquo;Quick, Knox,
+      run!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And thereupon, to my amazement, he set off through the rhododendron bushes
+      in the direction of the tower!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Utterly unable to grasp the meaning of his behaviour, I followed,
+      nevertheless, and as we rounded the corner of the tower Harley pulled up
+      short, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not mad,&rdquo; he explained rather breathlessly, &ldquo;but I wanted to avoid
+      being seen by that constable who is prowling about at the bottom of the
+      lawn making signals in the direction of the library. Presumably he is
+      replying to Inspector Aylesbury who wants to talk to us. I am determined
+      to interview Camber before submitting to further official interrogation.
+      It must be a cross-country journey, Knox. I am afraid we shall be a very
+      muddy pair, but great issues may hang upon the success of our expedition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He set off briskly toward a belt of shrubbery which marked the edge of the
+      little stream. Appreciating something of his intentions, I followed his
+      lead unquestioningly; and, scrambling through the bushes:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This was the point at which I descended last night,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You will
+      have to wade, Knox, but the water is hardly above one&rsquo;s ankles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He dropped into the brook, waded across, and began to climb up the
+      opposite bank. I imitated his movements, and presently, having scrambled
+      up on the farther side, we found ourselves standing on a narrow bank
+      immediately under that summer house which Colin Camber had told me he had
+      formerly used as a study.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can scarcely present ourselves at the kitchen door,&rdquo; murmured Harley;
+      &ldquo;therefore we must try to find a way round to the front. There is barbed
+      wire here. Be careful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I had now entered with zest into the business, and so the pair of us waded
+      through rank grass which in places was waist high, and on through a
+      perfect wilderness of weeds in which nettles dominated. Presently we came
+      to a dry ditch, which we negotiated successfully, to find ourselves upon
+      the high road some hundred yards to the west of the Guest House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I predict an unfriendly reception,&rdquo; I said, panting from my exertions,
+      and surveying my friend, who was a mockery of his ordinarily spruce self.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must face it,&rdquo; he replied, grimly. &ldquo;He has everything to gain by being
+      civil to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We proceeded along the dusty high road, almost overarched by trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;this is going to be a highly unpleasant ordeal for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stopped short, staring at me sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, Knox,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but I suppose you realize that a man&rsquo;s life
+      is at stake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that when we are both compelled to tell all we know, I doubt if
+      there is a counsel in the land who would undertake the defence of Mr.
+      Colin Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God! then you think he is guilty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did I say so?&rdquo; asked Harley, continuing on his way. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t recollect
+      saying so, Knox; but I do say that it will be a giant&rsquo;s task to prove him
+      innocent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you believe him to be innocent?&rdquo; I cried, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; he replied, somewhat irritably, &ldquo;I have not yet met Mr.
+      Colin Camber. I will answer your question at the conclusion of the
+      interview.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI. THE WING OF A BAT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      For a long time our knocking and ringing elicited no response. The
+      brilliant state of the door-brass afforded evidence of the fact that Ah
+      Tsong had arisen, even if the other members of the household were still
+      sleeping, and Harley, growing irritable, executed a loud tattoo upon the
+      knocker. This had its effect. The door opened and Ah Tsong looked out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell your master that Mr. Paul Harley has called to see him upon urgent
+      business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master no got,&rdquo; replied Ah Tsong, and proceeded to close the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley thrust his hand against it and addressed the man rapidly in
+      Chinese. I could not have supposed the face of Ah Tsong capable of
+      expressing so much animation. At the sound of his native tongue his eyes
+      lighted up, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Tchée, tchée,</i>&rdquo; he said, turned, and disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although he had studiously avoided looking at me, that Ah Tsong would
+      inform his master of the identity of his second visitor I did not doubt.
+      If I had doubted I should promptly have been disillusioned, for:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell them to go away!&rdquo; came a muffled cry from somewhere within. &ldquo;No spy
+      of Devil Menendez shall ever pass my doors again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Chinaman, on retiring, had left the door wide open, and I could see
+      right to the end of the gloomy hall. Ah Tsong presently re-appeared,
+      shuffling along in our direction. Unemotionally:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master no got,&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stamped his foot irritably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God, Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this unreasonable fool almost exhausts my
+      patience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he addressed Ah Tsong in Chinese, and although the man&rsquo;s wrinkled
+      ivory face exhibited no trace of emotion, a deep understanding was to be
+      read in those oblique eyes; and a second time Ah Tsong turned and trotted
+      back to the study. I could hear a muttered colloquy in progress, and
+      suddenly the gaunt figure of Colin Camber burst into view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was shaved this morning, but arrayed as I had last seen him. Whilst he
+      was not in that state of incoherent anger which I remembered and still
+      resented, he was nevertheless in an evil temper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He strode along the hallway, his large eyes widely opened, and fixing a
+      cold stare upon the face of Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I learn that your name is Mr. Paul Harley,&rdquo; he said, entirely ignoring my
+      presence, &ldquo;and you send me a very strange message. I am used to the ways
+      of Señor Menendez, therefore your message does not deceive me. The
+      gateway, sir, is directly behind you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley clenched his teeth, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The scaffold, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;is directly in front of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, sir?&rdquo; demanded the other, and despite my resentment of
+      the treatment which I had received at his hands, I could only admire the
+      lofty disdain of his manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean, Mr. Camber, that the police are close upon my heels.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The police? Of what interest can this be to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley&rsquo;s keen eyes were searching the pale face of the man before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;the shot was a good one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Not a muscle of Colin Camber&rsquo;s face moved, but slowly he looked Paul
+      Harley up and down, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been called a hasty man,&rdquo; he replied, coldly, &ldquo;but I can scarcely
+      be accused of leaping to a conclusion when I say that I believe you to be
+      mad. You have interrupted me, sir. Good morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stepped back, and would have closed the door, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; said Paul Harley, and the tone of his voice was arresting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name is evidently unfamiliar to you,&rdquo; Harley continued. &ldquo;You regard
+      myself and Mr. Knox as friends of the late Colonel Menendez&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At that Colin Camber started forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The <i>late</i> Colonel Menendez?&rdquo; he echoed, speaking almost in a
+      whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But as if he had not heard him Harley continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a matter of fact, I am a criminal investigator, and Mr. Knox is
+      assisting me in my present case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber clenched his hands and seemed to be fighting with some
+      emotion which possessed him, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean,&rdquo; he said, hoarsely&mdash;&ldquo;do you mean that Menendez is&mdash;dead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;May I request the privilege of ten minutes&rsquo; 
+      private conversation with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber stood aside, holding the door open, and inclining his head in
+      that grave salutation which I knew, but on this occasion, I think,
+      principally with intent to hide his emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not another word did he speak until the three of us stood in the strange
+      study where East grimaced at West, and emblems of remote devil-worship
+      jostled the cross of the Holy Rose. The place was laden with tobacco
+      smoke, and scattered on the carpet about the feet of the writing table lay
+      twenty or more pages of closely written manuscript. Although this was a
+      brilliant summer&rsquo;s morning, an old-fashioned reading lamp, called, I
+      believe, a Victoria, having a nickel receptacle for oil at one side of the
+      standard and a burner with a green glass shade upon the other, still shed
+      its light upon the desk. It was only reasonable to suppose that Colin
+      Camber had been at work all night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He placed chairs for us, clearing them of the open volumes which they
+      bore, and, seating himself at the desk:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he began, slowly, paused, and then stood up, &ldquo;I accused you of
+      something when you last visited my house, something of which I would not
+      lightly accuse any man. If I was wrong, I wish to apologize.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only a matter of the utmost urgency could have induced me to cross your
+      threshold again,&rdquo; I replied, coldly. &ldquo;Your behaviour, sir, was
+      inexcusable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rested his long white hands upon the desk, looking across at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever I did and whatever I said,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;one insult I laid
+      upon you more deadly than the rest: I accused you of friendship with Juan
+      Menendez. Was I unjust?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had been retained professionally by Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; replied Harley
+      without hesitation, &ldquo;and Mr. Knox kindly consented to accompany me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber looked very hard at the speaker, and then equally hard at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it at behest of Colonel Menendez that you called upon me, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not,&rdquo; said Harley, tersely; &ldquo;it was at mine. And he is here now at
+      my request. Come, sir, we are wasting time. At any moment&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber held up his hand, interrupting him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By your leave, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, and there was something compelling
+      in voice and gesture, &ldquo;I must first perform my duty as a gentleman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stepped forward in my direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Knox, I have grossly insulted you. Yet if you knew what had inspired
+      my behaviour I believe you could find it in your heart to forgive me. I do
+      not ask you to do so, however; I accept the humiliation of knowing that I
+      have mortally offended a guest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed to me formally, and would have returned to his seat, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray say no more,&rdquo; I said, standing up and extending my hand. Indeed, so
+      impressive was the man&rsquo;s strange personality that I felt rather as one
+      receiving a royal pardon than as an offended party being offered an
+      apology. &ldquo;It was a misunderstanding. Let us forget it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes gleamed, and he seized my hand in a warm grip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are generous, Mr. Knox, you are generous. And now, sir,&rdquo; he inclined
+      his head in Paul Harley&rsquo;s direction, and resumed his seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley had suffered this odd little interlude in silence but now:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he said, rapidly, &ldquo;I sent you a message by your Chinese
+      servant to the effect that the police would be here within ten minutes to
+      arrest you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did, sir,&rdquo; replied Colin Camber, drawing toward him a piece of
+      newspaper upon which rested a dwindling mound of shag. &ldquo;This is most
+      disturbing, of course. But since I have not rendered myself amenable to
+      the law, it leaves me moderately unmoved. Upon your second point, Mr.
+      Harley, I shall beg you, to enlarge. You tell me that Don Juan Menendez is
+      dead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had begun to fill his corn-cob as he spoke the words, but from where I
+      sat I could just see his face, so that although his voice was well
+      controlled, the gleam in his eyes was unmistakable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was shot through the head shortly after midnight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber dropped the corn-cob and stood up again, the light of a
+      dawning comprehension in his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that he was murdered?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God,&rdquo; whispered Camber, &ldquo;at last I understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is why we are here, Mr. Camber, and that is why the police will be
+      here at any moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber stood erect, one hand resting upon the desk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So this was the meaning of the shot which we heard in the night,&rdquo; he
+      said, slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Crossing the room, he closed and locked the study door, then, returning,
+      he sat down once more, entirely, master of himself. Frowning slightly he
+      looked from Harley in my direction, and then back again at Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he resumed, &ldquo;I appreciate the urgency of my danger.
+      Preposterous though I know it to be, nevertheless it is perhaps no more
+      than natural that suspicion should fall upon me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was evidently thinking rapidly. His manner had grown quite cool, and I
+      could see that he had focussed his keen brain upon the abyss which he
+      perceived to lie in his path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before I commit myself to any statements which might be used as
+      evidence,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;doubtless, Mr. Harley, you will inform me of your
+      exact standpoint in this matter. Do you represent the late Colonel
+      Menendez, do you represent the law, or may I regard you as a perfectly
+      impartial enquirer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may regard me, Mr. Camber, as one to whom nothing but the truth is of
+      the slightest interest. I was requested by the late Colonel Menendez to
+      visit Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Professionally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To endeavour to trace the origin of certain occurrences which had led him
+      to believe his life to be in danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley paused, staring hard at Colin Camber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since I recognize myself to be standing in the position of a suspect,&rdquo;
+       said the latter, &ldquo;it is perhaps unfair to request you to acquaint me with
+      the nature of these occurrences?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The one, sir,&rdquo; replied Paul Harley, &ldquo;which most intimately concerns
+      yourself is this: Almost exactly a month ago the wing of a bat was nailed
+      to the door of Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; exclaimed Colin Camber, leaning forward eagerly&mdash;&ldquo;the wing of
+      a bat? What kind of bat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of a South American Vampire Bat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The effect of those words was curious. If any doubt respecting Camber&rsquo;s
+      innocence had remained with me at this time I think his expression as he
+      leaned forward across the desk must certainly have removed it. That the
+      man was intellectually unusual, and intensely difficult to understand,
+      must have been apparent to the most superficial observer, but I found it
+      hard to believe that these moods of his were simulated. At the words &ldquo;A
+      South American Vampire Bat&rdquo; the enthusiasm of the specialist leapt into
+      his eyes. Personal danger was forgotten. Harley had trenched upon his
+      particular territory, and I knew that if Colin Camber had actually killed
+      Colonel Menendez, then it had been the act of a maniac. No man newly come
+      from so bloody a deed could have acted as Camber acted now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the death-sign of Voodoo!&rdquo; he exclaimed, excitedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet again he arose, and crossing to one of the many cabinets which were in
+      the room, he pulled open a drawer and took out a shallow tray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend was watching him intently, and from the expression upon his
+      bronzed face I could deduce the fact that in Colin Camber he had met the
+      supreme puzzle of his career. As Camber stood there, holding up an object
+      which he had taken from the tray, whilst Paul Harley sat staring at him, I
+      thought the scene was one transcending the grotesque. Here was the
+      suspected man triumphantly producing evidence to hang himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between his finger and thumb Camber held the wing of a bat!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII. COLIN CAMBER&rsquo;S SECRET
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I brought this bat wing from Haiti,&rdquo; he explained, replacing it in the
+      tray. &ldquo;It was found beneath the pillow of a negro missionary who had died
+      mysteriously during the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned the tray to the drawer, closed the latter, and, standing
+      erect, raised clenched hands above his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With no thought of blasphemy,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but with reverence, I thank God
+      from the bottom of my heart that Juan Menendez is dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He reseated himself, whilst Harley regarded him silently, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;The evil that men do lives after them,&rsquo;&rdquo; he murmured. He rested his chin
+      upon his hand. &ldquo;A bat wing,&rdquo; he continued, musingly, &ldquo;a bat wing was
+      nailed to Menendez&rsquo;s door.&rdquo; He stared across at Harley. &ldquo;Am I to believe,
+      sir, that this was the clue which led you to the Guest House?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand. I must therefore take no more excursions into my special
+      subject, but must endeavour to regard the matter from the point of view of
+      the enquiry. Am I to assume that Menendez was acquainted with the
+      significance of this token?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He had seen it employed in the West Indies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, the black-hearted devil! But I fear I am involving myself more deeply
+      in suspicion. Perhaps, Mr. Harley, the ends of justice would be better
+      served if you were to question me, and I to confine myself to answering
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; Harley agreed: &ldquo;when and where did you meet the late Colonel
+      Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never met him in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that you had never spoken to him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm. Tell me, Mr. Camber, where were you at twelve o&rsquo;clock last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, writing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where was Ah Tsong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong?&rdquo; Colin Camber stared uncomprehendingly. &ldquo;Ah Tsong was in bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh. Did anything disturb you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, the sound of a rifle shot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You knew it for a rifle shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was unmistakable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was in the midst of a most important passage, and I should probably
+      have taken no steps in the matter but that Ah Tsong knocked upon the study
+      door, to inform me that my wife had been awakened by the sound of the
+      shot. She is somewhat nervous and had rung for Ah Tsong, asking him to see
+      if all were well with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do I understand that she imagined the sound to have come from this room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When we are newly awakened from sleep, Mr. Harley, we retain only an
+      imperfect impression of that which awakened us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; replied Paul Harley; &ldquo;and did Ah Tsong return to his room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not immediately. Permit me to say, Mr. Harley, that the nature of your
+      questions surprises me. At the moment I fail to see their bearing upon the
+      main issue. He returned and reported to my wife that I was writing, and
+      she then requested him to bring her a glass of milk. Accordingly, he came
+      down again, and going out into the kitchen, executed this order.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah. He would have to light a candle for that purpose, I suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A candle, or a lamp,&rdquo; replied Colin Camber, staring at Paul Harley. Then,
+      his expression altering: &ldquo;Of course!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;You saw the light from
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly? I understand at last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were silent for a while, until:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long a time elapsed between the firing of the shot and Ah Tsong&rsquo;s
+      knocking at the study door?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not answer definitely. I was absorbed in my work. But probably
+      only a minute or two.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was the sound a loud one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fairly loud. And very startling, of course, in the silence of the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shot, then, was fired from somewhere quite near the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I presume so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you thought no more about the matter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frankly, I had forgotten it. You see, the neighbourhood is rich with
+      game; it might have been a poacher.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; murmured Harley, but his face was very stern. &ldquo;I wonder if you
+      fully realize the danger of your position, Mr. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; was the reply, &ldquo;I can anticipate almost every question which
+      I shall be called upon to answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stared at him in a way which told me that he was comparing his
+      features line for line with the etching of Edgar Allen Poe which hung in
+      his office in Chancery Lane, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do believe you,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and I am wondering if you are in a
+      position to clear yourself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; Camber assured him, &ldquo;I am only waiting to hear that
+      Juan Menendez was shot in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly, and not within the
+      house, to propose to you that unless the real assassin be discovered, I
+      shall quite possibly pay the penalty of his crime.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was shot in the Tudor garden,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;within sight of your
+      windows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; Colin Camber resumed the task of stuffing shag into his corn-cob.
+      &ldquo;Then if it would interest you, Mr. Harley, I will briefly outline the
+      case against myself. I had never troubled to disguise the fact that I
+      hated Menendez. Many witnesses can be called to testify to this. He was in
+      Cuba when I was in Cuba, and evidence is doubtless obtainable to show that
+      we stayed at the same hotels in various cities of the United States prior
+      to my coming to England and leasing the Guest House. Finally, he became my
+      neighbour in Surrey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He carefully lighted his pipe, whilst Harley and I watched him silently,
+      then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Menendez had the bat wing nailed to the door of his house,&rdquo; he continued.
+      &ldquo;He believed himself to be in danger, and associated this sign with the
+      source of his danger. Excepting himself and possibly certain other members
+      of his household it is improbable that any one else in Surrey understands
+      the significance of the token save myself. The unholy rites of Voodoo are
+      a closed book to the Western nations. I have opened that book, Mr. Harley.
+      The powers of the Obeah man, and especially of the arch-magician known and
+      dreaded by every negro as &lsquo;Bat Wing,&rsquo; are familiar to me. Since I was
+      alone at the time that the shot was fired, and for some few minutes
+      afterward, and since the Tudor garden of Cray&rsquo;s Folly is within easy range
+      of the Guest House, to fail to place me under arrest would be an act of
+      sheer stupidity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke the words with a sort of triumph. Like the fakir, he possessed
+      the art of spiritual detachment, which is an attribute of genius. From an
+      intellectual eminence he was surveying his own peril. Colin Camber in the
+      flesh had ceased to exist; he was merely a pawn in a fascinating game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley glanced at his watch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I have just sustained the most crushing defeat of
+      my career. The man who had summoned me to his aid was killed almost before
+      my eyes. One thing I must do or accept professional oblivion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand.&rdquo; Colin Camber nodded. &ldquo;Apprehend his murderer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ultimately, yes. But, firstly, I must see that to the assassination of
+      Colonel Menendez a judicial murder is not added.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean&mdash;?&rdquo; asked Camber, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that if you killed Menendez, you are a madman, and I have formed
+      the opinion during our brief conversation that you are brilliantly sane.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber rose and bowed in that old-world fashion which was his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am obliged to you, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;But has Mr. Knox informed
+      you of my bibulous habits?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They will, of course, be ascribed,&rdquo; continued Camber, &ldquo;and there are many
+      suitable analogies, to deliberate contemplation of a murderous deed. I
+      would remind you that chronic alcoholism is a recognized form, of
+      insanity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His mood changed again, and sighing wearily, he lay back in the chair.
+      Over his pale face crept an expression which I knew, instinctively, to
+      mean that he was thinking of his wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, speaking in a very low tone which scorned to
+      accentuate the beauty of his voice, &ldquo;I have suffered much in the quest of
+      truth. Suffering is the gate beyond which we find compassion. Perhaps you
+      have thought my foregoing remarks frivolous, in view of the fact that last
+      night a soul was sent to its reckoning almost at my doors. I revere the
+      truth, however, above all lesser laws and above all expediency. I do not,
+      and I cannot, regret the end of the man Menendez. But for three reasons I
+      should regret to pay the penalty of a crime which I did not commit, These
+      reasons are&mdash;one,&rdquo; he ticked them off upon his delicate fingers&mdash;&ldquo;It
+      would be bitter to know that Devil Menendez even in death had injured me;
+      two&mdash;My work in the world, which is unfinished; and, three&mdash;My
+      wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I watched and listened, almost awed by the strangeness of the man who sat
+      before me. His three reasons were illuminating. A casual observer might
+      have regarded Colin Camber as a monument of selfishness. But it was
+      evident to me, and I knew it must be evident to Paul Harley, that his
+      egotism was quite selfless. To a natural human resentment and a pathetic
+      love for his wife he had added, as an equal clause, the claim of the world
+      upon his genius.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard you,&rdquo; said Paul Harley, quietly, &ldquo;and you have led me to the
+      most important point of all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What point is that, Mr. Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have referred to your recent lapse from abstemiousness. Excuse me if
+      I discuss personal matters. This you ascribed to domestic troubles, or so
+      Mr. Knox has informed me. You have also referred to your undisguised
+      hatred of the late Colonel Juan Menendez. I am going to ask you, Mr.
+      Camber, to tell me quite frankly what was the nature of those domestic
+      troubles, and what had caused this hatred which survives even the death of
+      its object?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber stood up, angular, untidy, but a figure of great dignity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I cannot answer your questions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley inclined his head gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I suggest,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that you will be called upon to do so under
+      circumstances which will brook no denial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber watched him unflinchingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;The fate of every man is hung around his neck,&rsquo;&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet, in this secret history which you refuse to divulge, and which
+      therefore must count against you, the truth may lie which exculpates you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be so. But my determination remains unaltered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; answered Paul Harley, quietly, but I could see that he was
+      exercising a tremendous restraint upon himself. &ldquo;I respect your decision,
+      but you have given me a giant&rsquo;s task, and for this I cannot thank you, Mr.
+      Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard a car pulled up in the road outside the Guest House. Colin Camber
+      clenched his hands and sat down again in the carved chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The opportunity has passed,&rdquo; said Harley. &ldquo;The police are here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury, &ldquo;a little private confab, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sank his chin into its enveloping folds, treating Harley and myself
+      each to a stare of disapproval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These gentlemen very kindly called to advise me of the tragic occurrence
+      at Cray&rsquo;s Folly,&rdquo; explained Colin Camber. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you be seated,
+      Inspector?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, but I can conduct my examination better standing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Might I ask, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;what concern this is of yours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am naturally interested in anything appertaining to the death of a
+      client, Inspector Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, so you slip in ahead of me, having deliberately withheld information
+      from the police, and think you are going to get all the credit. Is that
+      it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is it, Inspector,&rdquo; replied Harley, smiling. &ldquo;An instance of
+      professional jealousy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Professional jealousy?&rdquo; cried the Inspector. &ldquo;Allow me to remind you that
+      you have no official standing in this case whatever. You are merely a
+      member of the public, nothing more, nothing less.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am happy to be recognized as a member of that much-misunderstood body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well, we shall see. Now, Mr. Camber, your attention, please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his finger impressively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am informed by Miss Beverley that the late Colonel Menendez looked upon
+      you as a dangerous enemy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Were those her exact words?&rdquo; I murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Knox!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The inspector turned rapidly, confronting me. &ldquo;I have already warned your
+      friend. But if I have any interruptions from you, I will have you
+      removed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued to glare at me for some moments, and then, turning again to
+      Colin Camber:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say, I have information that Colonel Menendez looked upon you as a
+      dangerous neighbour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that event,&rdquo; replied Colin Camber, &ldquo;why did he lease an adjoining
+      property?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s an evasion, sir. Answer my first question, if you please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have asked me no question, Inspector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. That&rsquo;s your attitude, is it? Very well, then. Were you, or
+      were you not, an enemy of the late Colonel Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say I was. I hated him, and I hate him no less in death than I hated
+      him living.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I think that I had never seen a man so taken aback, Inspector Aylesbury,
+      drawing out a large handkerchief blew his nose. Replacing the
+      handkerchief, he produced a note-book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am placing that statement on record, sir,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He made an entry in the book, and then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you first meet Colonel Menendez?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never met him in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber merely shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will repeat my question,&rdquo; said the Inspector, pompously. &ldquo;Where did you
+      first meet Colonel Juan Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have answered you, Inspector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. You decline to answer that question. Very well, I will make a
+      note of this.&rdquo; He did so. &ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;what were you doing at
+      midnight last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was writing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Very succinctly Colin Camber repeated the statement which he had already
+      made to Paul Harley, and, at its conclusion:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Send for the man, Ah Tsong,&rdquo; directed Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber inclined his head, clapped his bands, and silently Ah Tsong
+      entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector stared at him for several moments as a visitor to the Zoo
+      might stare at some rare animal; then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your name is Ah Tsong?&rdquo; he began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong,&rdquo; murmured the Chinaman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to ask you to give an exact account of your movements last
+      night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sabby.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say I wish to know exactly what you did last night. Answer me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Tseng&rsquo;s face remained quite expressionless, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sabby,&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;This witness refuses to answer at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wrong,&rdquo; explained Colin Camber, quietly. &ldquo;Ah Tsong is a Chinaman,
+      and his knowledge of English is very limited. He does not understand you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He understood my first question. You can&rsquo;t draw wool over my eyes. He
+      knows well enough. Are you going to answer me?&rdquo; he demanded, angrily, of
+      the Chinaman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sabby, master,&rdquo; he said, glancing aside at Colin Camber. &ldquo;Number-one
+      p&rsquo;licee-man gotchee no pidgin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley was leisurely filling his pipe, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you think the evidence of Ah Tsong important, Inspector,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I
+      will interpret if you wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will do what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will act as interpreter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you want me to believe that you speak Chinese?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your beliefs do not concern me, Inspector; I am merely offering my
+      services.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks,&rdquo; said the Inspector, dryly, &ldquo;but I won&rsquo;t trouble you. I should
+      like a few words with Mrs. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber bent his head gravely, and gave an order to Ah Tsong, who
+      turned and went out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what firearms have you in the house?&rdquo; asked Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An early Dutch arquebus, which you see in the corner,&rdquo; was the reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t interest me. I mean up-to-date weapons.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And a Colt revolver which I have in a drawer here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke, Colin Camber opened a drawer in his desk and took out a heavy
+      revolver of the American Army Service pattern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to examine it, if you please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Camber passed it to the Inspector, and the latter, having satisfied
+      himself that none of the chambers were loaded, peered down the barrel, and
+      smelled at the weapon suspiciously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it has been recently used it has been well cleaned,&rdquo; he said, and
+      placed it on a cabinet beside him. &ldquo;Anything else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sporting rifles?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None. I never shoot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door opened and Mrs. Camber came in. She was very simply dressed, and
+      looked even more child-like than she had seemed before. I think Ah Tsong
+      had warned her of the nature of the ordeal which she was to expect, but
+      her wide-eyed timidity was nevertheless pathetic to witness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced at me with a ghost of a smile, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola,&rdquo; said Colin Camber, inclining his head toward me in a grave
+      gesture of courtesy, &ldquo;Mr. Knox has generously forgiven me a breach of good
+      manners for which I shall never forgive myself. I beg you to thank him, as
+      I have done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so good of you,&rdquo; she said, sweetly, and held out her hand. &ldquo;But I
+      knew you would understand that it was just a great mistake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Paul Harley,&rdquo; Camber continued, &ldquo;my wife welcomes you; and this,
+      Ysola, is Inspector Aylesbury, who desires a few moments&rsquo; conversation
+      upon a rather painful matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard, I have heard,&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;Ah Tsong has told me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The pupils of her eyes dilated, as she fixed an appealing glance upon the
+      Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In justice to the latter he was palpably abashed by the delicate beauty of
+      the girl who stood before him, by her naivete, and by that childishness of
+      appearance and manner which must have awakened the latent chivalry in
+      almost any man&rsquo;s heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry to have to trouble you with this disagreeable business, Mrs.
+      Camber,&rdquo; he began; &ldquo;but I believe you were awakened last night by the
+      sound of a shot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, watching him intently, &ldquo;that is so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I ask at what time this was heard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong told me it was after twelve o&rsquo;clock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was the sound a loud one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. It must have been to have awakened me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. Did you think it was in the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the garden?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really could not say, but I think that it was farther away than that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I rang the bell for Ah Tsong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he come immediately?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Almost immediately.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was dressed, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think he was. He had quickly put on an overcoat. He usually
+      answers at once, when I ring for him, you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. What did you do then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I was frightened, you understand, and I told him to find out if all
+      was well with my husband. He came back and told me that Colin was writing.
+      But the sound had alarmed me very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, and now perhaps <i>you</i> will tell me, Mrs. Camber, when and where
+      your husband first met Colonel Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Every vestige of colour fled from the girl&rsquo;s face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as I know&mdash;they never met,&rdquo; she replied, haltingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you swear to that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I think that hitherto she had not fully realized the nature of the
+      situation; but now something in the Inspector&rsquo;s voice, or perhaps in our
+      glances, told her the truth. She moved to where Colin Camber was sitting,
+      looking down at him questioningly, pitifully. He put his arm about her and
+      drew her close.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and returned his note-book to his
+      pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to take a look around the garden,&rdquo; he announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My respect for him increased slightly, and Harley and I followed him out
+      of the study. A police sergeant was sitting in the hall, and Ah Tsong was
+      standing just outside the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show me the way to the garden,&rdquo; directed the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Tsong stared stupidly, whereupon Paul Harley addressed him in his
+      native language, rapidly and in a low voice, in order, as I divined, that
+      the Inspector should not hear him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel dreadfully guilty, Knox,&rdquo; he confessed, in a murmured aside. &ldquo;For
+      any Englishman, fictitious characters excepted, to possess a knowledge of
+      Chinese is almost indecent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, then, I found myself once more in that unkempt garden of which
+      I retained such unpleasant memories.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury stared all about and up at the back of the house,
+      humming to himself and generally behaving as though he were alone. Before
+      the little summer study he stood still, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; he muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What he had seen was painfully evident. The right-hand window, beneath
+      which there was a permanent wooden seat, commanded an unobstructed view of
+      the Tudor garden in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Clearly I could detect
+      the speck of high-light upon the top of the sun-dial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector stepped into the hut. It contained a bookshelf upon which a
+      number of books remained, a table and a chair, with some few other
+      dilapidated appointments. I glanced at Harley and saw that he was staring
+      as if hypnotized at the prospect in the valley below. I observed a
+      constable on duty at the top of the steps which led down into the Tudor
+      garden, but I could see nothing to account for Harley&rsquo;s fixed regard,
+      until:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me one moment, Inspector,&rdquo; he muttered, brusquely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Brushing past the indignant Aylesbury, who was examining the contents of
+      the shelves in the hut, he knelt upon the wooden seat and stared intently
+      through the open window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One-two-three-four-five-six-<i>seven</i>,&rdquo; he chanted. &ldquo;Good! That will
+      settle it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury, standing strictly upright, his
+      prominent eyes turned in the direction of the kneeling Harley. &ldquo;One, two,
+      three, four, and so on will settle it, eh? If you don&rsquo;t mind me saying so,
+      it was settled already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; replied Harley, standing up, and I saw that his eyes were very
+      bright and that his face was slightly flushed. &ldquo;You think the case is so
+      simple as that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Simple?&rdquo; exclaimed the Inspector. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the most cunning thing that was
+      ever planned, but I flatter myself that I have a good straight eye which
+      can see a fairly long way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent,&rdquo; murmured Harley. &ldquo;I congratulate you. Myopia is so common in
+      the present generation. You have decided, of course, that the murder was
+      committed by Ah Tsong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s eyes seemed to protrude extraordinarily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Ah Tsong!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely it is palpable,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;that of the three people
+      residing in the Guest House, Ah Tsong is the only one who could possibly
+      have done the deed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who could possibly&mdash;who could possibly&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; stuttered the
+      Inspector, then paused because of sheer lack of words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Review the evidence,&rdquo; continued Harley, coolly. &ldquo;Mrs. Camber was awakened
+      by the sound of a shot. She immediately rang for Ah Tsong. There was a
+      short interval before Ah Tsong appeared&mdash;and when he did appear he
+      was wearing an overcoat. Note this point, Inspector: wearing an overcoat.
+      He descended to the study and found Mr. Camber writing. Now, Ah Tsong
+      sleeps in a room adjoining the kitchen on the ground floor. We passed his
+      quarters on our way to the garden a moment ago. Of course, you had noted
+      this? Mr. Camber is therefore eliminated from our list of suspects.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector was growing very red, but ere he had time to speak Harley
+      continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The first of these three persons to have heard a shot fired at the end of
+      the garden would have been Ah Tsong, and not Mrs. Camber, whose room is
+      upstairs and in the front of the house. If it had been fired by Mr. Camber
+      from the spot upon which we now stand, he would still have been in the
+      garden at the moment when Mrs. Camber was ringing the bell for Ah Tsong.
+      Mr. Camber must therefore have returned from the end of the garden to the
+      study, and have passed Ah Tsong&rsquo;s room&mdash;unheard by the occupant&mdash;between
+      the time that the bell rang and the time that Ah Tsong went upstairs. This
+      I submit to be impossible. There is an alternative: it is that he slipped
+      in whilst Ah Tsong, standing on the landing above, was receiving his
+      mistress&rsquo;s orders. I submit that the alternative is also impossible. We
+      thus eliminate Mr. Camber from the case, as I have already mentioned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eliminate&mdash;eliminate!&rdquo; cried the Inspector, beginning to recover
+      power of speech. &ldquo;Do you think you can fuddle me with a mass of words, Mr.
+      Harley? Allow me to point out to you, sir, that you are in no way
+      officially associated with this matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have already drawn my attention to the fact, Inspector, but it can do
+      no harm to jog my memory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley spoke entirely without bitterness, and I, who knew his every mood,
+      realized that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Therefore I knew that at
+      last he had found a clue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may add, Inspector,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that upon further reflection I have also
+      eliminated Ah Tsong from the case. I forgot to mention that he lacks the
+      first and second fingers of his right hand; and I have yet to meet the
+      marksman who can shoot a man squarely between the eyes, by moonlight, at a
+      hundred yards, employing his third finger as trigger-finger. There are
+      other points, but these will be sufficient to show you that this case is
+      more complicated than you had assumed it to be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury did not deign to reply, or could not trust himself to
+      do so. He turned and made his way back to the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV. AN OFFICIAL MOVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      We reëntered the study to find Mrs. Camber sitting in a chair very close
+      to her husband. Inspector Aylesbury stood in the open doorway for a
+      moment, and then, stepping back into the hall:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant Butler,&rdquo; he said, addressing the man who waited there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go out to the gate and get Edson to relieve you. I shall want you to go
+      back to headquarters in a few minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I scented what was coming, and as Inspector Aylesbury reentered the room:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to make a statement,&rdquo; announced Paul Harley, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector frowned, and lowering his chin, regarded him with little
+      favour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not invited any statement from you, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; returned Harley. &ldquo;I am volunteering it. It is this: I gather that
+      you are about to take an important step officially. Having in view certain
+      steps which I, also, am about to take, I would ask you to defer action,
+      purely in your own interests, for at least twenty-four hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear you,&rdquo; said the Inspector, sarcastically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Inspector. You have come newly into this case, and I assure
+      you that its apparent simplicity is illusive. As new facts come into your
+      possession you will realize that what I say is perfectly true, and if you
+      act now you will be acting hastily. All that I have learned I am prepared
+      to place at your disposal. But I predict that the interference of Scotland
+      Yard will be necessary before this enquiry is concluded. Therefore I
+      suggest, since you have rejected my cooperation, that you obtain that of
+      Detective Inspector Wessex, of the Criminal Investigation Department. In
+      short, this is no one-man job. You will do yourself harm by jumping to
+      conclusions, and cause unnecessary trouble to perfectly innocent people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your statement concluded?&rdquo; asked the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the moment I have nothing to add.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. Very good. Then we can now get to business. Always with your
+      permission, Mr. Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took his stand before the fireplace, very erect, and invested with his
+      most official manner. Mrs. Camber watched him in a way that was pathetic.
+      Camber seemed to be quite composed, although his face was unusually pale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;I find your answers to the
+      questions which I have put to you very unsatisfactory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; said Colin Camber, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment, Inspector,&rdquo; interrupted Paul Harley, &ldquo;you have not warned Mr.
+      Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereupon the long-repressed wrath of Inspector Aylesbury burst forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will warn <i>you</i>, sir!&rdquo; he shouted. &ldquo;One more word and you
+      leave this house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet I am going to venture on one more word,&rdquo; continued Harley,
+      unperturbed. He turned to Colin Camber. &ldquo;I happen to be a member of the
+      Bar, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;although I rarely accept a brief. Have I your
+      authority to act for you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am grateful, Mr. Harley, and I leave this unpleasant affair in your
+      hands with every confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Camber stood up, bowing formally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The expression upon the inflamed face of Inspector Aylesbury was really
+      indescribable, and recognizing his mental limitations, I was almost
+      tempted to feel sorry for him. However, he did not lack self-confidence,
+      and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose you have scored, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, a certain hoarseness
+      perceptible in his voice, &ldquo;but I know my duty and I am not afraid to
+      perform it. Now, Mr. Camber, did you, or did you not, at about twelve
+      o&rsquo;clock last night&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Warn the accused,&rdquo; murmured Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury uttered a choking sound, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have to warn you,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that your answers may be used as evidence.
+      I will repeat: Did you, or did you not, at about twelve o&rsquo;clock last
+      night, shoot, with intent to murder, Colonel Juan Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ysola Camber leapt up, clutching at her husband&rsquo;s arm as if to hold him
+      back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not,&rdquo; he replied, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, looking aggressively at Paul
+      Harley whilst he spoke, &ldquo;I am going to detain you pending further
+      enquiries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber inclined his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;you only do your duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The little fingers clutching his sleeve slowly relaxed, and Mrs. Camber,
+      uttering a long sigh, sank in a swoon at his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola! Ysola!&rdquo; he muttered. Stooping he raised the child-like figure. &ldquo;If
+      you will kindly open the door, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I will carry my wife
+      to her room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sprang to the door and held it widely open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber, deadly pale, but holding his head very erect, walked in the
+      direction of the hallway with his pathetic burden. Mis-reading the purpose
+      written upon the stern white face, Inspector Aylesbury stepped forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let someone else attend to Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; he cried, sharply. &ldquo;I wish you
+      to remain here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His detaining hand was already upon Camber&rsquo;s shoulder when Harley&rsquo;s arm
+      shot out like a barrier across the Inspector&rsquo;s chest, and Colin Camber
+      proceeded on his way. Momentarily, he glanced aside, and I saw that his
+      eyes were unnaturally bright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, and carried his wife from the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley dropped his arm, and crossing, stood staring out of the window.
+      Inspector Aylesbury ran heavily to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant!&rdquo; he called, &ldquo;Sergeant! keep that man in sight. He must return
+      here immediately.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard the sound of heavy footsteps following Camber&rsquo;s up the stairs,
+      then Inspector Aylesbury turned, a bulky figure in the open doorway, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said he, entering and reclosing the door, &ldquo;you are a
+      barrister, I understand. Very well, then, I suppose you are aware that you
+      have resisted and obstructed an officer of the law in the execution of his
+      duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley spun round upon his heel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that a charge,&rdquo; he inquired, &ldquo;or merely a warning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two glared at one another for a moment, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From now onward,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, &ldquo;I am going to have no more
+      trouble with you, Mr. Harley. In the first place, I&rsquo;ll have you looked up
+      in the Law List; in the second place, I shall ask you to stick to your
+      proper duties, and leave me to look after mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have endeavoured from the outset,&rdquo; replied Harley, his good humour
+      quite restored, &ldquo;to assist you in every way in my power. You have declined
+      all my offers, and finally, upon the most flimsy evidence, you have
+      detained a perfectly innocent man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. A perfectly innocent man, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly innocent, Inspector. There are so many points that you have
+      overlooked. For instance, do you seriously suppose that Mr. Camber had
+      been waiting up here night after night on the off-chance that Colonel
+      Menendez would appear in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t. I have got that worked out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed? You interest me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber has an accomplice at Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; exclaimed Harley, and into his keen grey eyes crept a look of real
+      interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has an accomplice,&rdquo; repeated the Inspector. &ldquo;A certain witness was
+      strangely reluctant to mention Mr. Camber&rsquo;s name. It was only after very
+      keen examination that I got it at last. Now, Colonel Menendez had not
+      retired last night, neither had a certain other party. That other party,
+      sir, knows why Colonel Menendez was wandering about the garden at
+      midnight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At first, I think, this astonishing innuendo did not fully penetrate to my
+      mind, but when it did so, it seemed to galvanize me. Springing up from the
+      chair in which I had been seated:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You preposterous fool!&rdquo; I exclaimed, hotly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the last straw. Inspector Aylesbury strode to the door and throwing
+      it open once more, turned to me:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be good enough to leave the house, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am about to
+      have it officially searched, and I will have no strangers present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I think I could have strangled him with pleasure, but even in my rage I
+      was not foolhardy enough to lay myself open to that of which the Inspector
+      was quite capable at this moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Without another word I walked out of the study, took my hat and stick, and
+      opening the front door, quitted the Guest House, from which I had thus a
+      second time been dismissed ignominiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Appreciation of this fact, which came to me as I stepped into the porch,
+      awakened my sense of humour&mdash;a gift truly divine which has saved many
+      a man from desperation or worse. I felt like a schoolboy who had been
+      turned out of a class-room, and I was glad that I could laugh at myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A constable was standing in the porch, and he looked at me suspiciously.
+      No doubt he perceived something very sardonic in my merriment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I walked out of the gate, before which a car was standing, and as I paused
+      to light a cigarette I heard the door of the Guest House open and close. I
+      glanced back, and there was Paul Harley coming to join me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Knox,&rdquo; he said, briskly, &ldquo;we have got our hands full.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Harley, I am both angry and bewildered. Too angry and too
+      bewildered to think clearly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can quite understand it. I should become homicidal if I were forced to
+      submit for long to the company of Inspector Aylesbury. Of course, I had
+      anticipated the arrest of Colin Camber, and I fear there is worse to
+      come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that failing the apprehension of the real murderer, I cannot see,
+      at the moment, upon what the case for the defence is to rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely you demonstrated out there in the garden that he could not
+      possibly have fired the shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Words, Knox, words. I could pick a dozen loopholes in my own argument. I
+      had only hoped to defer the inevitable. I tell you, there is worse to
+      come. Two things we must do at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must persuade the man on duty to allow us to examine the Tudor garden,
+      and we must see the Chief Constable, whoever he may be, and prevail upon
+      him to requisition the assistance of Scotland Yard. With Wessex in charge
+      of the case I might have a chance. Whilst this disastrous man Aylesbury
+      holds the keys there is none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You heard what he said about Miss Beverley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now walking rapidly along the high road, and Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had expected it. He was inspired with this brilliant
+      idea last night, and his ideas are too few to be lightly scrapped. If the
+      Chief Constable is anything like the Inspector, what we are going to do
+      heaven only knows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I take it, Harley, that you are convinced of Colin Camber&rsquo;s innocence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley did not answer for a moment, whereupon I glanced at him anxiously,
+      then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colin Camber,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;is of so peculiar a type that I could not
+      presume to say of what he is capable or is not capable. The most
+      significant point in his favour is this: He is a man of unusual intellect.
+      The planning of this cunning crime to such a man would have been child&rsquo;s
+      play&mdash;child&rsquo;s play, Knox. But is it possible to believe that his
+      genius would have failed him upon the most essential detail of all,
+      namely, an alibi?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course it is not. Which, continuing to regard Camber as an assassin,
+      reduces us to the theory that the crime was committed in a moment of
+      passion. This I maintain to be also impossible. It was no deed of
+      impulse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, I believe that the enquiry is going to turn upon a very delicate
+      point. If I am wrong in this, then perhaps I am wrong in my whole
+      conception of the case. But have you considered the mass of evidence
+      against Colin Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have, Harley,&rdquo; I replied, sadly, &ldquo;I have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Think of all that we know, and which the Inspector does not know. Every
+      single datum points in the same direction. No prosecution could ask for a
+      more perfect case. Upon this fact I pin my hopes. Where an Aylesbury
+      rushes in I fear to tread. The analogy with an angel was accidental,
+      Knox!&rdquo; he added, smilingly. &ldquo;In other words, it is all too obvious. Yet I
+      have failed once, Knox, failed disastrously, and it may be that in my
+      anxiety to justify myself I am seeking for subtlety where no subtlety
+      exists.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXV. AYLESBURY&rsquo;S THEORY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      There were strangers about Cray&rsquo;s Folly and a sort of furtive activity,
+      horribly suggestive. We had not pursued the circular route by the high
+      road which would have brought us to the lodge, but had turned aside where
+      the swing-gate opened upon a footpath into the meadows. It was the path
+      which I had pursued upon the day of my visit to the Lavender Arms. A
+      second private gate here gave access to the grounds at a point directly
+      opposite the lake; and as we crossed the valley, making for the terraced
+      lawns, I saw unfamiliar figures upon the veranda, and knew that the
+      cumbersome processes of the law were already in motion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was longing to speak to Val Beverley and to learn what had taken place
+      during her interview with Inspector Aylesbury, but Harley led the way
+      toward the tower wing, and by a tortuous path through the rhododendrons we
+      finally came out on the northeast front and in sight of the Tudor garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley crossed to the entrance, and was about to descend the steps, when
+      the constable on duty there held out his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I have orders to admit no one to this part
+      of the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Harley, pulling up short, &ldquo;but I am acting in this case. My
+      name is Paul Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sorry, sir,&rdquo; replied the constable, &ldquo;but you will have to see Inspector
+      Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend uttered an impatient exclamation, but, turning aside:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, constable,&rdquo; he muttered; &ldquo;I suppose I must submit. Our friend,
+      Aylesbury,&rdquo; he added to me, as we walked away, &ldquo;would appear to be a
+      martinet as well as a walrus. At every step, Knox, he proves himself a
+      tragic nuisance. This means waste of priceless time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What had you hoped to do, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prove my theory,&rdquo; he returned; &ldquo;but since every moment is precious, I
+      must move in another direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hurried on through the opening in the box hedge and into the courtyard.
+      Manoel had just opened the doors to a sepulchral-looking person who proved
+      to be the coroner&rsquo;s officer, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Manoel!&rdquo; cried Harley, &ldquo;tell Carter to bring a car round at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t time to fetch my own,&rdquo; he explained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you off to?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am off to see the Chief Constable, Knox. Aylesbury must be superseded
+      at whatever cost. If the Chief Constable fails I shall not hesitate to go
+      higher. I will get along to the garage. I don&rsquo;t expect to be more than an
+      hour. Meanwhile, do your best to act as a buffer between Aylesbury and the
+      women. You understand me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; I returned, shortly. &ldquo;But the task may prove no light one,
+      Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he assured me, smiling grimly. &ldquo;How you must regret, Knox,
+      that we didn&rsquo;t go fishing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that he was off, eager-eyed and alert, the mood of dreamy abstraction
+      dropped like a cloak discarded. He fully realized, as I did, that his
+      unique reputation was at stake. I wondered, as I had wondered at the Guest
+      House, whether, in undertaking to clear Colin Camber, he had acted upon
+      sheer conviction, or, embittered by the death of his client, had taken a
+      gambler&rsquo;s chance. It was unlike him to do so. But now beyond reach of that
+      charm of manner which Colin Camber possessed, and discounting the pathetic
+      sweetness of his girl-wife, I realized how black was the evidence against
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Occupied with these, and even more troubled thoughts, I was making my way
+      toward the library, undetermined how to act, when I saw Val Beverley
+      coming along the corridor which communicated with Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I read a welcome in her eyes which made my heart beat the faster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I am so glad you have returned. Tell me all
+      that has happened, for I feel in some way that I am responsible for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know, then, where Inspector Aylesbury went when he left here, after
+      his interview with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at me pathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He went to the Guest House, of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;he was close behind us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And&rdquo;&mdash;she hesitated&mdash;&ldquo;Mr. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has been detained.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she moaned. &ldquo;I could hate myself! Yet what could I say, what could I
+      do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just tell me all about it,&rdquo; I urged. &ldquo;What were the Inspector&rsquo;s
+      questions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; explained the girl, &ldquo;he had evidently learned from someone,
+      presumably one of the servants, that there was enmity between Mr. Camber
+      and Colonel Menendez. He asked me if I knew of this, and of course I had
+      to admit that I did. But when I told him that I had no idea of its cause,
+      he did not seem to believe me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I murmured. &ldquo;Any evidence which fails to dove-tail with his
+      preconceived theories he puts down as a lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He seemed to have made up his mind for some reason,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;that
+      I was intimately acquainted with Mr. Camber. Whereas, of course, I have
+      never spoken to him in my life, although whenever he has passed me in the
+      road he has always saluted me with quite delightful courtesy. Oh, Mr.
+      Knox, it is horrible to think of this great misfortune coming to those
+      poor people.&rdquo; She looked at me pleadingly. &ldquo;How did his wife take it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor little girl,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;it was an awful blow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel that I want to set out this very minute,&rdquo; declared Val Beverley,
+      &ldquo;and go to her, and try to comfort her. Because I feel in my very soul
+      that her husband is innocent. She is such a sweet little thing. I have
+      wanted to speak to her since the very first time I ever saw her, but on
+      the rare occasions when we have met in the village she has hurried past as
+      though she were afraid of me. Mr. Harley surely knows that her husband is
+      not guilty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think he does,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but he may have great difficulty in proving
+      it. And what else did Inspector Aylesbury wish to know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I tell you?&rdquo; she said in a low voice; and biting her lip
+      agitatedly she turned her head aside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I can guess.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you?&rdquo; she asked, looking at me quickly. &ldquo;Well, then, he seemed to
+      attach a ridiculous importance to the fact that I had not retired last
+      night at the time of the tragedy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; said I, grimly. &ldquo;Another preconceived idea of his.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told him the truth of the matter, which is surely quite simple, and at
+      first I was unable to understand the nature of his suspicions. Then, after
+      a time, his questions enlightened me. He finally suggested, quite openly,
+      that I had not come down from my room to the corridor in which Madame de
+      Stämer was lying, but had actually been there at the time!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the corridor outside her room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. He seemed to think that I had just come in from the door near the
+      end of the east wing and beside the tower, which opens into the
+      shrubbery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That you had just come in?&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;He thinks, then, that you had
+      been out in the grounds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley&rsquo;s face had been very pale, but now she flushed indignantly,
+      and glanced away from me as she replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He dared to suggest that I had been to keep an assignation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fool!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;The ignorant, impudent fool!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;I felt quite ill with indignation. I am afraid I may
+      regard Inspector Aylesbury as an enemy from now onward, for when I had
+      recovered from the shock I told him very plainly what I thought about his
+      intellect, or lack of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad you did,&rdquo; I said, warmly. &ldquo;Before Inspector Aylesbury is
+      through with this business I fancy he will know more about his limitations
+      than he knows at present. The fact of the matter is that he is badly out
+      of his depth, but is not man enough to acknowledge the fact even to
+      himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled at me pathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever should I have done if I had been alone?&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was tempted to direct the conversation into a purely personal channel,
+      but common sense prevailed, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Madame de Stämer awake?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; The girl nodded. &ldquo;Dr. Rolleston is with her now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And does she know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. She sent for me directly she awoke, and asked me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you told her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How could I do otherwise? She was quite composed, wonderfully composed;
+      and the way she heard the news was simply heroic. But here is Dr.
+      Rolleston, coming now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I glanced along the corridor, and there was the physician approaching
+      briskly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, doctor. I hear that your patient is much improved?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wonderfully so,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;She has enough courage for ten men. She
+      wishes to see you, Mr. Knox, and to hear your account of the tragedy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think it would be wise?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it would be best.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you hold any hope of her permanently recovering the use of her limbs?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr. Rolleston shook his head doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may have only been temporary,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;These obscure nervous
+      affections are very fickle. It is unsafe to make predictions. But
+      mentally, at least, she is quite restored from the effects of last night&rsquo;s
+      shock. You need apprehend no hysteria or anything of that nature, Mr.
+      Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; exclaimed a loud voice behind us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We all three turned, and there was Inspector Aylesbury crossing the hall
+      in our direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Dr. Rolleston,&rdquo; he said, deliberately ignoring my presence.
+      &ldquo;I hear that your patient is quite well again this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is much improved,&rdquo; returned the physician, dryly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I can get her testimony, which is most important to my case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is somewhat better. If she cares to see you I do not forbid the
+      interview.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s good of you, doctor.&rdquo; He bowed to Miss Beverley. &ldquo;Perhaps,
+      Miss, you would ask Madame de Stämer to see me for a few minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley looked at me appealingly then shrugged her shoulders, turned
+      aside, and walked in the direction of Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Dr. Rolleston, in his brisk way, shaking me by the hand, &ldquo;I
+      must be getting along. Good morning, Mr. Knox. Good morning, Inspector
+      Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked rapidly out to his waiting car. The presence of Inspector
+      Aylesbury exercised upon Dr. Rolleston a similar effect to that which a
+      red rag has upon a bull. As he took his departure, the Inspector drew out
+      his pocket-book, and, humming gently to himself, began to consult certain
+      entries therein, with a portentous air of reflection which would have been
+      funny if it had not been so irritating.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus we stood when Val Beverley returned, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer will see you, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but
+      wishes Mr. Knox to be present at the interview.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, lowering his chin, &ldquo;I see. Oh, very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVI. IN MADAME&rsquo;S ROOM
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s apartment was a large and elegant one. From the
+      window-drapings, which were of some light, figured satiny material, to the
+      bed-cover, the lampshades and the carpet, it was French. Faintly perfumed,
+      and decorated with many bowls of roses, it reflected, in its ornaments,
+      its pictures, its slender-legged furniture, the personality of the
+      occupant. In a large, high bed, reclining amidst a number of silken
+      pillows, lay Madame de Stämer. The theme of the room was violet and
+      silver, and to this everything conformed. The toilet service was of dull
+      silver and violet enamel. The mirrors and some of the pictures had dull
+      silver frames, There was nothing tawdry or glittering. The bed itself,
+      which I thought resembled a bed of state, was of the same dull silver,
+      with a coverlet of delicate violet I hue. But Madame&rsquo;s décolleté robe was
+      trimmed with white fur, so that her hair, dressed high upon her head,
+      seemed to be of silver, too.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reclining there upon her pillows, she looked like some grande dame of that
+      France which was swept away by the Revolution. Immediately above the
+      dressing-table I observed a large portrait of Colonel Menendez dressed as
+      I had imagined he should be dressed when I had first set eyes on him, in
+      tropical riding kit, and holding a broad-brimmed hat in his hand. A
+      strikingly handsome, arrogant figure he made, uncannily like the Velasquez
+      in the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the face of Madame de Stämer I looked long and searchingly. She had not
+      neglected the art of the toilette. Blinds tempered the sunlight which
+      flooded her room; but that, failing the service of rouge, Madame had been
+      pale this morning, I perceived immediately. In some subtle way the night
+      had changed her. Something was gone out of her face, and something come
+      into it. I thought, and lived to remember the thought, that it was thus
+      Marie Antoinette might have looked when they told her how the drums had
+      rolled in the Place de la Revolution on that morning of the twenty-first
+      of January.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, M. Knox,&rdquo; she said, sadly, &ldquo;you are there, I see. Come and sit here
+      beside me, my friend. Val, dear, remain. Is this Inspector Aylesbury who
+      wishes to speak to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector, who had entered with all the confidence in the world,
+      seemed to lose some of it in the presence of this grand lady, who was so
+      little impressed by the dignity of his office.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She waved one slender hand in the direction of a violet brocaded chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Monsieur l&rsquo;inspecteur,&rdquo; she commanded, for it was rather a
+      command than an invitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and sat down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, M. Knox!&rdquo; exclaimed Madame, turning to me with one of her rapid
+      movements, &ldquo;is your friend afraid to face me, then? Does he think that he
+      has failed? Does he think that I condemn him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He knows that he has failed, Madame de Stämer,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but his
+      absence is due to the fact that at this hour he is hot upon the trail of
+      the assassin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;what!&rdquo;&mdash;and bending forward touched my arm.
+      &ldquo;Tell me again! Tell me again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is following a clue, Madame de Stämer, which he hopes will lead to the
+      truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! if I could believe it would lead to the truth,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;If I dared
+      to believe this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should it not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head, smiling with such a resigned sadness that I averted my
+      gaze and glanced across at Val Beverley who was seated on the opposite
+      side of the bed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you knew&mdash;if you knew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked again into the tragic face, and realized that this was an older
+      woman than the brilliant hostess I had known. She sighed, shrugged, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, M. Knox,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;it was swift and merciful, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Instantaneous,&rdquo; I replied, in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A good shot?&rdquo; she asked, strangely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A wonderful shot,&rdquo; I answered, thinking that she imposed unnecessary
+      torture upon herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They say he must be taken away, M. Knox, but I reply: not until I have
+      seen him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame,&rdquo; began Val Beverley, gently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my dear!&rdquo; Madame de Stämer, without looking at the speaker, extended
+      one hand in her direction, the fingers characteristically curled. &ldquo;You do
+      not know me. Perhaps it is a good job. You are a man, Mr. Knox, and men,
+      especially men who write, know more of women than they know of themselves,
+      is it not so? You will understand that I must see him again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;your courage is almost terrible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not proud to be brave, my friend. The animals are brave, but many
+      cowards are proud. Listen again. He suffered no pain, you think?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, Madame de Stämer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So Dr. Rolleston assures me. He died in his sleep? You do not think he
+      was awake, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most certainly he was not awake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the best way to die,&rdquo; she said, simply. &ldquo;Yet he, who was brave and
+      had faced death many times, would have counted it&rdquo;&mdash;&mdash;she
+      snapped her white fingers, glancing across the room to where Inspector
+      Aylesbury, very subdued, sat upon the brocaded chair twirling his cap
+      between his hands. &ldquo;And now, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;what is it
+      you wish me to tell you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Madame,&rdquo; began the Inspector, and stood up, evidently in an
+      endeavour to recover his dignity, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Mr. Inspector! I beg of you be seated,&rdquo; cried Madame. &ldquo;I will
+      not be questioned by one who stands. And if you were to walk about I
+      should shriek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He resumed his seat, clearing his throat nervously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Madame,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;I have come to you particularly for
+      information respecting a certain Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; said Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her vibrant voice was very low.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know him, no doubt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never met him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; exclaimed the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame shrugged and glanced at me eloquently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;this gets more and more funny. I am told by Pedro,
+      the butler, that Colonel Menendez looked upon Mr. Camber as an enemy, and
+      Miss Beverley, here, admitted that it was true. Yet although he was an
+      enemy, nobody ever seems to have spoken to him, and he swears that he had
+      never spoken to Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said Madame, listlessly, &ldquo;is that so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so, Madame, and now you tell me that you have never met him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did tell you so, yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His wife, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never met his wife,&rdquo; said Madame, rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is a fact that Colonel Menendez regarded him as an enemy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a fact-yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, now we are coming to it. What was the cause of this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that you don&rsquo;t know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that I cannot tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, blankly, &ldquo;I see. That&rsquo;s not helping me very
+      much, is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, it is no help,&rdquo; said Madame, twirling a ring upon her finger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector cleared his throat again, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There had been other attempts, I believe, at assassination?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Several.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you witness any of these?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you know that they took place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Juan&mdash;Colonel Menendez&mdash;had told me so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And he suspected that there was someone lurking about this house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Also, someone broke in?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There were doors unfastened, and a great disturbance, so I suppose
+      someone must have done so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I wondered if he would refer to the bat wing nailed to the door, but he
+      had evidently decided that this clue was without importance, nor did he
+      once refer to the aspect of the case which concerned Voodoo. He possessed
+      a sort of mulish obstinacy, and was evidently determined to use no scrap
+      of information which he had obtained from Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Madame,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you heard the shot fired last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It woke you up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was already awake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see: you were awake?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was awake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you think the sound came from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From back yonder, beyond the east wing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond the east wing?&rdquo; muttered Inspector Aylesbury. &ldquo;Now, let me see.&rdquo;
+       He turned ponderously in his chair, gazing out of the windows. &ldquo;We look
+      out on the south here? You say the sound of the shot came from the east?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it seemed to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh.&rdquo; This piece of information seemed badly to puzzle him. &ldquo;And what
+      then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was so startled that I ran to the door before I remembered that I could
+      not walk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced aside at me with a tired smile, and laid her hand upon my arm
+      in an oddly caressing way, as if to say, &ldquo;He is so stupid; I should not
+      have expressed myself in that way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Truly enough the Inspector misunderstood, for:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t follow what you mean, Madame,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;You say you forgot
+      that you could not walk?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, I expressed myself wrongly,&rdquo; Madame replied in a weary voice.
+      &ldquo;The fright, the terror, gave me strength to stagger to the door, and
+      there I fell and swooned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. You speak of fright and terror. Were these caused by the sound
+      of the shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For some reason my cousin believed himself to be in peril,&rdquo; explained
+      Madame. &ldquo;He went in dread of assassination, you understand? Very well, he
+      caused me to feel this dread, also. When I heard the shot, something told
+      me, something told me that&mdash;&rdquo; she paused, and suddenly placing her
+      hands before her face, added in a whisper&mdash;&ldquo;that it had come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley was watching Madame de Stämer anxiously, and the fact that
+      she was unfit to undergo further examination was so obvious that any other
+      than an Inspector Aylesbury would have withdrawn. The latter, however,
+      seemed now to be glued to his chair, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;and now there&rsquo;s another point: Have you any idea
+      what took Colonel Menendez out into the grounds last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer lowered her hands and gazed across at the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that, Monsieur l&rsquo;inspecteur?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you don&rsquo;t think he might have gone out to talk to someone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To someone? To what one?&rdquo; demanded Madame, scornfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it isn&rsquo;t natural for a man to go walking about the garden at
+      midnight, when he&rsquo;s unwell, is it? Not alone. But if there was a lady in
+      the case he might go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A lady?&rdquo; said Madame, softly. &ldquo;Yes&mdash;continue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; resumed the Inspector, deceived by the soft voice, &ldquo;the young lady
+      sitting beside you was still wearing her evening dress when I arrived here
+      last night. I found that out, although she didn&rsquo;t give me a chance to see
+      her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His words had an effect more dramatic than he could have foreseen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer threw her arm around Val Beverley, and hugged her so
+      closely to her side that the girl&rsquo;s curly brown head was pressed against
+      Madame&rsquo;s shoulder. Thus holding her, she sat rigidly upright, her strange,
+      still eyes glaring across the room at Inspector Aylesbury. Her whole pose
+      was instinct with challenge, with defiance, and in that moment I
+      identified the illusive memory which the eyes of Madame so often had
+      conjured up in my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, years before, I had seen a wounded tigress standing over her cubs, a
+      beautiful, fearless creature, blazing defiance with dying eyes upon those
+      who had destroyed her, the mother-instinct supreme to the last; for as she
+      fell to rise no more she had thrown her paw around the cowering cubs. It
+      was not in shape, nor in colour, but in expression and in their stillness,
+      that the eyes of Madame de Stämer resembled the eyes of the tigress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame, Madame,&rdquo; moaned the girl, &ldquo;how dare he!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; Madame de Stämer raised her head yet higher, a royal gesture, that
+      unmoving stare set upon the face of the discomfited Inspector Aylesbury.
+      &ldquo;Leave my apartment.&rdquo; Her left hand shot out dramatically in the direction
+      of the door, but even yet the fingers remained curled. &ldquo;Stupid, gross
+      fool!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury stood up, his face very flushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am only doing my duty, Madame,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go, go!&rdquo; commanded Madame, &ldquo;I insist that you go!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Convulsively she held Val Beverley to her side, and although I could not
+      see the girl&rsquo;s face, I knew that she was weeping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those implacable flaming eyes followed with their stare the figure of the
+      Inspector right to the doorway, for he essayed no further speech, but
+      retired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I, also, rose, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer,&rdquo; I said, speaking, I fear, very unnaturally, &ldquo;I love
+      your spirit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw back her head, smiling up at me. I shall never forget that look,
+      nor shall I attempt to portray all which it conveyed&mdash;for I know I
+      should fail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friend!&rdquo; she said, and extended her hand to be kissed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVII. AN INSPIRATION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury had disappeared when I came out of the hall, but Pedro
+      was standing there to remind me of the fact that I had not breakfasted. I
+      realized that despite all tragic happenings, I was ravenously hungry, and
+      accordingly I agreed to his proposal that I should take breakfast on the
+      south veranda, as on the previous morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To the south veranda accordingly I made my way, rather despising myself
+      because I was capable of hunger at such a time and amidst such horrors.
+      The daily papers were on my table, for Carter drove into Market Hilton
+      every morning to meet the London train which brought them down; but I did
+      not open any of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pedro waited upon me in person. I could see that the man was pathetically
+      anxious to talk. Accordingly, when he presently brought me a fresh supply
+      of hot rolls:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This has been a dreadful blow to you, Pedro?&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreadful, sir,&rdquo; he returned; &ldquo;fearful. I lose a splendid master, I lose
+      my place, and I am far, far from home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are from Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes. I was with Señor the Colonel Don Juan in Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And do you know anything of the previous attempts which had been made
+      upon his life, Pedro?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, sir. Nothing at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the bat wing, Pedro?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at me in a startled way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I found it pinned to the door here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you think it meant?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought it was a joke, sir&mdash;not a nice joke&mdash;by someone who
+      knew Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know the meaning of Bat Wing, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is Obeah. I have never seen it before, but I have heard of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you think?&rdquo; said I, proceeding with my breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought it was meant to frighten.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But who did you think had done it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had heard Señor Don Juan say that Mr. Camber hated him, so I thought
+      perhaps he had sent someone to do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why should Mr. Camber have hated the Colonel?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot say, sir. I wish I could tell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was your master popular in the West Indies?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir&mdash;&rdquo; Pedro hesitated&mdash;&ldquo;perhaps not so well liked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I had gathered as much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man withdrew, and I continued my solitary meal, listening to the song
+      of the skylarks, and thinking how complex was human existence, compared
+      with any other form of life beneath the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How to employ my time until Harley should return I knew not. Common
+      delicacy dictated an avoidance of Val Beverley until she should have
+      recovered from the effect of Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s gross insinuations, and
+      I was curiously disinclined to become involved in the gloomy formalities
+      which ensue upon a crime of violence. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to
+      remain within call, realizing that there might be unpleasant duties which
+      Pedro could not perform, and which must therefore devolve upon Val
+      Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I lighted my pipe and walked out on to the sloping lawn. A gardener was at
+      work with a big syringe, destroying a patch of weeds which had appeared in
+      one corner of the velvet turf. He looked up in a sort of startled way as I
+      passed, bidding me good morning, and then resuming his task. I thought
+      that this man&rsquo;s activities were symbolic of the way of the world, in whose
+      eternal progression one poor human life counts as nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently I came in sight of that door which opened into the rhododendron
+      shrubbery, the door by which Colonel Menendez had come out to meet his
+      death. His bedroom was directly above, and as I picked my way through the
+      closely growing bushes, which at an earlier time I had thought to be
+      impassable, I paused in the very shadow of the tower and glanced back and
+      upward. I could see the windows of the little smoke-room in which we had
+      held our last interview with Menendez; and I thought of the shadow which
+      Harley had seen upon the blind. I was unable to disguise from myself the
+      fact that when Inspector Aylesbury should learn of this occurrence, as
+      presently he must do, it would give new vigour to his ridiculous and
+      unpleasant suspicions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I passed on, and considering the matter impartially, found myself faced by
+      the questions&mdash;Whose was the shadow which Harley had seen upon the
+      blind? And with what purpose did Colonel Menendez leave the house at
+      midnight?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Somnambulism might solve the second riddle, but to the first I could find
+      no answer acceptable to my reason. And now, pursuing my aimless way, I
+      presently came in sight of a gable of the Guest House. I could obtain a
+      glimpse of the hut which had once been Colin Camber&rsquo;s workroom. The
+      window, through which Paul Harley had stared so intently, possessed
+      sliding panes. These were closed, and a ray of sunlight, striking upon the
+      glass, produced, because of an over-leaning branch which crossed the top
+      of the window, an effect like that of a giant eye glittering evilly
+      through the trees. I could see a constable moving about in the garden.
+      Ever and anon the sun shone upon the buttons of his tunic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By such steps my thoughts led me on to the pathetic figure of Ysola
+      Camber. Save for the faithful Ah Tsong she was alone in that house to
+      which tragedy had come unbidden, unforeseen. I doubted if she had a woman
+      friend in all the countryside. Doubtless, I reflected, the old
+      housekeeper, to whom she had referred, would return as speedily as
+      possible, but pending the arrival of someone to whom she could confide all
+      her sorrows, I found it almost impossible to contemplate the loneliness of
+      the tragic little figure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was my mental state, and my thoughts were all of compassion, when
+      suddenly, like a lurid light, an inspiration came to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had passed out from the shadow of the tower and was walking in the
+      direction of the sentinel yews when this idea, dreadfully complete, leapt
+      to my mind. I pulled up short, as though hindered by a palpable barrier.
+      Vague musings, evanescent theories, vanished like smoke, and a ghastly,
+      consistent theory of the crime unrolled itself before me, with all the
+      cold logic of truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God!&rdquo; I groaned aloud, &ldquo;I see it all. I see it all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVIII. MY THEORY OF THE CRIME
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The afternoon was well advanced before Paul Harley returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So deep was my conviction that I had hit upon the truth, and so well did
+      my theory stand every test which I could apply to it, that I felt
+      disinclined for conversation with any one concerned in the tragedy until I
+      should have submitted the matter to the keen analysis of Harley. Upon the
+      sorrow of Madame de Stämer I naturally did not intrude, nor did I seek to
+      learn if she had carried out her project of looking upon the dead man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About mid-day the body was removed, after which an oppressive and awesome
+      stillness seemed to descend upon Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury had not returned from his investigations at the Guest
+      House, and learning that Miss Beverley was remaining with Madame de
+      Stämer, I declined to face the ordeal of a solitary luncheon in the dining
+      room, and merely ate a few sandwiches, walking over to the Lavender Arms
+      for a glass of Mrs. Wootton&rsquo;s excellent ale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I found the bar-parlour full of local customers, and although a
+      heated discussion was in progress as I opened the door, silence fell upon
+      my appearance. Mrs. Wootton greeted me sadly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, sir,&rdquo; she said, as she placed a mug before me; &ldquo;of course you&rsquo;ve
+      heard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have, madam,&rdquo; I replied, perceiving that she did not know me to be a
+      guest at Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well!&rdquo; She shook her head. &ldquo;It had to come, with all these foreign
+      folk about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She retired to some sanctum at the rear of the bar, and I drank my beer
+      amid one of those silences which sometimes descend upon such a gathering
+      when a stranger appears in its midst. Not until I moved to depart was this
+      silence broken, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well,&rdquo; said an old fellow, evidently a farm-hand, &ldquo;we know now why he
+      was priming of hisself with the drink, we do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye!&rdquo; came a growling chorus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I came out of the Lavender Arms full of a knowledge that so far as
+      Mid-Hatton was concerned, Colin Camber was already found guilty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had hoped to see something of Val Beverley on my return, but she
+      remained closeted with Madame de Stämer, and I was left in loneliness to
+      pursue my own reflections, and to perfect that theory which had presented
+      itself to my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Harley&rsquo;s absence I had taken it upon myself to give an order to Pedro
+      to the effect that no reporters were to be admitted; and in this I had
+      done well. So quickly does evil news fly that, between mid-day and the
+      hour of Harley&rsquo;s return, no fewer than five reporters, I believe,
+      presented themselves at Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Some of the more persistent
+      continued to haunt the neighbourhood, and I had withdrawn to the deserted
+      library, in order to avoid observation, when I heard a car draw up in the
+      courtyard, and a moment later heard Harley asking for me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I hurried out to meet him, and as I appeared at the door of the library:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hullo, Knox,&rdquo; he called, running up the steps. &ldquo;Any developments?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No actual development?&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;except that several members of the
+      Press have been here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You told them nothing?&rdquo; he asked, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; they were not admitted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, good,&rdquo; he muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had expected you long before this, Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally,&rdquo; he said, with a sort of irritation. &ldquo;I have been all the way
+      to Whitehall and back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Whitehall! What, you have been to London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had half anticipated it, Knox. The Chief Constable, although quite a
+      decent fellow, is a stickler for routine. On the strength of those facts
+      which I thought fit to place before him he could see no reason for
+      superseding Aylesbury. Accordingly, without further waste of time, I
+      headed straight for Whitehall. You may remember a somewhat elaborate
+      report which I completed upon the eve of our departure from Chancery
+      Lane?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very thankless job for the Home Office, Knox. But I received my reward
+      to-day. Inspector Wessex has been placed in charge of the case and I hope
+      he will be down here within the hour. Pending his arrival I am tied hand
+      and foot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had walked into the library, and, stopping, suddenly, Harley stared me
+      very hard in the face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are bottling something up, Knox,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;Out with it. Has
+      Aylesbury distinguished himself again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;on the contrary. He interviewed Madame de Stämer, and
+      came out with a flea in his ear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said Harley, smiling. &ldquo;A clever woman, and a woman of spirit,
+      Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;and you are also right in supposing that I
+      have a communication to make to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I thought so. What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a theory, Harley, which appears to me to cover the facts of the
+      case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; said he, continuing to stare at me. &ldquo;And what inspired it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was staring up at the window of the smoke-room to-day, and I remembered
+      the shadow which you had seen upon the blind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; he cried, eagerly; &ldquo;and does your theory explain that, too?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It does, Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am all anxiety to hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then, I will endeavour to be brief. Do you recollect Miss
+      Beverley&rsquo;s story of the unfamiliar footsteps which passed her door on
+      several occasions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You recollect that you, yourself, heard someone crossing the hall, and
+      that both of us heard a door close?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And finally you saw the shadow of a woman upon the blind of the Colonel&rsquo;s
+      private study. Very well. Excluding the preposterous theory of Inspector
+      Aylesbury, there is no woman in Cray&rsquo;s Folly whose footsteps could
+      possibly have been heard in that corridor, and whose shadow could possibly
+      have been seen upon the blind of Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree,&rdquo; said Harley, quietly. &ldquo;I have definitely eliminated all the
+      servants from the case. Therefore, proceed, Knox, I am all attention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will do so. There is a door on the south side of the house, close to
+      the tower and opening into the rhododendron shrubbery. This was the door
+      used by Colonel Menendez in his somnambulistic rambles, according to his
+      own account. Now, assuming his statement to have been untrue in one
+      particular, that is, assuming he was not walking in his sleep, but was
+      fully awake&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh?&rdquo; exclaimed Harley, his expression undergoing a subtle change. &ldquo;Do you
+      think his statement was untrue?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;According to my theory, Harley, his statement was untrue, in this
+      particular, at least. But to proceed: Might he not have employed this door
+      to admit a nocturnal visitor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is feasible,&rdquo; muttered Harley, watching me closely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the Colonel to descend to this side door when the household was
+      sleeping,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;and to admit a woman secretly to Cray&rsquo;s Folly,
+      would have been a simple matter. Indeed, on the occasions of these visits
+      he might even have unbolted the door himself after Pedro had bolted it, in
+      order to enable her to enter without his descending for the purpose of
+      admitting her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By heavens! Knox,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;I believe you have it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes were gleaming excitedly, and I proceeded:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hence the footsteps which passed Miss Beverley&rsquo;s door, hence the shadow
+      which you saw upon the blind; and the sounds which you detected in the
+      hall were caused, of course, by this woman retiring. It was the door
+      leading into the shrubbery which we heard being closed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Continue,&rdquo; said Harley; &ldquo;although I can plainly see to what this is
+      leading.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can see, Harley?&rdquo; I cried; &ldquo;of course you can see! The enmity between
+      Camber and Menendez is understandable at last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that Menendez was Mrs. Camber&rsquo;s lover?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you agree with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is feasible, Knox, dreadfully feasible. But go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My theory also explains Colin Camber&rsquo;s lapse from sobriety. It is
+      legitimate to suppose that his wife, who was a Cuban, had been intimate
+      with Menendez before her meeting with Camber. Perhaps she had broken the
+      tie at the time of her marriage, but this is mere supposition. Then, her
+      old lover, his infatuation by no means abated, leases the property
+      adjoining that of his successful rival.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Knox!&rdquo; exclaimed Paul Harley, &ldquo;this is brilliant. I am all impatience for
+      the <i>dénouement</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is coming,&rdquo; I said, triumphantly. &ldquo;Relations are reëstablished,
+      clandestinely. Colin Camber learns of these. A passionate quarrel ensues,
+      resulting in a long drinking bout designed to drown his sorrows. His love
+      for his wife is so great that he has forgiven her this infidelity.
+      Accordingly, she has promised to see her lover no more. Hers was the
+      figure which you saw outlined upon the blind on the night before the
+      tragedy, Harley! The gestures, which you described as those of despair,
+      furnish evidence to confirm my theory. It was a final meeting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; muttered Harley. &ldquo;It would be taking big chances, because we have to
+      suppose, Knox, that these visits to Cray&rsquo;s Folly were made whilst her
+      husband was at work in the study. If he had suddenly decided to turn in,
+      all would have been discovered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; I agreed, &ldquo;but is it impossible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not a bit. Women are dreadful gamblers. But continue, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well. Colonel Menendez has refused to accept his dismissal, and Mrs.
+      Camber had been compelled to promise, without necessarily intending to
+      carry out the promise, that she would see him again on the following
+      night. She failed to come; whereupon he, growing impatient, walked out
+      into the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly to look for her. She may even have
+      intended to come and have been intercepted by her husband. But in any
+      event, the latter, seeing the man who had wronged him, standing out there
+      in the moonlight, found temptation to be too strong. On the whole, I
+      favour the idea that he had intercepted his wife, and snatching up a
+      rifle, had actually gone out into the garden with the intention of
+      shooting Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; murmured Harley in a low voice. &ldquo;This hypothesis, Knox, does not
+      embrace the Bat Wing episodes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If Menendez has lied upon one point,&rdquo; I returned, &ldquo;it is permissible to
+      suppose that his entire story was merely a tissue of falsehood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. But why did he bring me to Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you understand, Harley?&rdquo; I cried, excitedly. &ldquo;He really feared for
+      his life, since he knew that Camber had discovered the intrigue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley heaved a long sigh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must congratulate you, Knox,&rdquo; he said, gravely, &ldquo;upon a really splendid
+      contribution to my case. In several particulars I find myself nearer to
+      the truth. But the definite establishment or shattering of your theory
+      rests upon one thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;You are surely not thinking of the bat wing
+      nailed upon the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I am thinking of the seventh yew tree from the
+      northeast corner of the Tudor garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIX. A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      What reply I should have offered to this astonishing remark I cannot say,
+      but at that moment the library door burst open unceremoniously, and
+      outlined against the warmly illuminated hall, where sunlight poured down
+      through the dome, I beheld the figure of Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he cried, loudly, &ldquo;so you have come back, Mr. Harley? I thought you
+      had thrown up the case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you?&rdquo; said Harley, smilingly. &ldquo;No, I am still persevering in my
+      ineffectual way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. And have you quite convinced yourself that Colin Camber is
+      innocent?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In one or two particulars my evidence remains incomplete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, in one or two particulars, eh? But generally speaking you don&rsquo;t doubt
+      his innocence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t doubt it for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley&rsquo;s words surprised me. I recognized, of course, that he might merely
+      be bluffing the Inspector, but it was totally alien to his character to
+      score a rhetorical success at the expense of what he knew to be the truth;
+      and so sure was I of the accuracy of my deductions that I no longer
+      doubted Colin Camber to be the guilty man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At any rate,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, &ldquo;he is in detention, and likely to
+      remain there. If you are going to defend him at the Assizes, I don&rsquo;t envy
+      you your job, Mr. Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was blatantly triumphant, so that the fact was evident enough that he
+      had obtained some further piece of evidence which he regarded as
+      conclusive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have detained the man Ah Tsong as well,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;He was an
+      accomplice of your innocent friend, Mr. Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was he really?&rdquo; murmured Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Finally,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, &ldquo;I have only to satisfy myself
+      regarding the person who lured Colonel Menendez out into the grounds last
+      night, to have my case complete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned aside, unable to trust myself, but Harley remarked quite coolly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your industry is admirable, Inspector Aylesbury, but I seem to perceive
+      that you have made a very important discovery of some kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, you have got wind of it, have you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no information on the point,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;but your manner
+      urges me to suggest that perhaps success has crowned your efforts?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has,&rdquo; replied the Inspector. &ldquo;I am a man that doesn&rsquo;t do things by
+      halves. I didn&rsquo;t content myself with just staring out of the window of
+      that little hut in the grounds of the Guest House, like you did, Mr.
+      Harley, and saying &lsquo;twice one are two&rsquo;&mdash;I looked at every book on the
+      shelves, and at every page of those books.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must have materially added to your information?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, very likely, but my enquiries didn&rsquo;t stop there. I had the floor up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The floor of the hut?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The floor of the hut, sir. The planks were quite loose. I had satisfied
+      myself that it was a likely hiding place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you find there, a dead rat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury turned, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant Butler,&rdquo; he called.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sergeant came forward from the hall, carrying a cricket bag. This
+      Inspector Aylesbury took from him, placing it upon the floor of the
+      library at his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;New, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I borrowed this bag in which to bring the evidence
+      away&mdash;the hanging evidence which I discovered beneath the floor of
+      the hut.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I had turned again, when the man had referred to his discovery; and now,
+      glancing at Harley, I saw that his face had grown suddenly very stern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show me your evidence, Inspector?&rdquo; he asked, shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There can be no objection,&rdquo; returned the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Opening the bag, he took out a rifle!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s hands were thrust in his coat pockets, By the movement of
+      the cloth I could see that he had clenched his fists. Here was
+      confirmation of my theory!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A Service rifle,&rdquo; said the Inspector, triumphantly, holding up the
+      weapon. &ldquo;A Lee-Enfield charger-loader. It contains four cartridges, three
+      undischarged, and one discharged. He had not even troubled to eject it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector dropped the weapon into the bag with a dramatic movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fancy theories about bat wings and Voodoos,&rdquo; he said, scornfully, &ldquo;may
+      satisfy you, Mr. Harley, but I think this rifle will prove more
+      satisfactory to the Coroner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He picked up the bag and walked out of the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stood posed in a curiously rigid way, looking after him. Even when
+      the door had closed he did not change his position at once. Then, turning
+      slowly, he walked to an armchair and sat down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, hesitatingly, &ldquo;has this discovery surprised you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surprised me?&rdquo; he returned in a low voice. &ldquo;It has appalled me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, although you seemed to regard my theory as sound,&rdquo; I continued
+      rather resentfully, &ldquo;all the time you continued to believe Colin Camber to
+      be innocent?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe so still.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought we had determined, Knox,&rdquo; he said, wearily, &ldquo;that a man of
+      Camber&rsquo;s genius, having decided upon murder, must have arranged for an
+      unassailable alibi. Very well. Are we now to leap to the other end of the
+      scale, and to credit him with such utter stupidity as to place hanging
+      evidence where it could not fail to be discovered by the most idiotic
+      policeman? Preserve your balance, Knox. Theories are wild horses. They run
+      away with us. I know that of old, for which very reason I always avoid
+      speculation until I have a solid foundation of fact upon which to erect
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear fellow,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;was Camber to foresee that the floor of
+      the hut would be taken up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley sighed, and leaned back in his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you recollect your first meeting with this man, Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What occurred?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was slightly drunk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but what was the nature of his conversation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He suggested that I had recognized his resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite. What had led him to make this suggestion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The manner in which I had looked at him, I suppose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. Although not quite sober, from a mere glance he was able to
+      detect what you were thinking. Do you wish me to believe, Knox, that this
+      same man had not foreseen what the police would think when Colonel
+      Menendez was found shot within a hundred yards of the garden of the Guest
+      House?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was somewhat taken aback, for Harley&rsquo;s argument was strictly logical,
+      and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is certainly very puzzling,&rdquo; I admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Puzzling!&rdquo; he exclaimed; &ldquo;it is maddening. This case is like a Syrian
+      village-mound. Stratum lies under stratum, and in each we meet with
+      evidence of more refined activity than in the last. It seems we have yet
+      to go deeper.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took out his pipe and began to fill it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me about the interview with Madame de Stämer,&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took a seat facing him, and he did not once interrupt me throughout my
+      account of Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s examination of Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; he commented, when I had told how the Inspector was dismissed.
+      &ldquo;But at least, Knox, he has a working theory, to which he sticks like an
+      express to the main line, whereas I find myself constantly called upon to
+      readjust my perspective. Directly I can enjoy freedom of movement,
+      however, I shall know whether my hypothesis is a house of cards or a
+      serviceable structure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your hypothesis?&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Then you really have a theory which is
+      entirely different from mine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not entirely different, Knox, merely not so comprehensive. I have
+      contented myself thus far with a negative theory, if I may so express it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Negative theory?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. We are dealing, my dear fellow, with a case of bewildering
+      intricacies. For the moment I have focussed upon one feature only.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon proving that Colin Camber did not do the murder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did <i>not</i> do it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely, Knox. Respecting the person or persons who did do it, I had
+      preserved a moderately open mind, up to the moment that Inspector
+      Aylesbury entered the library with the Lee-Enfield.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then?&rdquo; I said, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I began to think hard. However, since I practise what
+      I preach, or endeavour to do so, I must not permit myself to speculate
+      upon this aspect of the matter until I have tested my theory of Camber&rsquo;s
+      innocence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In other words,&rdquo; I said, bitterly, &ldquo;although you encouraged me to unfold
+      my ideas regarding Mrs. Camber, you were merely laughing at me all the
+      time!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox!&rdquo; exclaimed Harley, jumping up impulsively, &ldquo;please don&rsquo;t be
+      unjust. Is it like me? On the contrary, Knox&rdquo;&mdash;he looked me squarely
+      in the eyes&mdash;&ldquo;you have given me a platform on which already I have
+      begun to erect one corner of a theory of the crime. Without new facts I
+      can go no further. But this much at least you have done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, Harley,&rdquo; I murmured, and indeed I was gratified; &ldquo;but where do
+      your other corners rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They rest,&rdquo; he said, slowly, &ldquo;they rest, respectively, upon a bat wing, a
+      yew tree, and a Lee-Enfield charger-loader.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXX. THE SEVENTH YEW TREE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Detective-Inspector Wessex arrived at about five o&rsquo;clock; a quiet,
+      resourceful man, highly competent, and having the appearance of an
+      ex-soldier. His respect for the attainments of Paul Harley alone marked
+      him a student of character. I knew Wessex well, and was delighted when
+      Pedro showed him into the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God you are here, Wessex,&rdquo; said Harley, when we had exchanged
+      greetings. &ldquo;At last I can move. Have you seen the local officer in
+      charge?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the Inspector, &ldquo;but I gather that I have been requisitioned
+      over his head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have,&rdquo; said Harley, grimly, &ldquo;and over the head of the Chief
+      Constable, too. But I suppose it is unfair to condemn a man for the
+      shortcoming with which nature endowed him, therefore we must endeavour to
+      let Inspector Aylesbury down as lightly as possible. I have an idea that I
+      heard him return a while ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked out into the hall to make enquiries, and a few moments later I
+      heard Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, there you are, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; said Harley, cheerily. &ldquo;Will you
+      please step into the library for a moment?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector entered, frowning heavily, followed by my friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no earthly reason why we should get at loggerheads over this
+      business,&rdquo; Harley continued; &ldquo;but the fact of the matter is, Inspector
+      Aylesbury, that there are depths in this case to which neither you nor I
+      have yet succeeded in penetrating. You have a reputation to consider, and
+      so have I. Therefore I am sure you will welcome the cooperation of
+      Detective-Inspector Wessex of Scotland Yard, as I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s this, what&rsquo;s this?&rdquo; said Aylesbury. &ldquo;I have made no application to
+      London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless, Inspector, it is quite in order,&rdquo; declared Wessex. &ldquo;I have
+      my instructions here, and I have reported to Market Hilton already. You
+      see, the man you have detained is an American citizen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What of that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he seems to have communicated with his Embassy.&rdquo; Wessex glanced
+      significantly at Paul Harley. &ldquo;And the Embassy communicated with the Home
+      Office. You mustn&rsquo;t regard my arrival as any reflection on your ability,
+      Inspector Aylesbury. I am sure we can work together quite agreeably.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; muttered the other, in evident bewilderment, &ldquo;I see. Well, if that&rsquo;s
+      the way of it, I suppose we must make the best of things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; cried Wessex, heartily. &ldquo;Now perhaps you would like to state your
+      case against the detained man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A sound idea, Wessex,&rdquo; said Paul Harley. &ldquo;But perhaps, Inspector
+      Aylesbury, before you begin, you would be good enough to speak to the
+      constable on duty at the entrance to the Tudor garden. I am anxious to
+      take another look at the spot where the body was found.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury took out his handkerchief and blew his nose loudly,
+      continuing throughout the operation to glare at Paul Harley, and finally:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wasting your time, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;as
+      Detective-Inspector Wessex will be the first to admit when I have given
+      him the facts of my case. Nevertheless, if you want to examine the garden,
+      do so by all means.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned without another word and stamped out of the library across the
+      hall and into the courtyard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will join you again in a few minutes, Wessex,&rdquo; said Paul Harley,
+      following.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; Wessex answered. &ldquo;I know you wouldn&rsquo;t have had me
+      down if the case had been as simple as he seems to think it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I joined Harley, and we walked together up the gravelled path, meeting
+      Inspector Aylesbury and the constable returning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go ahead, Mr. Harley!&rdquo; cried the Inspector. &ldquo;If you can find any stronger
+      evidence than the rifle, I shall be glad to take a look at it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley nodded good-humouredly, and together we descended the steps to the
+      sunken garden. I was intensely curious respecting the investigation which
+      Harley had been so anxious to make here, for I recognized that it was
+      associated with something which he had seen from the window of Camber&rsquo;s
+      hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked along the moss-grown path to the sun-dial, and stood for a
+      moment looking down at the spot where Menendez had lain. Then he stared up
+      the hill toward the Guest House; and finally, directing his attention to
+      the yews which lined the sloping bank:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One, two, three, four,&rdquo; he counted, checking them with his fingers&mdash;&ldquo;five,
+      six, seven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He mounted the bank and began to examine the trunk of one of the trees,
+      whilst I watched him in growing astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he turned and looked down at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a trace, Knox,&rdquo; he murmured; &ldquo;not a trace. Let us try again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He moved along to the yew adjoining that which he had already inspected,
+      but presently shook his head and passed to the next. Then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Come here, Knox!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I joined him where he was kneeling, staring at what I took to be a large
+      nail, or bolt, protruding from the bark of the tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;you see!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stooped, in order to examine the thing more closely, and as I did so, I
+      realized what it was. It was the bullet which had killed Colonel Menendez!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stood upright, his face slightly flushed and his eyes very bright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall not attempt to remove it, Knox,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The depth of
+      penetration may have a tale to tell. The wood of the yew tree is one of
+      the toughest British varieties.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Harley,&rdquo; I said, blankly, as we descended to the path, &ldquo;this is
+      merely another point for the prosecution of Camber. Unless&rdquo;&mdash;I turned
+      to him in sudden excitement, &ldquo;the bullet was of different&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;nothing so easy as that, Knox. The bullet was
+      fired from a Lee-Enfield beyond doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stared at him uncomprehendingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am utterly out of my depth, Harley. It, appears to me that the
+      case against Camber is finally and fatally complete. Only the motive
+      remains to be discovered, and I flatter myself that I have already
+      detected this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am certainly inclined to think,&rdquo; admitted Harley, &ldquo;that there is a good
+      deal in your theory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, Harley,&rdquo; I said in bewilderment, &ldquo;you do believe that Camber
+      committed the murder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I am certain that he did not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stood quite still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are certain?&rdquo; I began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told you that the test of my theory, Knox, was to be looked for in the
+      seventh yew from the northeast corner of the Tudor garden, did I not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did. And it is there. A bullet fired from a Lee-Enfield rifle; beyond
+      any possible shadow of doubt the bullet which killed Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond any possible shadow of doubt, as you say, Knox, the bullet which
+      killed Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Therefore Camber is guilty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, therefore Camber is innocent!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are persistently overlooking one little point, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley,
+      mounting the steps on to the gravel path. &ldquo;I spoke of the seventh yew tree
+      from the northeast corner of the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my dear fellow, surely you observed that the bullet was embedded in
+      the ninth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was still groping for the significance of this point when, re-crossing
+      the hall, we entered the library again, to find Inspector Aylesbury posed
+      squarely before the mantelpiece stating his case to Wessex.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; he was saying, in his most oratorical manner, as we entered,
+      &ldquo;every little detail fits perfectly into place. For instance, I find that
+      a woman, called Mrs. Powis, who for the past two years had acted as
+      housekeeper at the Guest House and never taken a holiday, was sent away
+      recently to her married daughter in London. See what that means? Her room
+      is at the back of the house, and her evidence would have been fatal. Ah
+      Tsong, of course, is a liar. I made up my mind about that the moment I
+      clapped eyes on him. Mrs. Camber is the only innocent party. She was
+      asleep in the front of the house when the shot was fired, and I believe
+      her when she says that she cannot swear to the matter of distance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very interesting case, Inspector,&rdquo; said Wessex, glancing at Harley. &ldquo;I
+      have not examined the body yet, but I understand that it was a clean wound
+      through the head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bullet entered at the juncture of the nasal and frontal bones,&rdquo;
+       explained Harley, rapidly, &ldquo;and it came out between the base of the
+      occipital and first cervical. Without going into unpleasant surgical
+      details, the wound was a perfectly <i>straight</i> one. There was no
+      ricochet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand that a regulation rifle was used?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury; &ldquo;we have it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And at what range did you say, Inspector?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Roughly, a hundred yards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly less,&rdquo; murmured Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hundred yards or less,&rdquo; said Wessex, musingly; &ldquo;and the obstruction met
+      with in the case of a man shot in that way would be&mdash;&rdquo; He looked
+      towards Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Less than if the bullet had struck the skull higher up,&rdquo; was the reply.
+      &ldquo;It passed clean through.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Therefore,&rdquo; continued Wessex, &ldquo;I am waiting to hear, Inspector, where you
+      found the bullet lodged?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh?&rdquo; said the Inspector, and he slowly turned his prominent eyes in
+      Harley&rsquo;s direction. &ldquo;Oh, I see. That&rsquo;s why you wanted to examine the Tudor
+      garden, is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly,&rdquo; replied Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of Inspector Aylesbury grew very red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had deferred looking for the bullet,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;as the case was
+      already as clear as daylight. Probably Mr. Harley has discovered it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have,&rdquo; said Harley, shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it the regulation bullet?&rdquo; asked Wessex.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is. I found it embedded in one of the yew trees.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There you are!&rdquo; exclaimed Aylesbury. &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t the ghost of a doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex looked at Harley in undisguised perplexity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must say, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;that I have never met with a
+      clearer case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither have I,&rdquo; agreed Harley, cheerfully. &ldquo;I am going to ask Inspector
+      Aylesbury to return here after nightfall. There is a little experiment
+      which I should like to make, and which would definitely establish my
+      case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Your</i> case?&rdquo; said Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My case, yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not going to tell me that you still persist in believing Camber
+      to be innocent?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all. I am merely going to ask you to return at nightfall to assist
+      me in this minor investigation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you ask my opinion,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;no further evidence is
+      needed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t agree with you,&rdquo; replied Harley, quietly. &ldquo;Whatever your own
+      ideas upon the subject may be, I, personally, have not yet discovered one
+      single piece of convincing evidence for the prosecution of Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; exclaimed Aylesbury, and even Detective-Inspector Wessex stared at
+      the speaker incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; concluded Harley, &ldquo;when you have witnessed
+      the experiment which I propose to make this evening you will realize, as I
+      have already realized that we are faced by a tremendous task.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What tremendous task?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The task of discovering who shot Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXI. YSOLA CAMBER&rsquo;S CONFESSION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley, with Wessex and Inspector Aylesbury, presently set out for
+      Market Hilton, where Colin Camber and Ah Tsong were detained and where the
+      body of Colonel Menendez had been conveyed for the purpose of the
+      post-mortem. I had volunteered to remain at Cray&rsquo;s Folly, my motive being
+      not wholly an unselfish one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Refer reporters to me, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; said Inspector Wessex. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let them
+      trouble the ladies. And tell them as little as possible, yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The drone of the engine having died away down the avenue, I presently
+      found myself alone, but as I crossed the hall in the direction of the
+      library, intending to walk out upon the southern lawns, I saw Val Beverley
+      coming toward me from Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She remained rather pale, but smiled at me courageously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have they all gone, Mr. Knox?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I have really been hiding. I
+      suppose you knew?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suspected it,&rdquo; I said, smiling. &ldquo;Yes, they are all gone. How is Madame
+      de Stämer, now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is quite calm. Curiously, almost uncannily calm. She is writing. Tell
+      me, please, what does Mr. Harley think of Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s
+      preposterous ideas?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He thinks he is a fool,&rdquo; I replied, hotly, &ldquo;as I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But whatever will happen if he persists in dragging me into this horrible
+      case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will not drag you into it,&rdquo; I said, quietly. &ldquo;He has been superseded
+      by a cleverer man, and the case is practically under Harley&rsquo;s direction
+      now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank Heaven for that,&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;I wonder&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; She looked
+      at me hesitatingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; I prompted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been thinking about poor Mrs. Camber all alone in that gloomy
+      house, and wondering&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I know. You are going to visit her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley nodded, watching me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you leave Madame de Stämer with safety?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, I think so. Nita can attend to her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And may I accompany you, Miss Beverley? For more reasons than one, I,
+      too, should like to call upon Mrs. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We might try,&rdquo; she said, hesitatingly. &ldquo;I really only wanted to be kind.
+      You won&rsquo;t begin to cross-examine her, will you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not,&rdquo; I answered; &ldquo;although there are many things I should like
+      her to tell us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, suppose we go,&rdquo; said the girl, &ldquo;and let events take their own
+      course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As a result, I presently found myself, Val Beverley by my side, walking
+      across the meadow path. With the unpleasant hush of Cray&rsquo;s Folly left
+      behind, the day seemed to grow brighter. I thought that the skylarks had
+      never sung more sweetly. Yet in this same instant of sheerly physical
+      enjoyment I experienced a pang of remorse, remembering the tragic woman we
+      had left behind, and the poor little sorrowful girl we were going to
+      visit. My emotions were very mingled, then, and I retain no recollection
+      of our conversation up to the time that we came to the Guest House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were admitted by a really charming old lady, who informed us that her
+      name was Mrs. Powis and that she was but an hour returned from London,
+      whither she had been summoned by telegram.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She showed us into a quaint, small drawing room which owed its atmosphere
+      quite clearly to Mrs. Camber, for whereas the study was indescribably
+      untidy, this was a model of neatness without being formal or unhomely.
+      Here, in a few moments, Mrs. Camber joined us, an appealing little figure
+      of wistful, almost elfin, beauty. I was surprised and delighted to find
+      that an instant bond of sympathy sprang up between the two girls. I
+      diplomatically left them together for a while, going into Camber&rsquo;s room to
+      smoke my pipe. And when I returned:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; said Val Beverley, &ldquo;Mrs. Camber has something to tell you
+      which she thinks you ought to know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Concerning Colonel Menendez?&rdquo; I asked, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Camber nodded her golden head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, but glancing at Val Beverley as if to gather
+      confidence. &ldquo;The truth can never hurt Colin. He has nothing to conceal.
+      May I tell you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all anxiety to hear,&rdquo; I assured her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you rather I went, Mrs. Camber?&rdquo; asked Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Camber reached across and took her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please, no,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Stay here with me. I am afraid it is rather a
+      long story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;It will be time well spent if it leads us any
+      nearer to the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; she questioned, watching me anxiously, &ldquo;you think so? I think so,
+      too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She became silent, sitting looking straight before her, the pupils of her
+      blue eyes widely dilated. Then, at first in a queer, far-away voice, she
+      began to speak again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must tell you,&rdquo; she commenced &ldquo;that before&mdash;my marriage, my name
+      was Isabella de Valera.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola was my baby way of saying it, and so I came to be called Ysola. My
+      father was manager of one of Señor Don Juan&rsquo;s estates, in a small island
+      near the coast of Cuba. My mother&rdquo;&mdash;she raised her little hands
+      eloquently&mdash;&ldquo;was half-caste. Do you know? And she and my father&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked pleadingly at Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; whispered the latter with deep sympathy; &ldquo;but you don&rsquo;t
+      think it makes any difference, do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No?&rdquo; said Mrs. Camber with a quaint little gesture. &ldquo;To you, perhaps not,
+      but there, where I was born, oh! so much. Well, then, my mother died when
+      I was very little. Ah Tsong was her servant. There are many Chinese in the
+      West Indies, you see, and I can just remember he carried me in to see her.
+      Of course I didn&rsquo;t understand. My father quarrelled bitterly with the
+      priests because they would not bury her in holy ground. I think he no
+      longer believed afterward. I loved him very much. He was good to me; and I
+      was a queen in that little island. All the negroes loved me, because of my
+      mother, I think, who was partly descended from slaves, as they were. But I
+      had not begun to understand how hard it was all going to be when my father
+      sent me to a convent in Cuba.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hated to go, but while I was there I learned all about myself. I knew
+      that I was outcast. It was&rdquo;&mdash;she raised her hand&mdash;&ldquo;not possible
+      to stay. I was only fifteen when I came home, but all the same I was a
+      woman. I was no more a child, and happy no longer. After a while, perhaps,
+      when I forgot what I had suffered at the convent, I became less miserable.
+      My father did all in his power to make me happy, and I was glad the
+      work-people loved me. But I was very lonely. Ah Tsong understood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyes filled with tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you imagine,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;that when my father was away in distant
+      parts of the island at night, Ah Tsong slept outside my door? Some of them
+      say, &lsquo;Do not trust the Chinese&rsquo; I say, except my husband and my father, I
+      have never known another one to trust but Ah Tsong. Now they have taken
+      him away from me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tears glittered on her lashes, but she brushed them aside angrily, and
+      continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was still less than twenty, and looked, they told me, only fourteen,
+      when Señor Menendez came to inspect his estate. I had never seen him
+      before. There had been a rising in the island, in the year after I was
+      born, and he had only just escaped with his life. He was hated. People
+      called him Devil Menendez. Especially, no woman was safe from him, and in
+      the old days, when his power had been great, he had used it for
+      wickedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father was afraid when he heard he was coming. He would have sent me
+      away, but before it could be arranged Señor the Colonel arrived. He had in
+      his company a French lady. I thought her very beautiful and elegant. It
+      was Madame de Stämer. It is only four years ago, a little more, but her
+      hair was dark brown. She was splendidly dressed and such a wonderful
+      horsewoman. The first time I saw her I felt as they had made me feel at
+      the convent. I wanted to hide from her. She was so grand a lady, and I
+      came from slaves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused hesitatingly and stared down at her own tiny feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me interrupting you, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;but can you tell me in
+      what way these two are related?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up with her naïve smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can tell you, yes. A cousin of Señor Menendez married a sister of
+      Madame de Stämer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;a very remote kinship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was in this way they met, in Paris, I think, and&rdquo;&mdash;she raised her
+      hands expressively&mdash;&ldquo;she came with him to the West Indies, although
+      it was during the great war. I think she loved him more than her soul, and
+      me&mdash;me she hated. As Señor Menendez dismounted from his horse in
+      front of the house he saw me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She sighed and ceased speaking again. Then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That very night,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;he began. Do you know? I was trying to
+      escape from him when Madame de Stämer found us. She called me a shameful
+      name, and my father, who heard it, ordered her out of the house. Señor
+      Menendez spoke sharply, and my father struck him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused once more, biting her lip agitatedly, but presently proceeded:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know what they are like, the Spanish, when their blood is hot?
+      Senor Menendez had a revolver, but my father knocked it from his grasp.
+      Then they fought with their bare hands. I was too frightened even to cry
+      out. It was all a horrible dream. What Madame de Stämer did, I do not
+      know. I could see nothing but two figures twined together on the floor. At
+      last one of them arose. I saw it was my father, and I remember no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was almost overcome by her tragic recollections, but presently, with a
+      wonderful courage, which, together with her daintiness of form, spoke
+      eloquently of good blood on one side at any rate, continued to speak:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father found he must go to Cuba to make arrangements for the future.
+      Of course, our life there was finished. Ah Tsong stayed with me. You have
+      heard how it used to be in those islands in the old days, but now you
+      think it is so different? I used to think it was different, too. On the
+      first night my father was away, Ah Tsong, who had gone out, was so long
+      returning I became afraid. Then a strange negro came with news that he had
+      been taken ill with cholera, and was lying at a place not far from the
+      house. I forgot my fears and hurried off with this man. Ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed wildly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not know I should never return, and I did not know I should never
+      see my father again. To you this must seem all wild and strange, because
+      there is a law in England. There is a law in Cuba, too, but in some of
+      those little islands the only law is the law of the strongest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She raised her hands to her face and there was silence for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course it was a trap,&rdquo; she presently continued. &ldquo;I was taken to an
+      island called El Manas which belonged to Senor Menendez, and where he had
+      a house. This he could do, but&rdquo;&mdash;she threw back her head proudly&mdash;&ldquo;my
+      spirit he could not break. Lots and lots of money would be mine, and
+      estates of my own; but one thing about him I must tell: he never showed me
+      violence. For one, two, three weeks I stayed a prisoner in his house. All
+      the servants were faithful to him and I could not find a friend among
+      them. Although quite innocent, I was ruined. Do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She raised her eyes pathetically to Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought my heart was broken, for something told me my father was dead.
+      This was true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; she answered, brokenly. &ldquo;He died on his way
+      to Havana. They said it was an accident. Well&mdash;at last, Señor
+      Menendez offered me marriage. I thought if I agreed it would give me my
+      freedom, and I could run away and find Ah Tsong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused, and a flush coloured her delicate face and faded again,
+      leaving it very pale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were married in the house, by a Spanish priest. Oh&rdquo;&mdash;she raised
+      her hands pathetically&mdash;&ldquo;do you know what a woman is like? My spirit
+      was not broken still, but crushed. I had now nothing but kindness and
+      gifts. I might never have known, but Senor Menendez, who thought&rdquo;&mdash;she
+      smiled sadly&mdash;&ldquo;I was beautiful, took me to Cuba, where he had a great
+      house. Please remember, please,&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;before you judge of me,
+      that I was so young and had never known love, except the love of my
+      father. I did not even dream, then, his death was not an accident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was proud of my jewels and fine dresses. But I began to notice that
+      Juan did not present any of his friends to me. We went about, but to
+      strange places, never to visit people of his own kind, and none came to
+      visit us. Then one night I heard someone on the balcony of my room. I was
+      so frightened I could not cry out. It was good I was like that, for the
+      curtain was pulled open and Ah Tsong came in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She clutched convulsively at the arms of her chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He told me!&rdquo; she said in a very low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, looking up pitifully:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know?&rdquo; she asked in her quaint way. &ldquo;It was a mock marriage. He
+      had done it and thought no shame, because it was so with my mother. Oh!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her beautiful eyes flashed, and for the first time since I had met Ysola
+      Camber I saw the real Spanish spirit of the woman leap to life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He did not know me. Perhaps I did not know myself. That night, with no
+      money, without a ring, a piece of lace, a peseta, anything that had
+      belonged to him, I went with Ah Tsong. We made our way to a half-sister of
+      my father&rsquo;s who lived in Puerto Principe, and at first&mdash;she would not
+      have me. I was talked about, she said, in all the islands. She told me of
+      my poor father. She told me I had dragged the name of de Valera in the
+      dirt. At last I made her understand&mdash;that what everyone else had
+      known, I had never even dreamed of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up wistfully, as if thinking that we might doubt her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know?&rdquo; she whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know&mdash;oh! I know!&rdquo; said Val Beverley. I loved her for the sympathy
+      in her voice and in her eyes. &ldquo;It is very, very brave of you to tell us
+      this, Mrs. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes? Do you think so?&rdquo; asked the girl, simply. &ldquo;What does it matter if it
+      can help Colin?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This aunt of mine,&rdquo; she presently continued, &ldquo;was a poor woman, and it
+      was while I was hiding in her house&mdash;because spies of Senor Menendez
+      were searching for me&mdash;that I met&mdash;my husband. He was studying
+      in Cuba the strange things he writes about, you see. And before I knew
+      what had happened&mdash;I found I loved him more than all else in the
+      world. It is so wonderful, that feeling,&rdquo; she said, looking across at Val
+      Beverley. &ldquo;Do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl flushed deeply, and lowered her eyes, but made no reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because you are a woman, too, you will perhaps understand,&rdquo; she resumed.
+      &ldquo;I did not tell him. I did not dare to tell him at first. I was so madly
+      happy I had no courage to speak. But when&rdquo;&mdash;her voice sank lower and
+      lower&mdash;&ldquo;he asked me to marry him, I told him. Nothing he could ever
+      do would change my love for him now, because he forgave me and made me his
+      wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I feared that at last she was going to break down, for her voice became
+      very tremulous and tears leapt again into her eyes. She conquered her
+      emotion, however, and went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We crossed over to the States, and Colin&rsquo;s family who had heard of his
+      marriage&mdash;some friend of Señor Menendez had told them&mdash;would not
+      know us. It meant that Colin, who would have been a rich man, was very
+      poor. It made no difference. He was splendid. And I was so happy it was
+      all like a dream. He made me forget I was to blame for his troubles. Then
+      we were in Washington&mdash;and I saw Señor Menendez in the hotel!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my heart stopped beating. For me it seemed like the end of
+      everything. I knew, I knew, he was following me. But he had not seen me,
+      and without telling Colin the reason, I made him leave Washington, He was
+      glad to go. Wherever we went, in America, they seemed to find out about my
+      mother. I got to hate them, hate them all. We came to England, and Colin
+      heard about this house, and we took it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At last we were really happy. No one knew us. Because we were strange,
+      and because of Ah Tsong, they looked at us very funny and kept away, but
+      we did not care. Then Sir James Appleton sold Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I tell you? It must have been by Ah Tsong that he traced me to
+      Surrey. Some spy had told him there was a Chinaman living here. Oh, I
+      don&rsquo;t know how he found out, but when I heard who was coming to Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly I thought I should die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something I must tell you now. When I had told my story to Colin, one
+      thing I had not told him, because I was afraid what he might do. I had not
+      told him the name of the man who had caused me to suffer so much. On the
+      day I first saw Señor Menendez walking in the garden of Cray&rsquo;s Folly I
+      knew I must tell my husband what he had so often asked me to tell him&mdash;the
+      name of the man. I told him&mdash;and at first I thought he would go mad.
+      He began to drink&mdash;do you know? It is a failing in his family. But
+      because I knew&mdash;because I knew&mdash;I forgave him, and hoped, always
+      hoped, that he would stop. He promised to do so. He had given up going out
+      each day to drink, and was working again like he used to work&mdash;too
+      hard, too hard, but it was better than the other way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopped speaking, and suddenly, before I could divine her intention,
+      dropped upon her knees, and raised her clasped hands to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He did not, he did not kill him!&rdquo; she cried, passionately. &ldquo;He did not! O
+      God! I who love him tell you he did not! You think he did. You do&mdash;you
+      do! I can see it in your eyes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I answered, deeply moved, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t doubt your
+      word for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She continued to look at me for a while, and then turned to Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>You</i> don&rsquo;t think he did,&rdquo; she sobbed, &ldquo;do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked such a child, such a pretty, helpless child, as she knelt there
+      on the carpet, that I felt a lump rising in my throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley dropped down impulsively beside her and put her arms around
+      the slender shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she exclaimed, indignantly. &ldquo;Of course I don&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s
+      quite unthinkable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it is,&rdquo; moaned the other, raising her tearful face. &ldquo;I love him
+      and know his great soul. But what do these others know, and they will
+      never believe <i>me</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have courage,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;It has never failed you yet. Mr. Paul Harley has
+      promised to clear him by to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has promised?&rdquo; she whispered, still kneeling and clutching Val
+      Beverley tightly. She looked up at me with hope reborn in her beautiful
+      eyes. &ldquo;He has promised? Oh, I thank him. May God bless him. I know he will
+      succeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned aside, and walked out across the hall and into the empty study.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0032" id="link2HCH0032">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXII. PAUL HARLEY&rsquo;S EXPERIMENT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I recognize that whosoever may have taken the trouble to follow my
+      chronicle thus far will be little disposed to suffer any intrusion of my
+      personal affairs at such a point. Therefore I shall pass lightly over the
+      walk back to Cray&rsquo;s Folly, during which I contrived to learn much about
+      Val Beverley&rsquo;s personal history but little to advance the investigation
+      which I was there to assist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I had surmised, Miss Beverley had been amply provided for by her
+      father, and was bound to Madame de Stämer by no other ties than those of
+      friendship and esteem. Very reluctantly I released her, on our returning
+      to the house; for she, perforce, hurried off to Madame&rsquo;s room, leaving me
+      looking after her in a state of delightful bewilderment, the significance
+      of which I could not disguise from myself. The absurd suspicions of
+      Inspector Aylesbury were forgotten; so was the shadow upon the blind of
+      Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s study. I only knew that love had come to me, an
+      unbidden guest, to stay for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Manoel informed me that a number of pressmen, not to be denied, had taken
+      photographs of the Tudor garden and of the spot where Colonel Menendez had
+      been found, but Pedro, following my instructions, had referred them all to
+      Market Hilton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was standing in the doorway talking to the man when I heard the drone of
+      Harley&rsquo;s motor in the avenue, and a moment later he and Wessex stepped out
+      in front of the porch and joined me. I thought that Wessex looked stern
+      and rather confused, but Harley was quite his old self, his keen eyes
+      gleaming humorously, and an expression of geniality upon his tanned
+      features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hullo, Knox!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;any developments?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Suppose we go up to your room and talk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Wessex nodded without speaking, and the three of us mounted the
+      staircase and entered Paul Harley&rsquo;s room. Harley seated himself upon the
+      bed and began to load his pipe, whilst Wessex, who seemed very restless,
+      stood staring out of the window. I sat down in the armchair, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have had an interesting interview with Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; exclaimed Harley. &ldquo;Good. Tell us all about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex turned, hands clasped behind him, and listened in silence to an
+      account which I gave of my visit to the Guest House. When I had finished:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me,&rdquo; said the Inspector, slowly, &ldquo;that the only doubtful
+      point in the case against Camber is cleared up; namely, his motive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It certainly looks like it,&rdquo; agreed Harley. &ldquo;But how strangely Mrs.
+      Camber&rsquo;s story differs from that of Menendez although there are points of
+      contact. I regret, however, that you were unable to settle the most
+      important matter of all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean whether or not she had visited Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you still consider my theory to be correct?&rdquo; I asked eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Up to a point it has been proved to be,&rdquo; he returned. &ldquo;I must
+      congratulate you upon a piece of really brilliant reasoning, Knox. But
+      respecting the most crucial moment of all, we are still without
+      information, unfortunately. However, whilst the presence or otherwise, of
+      Mrs. Camber in Cray&rsquo;s Folly on the night preceding the tragedy may prove
+      to bear intimately upon the case, an experiment which I propose to make
+      presently will give the matter an entirely different significance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; said Wessex, doubtfully, &ldquo;I am looking forward to this experiment of
+      yours, Mr. Harley, with great interest. To be perfectly honest, I have no
+      more idea than the man in the moon how you hope to clear Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Harley, musingly, &ldquo;the weight of evidence against him is
+      crushing. But you are a man of great experience, Wessex, in criminal
+      investigations. Tell me honestly, have you ever known a murder case in
+      which there was such conclusive material for the prosecution?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; replied the Inspector, promptly. &ldquo;In this respect, as in others,
+      the case is unique.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have seen Camber,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;and have been enabled to form
+      some sort of judgment respecting his character. You will admit that he is
+      a clever man, brilliantly clever. Keep this fact in mind. Remember his
+      studies, and he does not deny that they have included Voodoo. Remember his
+      enquiries into the significance of Bat Wing. Remember, as we now learn
+      definitely from Mrs. Camber&rsquo;s evidence, that he was in Cuba at the same
+      time as the late Colonel Menendez, and once, at least, actually in the
+      same hotel in the United States. Consider the rifle found under the floor
+      of the hut; and, having weighed all these points judicially, Wessex, tell
+      me frankly, if in the whole course of your experience, you have ever met
+      with a more perfect frame-up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; shouted Wessex, in sudden excitement. &ldquo;What!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said a frame-up,&rdquo; repeated Harley, quietly. &ldquo;An American term, but one
+      which will be familiar to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; muttered the detective, &ldquo;you have turned all my ideas upside
+      down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What may be termed the <i>physical</i> evidence,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;is
+      complete, I admit: too complete. There lies the weak spot. But what I will
+      call the psychological evidence points in a totally different direction. A
+      man clever enough to have planned this crime, and Camber undoubtedly is
+      such a man, could not&mdash;it is humanly impossible&mdash;have been fool
+      enough, deliberately to lay such a train of damning facts. It&rsquo;s a
+      frame-up, Wessex! I had begun to suspect this even before I met Camber.
+      Having met him, I knew that I was right. Then came an inspiration. I saw
+      where there must be a flaw in the plan. It was geographically impossible
+      that this could be otherwise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Geographically impossible?&rdquo; I said, in a hushed voice, for Harley had
+      truly astounded me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Geographical is the term, Knox. I admit that the discovery of the rifle
+      beneath the floor of the hut appalled me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could see that it did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the crowning piece of evidence, Knox, evidence of such fiendish
+      cleverness on the part of those who had plotted Menendez&rsquo;s death that I
+      began to wonder whether after all it would be possible to defeat them. I
+      realized that Camber&rsquo;s life hung upon a hair. For the production of that
+      rifle before a jury of twelve moderately stupid men and true could not
+      fail to carry enormous weight. Whereas the delicate point upon which my
+      counter case rested might be more difficult to demonstrate in court.
+      To-night, however, we shall put it to the test, and there are means, no
+      doubt, which will occur to me later, of making its significance evident to
+      one not acquainted with the locality. The press photographs, which I
+      understand have been taken, may possibly help us in this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bewildered by my friend&rsquo;s revolutionary ideas, which explained the
+      hitherto mysterious nature of his enquiries, I scarcely knew what to say;
+      but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s a frame-up, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said Wessex, &ldquo;and the more I think about
+      it the more it has that look to me, practically speaking, we have not yet
+      started on the search for the murderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have not,&rdquo; replied Harley, grimly. &ldquo;But I have a dawning idea of a
+      method by which we shall be enabled to narrow down this enquiry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It must be unnecessary for me to speak of the state of suppressed
+      excitement in which we passed the remainder of that afternoon and evening.
+      Dr. Rolleston called again to see Madame de Stämer, and reported that she
+      was quite calm. In fact, he almost echoed Val Beverley&rsquo;s words spoken
+      earlier in the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is unnaturally calm, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said in confidence. &ldquo;I understand
+      that the dead man was a cousin, but I almost suspect that she was madly in
+      love with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded shortly, admiring his acute intelligence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you are right, doctor,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;and if it is so, her amazing
+      fortitude is all the more admirable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Admirable?&rdquo; he echoed. &ldquo;As I said before, she has the courage of ten
+      men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A formal dinner was out of the question, of course; indeed, no one
+      attempted to dress. Val Beverley excused herself, saying that she would
+      dine in Madame&rsquo;s room, and Harley, Wessex, and I, partook of wine and
+      sandwiches in the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury arrived about eight o&rsquo;clock in a mood of repressed
+      irritation. Pedro showed him in to where the three of us were seated, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good evening, gentlemen,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;here I am, as arranged, but as I am
+      up to my eyes in work on the case, I will ask you, Mr. Harley, to carry
+      out this experiment of yours as quickly as possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No time shall be lost,&rdquo; replied my friend, quietly. &ldquo;May I request you to
+      accompany Detective-Inspector Wessex and Mr. Knox to the Guest House by
+      the high road? Do not needlessly alarm Mrs. Camber. Indeed, I think you
+      might confine your attention to Mrs. Powis. Merely request permission to
+      walk down the garden to the hut, and be good enough to wait there until I
+      join you, which will be in a few minutes after your arrival.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury uttered an inarticulate, grunting sound, but I, who
+      knew Harley so well, could see that he felt himself to be upon the eve of
+      a signal triumph. What he proposed to do, I had no idea, save that it was
+      designed to clear Colin Camber. I prayed that it might also clear his
+      pathetic girl-wife; and in a sort of gloomy silence I set out with Wessex
+      and Aylesbury, down the drive, past the lodge, which seemed to be deserted
+      to-night, and along the tree-lined high road, cool and sweet in the dusk
+      of evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Aylesbury was very morose, and Wessex, who had lighted his pipe, did not
+      seem to be in a talkative mood either. He had the utmost faith in Paul
+      Harley, but it was evident enough that he was oppressed by the weight of
+      evidence against Camber. I divined the fact that he was turning over in
+      his mind the idea of the frame-up, and endeavouring to re-adjust the
+      established facts in accordance with this new point of view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were admitted to the Guest House by Mrs. Powis, a cheery old soul; one
+      of those born optimists whose special task in life seems to be that of a
+      friend in need.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she opened the door, she smiled, shook her head, and raised her finger
+      to her lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be as quiet as you can, sir,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I have got her to sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke of Mrs. Camber as one refers to a child, and, quite
+      understanding her anxiety:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There will be no occasion to disturb her, Mrs. Powis,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;We
+      merely wish to walk down to the bottom of the garden to make a few
+      enquiries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, gentlemen,&rdquo; she whispered, quietly closing the door as we all
+      entered the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She led us through the rear portion of the house, and past the quarters of
+      Ah Tsong into that neglected garden which I remembered so well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There you are, sir, and may Heaven help you to find the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rest assured that the truth will be found, Mrs. Powis,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat, but Wessex, puffing at his pipe,
+      made no remark whatever until we were all come to the hut overhanging the
+      little ravine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is where I found the rifle, Detective-Inspector,&rdquo; explained
+      Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex nodded absently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was another perfect night, with only a faint tracery of cloud to be
+      seen like lingering smoke over on the western horizon. Everything seemed
+      very still, so that although we were several miles from the railway line,
+      when presently a train sped on its way one might have supposed, from the
+      apparent nearness of the sound, that the track was no farther off than the
+      grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward those grounds, automatically, our glances were drawn; and we stood
+      there staring down at the ghostly map of the gardens, and all wondering,
+      no doubt, what Harley was doing and when he would be joining us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Very faintly I could hear the water of the little stream bubbling beneath
+      us. Then, just as this awkward silence was becoming intolerable, there
+      came a scraping and scratching from the shadows of the gully, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me a hand, Knox!&rdquo; cried the voice of Harley from below. &ldquo;I want to
+      avoid the barbed wire if possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had come across country, and as I scrambled down the slope to meet him
+      I could not help wondering with what object he had sent us ahead by the
+      high road. Presently, when he came clambering up into the garden, this in
+      a measure was explained, for:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are all wondering,&rdquo; he began, rapidly, &ldquo;what I am up to, no doubt.
+      Let me endeavour to make it clear. In order that my test should be
+      conclusive, and in no way influenced by pre-knowledge of certain
+      arrangements which I had made, I sent you on ahead of me. Not wishing to
+      waste time, I followed by the shorter route. And now, gentlemen, let us
+      begin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But first of all,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;I wish each one of you in turn to
+      look out of the window of the hut, and down into the Tudor garden of
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Will you begin, Wessex?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex, taking his pipe out of his mouth, and staring hard at the speaker,
+      nodded, entered the hut, and kneeling on the wooden seat, looked out of
+      the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Open the panes,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;so that you have a perfectly clear view.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex slid the panes open and stared intently down into the valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see anything unusual in the garden?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; he reported.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, Inspector Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury stamped noisily across the little hut, and peered out,
+      briefly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see the garden,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you see the sun-dial?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite clearly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good. And now you, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I followed, filled with astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see the sun-dial?&rdquo; asked Harley, again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite clearly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And beyond it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I can see beyond it. I can even see its shadow lying like a black
+      band on the path.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you can see the yew trees?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But nothing else? Nothing unusual?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Harley, tersely. &ldquo;And now, gentlemen, we take to the
+      rough ground, proceeding due east. Will you be good enough to follow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Walking around the hut he found an opening in the hedge, and scrambled
+      down into the place where rank grass grew and through which he and I on a
+      previous occasion had made our way to the high road. To-night, however, he
+      did not turn toward the high road, but proceeded along the crest of the
+      hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I followed him, excited by the novelty of the proceedings. Wessex, very
+      silent, came behind me, and Inspector Aylesbury, swearing under his
+      breath, waded through the long grass at the rear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you all turn your attention to the garden again, please?&rdquo; cried
+      Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We all paused, looking to the right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything unusual?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were agreed that there was not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said my friend. &ldquo;You will kindly note that from this point
+      onward the formation of the ground prevents our obtaining any other view
+      of Cray&rsquo;s Folly or its gardens until we reach the path to the valley, or
+      turn on to the high road. From a point on the latter the tower may be seen
+      but that is all. The first part of my experiment is concluded, gentlemen.
+      We will now return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Giving us no opportunity for comment, he plunged on in the direction of
+      the stream, and at a point which I regarded as unnecessarily difficult,
+      crossed it, to the great discomfiture of the heavy Inspector Aylesbury. A
+      few minutes later we found ourselves once more in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley, evidently with a definite objective in view, led the way up the
+      terraces, through the rhododendrons, and round the base of the tower. He
+      crossed to the sunken garden, and at the top of the steps paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be good enough to regard the sun-dial from this point,&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even as he spoke, I caught my breath, and I heard Aylesbury utter a sort
+      of gasping sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Beyond the sun-dial and slightly to the left of it, viewed from where we
+      stood, a faint, elfin light flickered, at a point apparently some four or
+      five feet above the ground!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s this?&rdquo; muttered Wessex.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Follow again, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Harley quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He led the way down to the garden and along the path to the sun-dial. This
+      he passed, pausing immediately in front of the yew tree in which I knew
+      the bullet to be embedded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did not speak, but, extending his finger, pointed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A piece of candle, some four inches long, was attached by means of a nail
+      to the bark of the tree, so that its flame burned immediately in front of
+      the bullet embedded there!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For perhaps ten seconds no one spoke; indeed I think no one moved. Then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; murmured Wessex. &ldquo;You have done some clever things to my
+      knowledge, Mr. Harley, but this crowns them all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clever things!&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a lot of damned
+      tomfoolery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you, Inspector?&rdquo; asked the Scotland Yard man, quietly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t. I
+      think it has saved the life of an innocent man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that? What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; cried Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This candle was burning here on the yew tree,&rdquo; explained Harley, &ldquo;at the
+      time that you looked out of the window of the hut. You could not see it.
+      You could not see it from the crest adjoining the Guest House&mdash;the
+      only other spot in the neighbourhood from which this garden is visible.
+      Now, since the course of a bullet is more or less straight, and since the
+      nature of the murdered man&rsquo;s wound proves that it was not deflected in any
+      way, I submit that the one embedded in the yew tree before you could not
+      possibly have been fired from the Guest House! The second part of my
+      experiment, gentlemen, will be designed to prove from whence it <i>was</i>
+      fired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0033" id="link2HCH0033">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXIII. PAUL HARLEY&rsquo;S EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Up to the very moment that Paul Harley, who had withdrawn, rejoined us in
+      the garden, Inspector Aylesbury had not grasped the significance of that
+      candle burning upon the yew tree. He continued to stare at it as if
+      hypnotized, and when my friend re-appeared, carrying a long ash staff and
+      a sheet of cardboard, I could have laughed to witness the expression upon
+      the Inspector&rsquo;s face, had I not been too deeply impressed with that which
+      underlay this strange business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex, on the other hand, was watching my friend eagerly, as an earnest
+      student in the class-room might watch a demonstration by some celebrated
+      lecturer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will notice,&rdquo; said Paul Harley, &ldquo;that I have had a number of boards
+      laid down upon the ground yonder, near the sun-dial. They cover a spot
+      where the turf has worn very thin. Now, this garden, because of its sunken
+      position, is naturally damp. Perhaps, Wessex, you would take up these
+      planks for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Wessex obeyed, and Harley, laying the ash stick and cardboard
+      upon the ground, directed the ray of an electric torch upon the spot
+      uncovered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The footprints of Colonel Menendez!&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;Here he turned from
+      the tiled path. He advanced three paces in the direction of the sun-dial,
+      you observe, then stood still, facing we may suppose, since this is the
+      indication of the prints, in a southerly direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Straight toward the Guest House,&rdquo; muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Roughly,&rdquo; corrected Harley. &ldquo;He was fronting in that direction,
+      certainly, but his head may have been turned either to the right or to the
+      left. You observe from the great depth of the toe-marks that on this spot
+      he actually fell. Then, here&rdquo;&mdash;he moved the light&mdash;&ldquo;is the
+      impression of his knee, and here again&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shone the white ray upon a discoloured patch of grass, and then
+      returned the lamp to his pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to make a hole in the turf,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;directly between
+      these two footprints, which seem to indicate that the Colonel was standing
+      in the military position of attention at the moment that he met his
+      death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With the end of the ash stick, which was pointed, he proceeded to do this.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;stood rather over six feet in his shoes.
+      The stick which now stands upright in the turf measures six feet, from the
+      chalk mark up to which I have buried it to the slot which I have cut in
+      the top. Into this slot I now wedge my sheet of cardboard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he placed the sheet of cardboard in the slot which he had indicated, I
+      saw that a round hole was cut in it some six inches in diameter. We
+      watched these proceedings in silence, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will allow me to adjust the candle, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Harley,
+      &ldquo;which has burned a little too low for my purpose, I shall proceed to the
+      second part of this experiment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked up to the yew tree, and by means of bending the nail upward he
+      raised the flame of the candle level with the base of the embedded bullet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By heavens!&rdquo; cried Wessex, suddenly divining the object of these
+      proceedings, &ldquo;Mr. Harley, this is genius!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, Wessex,&rdquo; Harley replied, quietly, but nevertheless he was
+      unable to hide his gratification. &ldquo;You see my point?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In ten minutes we shall know the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; muttered Inspector Aylesbury; &ldquo;we shall know the truth, eh?
+      If you ask me the truth, it&rsquo;s this, that we are a set of lunatics.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; said Harley, good humouredly, &ldquo;surely you
+      have grasped the lesson of experiment number one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; admitted the other, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s funny, certainly. I mean, it wants a lot
+      of explaining, but I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m convinced.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a pity,&rdquo; murmured Wessex, &ldquo;because I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Inspector,&rdquo; Harley continued, patiently, &ldquo;the body of Colonel
+      Menendez as it lay formed a straight line between the sun-dial and the hut
+      in the garden of the Guest House. That is to say: a line drawn from the
+      window of the hut to the sun-dial must have passed through the body. Very
+      well. Such an imaginary line, if continued <i>beyond</i> the sun-dial,
+      would have terminated near the base of the <i>seventh yew</i> tree.
+      Accordingly, I naturally looked for the <i>bullet</i> there. It was not
+      there. But I found it, as you know, in the ninth tree. Therefore, the shot
+      could not possibly have been fired from the Guest House, because the spot
+      in the ninth yew where the bullet had lodged is not visible from the Guest
+      House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury removed his cap and scratched his head vigorously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In order that we may avoid waste of valuable time,&rdquo; said Harley, finally,
+      &ldquo;let us take a hasty observation from here. As a matter of fact, I have
+      done so already, as nearly as was possible, without employing this rough
+      apparatus.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He knelt down beside the yew tree, lowering his head so that the
+      candlelight shone upon the brown, eager face, and looked upward, over the
+      top of the sun-dial and through the hole in the cardboard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he muttered, a note of rising excitement in his voice. &ldquo;As I
+      thought, as I thought. Come, gentlemen, let us hurry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked rapidly out of the garden, and up the steps, whilst we followed
+      dumb with wonder&mdash;or such at any rate was the cause of my own
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the hall Pedro was standing, a bunch of keys in his hand, and evidently
+      expecting Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you take us by the shortest way to the tower stairs?&rdquo; my friend
+      directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Doubting, wondering, scarcely knowing whether to be fearful or jubilant, I
+      followed, along a carpeted corridor, and thence, a heavy, oaken door being
+      unlocked, across a dusty and deserted apartment apparently intended for a
+      drawing room. From this, through a second doorway we were led into a
+      small, square, unfurnished room, which I knew must be situated in the base
+      of the tower. Yet a third door was unlocked, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here is the stair, sir,&rdquo; said Pedro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Indian file we mounted to the first floor, to find ourselves in a
+      second, identical room, also stripped of furniture and decorations. Harley
+      barely glanced out of the northern window, shook his head, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Next floor, Pedro,&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up we went, our footsteps arousing a cloud of dust from the uncarpeted
+      stairs, and the sound of our movements echoing in hollow fashion around
+      the deserted rooms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gaining the next floor, Harley, unable any longer to conceal his
+      excitement, ran to the north window, looked out, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;my experiment is complete!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned, his back to the window, and faced us in the dusk of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Assuming the ash stick to represent the upright body of Colonel
+      Menendez,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;and the sheet of cardboard to represent his
+      head, the hole which I have cut in it corresponds fairly nearly to the
+      position of his forehead. Further assuming the bullet to have illustrated
+      Euclid&rsquo;s definition of a straight line, such a line, <i>followed back</i>
+      from the yew tree to the spot where the rifle rested, would pass through
+      the hole in the cardboard! In other words, there is only one place from
+      which it is possible to see the flame of the candle <i>through the hole in
+      the cardboard</i>: the place where the rifle rested! Stand here in the
+      left-hand angle of the window and stoop down! Will you come first, Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stepped across the room, bent down, and stared out of the window, across
+      the Tudor garden. Plainly I could see the sun-dial with the ash stick
+      planted before it. I could see the piece of cardboard which surmounted it&mdash;and,
+      through the hole cut in the cardboard, I could see the feeble flame of the
+      candle nailed to the ninth yew tree!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I stood upright, knowing that I had grown pale, and conscious of a moist
+      sensation upon my forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Merciful God!&rdquo; I said in a hollow voice. &ldquo;It was from <i>this window</i>
+      that the shot was fired which killed him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0034" id="link2HCH0034">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CREEPING SICKNESS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      From the ensuing consultation in the library we did not rise until close
+      upon midnight. To the turbid intelligence of Inspector Aylesbury the fact
+      by this time had penetrated that Colin Camber was innocent, that he was
+      the victim of a frame-up, and that Colonel Juan Menendez had been shot
+      from a window of his own house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By a process of lucid reasoning which must have convinced a junior
+      schoolboy, Paul Harley, there in the big library, with its garish
+      bookcases and its Moorish ornaments, had eliminated every member of the
+      household from the list of suspects. His concluding words, I remember,
+      were as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of the known occupants of Cray&rsquo;s Folly on the night of the tragedy we now
+      find ourselves reduced to four, any one of whom, from the point of view of
+      an impartial critic uninfluenced by personal character, question, or
+      motive, or any consideration other than that of physical possibility,
+      might have shot Colonel Menendez. They are, firstly: Myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In order to believe me guilty, it would be necessary to discount the
+      evidence of Knox, who saw me on the gravel path below at the time that the
+      shot was fired from the tower window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Secondly: Knox; whose guilt, equally, could only be assumed by means of
+      eliminating <i>my</i> evidence, since I saw him at the window of my room
+      at the time that the shot was fired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thirdly: Madame de Stämer. Regarding this suspect, in the first place she
+      could not have gained access to the tower room without assistance, and in
+      the second place she was so passionately devoted to the late Colonel
+      Menendez that Dr. Rolleston is of opinion that her reason may remain
+      permanently impaired by the shock of his death. Fourthly and lastly: Miss
+      Val Beverley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Over my own feelings, as he had uttered the girl&rsquo;s name, I must pass in
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Val Beverley is the only one of the four suspects who is not in a
+      position to establish a sound alibi so far as I can see at the moment; but
+      in this case entire absence of motive renders the suspicion absurd. Having
+      dealt with the <i>known</i> occupants, I shall not touch upon the
+      possibility that some stranger had gained access to the house. This opens
+      up a province of speculation which we must explore at greater leisure, for
+      it would be profitless to attempt such an exploration now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus the gathering had broken up, Inspector Aylesbury returning to Market
+      Hilton to make his report and to release Colin Camber and Ah Tsong, and
+      Wessex to seek his quarters at the Lavender Arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remember that having seen them off, Harley and I stood in the hall,
+      staring at one another in a very odd way, and so we stood when Val
+      Beverley came quietly from Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s room and spoke to us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pedro has told me what you have done, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; she said in a low
+      voice. &ldquo;Oh, thank God you have cleared him. But what, in Heaven&rsquo;s name,
+      does your new discovery mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may well ask,&rdquo; Harley answered, grimly. &ldquo;If my first task was a hard
+      one, that which remains before me looks more nearly hopeless than anything
+      I have ever been called upon to attempt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is horrible, it is horrible,&rdquo; said the girl, shudderingly. &ldquo;Oh, Mr.
+      Knox,&rdquo; she turned to me, &ldquo;I have felt all along that there was some
+      stranger in the house&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have told me so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Conundrums! Conundrums!&rdquo; muttered Harley, irritably. &ldquo;Where am I to
+      begin, upon what am I to erect any feasible theory?&rdquo; He turned abruptly to
+      Val Beverley. &ldquo;Does Madame de Stämer know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered, nodding her head; &ldquo;and hearing the others depart, she
+      asked me to tell you that sleep is impossible until you have personally
+      given her the details of your discovery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She wishes to see me?&rdquo; asked Harley, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She insists upon seeing you,&rdquo; replied the girl, &ldquo;and also requests Mr.
+      Knox to visit her.&rdquo; She paused, biting her lip. &ldquo;Madame&rsquo;s manner is very,
+      very odd. Dr. Rolleston cannot understand her at all. I expect he has told
+      you? She has been sitting there for hours and hours, writing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Writing?&rdquo; exclaimed Harley. &ldquo;Letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what she has been writing,&rdquo; confessed Val Beverley. &ldquo;She declines
+      to tell me, or to show me what she has written. But there is quite a
+      little stack of manuscript upon the table beside her bed. Won&rsquo;t you come
+      in?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could see that she was more troubled than she cared to confess, and I
+      wondered if Dr. Rolleston&rsquo;s unpleasant suspicions might have solid
+      foundation, and if the loss of her cousin had affected Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s
+      brain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, then, ushered by Val Beverley, I found myself once more in the
+      violet and silver room in which on that great bed of state Madame reclined
+      amid silken pillows. Her art never deserted her, not even in moments of
+      ultimate stress, and that she had prepared herself for this interview was
+      evident enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had thought previously that one night of horror had added five years to
+      her apparent age. I thought now that she looked radiantly beautiful. That
+      expression in her eyes, which I knew I must forevermore associate with the
+      memory of the dying tigress, had faded entirely. They remained still, as
+      of old, but to-night they were velvety soft. The lips were relaxed in a
+      smile of tenderness. I observed, with surprise, that she wore much
+      jewelery, and upon her white bosom gleamed the famous rope of pearls which
+      I knew her to treasure above almost anything in her possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again the fear touched me coldly that much sorrow had made her mad. But at
+      her very first word of greeting I was immediately reassured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my friend,&rdquo; she said, as I entered, a caressing note in her deep,
+      vibrant voice, &ldquo;you have great news, they tell me? Mr. Harley, I was
+      afraid that you had deserted me, sir. If you had done so I should have
+      been very angry with you. Set the two armchairs here on my right, Val,
+      dear, and sit close beside me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, as we seated ourselves:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not smoking, my friends,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;and I know that you are
+      both so fond of a smoke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley excused himself but I accepted a cigarette which Val Beverley
+      offered me from a silver box on the table, and presently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am here, like a prisoner of the Bastille,&rdquo; declared Madame, shrugging
+      her shoulders, &ldquo;where only echoes reach me. Now, Mr. Harley, tell me of
+      this wonderful discovery of yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley inclined his head gravely, and in that succinct fashion which he
+      had at command acquainted Madame with the result of his two experiments.
+      As he completed the account:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; she sighed, and lay back upon her pillows, &ldquo;so to-night he is again
+      a free man, the poor Colin Camber. And his wife is happy once more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God,&rdquo; I murmured. &ldquo;Her sorrow was pathetic.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only the pure in heart can thank God,&rdquo; said Madame, strangely, &ldquo;but I,
+      too, am glad. I have written, here&rdquo;&mdash;she pointed to a little heap of
+      violet note-paper upon a table placed at the opposite side of the bed&mdash;&ldquo;how
+      glad I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I stared vaguely across at the table. I saw Val Beverley
+      glancing uneasily in the same direction. Save for the writing materials
+      and little heap of manuscript, it held only a cup and saucer, a few
+      sandwiches, and a medicine bottle containing the prescription which Dr.
+      Rolleston had made up for the invalid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am curious to know what you have written, Madame,&rdquo; declared Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, you are curious?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Very well, then, I will tell you, and
+      afterward you may read if you wish.&rdquo; She turned to me. &ldquo;You, my friend,&rdquo;
+       she whispered, and reaching over she laid her jewelled hand upon my arm,
+      &ldquo;you have spoken with Ysola de Valera this afternoon, they tell me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With Mrs. Camber?&rdquo; I asked, startled. &ldquo;Yes, that is true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; murmured Madame. &ldquo;I knew her as Ysola de Valera. She is
+      beautiful, in her golden doll way. You think so?&rdquo; Then, ere I had time to
+      reply: &ldquo;She told you, I suppose, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She told me,&rdquo; I replied with a certain embarrassment, &ldquo;that she had met
+      you some years ago in Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, yes, although <i>I</i> told the fat Inspector it was not so. How we
+      lie, we women! And of course she told you in what relation I stood to Juan
+      Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She did not, Madame de Stämer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No-no? Well, it was nice of her. No matter. <i>I</i> will tell you. I was
+      his mistress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke without bravado, but quite without shame, seeming to glory in
+      the statement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I met him in Paris,&rdquo; she continued, half closing her eyes. &ldquo;I was staying
+      at the house of my sister, and my sister, you understand, was married to
+      Juan&rsquo;s cousin. That is how we met. I was married. Yes, it is true. But in
+      France our parents find our husbands and our lovers find our hearts. Yet
+      sometimes these marriages are happy. To me this good thing had not
+      happened, and in the moment when Juan&rsquo;s hand touched mine a living fire
+      entered into my heart and it has been burning ever since; burning-burning,
+      always till I die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, I am a shameless woman, yes. But I have lived, and I have
+      loved, and I am content. I went with him to Cuba, and from Cuba to another
+      island where he had estates, and the name of which I shall not pronounce,
+      because it hurts me so, even yet. There he set eyes upon Ysola de Valera,
+      the daughter of his manager, and, pouf!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shrugged and snapped her fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was like that, you understand? I knew it well. They did not call him
+      Devil Menendez for nothing. There was a scene, a dreadful scene, and after
+      that another, and yet a third. I have pride. If I had seemed to forget it,
+      still it was there. I left him, and went back to France. I tried to
+      forget. I entered upon works of charity for the soldiers at a time when
+      others were becoming tired. I spent a great part of my fortune upon
+      establishing a hospital, and this child&rdquo;&mdash;she threw her arm around
+      Val Beverley&mdash;&ldquo;worked with me night and day. I think I wanted to die.
+      Often I tried to die. Did I not, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did, Madame,&rdquo; said the girl in a very low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twice I was arrested in the French lines, where I had crept dressed like
+      a <i>poilu</i>, from where I shot down many a Prussian. Is it not so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; answered the girl, nodding her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They caught me and arrested me,&rdquo; said Madame, with a sort of triumph. &ldquo;If
+      it had been the British&rdquo;&mdash;she raised her hand in that Bernhardt
+      gesture&mdash;&ldquo;with me it would have gone hard. But in France a woman&rsquo;s
+      smile goes farther than in England. I had had my fun. They called me &lsquo;good
+      comrade!&rsquo; Perhaps I paid with a kiss. What does it matter? But they heard
+      of me, those Prussian dogs. They knew and could not forgive. How often did
+      they come over to bomb us, Val, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, many, many times,&rdquo; said the girl, shudderingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And at last they succeeded,&rdquo; added Madame, bitterly. &ldquo;God! the black
+      villains! Let me not think of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She clenched her hands and closed her eyes entirely, but presently resumed
+      again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If they had killed me I should have been glad, but they only made of me a
+      cripple. M. de Stämer had been killed a few weeks before this. I am sorry
+      I forgot to mention it. I was a widow. And when after this catastrophe I
+      could be moved, I went to a little villa belonging to my husband at Nice,
+      to gain strength, and this child came with me, like a ray of sunshine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, to wake the fire in my heart, came Juan, deserted, broken, wounded
+      in soul, but most of all in pride, in that evil pride which belongs to his
+      race, which is so different from the pride of France, but for which all
+      the same I could never hate him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola de Valera had run away from his great house in Cuba. Yes! A woman
+      had dared to leave him, the man who had left so many women. To me it was
+      pathetic. I was sorry for him. He had been searching the world for her. He
+      loved this little golden-haired girl as he had never loved me. But to me
+      he came with his broken heart, and I&rdquo;&mdash;her voice trembled&mdash;&ldquo;I
+      took him back. He still cared for me, you understand. Ah!&rdquo; She laughed. &ldquo;I
+      am not a woman who is lightly forgotten. But the great passion that burned
+      in his Spanish soul was revenge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was a broken man not only in mind, but in body. Let me tell you. In
+      that island which I have not named there is a horrible disease called by
+      the natives the Creeping Sickness. It is supposed to come from a poisonous
+      place named the Black Belt, and a part of this Black Belt is near, too
+      near, to the hacienda in which Juan sometimes lived.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley started and glanced at me significantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They think, those simple negroes, that it is witchcraft, Voodoo, the work
+      of the Obeah man. It is of two kinds, rapid and slow. Those who suffer
+      from the first kind just decline and decline and die in great agony.
+      Others recover, or seem to do so. It is, I suppose, a matter of
+      constitution. Juan had had this sickness and had recovered, or so the
+      doctors said, but, ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She lay back, shaking her finger characteristically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In one year, in two, three, a swift pain comes, like a needle, you
+      understand? Perhaps in the foot, in the hand, in the arm. It is exquisite,
+      deathly, while it lasts, but it only lasts for a few moments. It is agony.
+      And then it goes, leaving nothing to show what has caused it. But, my
+      friends, it is a death warning!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it comes here&rdquo;&mdash;she raised one delicate white hand&mdash;&ldquo;you may
+      have five years to live; if in the foot, ten, or more. But&rdquo;&mdash;she sank
+      her voice dramatically&mdash;&ldquo;the nearer it is to the heart, the less are
+      the days that remain to you of life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that it recurs?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps in a week, perhaps not for another year, it comes again, that
+      quick agony. This time in the shoulder, in the knee. It is the second
+      warning. Three times it may come, four times, but at last&rdquo;&mdash;she laid
+      her hand upon her breast&mdash;&ldquo;it comes here, in the heart, and all is
+      finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused as if exhausted, closing her eyes again, whilst we three who
+      listened looked at one another in an awestricken silence, until the
+      vibrant voice resumed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is only one man in Europe who understands this thing, this Creeping
+      Sickness. He is a Frenchman who lives in Paris. To him Juan had been, and
+      he had told him, this clever man, &lsquo;If you are very quiet and do not exert
+      yourself, and only take as much exercise as is necessary for your general
+      health, you have one year to live&mdash;&lsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God!&rdquo; groaned Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, such was the verdict. And there is no cure. The poor sufferer must
+      wait and wait, always wait, for that sudden pang, not knowing if it will
+      come in his heart and be the finish. Yes. This living death, then, and
+      revenge, were the things ruling Juan&rsquo;s life at the time of which I tell
+      you. He had traced Ysola de Valera to England. A chance remark in a London
+      hotel had told him that a Chinaman had been seen in a Surrey village and
+      of course had caused much silly chatter. He enquired at once, and he found
+      out that Colin Camber, the man who had taken Ysola from him, was living
+      with her at the Guest House, here, on the hill. How shall I tell you the
+      rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Merciful Heaven!&rdquo; exclaimed Harley, his glance set upon her, with a sort
+      of horror in his gray eyes, &ldquo;I think I can guess.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned to him rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;M. Harley,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you are a clever man. I believe you are a genius.
+      And I have the strength to tell you because I am happy to-night. Because
+      of his great wealth Juan succeeded in buying Cray&rsquo;s Folly from Sir James
+      Appleton to whom it belonged. He told everybody he leased it, but really
+      he bought it. He paid him more than twice its value, and so obtained
+      possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the plan was not yet complete, although it had taken form in that
+      clever, wicked brain of his. Oh! I could tell you stories of the Menendez,
+      and of the things they have done for love and revenge, which even you, who
+      know much of life, would doubt, I think. Yes, you would not believe. But
+      to continue. Shall I tell you upon what terms he had returned to me, eh? I
+      will. Once more he would suffer that pang of death in life, for he had
+      courage, ah! such great courage, and then, when the waiting for the next
+      grew more than even his fearless heart could bear, I, who also had
+      courage, and who loved him, should&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; She paused, &ldquo;Do you
+      understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley nodded dumbly, and suddenly I found Val Beverley&rsquo;s little fingers
+      twined about mine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agreed,&rdquo; continued the deep voice. &ldquo;It was a boon which I, too, would
+      have asked from one who loved me. But to die, knowing another cherished
+      the woman who had been torn from him, was an impossibility for Juan
+      Menendez. What he had schemed to do at first I never knew. But presently,
+      because of our situation here, and because of that which he had asked of
+      me, it came, the great plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the night he told me, a night I shall never forget, I drew back in
+      horror from him&mdash;I, Marie de Stämer, who thought I knew the blackest
+      that was in him. I shrank. And because of that scene it came to him again
+      in the early morning&mdash;the moment of agony, the needle pain, here, low
+      down in his left breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He pleaded with me to do the wicked thing that he had planned, and
+      because I dared not refuse, knowing he might die at my feet, I consented.
+      But, my friends, I had my own plan, too, of which he knew nothing. On the
+      next day he went to Paris, and was told he had two months to live, with
+      great, such great care, but perhaps only a week, a day, if he should
+      permit his hot passions to inflame that threatened heart. Very well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said yes, yes, to all that he suggested, and he began to lay the trail&mdash;the
+      trail to lead to his enemy. It was his hobby, this vengeance. He was like
+      a big, cruel boy. It was he, himself, Juan Menendez, who broke into Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly. It was he who nailed the bat wing to the door. It was he who bought
+      two rifles of a kind of which so many millions were made during the war
+      that anybody might possess one. And it was he who concealed the first of
+      these, one cartridge discharged, under the floor of the hut in the garden
+      of the Guest House. The other, which was to be used, he placed&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the shutter-case of one of the tower rooms,&rdquo; continued Paul Harley. &ldquo;I
+      know! I found it there to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; I asked, &ldquo;you found it, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I returned to look for it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At the present moment it is
+      upstairs in my room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, M. Harley,&rdquo; exclaimed Madame, smiling at him radiantly, &ldquo;I love your
+      genius. Then it was,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;that he thought himself ready, ready
+      for revenge and ready for death. He summoned you, M. Harley, to be an
+      expert witness. He placed with you evidence which could not fail to lead
+      to the arrest of M. Camber. Very well. I allowed him to do all this. His
+      courage, <i>mon Dieu</i>, how I worshipped his courage!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At night, when everyone slept, and he could drop the mask, I have seen
+      what he suffered. I have begged him, begged him upon my knees, to allow me
+      to end it then and there; to forget his dream of revenge, to die without
+      this last stain upon his soul. But he, expecting at any hour, at any
+      minute, to know again the agony which cannot be described, which is unlike
+      any other suffered by the flesh&mdash;refused, refused! And I&rdquo;&mdash;she
+      raised her eyes ecstatically&mdash;&ldquo;I have worshipped this courage of his,
+      although it was evil&mdash;bad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The full moon gives the best light, and so he planned it for the night of
+      the full moon. But on the night before, because of some scene which he had
+      with you, M. Harley, nearly I thought his plans would come to nothing.
+      Nearly I thought the last act of love which he asked of me would never be
+      performed. He sat there, up in the little room which he liked best, the
+      coldness upon him which always came before the pang, waiting, waiting, a
+      deathly dew on his forehead, for the end; and I, I who loved him better
+      than life, watched him. And, so Fate willed it, the pang never came.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You watched him?&rdquo; I whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley turned to me slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you understand, Knox?&rdquo; he said, in a voice curiously unlike his
+      own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my friend,&rdquo; Madame de Stämer laid her hand upon my arm with that
+      caressing gesture which I knew, &ldquo;you do understand, don&rsquo;t you? The power
+      to use my limbs returned to me during the last week that I lived in Nice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She bent forward and raised her face, in an almost agonized appeal to Val
+      Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, my dear,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;forgive me, forgive me! But I loved him so.
+      One day, I think&rdquo;&mdash;her glance sought my face&mdash;&ldquo;you will know.
+      Then you will forgive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame, Madame,&rdquo; whispered the girl, and began to sob silently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it enough?&rdquo; asked Madame de Stämer, raising her head, and looking
+      defiantly at Paul Harley. &ldquo;Last night, you, M. Harley, who have genius,
+      nearly brought it all to nothing. You passed the door in the shrubbery
+      just when Juan was preparing to go out. I was watching from the window
+      above. Then, when you had gone, he came out&mdash;smoking his last
+      cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went to my place, entering the tower room by the door from that
+      corridor. I opened the window. It had been carefully oiled. It was
+      soundless. I was cold as one already dead, but love made me strong. I had
+      seen him suffer. I took the rifle from its hiding-place, the heavy rifle
+      which so few women could use. It was no heavier than some which I had used
+      before, and to good purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again she paused, and I saw her lips trembling. Before my mind&rsquo;s eye the
+      picture arose which I had seen from Harley&rsquo;s window, the picture of
+      Colonel Juan Menendez walking in the moonlight along the path to the
+      sun-dial, with halting steps, with clenched fists, but upright as a
+      soldier on parade. Walking on, dauntlessly, to his execution. Out of a
+      sort of haze, which seemed to obscure both sight and hearing, I heard
+      Madame speaking again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He turned his head toward me. He threw me a kiss&mdash;and I fired. Did
+      you think a woman lived who could perform such a deed, eh? If you did not
+      think so, it is because you have never looked into the eyes of one who
+      loved with her body, her mind, and with her soul. I think, yes, I think I
+      went mad. The rifle I remember I replaced. But I remember no more. Ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She sighed in a resigned, weary way, untwining her arm from about Val
+      Beverley, and falling back upon her pillows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all written here,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;every word of it, my friends, and
+      signed at the bottom. I am a murderess, but it was a merciful deed. You
+      see, I had a plan of which Juan knew nothing. This was my plan.&rdquo; She
+      pointed to the heap of manuscript. &ldquo;I would give him relief from his
+      agonies, yes. For although he was an evil man, I loved him better than
+      life. I would let him die happy, thinking his revenge complete. But others
+      to suffer? No, no! a thousand times no! Ah, I am so tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took up the little medicine bottle, poured its contents into the
+      glass, and emptied it at a draught.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley, as though galvanized, sprang to his feet. &ldquo;My God!&rdquo; he cried,
+      huskily, &ldquo;Stop her, stop her!&rdquo; Val Beverley, now desperately white,
+      clutched at me with quivering fingers, her agonized glance set upon the
+      smiling face of Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No fuss, dear friends,&rdquo; said Madame, gently, &ldquo;no trouble, no nasty
+      stomach-pumps; for it is useless. I shall just fall asleep in a few
+      moments now, and when I wake Juan will be with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her face was radiant. It became lighted up magically. I knew in that grim
+      hour what a beautiful woman Madame de Stämer must have been. She rested
+      her hand upon Val Beverley&rsquo;s head, and looked at me with her strange,
+      still eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be good to her, my friend,&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;She is English, but not cold
+      like some. She, too, can love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She closed her eyes and dropped back upon her pillows for the last time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0035" id="link2HCH0035">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXV. AN AFTERWORD
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This shall be a brief afterword, for I have little else to say. As Madame
+      had predicted, all antidotes and restoratives were of no avail. She had
+      taken enough of some drug which she had evidently had in her possession
+      for this very purpose to ensure that there should be no awakening, and
+      although Dr. Rolleston was on the spot within half an hour, Madame de
+      Stämer was already past human aid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are perhaps one or two details which may be of interest. For
+      instance, as a result of the post-mortem examination of Colonel Menendez,
+      no trace of disease was discovered in any of the organs, but from
+      information supplied by his solicitors, Harley succeeded in tracing the
+      Paris specialist to whom Madame de Stämer had referred; and he confirmed
+      her statement in every particular. The disease, to which he gave some name
+      which I have forgotten, was untraceable, he declared, by any means thus
+      far known to science.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we had anticipated, the bulk of Colonel Don Juan&rsquo;s wealth he had
+      bequeathed to Madame de Stämer, and she in turn had provided that all of
+      which she might die possessed should be divided between certain charities
+      and Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thus found myself at the time when all these legal processes terminated
+      engaged to marry a girl as wealthy as she was beautiful. Therefore, except
+      for the many grim memories which it had left with me, nothing but personal
+      good fortune resulted from my sojourn at Cray&rsquo;s Folly, beneath the shadow
+      of that Bat Wing which had had no existence outside the cunning
+      imagination of Colonel Juan Menendez.
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      THE END
+    </h3>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
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+  </body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bat Wing
+
+Author: Sax Rohmer
+
+
+Release Date: August, 2004  [EBook #6382]
+This file was first posted on December 4, 2002
+Last Updated: April 20, 3013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAT WING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BAT WING
+
+By Sax Rohmer
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "_When the woman raised her arms in a peculiar fashion,
+the shadow on the blind was remarkably like that of a bat_"]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+
+CHAPTER     I. PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE
+    II. THE VOODOO SWAMP
+   III. THE VAMPIRE BAT
+    IV. CRAY'S FOLLY
+     V. VAL BEVERLEY
+    VI. THE BARRIER
+   VII. AT THE LAVENDER ARMS
+  VIII. THE CALL OF M'KOMBO
+    IX. OBEAH
+     X. THE NIGHT WALKER
+    XI. THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND
+   XII. MORNING MISTS
+  XIII. AT THE GUEST HOUSE
+   XIV. YSOLA CAMBER
+    XV. UNREST
+   XVI. RED EVE
+  XVII. NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON
+ XVIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET HILTON
+   XIX. COMPLICATIONS.
+    XX. A SPANISH CIGARETTE
+   XXI. THE WING OF A BAT
+  XXII. COLIN CAMBER'S SECRET
+ XXIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+  XXIV. AN OFFICIAL MOVE
+   XXV. AYLESBURY'S THEORY
+  XXVI. IN MADAME'S ROOM
+ XXVII. AN INSPIRATION
+XXVIII. MY THEORY OF THE CRIME  XXIX. A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE
+   XXX. THE SEVENTH YEW TREE
+  XXXI. YSOLA CAMBER'S CONFESSION
+ XXXII. PAUL HARLEY'S EXPERIMENT
+XXXIII. PAUL HARLEY'S EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED XXXIV. THE CREEPING SICKNESS
+  XXXV. AN AFTERWORD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE
+
+
+
+Toward the hour of six on a hot summer's evening Mr. Paul Harley was
+seated in his private office in Chancery Lane reading through a number
+of letters which Innes, his secretary, had placed before him for
+signature. Only one more remained to be passed, but it was a long,
+confidential report upon a certain matter, which Harley had prepared for
+His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.
+He glanced with a sigh of weariness at the little clock upon his table
+before commencing to read.
+
+"Shall detain you only a few minutes, now, Knox," he said.
+
+I nodded, smiling. I was quite content to sit and watch my friend at
+work.
+
+Paul Harley occupied a unique place in the maelstrom of vice and
+ambition which is sometimes called London life. Whilst at present he
+held no official post, some of the most momentous problems of British
+policy during the past five years, problems imperilling inter-state
+relationships and not infrequently threatening a renewal of the world
+war, had owed their solution to the peculiar genius of this man.
+
+No clue to his profession appeared upon the plain brass plate attached
+to his door, and little did those who regarded Paul Harley merely as a
+successful private detective suspect that he was in the confidence
+of some who guided the destinies of the Empire. Paul Harley's work in
+Constantinople during the feverish months preceding hostilities with
+Turkey, although unknown to the general public, had been of a
+most extraordinary nature. His recommendations were never adopted,
+unfortunately. Otherwise, the tragedy of the Dardanelles might have been
+averted.
+
+His surroundings as he sat there, gaze bent upon the typewritten pages,
+were those of any other professional man. So it would have seemed to the
+casual observer. But perhaps there was a quality in the atmosphere of
+the office which would have told a more sensitive visitor that it was
+the apartment of no ordinary man of business. Whilst there were filing
+cabinets and bookshelves laden with works of reference, many of them
+legal, a large and handsome Burmese cabinet struck an unexpected note.
+
+On closer inspection, other splashes of significant colour must have
+been detected in the scheme, notably a very fine engraving of Edgar
+Allan Poe, from the daguerreotype of 1848; and upon the man himself lay
+the indelible mark of the tropics. His clean-cut features had that hint
+of underlying bronze which tells of years spent beneath a merciless sun,
+and the touch of gray at his temples only added to the eager, almost
+fierce vitality of the dark face. Paul Harley was notable because of
+that intellectual strength which does not strike one immediately,
+since it is purely temperamental, but which, nevertheless, invests its
+possessor with an aura of distinction.
+
+Writing his name at the bottom of the report, Paul Harley enclosed the
+pages in a long envelope and dropped the envelope into a basket which
+contained a number of other letters. His work for the day was ended, and
+glancing at me with a triumphant smile, he stood up. His office was a
+part of a residential suite, but although, like some old-time burgher of
+the city, he lived on the premises, the shutting of a door which led to
+his private rooms marked the close of the business day. Pressing a bell
+which connected with the public office occupied by his secretary, Paul
+Harley stood up as Innes entered.
+
+"There's nothing further, is there, Innes?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing, Mr. Harley, if you have passed the Home Office report?"
+
+Paul Harley laughed shortly.
+
+"There it is," he replied, pointing to the basket; "a tedious and
+thankless job, Innes. It is the fifth draft you have prepared and it
+will have to do."
+
+He took up a letter which lay unsealed upon the table. "This is the
+Rokeby affair," he said. "I have decided to hold it over, after all,
+until my return."
+
+"Ah!" said Innes, quietly glancing at each envelope as he took it from
+the basket. "I see you have turned down the little job offered by the
+Marquis."
+
+"I have," replied Harley, smiling grimly, "and a fee of five hundred
+guineas with it. I have also intimated to that distressed nobleman that
+this is a business office and that a laundry is the proper place to take
+his dirty linen. No, there's nothing further to-night, Innes. You can
+get along now. Has Miss Smith gone?"
+
+But as if in answer to his enquiry the typist, who with Innes made up
+the entire staff of the office, came in at that moment, a card in her
+hand. Harley glanced across in my direction and then at the card, with a
+wry expression.
+
+"Colonel Juan Menendez," he read aloud, "Cavendish Club," and glanced
+reflectively at Innes. "Do we know the Colonel?"
+
+"I think not," answered Innes; "the name is unfamiliar to me."
+
+"I wonder," murmured Harley. He glanced across at me. "It's an awful
+nuisance, Knox, but just as I thought the decks were clear. Is it
+something really interesting, or does he want a woman watched? However,
+his name sounds piquant, so perhaps I had better see him. Ask him to
+come in, Miss Smith."
+
+Innes and Miss Smith retiring, there presently entered a man of most
+striking and unusual presence. In the first place, Colonel Menendez must
+have stood fully six feet in his boots, and he carried himself like a
+grandee of the golden days of Spain. His complexion was extraordinarily
+dusky, whilst his hair, which was close cropped, was iron gray. His
+heavy eyebrows and curling moustache with its little points were equally
+black, so that his large teeth gleamed very fiercely when he smiled. His
+eyes were large, dark, and brilliant, and although he wore an admirably
+cut tweed suit, for some reason I pictured him as habitually wearing
+riding kit. Indeed I almost seemed to hear the jingle of his spurs.
+
+He carried an ebony cane for which I mentally substituted a crop, and
+his black derby hat I thought hardly as suitable as a sombrero. His age
+might have been anything between fifty and fifty-five.
+
+Standing in the doorway he bowed, and if his smile was Mephistophelean,
+there was much about Colonel Juan Menendez which commanded respect.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he began, and his high, thin voice afforded yet
+another surprise, "I feel somewhat ill at ease to--how do you say
+it?--appropriate your time, as I am by no means sure that what I have to
+say justifies my doing so."
+
+He spoke most fluent, indeed florid, English. But his sentences at times
+were oddly constructed; yet, save for a faint accent, and his frequent
+interpolation of such expressions as "how do you say?"--a sort of
+nervous mannerism--one might have supposed him to be a Britisher who had
+lived much abroad. I formed the opinion that he had read extensively,
+and this, as I learned later, was indeed the case.
+
+"Sit down, Colonel Menendez," said Harley with quiet geniality.
+"Officially, my working day is ended, I admit, but if you have no
+objection to the presence of my friend, Mr. Knox, I shall be most happy
+to chat with you."
+
+He smiled in a way all his own.
+
+"If your business is of a painfully professional nature," he added,
+"I must beg you to excuse me for fourteen days, as I am taking a badly
+needed holiday with my friend."
+
+"Ah, is it so?" replied the Colonel, placing his hat and cane upon the
+table, and sitting down rather wearily in a big leathern armchair which
+Harley had pushed forward. "If I intrude I am sorry, but indeed my
+business is urgent, and I come to you on the recommendation of my
+friend, Senor Don Merry del Val, the Spanish Ambassador."
+
+He raised his eyes to Harley's face with an expression of peculiar
+appeal. I rose to depart, but:
+
+"Sit down, Knox," said Harley, and turned again to the visitor. "Please
+proceed," he requested. "Mr. Knox has been with me in some of the most
+delicate cases which I have ever handled, and you may rely upon his
+discretion as you may rely upon mine." He pushed forward a box of
+cigars. "Will you smoke?"
+
+"Thanks, no," was the answer; "you see, I rarely smoke anything but my
+cigarettes."
+
+Colonel Menendez extracted a slip of rice paper from a little packet
+which he carried, next, dipping two long, yellow fingers into his coat
+pocket, he brought out a portion of tobacco, laid it in the paper, and
+almost in the twinkling of an eye had made, rolled, and lighted a very
+creditable cigarette. His dexterity was astonishing, and seeing my
+surprise he raised his heavy eyebrows, and:
+
+"Practice makes perfect, is it not said?" he remarked.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders and dropped the extinguished match in an ash
+tray, whilst I studied him with increasing interest. Some dread, real or
+imaginary, was oppressing the man's mind, I mused. I felt my presence to
+be unwelcome, but:
+
+"Very well," he began, suddenly. "I expect, Mr. Harley, that you will be
+disposed to regard what I have to tell you rather as a symptom of what
+you call nerves than as evidence of any agency directed against me."
+
+Paul Harley stared curiously at the speaker. "Do I understand you to
+suspect that someone is desirous of harming you?" he enquired.
+
+Colonel Menendez slowly nodded his head.
+
+"Such is my meaning," he replied.
+
+"You refer to bodily harm?"
+
+"But yes, emphatically."
+
+"Hm," said Harley; and taking out a tin of tobacco from a cabinet beside
+him he began in leisurely manner to load a briar. "No doubt you have
+good reasons for this suspicion?"
+
+"If I had not good reasons, Mr. Harley, nothing could have induced me to
+trouble you. Yet, even now that I have compelled myself to come here, I
+find it difficult, almost impossible, to explain those reasons to you."
+
+An expression of embarrassment appeared upon the brown face, and now
+Colonel Menendez paused and was plainly at a loss for words with which
+to continue.
+
+Harley replaced the tin in the cupboard and struck a match. Lighting his
+pipe he nodded good humouredly as if to say, "I quite understand." As a
+matter of fact, he probably thought, as I did, that this was a familiar
+case of a man of possibly blameless life who had become subject to
+that delusion which leads people to believe themselves threatened by
+mysterious and unnameable danger.
+
+Our visitor inhaled deeply.
+
+"You, of course, are waiting for the facts," he presently resumed,
+speaking with a slowness which told of a mind labouring for the right
+mode of expression. "These are so scanty, I fear, of so, shall I say,
+phantom a kind, that even when they are in your possession you will
+consider me to be merely the victim of a delusion. In the first place,
+then, I have reason to believe that someone followed me from my home to
+your office."
+
+"Indeed," said Paul Harley, sympathetically, for this I perceived
+was exactly what he had anticipated, and merely tended to confirm his
+suspicion. "Some member of your household?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Did you actually see this follower?"
+
+"My dear sir," cried Colonel Menendez, excitement emphasizing his
+accent, "if I had seen him, so much would have been made clear, so
+much! I have never seen him, but I have heard him and felt him--felt his
+presence, I mean."
+
+"In what way?" asked Harley, leaning back in his chair and studying the
+fierce face.
+
+"On several occasions on turning out the light in my bedroom and
+looking across the lawn from my window I have observed the shadow of
+someone--how do you say?--lurking in the garden."
+
+"The shadow?"
+
+"Precisely. The person himself was concealed beneath a tree. When he
+moved his shadow was visible on the ground."
+
+"You were not deceived by a waving branch?"
+
+"Certainly not. I speak of a still, moonlight night."
+
+"Possibly, then, it was the shadow of a tramp," suggested Harley. "I
+gather that you refer to a house in the country?"
+
+"It was not," declared Colonel Menendez, emphatically; "it was not. I
+wish to God I could believe it had been. Then there was, a month ago, an
+attempt to enter my house."
+
+Paul Harley exhibited evidence of a quickening curiosity. He had
+perceived, as I had perceived, that the manner of the speaker differed
+from that of the ordinary victim of delusion, with whom he had become
+professionally familiar.
+
+"You had actual evidence of this?" he suggested.
+
+"It was due to insomnia, sleeplessness, brought about, yes, I will admit
+it, by apprehension, that I heard the footsteps of this intruder."
+
+"But you did not see him?"
+
+"Only his shadow"
+
+"What!"
+
+"You can obtain the evidence of all my household that someone had
+actually entered," declared Colonel Menendez, eagerly. "Of this, at
+least, I can give you the certain facts. Whoever it was had obtained
+access through a kitchen window, had forced two locks, and was coming
+stealthily along the hallway when the sound of his footsteps attracted
+my attention."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I came out on to the landing and looked down the stairs. But even the
+slight sound which I made had been sufficient to alarm the midnight
+visitor, for I had never a glimpse of him. Only, as he went swiftly
+back in the direction from which he had come, the moonlight shining in
+through a window in the hall cast his shadow on the carpet."
+
+"Strange," murmured Harley. "Very strange, indeed. The shadow told you
+nothing?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+Colonel Menendez hesitated momentarily, and glanced swiftly across at
+Harley.
+
+"It was just a vague--do you say blur?--and then it was gone. But--"
+
+"Yes," said Harley. "But?"
+
+"Ah," Colonel Menendez blew a cloud of smoke into the air, "I come now
+to the matter which I find so hard to explain."
+
+He inhaled again deeply and was silent for a while.
+
+"Nothing was stolen?" asked Harley.
+
+"Nothing whatever."
+
+"And no clue was left behind?"
+
+"No clue except the filed fastening of a window and two open doors which
+had been locked as usual when the household retired."
+
+"Hm," mused Harley again; "this incident, of course, may have been an
+isolated one and in no way connected with the surveillance of which you
+complain. I mean that this person who undoubtedly entered your house
+might prove to be an ordinary burglar."
+
+"On a table in the hallway of Cray's Folly," replied Colonel Menendez,
+impressively--"so my house is named--stands a case containing
+presentation gold plate. The moonlight of which I have spoken was
+shining fully upon this case, and does the burglar live who will pass
+such a prize and leave it untouched?"
+
+"I quite agree," said Harley, quietly, "that this is a very big point."
+
+"You are beginning at last," suggested the Colonel, "to believe that my
+suspicions are not quite groundless?"
+
+"There is a distinct possibility that they are more than suspicions,"
+agreed Harley; "but may I suggest that there is something else? Have you
+an enemy?"
+
+"Who that has ever held public office is without enemies?"
+
+"Ah, quite so. Then I suggest again that there is something else."
+
+He gazed keenly at his visitor, and the latter, whilst meeting the look
+unflinchingly with his large dark eyes, was unable to conceal the fact
+that he had received a home thrust.
+
+"There are two points, Mr. Harley," he finally confessed, "almost
+certainly associated one with the other, if you understand, but both
+these so--shall I say remote?--from my life, that I hesitate to mention
+them. It seems fantastic to suppose that they contain a clue."
+
+"I beg of you," said Harley, "to keep nothing back, however remote it
+may appear to be. It is sometimes the seemingly remote things which
+prove upon investigation to be the most intimate."
+
+"Very well," resumed Colonel Menendez, beginning to roll a second
+cigarette whilst continuing to smoke the first, "I know that you are
+right, of course, but it is nevertheless very difficult for me to
+explain. I mentioned the attempted burglary, if so I may term it, in
+order to clear your mind of the idea that my fears were a myth. The next
+point which I have concerns a man, a neighbour of mine in Surrey. Before
+I proceed I should like to make it clear that I do not believe for a
+moment that he is responsible for this unpleasant business."
+
+Harley stared at him curiously. "Nevertheless," he said, "there must be
+some data in your possession which suggest to your mind that he has some
+connection with it."
+
+"There are, Mr. Harley, but they belong to things so mystic and far
+away from ordinary crime that I fear you will think me," he shrugged
+his great shoulders, "a man haunted by strange superstitions. Do you say
+'haunted?' Good. You understand. I should tell you, then, that although
+of pure Spanish blood, I was born in Cuba. The greater part of my
+life has been spent in the West Indies, where prior to '98 I held an
+appointment under the Spanish Government. I have property, not only in
+Cuba, but in some of the smaller islands which formerly were Spanish,
+and I shall not conceal from you that during the latter years of my
+administration I incurred the enmity of a section of the population. Do
+I make myself clear?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded and exchanged a swift glance with me. I formed a
+rapid mental picture of native life under the governorship of Colonel
+Juan Menendez and I began to consider his story from a new viewpoint.
+Seemingly rendered restless by his reflections, he stood up and began
+to pace the floor, a tall but curiously graceful figure. I noticed the
+bulldog tenacity of his chin, the intense pride in his bearing, and I
+wondered what kind of menace had induced him to seek the aid of Paul
+Harley; for whatever his failings might be, and I could guess at the
+nature of several of them, that this thin-lipped Spanish soldier knew
+the meaning of fear I was not prepared to believe.
+
+"Before you proceed further, Colonel Menendez," said Harley, "might I
+ask when you left Cuba?"
+
+"Some three years ago," was his reply. "Because--" he hesitated
+curiously--"of health motives, I leased a property in England, believing
+that here I should find peace."
+
+"In other words, you were afraid of something or someone in Cuba?"
+
+Colonel Menendez turned in a flash, glaring down at the speaker.
+
+"I never feared any man in my life, Mr. Harley," he said, coldly.
+
+"Then why are you here?"
+
+The Colonel placed the stump of his first cigarette in an ash tray and
+lighted that which he had newly made.
+
+"It is true," he admitted. "Forgive me. Yet what I said was that I never
+feared any man."
+
+He stood squarely in front of the Burmese cabinet, resting one hand upon
+his hip. Then he added a remark which surprised me.
+
+"Do you know anything of Voodoo?" he asked.
+
+Paul Harley took his pipe from between his teeth and stared at the
+speaker silently for a moment. "Voodoo?" he echoed. "You mean negro
+magic?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"My studies have certainly not embraced it," replied Harley, quietly,
+"nor has it hitherto come within my experience. But since I have lived
+much in the East, I am prepared to learn that Voodoo may not be a
+negligible quantity. There are forces at work in India which we in
+England improperly understand. The same may be true of Cuba."
+
+"The same _is_ true of Cuba."
+
+Colonel Menendez glared almost fiercely across the room at Paul Harley.
+
+"And do I understand," asked the latter, "that the danger which you
+believe to threaten you is associated with Cuba?"
+
+"That, Mr. Harley, is for you to decide when all the facts shall be in
+your possession. Do you wish that I proceed?"
+
+"By all means. I must confess that I am intensely interested."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Harley. I have something to show you."
+
+From an inside breast pocket Colonel Menendez drew out a gold-mounted
+case, and from the case took some flat, irregularly shaped object
+wrapped in a piece of tissue paper. Unfolding the paper, he strode
+across and laid the object which it had contained upon the blotting pad
+in front of my friend.
+
+Impelled by curiosity I stood up and advanced to inspect it. It was of
+a dirty brown colour, some five or six inches long, and appeared to
+consist of a kind of membrane. Harley, his elbow on the table, was
+staring down at it questioningly.
+
+"What is it?" I said; "some kind of leaf?"
+
+"No," replied Harley, looking up into the dark face of the Spanish
+colonel; "I think I know what it is."
+
+"I, also, know what it is." declared Colonel Menendez, grimly. "But tell
+me what to you it seems like, Mr. Harley?"
+
+Paul Harley's expression was compounded of incredulity, wonder, and
+something else, as, continuing to stare at the speaker, he replied:
+
+"It is the wing of a bat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE VOODOO SWAMP
+
+
+
+Often enough my memory has recaptured that moment in Paul Harley's
+office, when Harley, myself, and the tall Spaniard stood looking down at
+the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+
+My brilliant friend at times displayed a sort of prescience, of which
+I may have occasion to speak later, but I, together with the rest of
+pur-blind humanity, am commonly immune from the prophetic instinct.
+Therefore I chronicle the fact for what it may be worth, that as I gazed
+with a sort of disgust at the exhibit lying upon the table I became
+possessed of a conviction, which had no logical basis, that a door had
+been opened through which I should step into a new avenue of being; I
+felt myself to stand upon the threshold of things strange and terrible,
+but withal alluring. Perhaps it is true that in the great crises of life
+the inner eye becomes momentarily opened.
+
+With intense curiosity I awaited the Colonel's next words, but, a
+cigarette held nervously between his fingers, he stood staring at
+Harley, and it was the latter who broke that peculiar silence which had
+fallen upon us.
+
+"The wing of a bat," he murmured, then touched it gingerly. "Of what
+kind of bat, Colonel Menendez? Surely not a British species?"
+
+"But emphatically not a British species," replied the Spaniard. "Yet
+even so the matter would be strange."
+
+"I am all anxiety to learn the remainder of your story, Colonel
+Menendez."
+
+"Good. Your interest comforts me very greatly, Mr. Harley. But when
+first I came, you led me to suppose that you were departing from
+London?"
+
+"Such, at the time, was my intention, sir." Paul Harley smiled slightly.
+"Accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, I had proposed to indulge in a
+fortnight's fishing upon the Norfolk Broads."
+
+"Fishing?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"A peaceful occupation, Mr. Harley, and a great rest-cure for one who
+like yourself moves much amid the fiercer passions of life. You were
+about to make holiday?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"It is cruel of me to intrude upon such plans," continued Colonel
+Menendez, dexterously rolling his cigarette around between his fingers.
+"Yet because of my urgent need I dare to do so. Would yourself and your
+friend honour me with your company at Cray's Folly for a few days? I
+can promise you good entertainment, although I regret that there is no
+fishing; but it may chance that there will be other and more exciting
+sport."
+
+Harley glanced at me significantly.
+
+"Do I understand you to mean, Colonel Menendez," he asked, "that you
+have reason to believe that this conspiracy directed against you is
+about to come to a head?"
+
+Colonel Menendez nodded, at the same time bringing his hand down sharply
+upon the table.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he replied, his high, thin voice sunken almost to a
+whisper, "Wednesday night is the night of the full moon."
+
+"The full moon?"
+
+"It is at the full moon that the danger comes."
+
+Paul Harley stood up, and watched by the Spanish colonel paced slowly
+across the office. At the outer door he paused and turned.
+
+"Colonel Menendez," he said, "that you would willingly waste the time of
+a busy man I do not for a moment believe, therefore I shall ask you as
+briefly as possible to state your case in detail. When I have heard it,
+if it appears to me that any good purpose can be served by my friend
+and myself coming to Cray's Folly I feel sure that he will be happy to
+accept your proffered hospitality."
+
+"If I am likely to be of the slightest use I shall be delighted," said
+I, which indeed was perfectly true.
+
+Whilst I had willingly agreed to accompany Harley to Norfolk I had
+none of his passion for the piscatorial art, and the promise of novel
+excitement held out by Colonel Menendez appealed to me more keenly than
+the lazy days upon the roads which Harley loved.
+
+"Gentlemen"--the Colonel bowed profoundly--"I am honoured and delighted.
+When you shall have heard my story I know what your decision will be."
+
+He resumed his seat, and began, it seemed almost automatically, to roll
+a fresh cigarette.
+
+"I am all attention," declared Harley, and his glance strayed again in a
+wondering fashion to the bat wing lying on his table.
+
+"I will speak briefly," resumed our visitor, "and any details which
+may seem to you to be important can be discussed later when you are
+my guests. You must know then that I first became acquainted with the
+significance belonging to the term 'Bat Wing' and to the object itself
+some twenty years ago."
+
+"But surely," interrupted Harley, incredulously, "you are not going
+to tell me that the menace of which you complain is of twenty years'
+standing?"
+
+"At your express request, Mr. Harley," returned the Colonel a trifle
+brusquely, "I am dealing with possibilities which are remote, because
+in your own words it is sometimes the remote which proves to be the
+intimate. It was then rather more than twenty years ago, at a time when
+great political changes were taking place in the West Indies, that my
+business interests, which are mainly concerned with sugar, carried me
+to one of the smaller islands which had formerly been under--my
+jurisdiction, do you say? Here I had a house and estate, and here in the
+past I had experienced much trouble with the natives.
+
+"I do not disguise from you that I was unpopular, and on my return I
+met with unmistakable signs of hostility. My native workmen were
+insubordinate. In fact, it was the reports from my overseers which had
+led me to visit the island. I made a tour of the place, believing it to
+be necessary to my interests that I should get once more in touch
+with negro feeling, since I had returned to my home in Cuba after the
+upheavals in '98. Very well.
+
+"The manager of my estate, a capable man, was of opinion that
+there existed a secret organization amongst the native labourers
+operating--you understand?--against my interests. He produced certain
+evidences of this. They were not convincing; and all my enquiries and
+examinations of certain inhabitants led to no definite results. Yet I
+grew more and more to feel that enemies surrounded me."
+
+He paused to light his third cigarette, and whilst he did so I conjured
+up a mental picture of his "examinations of certain inhabitants." I
+recalled hazily those stories of Spanish mismanagement and cruelty which
+had directly led to United States interferences in the islands. But
+whilst I could well believe that this man's life had not been safe in
+those bad old days in the West Indies, I found it difficult to suppose
+that a native plot against his safety could have survived for more than
+twenty years and have come to a climax in England. However, I realized
+that there was more to follow, and presently, having lighted his
+cigarette, the Colonel resumed:
+
+"In the neighbourhood of the hacienda which had once been my official
+residence there was a belt of low-lying pest country--you understand
+pest country?--which was a hot-bed of poisonous diseases. It followed
+the winding course of a nearly stagnant creek. From the earliest
+times the Black Belt--it was so called--had been avoided by European
+inhabitants, and indeed by the coloured population as well. Apart from
+the malaria of the swampy ground it was infested with reptiles and with
+poisonous insects of a greater variety and of a more venomous character
+than I have ever known in any part of the world.
+
+"I must explain that what I regarded as a weak point in my manager's
+theory was this: Whilst he held that the native labourers to a man were
+linked together under some head, or guiding influence, he had never
+succeeded in surprising anything in the nature of a negro meeting.
+Indeed, he had prohibited all gatherings of this kind. His answer to
+my criticism was a curious one. He declared that the members of this
+mysterious society met and received their instructions at some place
+within the poison area to which I have referred, believing themselves
+there to be safe from European interference.
+
+"For a long time I disputed this with poor Valera--for such was my
+manager's name; when one night as I was dismounting from my horse before
+the veranda, having returned from a long ride around the estate, a shot
+was fired from the border of the Black Belt which at one point crept up
+dangerously close to the hacienda.
+
+"The shot was a good one. I had caught my spur in the stirrup in
+dismounting, and stumbled. Otherwise I must have been a dead man. The
+bullet pierced the crown of my hat, only missing my skull by an inch or
+less. The alarm was given. But no search-party could be mustered, do you
+say?--which was prepared to explore the poison swamp--or so declared
+my native servants. Valera, however, seized upon this incident to
+illustrate his theory that there were those in the island who did not
+hesitate to enter the Black Belt popularly supposed to cast up noxious
+vapours at dusk of a sort fatal to any traveller.
+
+"That night over our wine we discussed the situation, and he pointed
+out to me that now was the hour to test his theory. Orders had evidently
+been given for my assassination and the attempt had failed.
+
+"'There will be a meeting,' said Valera, 'to discuss the next move. And
+it will take place to-morrow night!'
+
+"I challenged him with a glance and I replied:
+
+"'To-morrow night is a full moon, and if you are agreeable we will make
+a secret expedition into the swamp, and endeavour to find the clearing
+which you say is there, and which you believe to be the rendezvous of
+the conspirators.'
+
+"Even in the light of the lamp I saw Valera turn pale, but he was a
+Spaniard and a man of courage.
+
+"'I agree, senor,' he replied. 'If my information is correct we shall
+find the way.'
+
+"I must explain that the information to which he referred had been
+supplied by a native girl who loved him. That this clearing was a
+meeting-place she had denied. But she had admitted that it was possible
+to obtain access to it, and had even described the path." He paused.
+"She died of a lingering sickness."
+
+Colonel Menendez spoke these last words with great deliberation and
+treated each of us to a long and significant stare.
+
+"Presently," he added, "I will tell you what was nailed to the wall of
+her hut on the night that she fell ill. But to continue my narrative.
+On the following evening, suitably equipped, Valera and myself set out,
+leaving by a side door and striking into the woods at a point east of
+the hacienda, where, according to his information, a footpath existed,
+which would lead us to the clearing we desired to visit. Of that
+journey, gentlemen, I have most terrible memories.
+
+"Imagine a dense and poisonous jungle, carpeted by rotten vegetation
+in which one's feet sank deeply and from which arose a visible and
+stenching vapour. Imagine living things, slimy things, moving beneath
+the tread, sometimes coiling about our riding boots, sometimes making
+hissing sounds. Imagine places where the path was overgrown, and we must
+thrust our way through bushes where great bloated spiders weaved
+their webs, where clammy night things touched us as we passed, where
+unfamiliar and venomous insects clung to our garments.
+
+"We proceeded onward for more than half an hour guided by the moonlight,
+but this, although tropically brilliant, at some places scarcely
+penetrated the thick vapour which arose from the jungle. In those days I
+was a young and vigorous man; my companion was several years my senior;
+and his sufferings were far greater than my own. But if the jungle was
+horrible, worse was yet to come.
+
+"Presently we stumbled upon an open space almost quite bare of
+vegetation, a poisonous green carpet spread in the heart of the woods.
+Here the vapour was more dense than ever, but I welcomed the sight of
+open ground after the reptile-infested thicket. Alas! it was a snare, a
+death-trap, a sort of morass, in which we sank up to our knees. Pah!
+it was filthy--vile! And I became aware of great--lassitude, do you
+say?--whilst Valera's panting breath told that he had almost reached the
+end of his resources.
+
+"A faint breeze moved through the clearing and for a few moments we
+were enabled to perceive one another more distinctly. I uttered an
+exclamation of horror.
+
+"My companion's garments were a mass of strange-looking patches.
+
+"Even as I noticed them I glanced rapidly down--and found myself in
+similar condition. As I did so one of these patches upon the sleeve of
+my tunic intruded coldly upon my bare wrist. At that I cried out aloud
+in fear. Valera and I commenced what was literally a fight for life.
+
+"Gentlemen, we were attacked by some kind of blood-red leeches, which
+came out of the slime! In detaching them one detached patches of skin,
+and they swarmed over our bodies like ants upon carrion.
+
+"They penetrated beneath our garments, these swollen, lustful, unclean
+things; and it was whilst we staggered on through the swamp in agony of
+mind and body that we saw the light of many torches amid the trees ahead
+of us, and in their smoky glare witnessed the flight of hundreds
+of bats. The moonlight creeping dimly through the mist, and the
+torchlight--how do you say?--enflaming the vegetation, created a scene
+like that of Inferno, in which naked figures danced wildly, uttering
+animal cries.
+
+"Above the shrieking and howling, which rose and fell in a sort of
+unholy chorus, I heard one long, wailing sound, repeated and repeated.
+It was an African word. But I knew its meaning.
+
+"It was '_Bat Wing_!'
+
+"My doubts were dispersed. This was a meeting-place of
+Devil-worshippers, or devotees of the cult of Voodoo! One man only could
+I see clearly so as to remember him, a big negro employed upon one of
+my estates. He seemed to be a sort of high priest or president of the
+orgies. Attached to his arms were giant imitations of bat wings which he
+moved grotesquely as if in flight. There were many women in the throng,
+which numbered fully I should think a hundred people. But the final
+collapse of my brave, unhappy Valera at this point brought home to me
+the nature of the peril in which I stood.
+
+"He lay at my feet, moving convulsively, and sinking ever deeper in
+the swamp, red leeches moving slowly, slowly over his fast-disappearing
+body."
+
+Colonel Menendez paused in his appalling narrative and wiped his moist
+forehead with a silk handkerchief. Neither Harley nor I spoke. I knew
+not if my friend believed the Spaniard's story. For my own part I found
+it difficult to do so. But that the narrator was deeply moved was a fact
+beyond dispute.
+
+He suddenly commenced again:
+
+"My next recollection is of awakening in my own bed at the hacienda. I
+had staggered back as far as the veranda, in raving delirium, and in the
+grip of a strange fever which prostrated me for many months, and which
+defied the knowledge of all the specialists who could be procured from
+Cuba and the United States. My survival was due to an iron constitution;
+but I have never been the same man. I was ordered to leave the West
+Indies directly it became possible for me to be moved. I arranged my
+affairs accordingly, and did not return for many years.
+
+"Finally, however, I again took up my residence in Cuba, and for a time
+all went well, and might have continued to do so, but for the following
+incident. One night, being troubled by insomnia--sleeplessness--and the
+heat, I walked out on to the balcony in front of my bedroom window. As
+I did so, a figure which had been--you say lurking?--somewhere under the
+veranda ran swiftly off; but not so swiftly that I failed to obtain a
+glimpse of the uplifted face.
+
+"It was the big negro! Although many years had elapsed since I had seen
+him wearing the bat wings at those unholy rites, I knew him instantly.
+
+"On a little table close behind me where I stood lay a loaded revolver.
+I snatched it in a flash and fired shot after shot at the retreating
+figure."
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders and selected a fresh cigarette
+paper.
+
+"Gentlemen," he continued, "from that moment until this I have gone
+in hourly peril of my life. Whether I hit my man or missed him, I have
+never known to this day. If he lives or is dead I cannot say. But--" he
+paused impressively--"I have told you of something that was nailed to
+the hut of a certain native girl? Before she died I knew that it was a
+death-token.
+
+"On the morning after the episode which I have just related attached to
+the main door of the hacienda was found that same token."
+
+"And it was??" said Harley, eagerly.
+
+"It was the wing of a bat!
+
+"I am perhaps a hasty man. It is in my blood. I tore the unclean thing
+from the panel and stamped it under my feet. No one of the servants
+who had drawn my attention to its presence would consent to touch
+it. Indeed, they all shrank from me as though I, too, were unclean. I
+endeavoured to forget it. Who was I to be influenced by the threats of
+natives?
+
+"That night, just at the hour of sunset, a shot was fired at me from a
+neighbouring clump of trees, only missing me I think by the fraction of
+an inch. I realized that the peril was real, and was one against which I
+could not fight.
+
+"Permit me to be brief, gentlemen. Six attempts of various kinds
+were made upon my life in Cuba. I crossed to the United States. In
+Washington, the political capital of the country, an assassin gained
+access to my hotel apartment and but for the fact that a friend chanced
+to call me up on the telephone at that late hour of the night, thereby
+awakening me, I should have received a knife in my heart. I saw the
+knife in the dim light; I saw the shadowy figure. I leapt out on the
+opposite side of the bed, seized a table-lamp which stood there, and
+hurled it at my assailant.
+
+"There was a crash, a stifled exclamation, shuffling, the door opened,
+and my would-be assassin was gone. But I had learned something, and to
+my old fears a new one was added."
+
+"What had you learned?" asked Harley, whose interest in the narrative
+was displayed by the fact that his pipe had long since gone out.
+
+"Vaguely, vaguely, you understand, for there was little light, I had
+seen the face of the man. He wore some kind of black cloak doubtless
+to conceal his movements. His silhouette resembled that of a bat. But,
+gentlemen, he was neither a negro nor even a half-caste; he was of the
+white races, to that I could swear."
+
+Colonel Menendez lighted the cigarette which he had been busily rolling,
+and fixed his dark eyes upon Harley.
+
+"You puzzle me, sir," said the latter. "Do you wish me to believe that
+this cult of Voodoo claims European or American devotees?"
+
+"I wish you to believe," returned the Colonel, "that although as
+the result of the alarm which I gave the hotel was searched and the
+Washington police exerted themselves to the utmost, no trace was ever
+found of the man who had tried to murder me, except"--he extended a
+long, yellow forefinger, and pointed to the wing of the bat lying upon
+Harley's table--"a bat wing was found pinned to my bedroom door."
+
+Silence fell for a while; an impressive silence. Truly this was the
+strangest story to which I had ever listened.
+
+"How long ago was that?" asked Harley.
+
+"Only two years ago. At about the time that the great war terminated. I
+came to Europe and believed that at last I had found security. I lived
+for a time in London amidst a refreshing peace that was new to me. Then,
+chancing to hear of a property in Surrey which was available, I leased
+it for a period of years, installing--is it correct?--my cousin, Madame
+de Staemer, as housekeeper. Madame, alas, is an invalid, but"--he kissed
+his fingers--"a genius. She has with her, as companion, a very
+charming English girl, Miss Val Beverley, the orphaned daughter of a
+distinguished surgeon of Edinburg. Miss Beverley was with my cousin in
+the hospital which she established in France during the war. If you will
+honour me with your presence at Cray's Folly to-morrow, gentlemen, you
+will not lack congenial company, I can assure you."
+
+He raised his heavy eyebrows, looking interrogatively from Harley to
+myself.
+
+"For my own part," said my friend, slowly, "I shall be delighted. What
+do you say, Knox?"
+
+"I also."
+
+"But," continued Harley, "your presence here today, Colonel Menendez,
+suggests to my mind that England has not proved so safe a haven as you
+had anticipated?"
+
+Colonel Menendez crossed the room and stood once more before the Burmese
+cabinet, one hand resting upon his hip; a massive yet graceful figure.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he replied, "four days ago my butler, who is a Spaniard,
+brought me--" He pointed to the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+"He had found it pinned to an oaken panel of the main entrance door."
+
+"Was it prior to this discovery, or after it," asked Harley, "that you
+detected the presence of someone lurking in the neighbourhood of the
+house?"
+
+"Before it."
+
+"And the burglarious entrance?"
+
+"That took place rather less than a month ago. On the eve of the full
+moon."
+
+Paul Harley stood up and relighted his pipe.
+
+"There are quite a number of other details, Colonel," he said, "which I
+shall require you to place in my possession. Since I have determined
+to visit Cray's Folly, these can wait until my arrival. I particularly
+refer to a remark concerning a neighbour of yours in Surrey."
+
+Colonel Menendez nodded, twirling his cigarette between his long, yellow
+fingers.
+
+"It is a delicate matter, gentlemen," he confessed.
+
+"I must take time to consider how I shall place it before you. But I may
+count upon your arrival tomorrow?"
+
+"Certainly. I am looking forward to the visit with keen interest."
+
+"It is important," declared our visitor; "for on Wednesday is the full
+moon, and the full moon is in some way associated with the sacrificial
+rites of Voodoo."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE VAMPIRE BAT
+
+
+
+An hour had elapsed since the departure of our visitor, and Paul Harley
+and I sat in the cosy, book-lined study discussing the strange story
+which had been related to us. Harley, who had a friend attached to
+the Spanish Embassy, had succeeded in getting in touch with him at his
+chambers, and had obtained some few particulars of interest concerning
+Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, for such were the full names and
+titles of our late caller.
+
+He was apparently the last representative of a once great Spanish
+family, established for many generations in Cuba. His wealth was
+incalculable, although the value of his numerous estates had depreciated
+in recent years. His family had produced many men of subtle intellect
+and powerful administrative qualities; but allied to this they had all
+possessed traits of cruelty and debauchery which at one time had made
+the name of Menendez a by-word in the West Indies. That there were many
+people in that part of the world who would gladly have assassinated
+the Colonel, Paul Harley's informant did not deny. But although this
+information somewhat enlarged our knowledge of my friend's newest
+client, it threw no fresh light upon that side of his story which
+related to Voodoo and the extraordinary bat wing episodes.
+
+"Of course," said Harley, after a long silence, "there is one
+possibility of which we must not lose sight."
+
+"What possibility is that?" I asked.
+
+"That Menendez may be mad. Remorse for crimes of cruelty committed in
+his youth, and beyond doubt he has been guilty of many, may have led to
+a sort of obsession. I have known such cases."
+
+"That was my first impression," I confessed, "but it faded somewhat as
+the Colonel's story proceeded. I don't think any such explanation would
+cover the facts."
+
+"Neither do I," agreed my friend; "but it is distinctly possible that
+such an obsession exists, and that someone is deliberately playing upon
+it for his own ends."
+
+"You mean that someone who knows of these episodes in the earlier life
+of Menendez is employing them now for a secret purpose of his own?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"It renders the case none the less interesting."
+
+"I quite agree, Knox. With you, I believe, that even if the Colonel is
+not quite sane, at the same time his fears are by no means imaginary."
+
+He gingerly took up the bat wing from the arm of his chair where he had
+placed it after a detailed examination.
+
+"It seems to be pretty certain," he said, "that this thing is the wing
+of a Desmodus or Vampire Bat. Now, according to our authority"--he
+touched a work which lay open on the other arm of his chair--"these are
+natives of tropical America, therefore the presence of a living vampire
+bat in Surrey is not to be anticipated. I am personally satisfied,
+however, that this unpleasant fragment has been preserved in some way."
+
+"You mean that it is part of a specimen from someone's collection?"
+
+"Quite possibly. But even a collection of such bats would be quite a
+novelty. I don't know that I can recollect one outside the Museums. To
+follow this bat wing business further: there was one very curious point
+in the Colonel's narrative. You recollect his reference to a native girl
+who had betrayed certain information to the manager of the estate?"
+
+I nodded rapidly.
+
+"A bat wing was affixed to the wall of her hut and she died, according
+to our informant, of a lingering sickness. Now this lingering sickness
+might have been anaemia, and anaemia may be induced, either in man or
+beast, by frequent but unsuspected visits of a Vampire Bat."
+
+"Good heavens, Harley!" I exclaimed, "what a horrible idea."
+
+"It _is_ a horrible idea, but in countries infested by these creatures
+such things happen occasionally. I distinctly recollect a story which
+I once heard, of a little girl in some district of tropical America
+falling into such a decline, from which she was only rescued in the nick
+of time by the discovery that one of these Vampire Bats, a particularly
+large one, had formed the habit of flying into her room at night and
+attaching itself to her bare arm which lay outside the coverlet."
+
+"How did it penetrate the mosquito curtains?" I enquired, incredulously.
+
+"The very point, Knox, which led to the discovery of the truth. The
+thing, exhibiting a sort of uncanny intelligence, used to work its way
+up under the edge of the netting. This disturbance of the curtains was
+noticed on several occasions by the nurse who occupied an adjoining
+room, and finally led to the detection of the bat!"
+
+"But surely," I said, "such a visitation would awaken any sleeper?"
+
+"On the contrary, it induces deeper sleep. But I have not yet come to my
+point, Knox. The vengeance of the High Priest of Voodoo, who figured in
+the Colonel's narrative, was characteristic in the case of the native
+woman, since her symptoms at least simulated those which would result
+from the visits of a Vampire Bat, although of course they may have been
+due to a slow poison. But you will not have failed to note that the
+several attacks upon the Colonel personally were made with more ordinary
+weapons. On two occasions at least a rifle was employed."
+
+"Yes," I replied, slowly. "You are wondering why the lingering sickness
+did not visit him?"
+
+"I am, Knox. I can only suppose that he proved to be immune. You recall
+his statement that he made an almost miraculous recovery from the fever
+which attacked him after his visit to the Black Belt? This would seem to
+point to the fact that he possesses that rare type of constitution which
+almost defies organisms deadly to ordinary men."
+
+"I see. Hence the dagger and the rifle?"
+
+"So it would appear."
+
+"But, Harley," I cried, "what appalling crime can the man have committed
+to call down upon his head a vengeance which has survived for so many
+years?"
+
+Paul Harley shrugged his shoulders in a whimsical imitation of the
+Spaniard.
+
+"I doubt if the feud dates any earlier," he replied, "than the time of
+Menendez's last return to Cuba. On that occasion he evidently killed the
+High Priest of Voodoo."
+
+I uttered an exclamation of scorn.
+
+"My dear Harley," I said, "the whole thing is too utterly fantastic. I
+begin to believe again that we are dealing with a madman."
+
+Harley glanced down at the wing of the bat.
+
+"We shall see," he murmured. "Even if the only result of our visit is to
+make the acquaintance of the Colonel's household our time will not have
+been wasted."
+
+"No," said I, "that is true enough. I am looking forward to meeting
+Madame de Staemer--"
+
+"The Colonel's invalid cousin," added Harley, tonelessly.
+
+"And her companion, Miss Beverley."
+
+"Quite so. Nor must we forget the Spanish butler, and the Colonel
+himself, whose acquaintance I am extremely anxious to renew."
+
+"The whole thing is wildly bizarre, Harley."
+
+"My dear Knox," he replied, stretching himself luxuriously in the long
+lounge chair, "the most commonplace life hovers on the edge of the
+bizarre. But those of us who overstep the border become preposterous
+in the eyes of those who have never done so. This is not because the
+unusual is necessarily the untrue, but because writers of fiction have
+claimed the unusual as their particular province, and in doing so have
+divorced it from fact in the public eye. Thus I, myself, am a myth, and
+so are you, Knox!"
+
+He raised his hand and pointed to the doorway communicating with the
+office.
+
+"We owe our mythological existence to that American genius whose
+portrait hangs beside the Burmese cabinet and who indiscreetly
+created the character of C. Auguste Dupin. The doings of this amateur
+investigator were chronicled by an admirer, you may remember, since
+when no private detective has been allowed to exist outside the pages of
+fiction. My most trivial habits confirm my unreality.
+
+"For instance, I have a friend who is good enough sometimes to record
+my movements. So had Dupin. I smoke a pipe. So did Dupin. I investigate
+crime, and I am sometimes successful. Here I differ from Dupin. Dupin
+was always successful. But my argument is this--you complain that the
+life of Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, on his own showing,
+has been at least as romantic as his name. It would not be accounted
+romantic by the adventurous, Knox; it is only romantic to the prosaic
+mind. In the same way his name is only unusual to our English ears. In
+Spain it would pass unnoticed."
+
+"I see your point," I said, grudgingly; "but think of I Voodoo in the
+Surrey Hills."
+
+"I am thinking of it, Knox, and it affords me much delight to think of
+it. You have placed your finger I upon the very point I was endeavouring
+to make. Voodoo in the Surrey Hills! Quite so. Voodoo in some island
+of the Caribbean Seas, yes, but Voodoo in the Surrey Hills, no. Yet, my
+dear fellow, there is a regular steamer service between South America
+and England. Or one may embark at Liverpool and disembark in the Spanish
+Main. Why, then, may not one embark in the West Indies and disembark
+at Liverpool? This granted, you will also grant that from Liverpool to
+Surrey is a feasible journey. Why, then, should you exclaim, 'but Voodoo
+in the Surrey Hills!' You would be surprised to meet an Esquimaux in
+the Strand, but there is no reason why an Esquimaux should not visit the
+Strand. In short, the most annoying thing about fact is its resemblance
+to fiction. I am looking forward to the day, Knox, when I can retire
+from my present fictitious profession and become a recognized member
+of the community; such as a press agent, a theatrical manager, or some
+other dealer in Fact!"
+
+He burst out laughing, and reaching over to a side-table refilled my
+glass and his own.
+
+"There lies the wing of a Vampire Bat," he said, pointing, "in Chancery
+Lane. It is impossible. Yet," he raised his glass, "'Pussyfoot' Johnson
+has visited Scotland, the home of Whisky!"
+
+We were silent for a while, whilst I considered his remarks.
+
+"The conclusion to which I have come," declared Harley, "is that nothing
+is so strange as the commonplace. A rod and line, a boat, a luncheon
+hamper, a jar of good ale, and the peculiar peace of a Norfolk
+river--these joys I willingly curtail in favour of the unknown things
+which await us at Cray's Folly. Remember, Knox," he stared at me
+queerly, "Wednesday is the night of the full moon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CRAY'S FOLLY
+
+
+
+Paul Harley lay back upon the cushions and glanced at me with a
+quizzical smile. The big, up-to-date car which Colonel Menendez had
+placed at our disposal was surmounting a steep Surrey lane as though no
+gradient had existed.
+
+"Some engine!" he said, approvingly.
+
+I nodded in agreement, but felt disinclined for conversation, being
+absorbed in watching the characteristically English scenery. This,
+indeed, was very beautiful. The lane along which we were speeding was
+narrow, winding, and over-arched by trees. Here and there sunlight
+penetrated to spread a golden carpet before us, but for the most part
+the way lay in cool and grateful shadow.
+
+On one side a wooded slope hemmed us in blackly, on the other lay dell
+after dell down into the cradle of the valley. It was a poetic corner of
+England, and I thought it almost unbelievable that London was only some
+twenty miles behind. A fit place this for elves and fairies to
+survive, a spot in which the presence of a modern automobile seemed a
+desecration. Higher we mounted and higher, the engine running strongly
+and smoothly; then, presently, we were out upon a narrow open road with
+the crescent of the hills sweeping away on the right and dense woods
+dipping valleyward to the left and behind us.
+
+The chauffeur turned, and, meeting my glance:
+
+"Cray's Folly, sir," he said.
+
+He jerked his hand in the direction of a square, gray-stone tower
+somewhat resembling a campanile, which uprose from a distant clump of
+woods cresting a greater eminence.
+
+"Ah," murmured Harley, "the famous tower."
+
+Following the departure of the Colonel on the previous evening, he had
+looked up Cray's Folly and had found it to be one of a series of houses
+erected by the eccentric and wealthy man whose name it bore. He had
+had a mania for building houses with towers, in which his rival--and
+contemporary--had been William Beckford, the author of "Vathek," a work
+which for some obscure reason has survived as well as two of the three
+towers erected by its writer.
+
+I became conscious of a keen sense of anticipation. In this, I think,
+the figure of Miss Val Beverley played a leading part. There was
+something pathetic in the presence of this lonely English girl in so
+singular a household; for if the menage at Cray's Folly should prove
+half so strange as Colonel Menendez had led us to believe, then truly we
+were about to find ourselves amid unusual people.
+
+Presently the road inclined southward somewhat and we entered the fringe
+of the trees. I noticed one or two very ancient cottages, but no trace
+of the modern builder. This was a fragment of real Old England, and
+I was not sorry when presently we lost sight of the square tower; for
+amidst such scenery it was an anomaly and a rebuke.
+
+What Paul Harley's thoughts may have been I cannot say, but he preserved
+an unbroken silence up to the very moment that we came to the gate
+lodge.
+
+The gates were monstrosities of elaborate iron scrollwork, craftsmanship
+clever enough in its way, but of an ornate kind more in keeping with the
+orange trees of the South than with this wooded Surrey countryside.
+
+A very surly-looking girl, quite obviously un-English (a daughter of
+Pedro, the butler, I learned later), opened the gates, and we entered
+upon a winding drive literally tunnelled through the trees. Of the house
+we had never a glimpse until we were right under its walls, nor should
+I have known that we were come to the main entrance if the car had not
+stopped.
+
+"Looks like a monastery," muttered Harley.
+
+Indeed that part of the building--the north front--which was visible
+from this point had a strangely monastic appearance, being built of
+solid gray blocks and boasting only a few small, heavily barred windows.
+The eccentricity of the Victorian gentleman who had expended thousands
+of pounds upon erecting this house was only equalled, I thought, by that
+of Colonel Menendez, who had chosen it for a home. An out-jutting wing
+shut us in on the west, and to the east the prospect was closed by the
+tallest and most densely grown box hedge I had ever seen, trimmed most
+perfectly and having an arched opening in the centre. Thus, the entrance
+to Cray's Folly lay in a sort of bay.
+
+But even as we stepped from the car, the great church-like oaken doors
+were thrown open, and there, framed in the monkish porch, stood the
+tall, elegant figure of the Colonel.
+
+"Gentlemen," he cried, "welcome to Cray's Folly."
+
+He advanced smiling, and in the bright sunlight seemed even more
+Mephistophelean than he had seemed in Harley's office.
+
+"Pedro," he called, and a strange-looking Spanish butler who wore his
+side-whiskers like a bull fighter appeared behind his master; a sallow,
+furtive fellow with whom I determined I should never feel at ease.
+
+However, the Colonel greeted us heartily enough, and conducted us
+through a kind of paved, covered courtyard into a great lofty hall.
+Indeed it more closely resembled a studio, being partly lighted by a
+most curious dome. It was furnished in a manner quite un-English, but
+very luxuriously. A magnificent oaken staircase communicated with a
+gallery on the left, and at the foot of this staircase, in a mechanical
+chair which she managed with astonishing dexterity, sat Madame de
+Staemer.
+
+She had snow-white hair crowning the face of a comparatively young
+woman, and large, dark-brown eyes which reminded me strangely of the
+eyes of some animal although in the first moment of meeting I could not
+identify the resemblance. Her hands were very slender and beautiful, and
+when, as the Colonel presented us, she extended her fingers, I was not
+surprised to see Harley stoop and kiss them in Continental fashion;
+for this Madame evidently expected. I followed suit; but truth to tell,
+after that first glance at the masterful figure in the invalid chair I
+had had no eyes for Madame de Staemer, being fully employed in gazing at
+someone who stood beside her.
+
+This was an evasively pretty girl, or such was my first impression. That
+is to say, that whilst her attractiveness was beyond dispute, analysis
+of her small features failed to detect from which particular quality
+this charm was derived. The contour of her face certainly formed a
+delightful oval, and there was a wistful look in her eyes which was half
+appealing and half impish. Her demure expression was not convincing, and
+there rested a vague smile, or promise of a smile, upon lips which were
+perfectly moulded, and indeed the only strictly regular feature of a
+nevertheless bewitching face. She had slightly curling hair and the line
+of her neck and shoulder was most graceful and charming. Of one thing I
+was sure: She was glad to see visitors at Cray's Folly.
+
+"And now, gentlemen," said Colonel Menendez, "having presented you to
+Madame, my cousin, permit me to present you to Miss Val Beverley, my
+cousin's companion, and our very dear friend."
+
+The girl bowed in a formal English fashion, which contrasted sharply
+with the Continental manner of Madame. Her face flushed slightly, and as
+I met her glance she lowered her eyes.
+
+"Now M. Harley and M. Knox," said Madame, vivaciously, "you are quite at
+home. Pedro will show you to your rooms and lunch will be ready in half
+an hour."
+
+She waved her white hand coquettishly, and ignoring the proffered aid
+of Miss Beverley, wheeled her chair away at a great rate under a sort
+of arch on the right of the hall, which communicated with the domestic
+offices of the establishment.
+
+"Is she not wonderful?" exclaimed Colonel Menendez, taking Harley's
+left arm and my right and guiding us upstairs followed by Pedro and
+the chauffeur, the latter carrying our grips. "Many women would be
+prostrated by such an affliction, but she--" he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+Harley and I had been placed in adjoining rooms. I had never seen such
+rooms as those in Cray's Folly. The place contained enough oak to have
+driven a modern builder crazy. Oak had simply been lavished upon it. My
+own room, which was almost directly above the box hedge to which I have
+referred, had a beautiful carved ceiling and a floor as highly polished
+as that of a ballroom. It was tastefully furnished, but the foreign note
+was perceptible everywhere.
+
+"We have here some grand prospects," said the Colonel, and truly enough
+the view from the great, high, wide window was a very fine one.
+
+I perceived that the grounds of Cray's Folly were extensive and
+carefully cultivated. I had a glimpse of a Tudor sunken garden, but the
+best view of this was from the window of Harley's room, which because
+it was the end room on the north front overlooked another part of the
+grounds, and offered a prospect of the east lawns and distant park land.
+
+When presently Colonel Menendez and I accompanied my friend there I
+was charmed by the picturesque scene below. Here was a real old herbal
+garden, gay with flowers and intersected by tiled moss-grown paths.
+There were bushes exhibiting fantastic examples of the topiary art, and
+here, too, was a sun-dial. My first impression of this beautiful spot
+was one of delight. Later I was to regard that enchanted demesne with
+something akin to horror; but as we stood there watching a gardener
+clipping the bushes I thought that although Cray's Folly might be
+adjudged ugly, its grounds were delightful.
+
+Suddenly Harley turned to our host. "Where is the famous tower?" he
+enquired. "It is not visible from the front of the house, nor from the
+drive."
+
+"No, no," replied the Colonel, "it is right out at the end of the east
+wing, which is disused. I keep it locked up. There are four rooms in
+the tower and a staircase, of course, but it is inconvenient. I cannot
+imagine why it was built."
+
+"The architect may have had some definite object in view," said Harley,
+"or it may have been merely a freak of his client. Is there anything
+characteristic about the topmost room, for instance?"
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his massive shoulders. "Nothing," he replied.
+"It is the same as the others below, except that there is a stair
+leading to a gallery on the roof. Presently I will take you up, if you
+wish."
+
+"I should be interested," murmured Harley, and tactfully changed the
+subject, which evidently was not altogether pleasing to our host. I
+concluded that he had found the east wing of the house something of a
+white elephant, and was accordingly sensitive upon the point.
+
+Presently, then, he left us and I returned to my own room, but before
+long I rejoined Harley. I did not knock but entered unceremoniously.
+
+"Halloa!" I exclaimed. "What have you seen?"
+
+He was standing staring out of the window, nor did he turn as I entered.
+
+"What is it?" I said, joining him.
+
+He glanced at me oddly.
+
+"An impression," he replied; "but it has gone now."
+
+"I understand," I said, quietly.
+
+Familiarity with crime in many guises and under many skies had developed
+in Paul Harley a sort of sixth sense. It was a fugitive, fickle
+thing, as are all the powers which belong to the realm of genius or
+inspiration. Often enough it failed him entirely, he had assured me,
+that odd, sudden chill as of an abrupt lowering of the temperature,
+which, I understood, often advised him of the nearness of enmity
+actively malignant.
+
+Now, standing at the window, looking down into that old-world garden, he
+was "sensing" the atmosphere keenly, seeking for the note of danger. It
+was sheer intuition, perhaps, but whilst he could never rely upon its
+answering his summons, once active it never misled him.
+
+"You think some real menace overhangs Colonel Menendez?"
+
+"I am sure of it." He stared into my face. "There is something very,
+very strange about this bat wing business."
+
+"Do you still incline to the idea that he has been followed to England?"
+
+Paul Harley reflected for a moment, then:
+
+"That explanation would be almost too simple," he said. "There is
+something bizarre, something unclean--I had almost said unholy--at work
+in this house, Knox."
+
+"He has foreign servants."
+
+Harley shook his head.
+
+"I shall make it my business to become acquainted with all of them,"
+he replied, "but the danger does not come from there. Let us go down to
+lunch."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+VAL BEVERLEY
+
+
+
+The luncheon was so good as to be almost ostentatious. One could not
+have lunched better at the Carlton. Yet, since this luxurious living was
+evidently customary in the colonel's household, a charge of ostentation
+would not have been deserved. The sinister-looking Pedro proved to be
+an excellent servant; and because of the excitement of feeling myself
+to stand upon the edge of unusual things, the enjoyment of a perfectly
+served repast, and the sheer delight which I experienced in watching the
+play of expression upon the face of Miss Beverley, I count that luncheon
+at Cray's Folly a memorable hour of my life.
+
+Frankly, Val Beverley puzzled me. It may or may not have been curious,
+that amidst such singular company I selected for my especial study a
+girl so freshly and typically English. I had thought at the moment of
+meeting her that she was provokingly pretty; I determined, as the lunch
+proceeded, that she was beautiful. Once I caught Harley smiling at me in
+his quizzical fashion, and I wondered guiltily if I were displaying an
+undue interest in the companion of Madame.
+
+Many topics were discussed, I remember, and beyond doubt the colonel's
+cousin-housekeeper dominated the debate. She possessed extraordinary
+force of personality. Her English was not nearly so fluent as that
+spoken by the colonel, but this handicap only served to emphasize the
+masculine strength of her intellect. Truly she was a remarkable woman.
+With her blanched hair and her young face, and those fine, velvety eyes
+which possessed a quality almost hypnotic, she might have posed for the
+figure of a sorceress. She had unfamiliar gestures and employed her long
+white hands in a manner that was new to me and utterly strange.
+
+I could detect no family resemblance between the cousins, and I wondered
+if their kinship were very distant. One thing was evident enough: Madame
+de Staemer was devoted to the Colonel. Her expression when she looked at
+him changed entirely. For a woman of such intense vitality her eyes were
+uncannily still; that is to say that whilst she frequently moved her
+head she rarely moved her eyes. Again and again I found myself wondering
+where I had seen such eyes before. I lived to identify that memory, as I
+shall presently relate.
+
+In vain I endeavoured to define the relationship between these three
+people, so incongruously set beneath one roof. Of the fact that Miss
+Beverly was not happy I became assured. But respecting her exact
+position in the household I was reduced to surmises.
+
+The Colonel improved on acquaintance. I decided that he belonged to an
+order of Spanish grandees now almost extinct. I believed he would have
+made a very staunch friend; I felt sure he would have proved a most
+implacable enemy. Altogether, it was a memorable meal, and one notable
+result of that brief companionship was a kind of link of understanding
+between myself and Miss Beverley.
+
+Once, when I had been studying Madame de Staemer, and again, as I removed
+my glance from the dark face of Colonel Menendez, I detected the girl
+watching me; and her eyes said, "You understand; so do I."
+
+Some things perhaps I did understand, but how few the near future was to
+show.
+
+The signal for our departure from table was given by Madame de Staemer.
+She whisked her chair back with extraordinary rapidity, the contrast
+between her swift, nervous movements and those still, basilisk eyes
+being almost uncanny.
+
+"Off you go, Juan," she said; "your visitors would like to see the
+garden, no doubt. I must be away for my afternoon siesta. Come, my
+dear"--to the girl--"smoke one little cigarette with me, then I will let
+you go."
+
+She retired, wheeling herself rapidly out of the room, and my glance
+lingered upon the graceful figure of Val Beverley until both she and
+Madame were out of sight.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said the Colonel, resuming his seat and pushing the
+decanter toward Paul Harley, "I am at your service either for business
+or amusement. I think"--to Harley--"you expressed a desire to see the
+tower?"
+
+"I did," my friend replied, lighting his cigar, "but only if it would
+amuse you to show me."
+
+"Decidedly. Mr. Knox will join us?"
+
+Harley, unseen by the Colonel, glanced at me in a way which I knew.
+
+"Thanks all the same," I said, smiling, "but following a perfect
+luncheon I should much prefer to loll upon the lawn, if you don't mind."
+
+"But certainly I do not mind," cried the Colonel. "I wish you to be
+happy."
+
+"Join you in a few minutes, Knox," said Harley as he went out with our
+host.
+
+"All right," I replied, "I should like to take a stroll around the
+gardens. You will join me there later, no doubt."
+
+As I walked out into the bright sunshine I wondered why Paul Harley had
+wished to be left alone with Colonel Menendez, but knowing that I should
+learn his motive later, I strolled on through the gardens, my mind
+filled with speculations respecting these unusual people with whom Fate
+had brought me in contact. I felt that Miss Beverley needed protection
+of some kind, and I was conscious of a keen desire to afford her that
+protection. In her glance I had read, or thought I had read, an appeal
+for sympathy.
+
+Not the least mystery of Cray's Folly was the presence of this girl.
+Only toward the end of luncheon had I made up my mind upon a point which
+had been puzzling me. Val Beverley's gaiety was a cloak. Once I had
+detected her watching Madame de Staemer with a look strangely like that
+of fear.
+
+Puffing contentedly at my cigar I proceeded to make a tour of the house.
+It was constructed irregularly. Practically the entire building was
+of gray stone, which created a depressing effect even in the blazing
+sunlight, lending Cray's Folly something of an austere aspect. There
+were fine lofty windows, however, to most of the ground-floor rooms
+overlooking the lawns, and some of those above had balconies of the same
+gray stone. Quite an extensive kitchen garden and a line of glasshouses
+adjoined the west wing, and here were outbuildings, coach-houses and a
+garage, all connected by a covered passage with the servants' quarters.
+
+Pursuing my enquiries, I proceeded to the north front of the building,
+which was closely hemmed in by trees, and which as we had observed on
+our arrival resembled the entrance to a monastery.
+
+Passing the massive oaken door by which we had entered and which was now
+closed again, I walked on through the opening in the box hedge into a
+part of the grounds which was not so sprucely groomed as the rest. On
+one side were the yews flanking the Tudor garden and before me uprose
+the famous tower. As I stared up at the square structure, with its
+uncurtained windows, I wondered, as others had wondered before me, what
+could have ever possessed any man to build it.
+
+Visible at points for many miles around, it undoubtedly disfigured an
+otherwise beautiful landscape.
+
+I pressed on, noting that the windows of the rooms in the east wing were
+shuttered and the apartments evidently disused. I came to the base of
+the tower, To the south, the country rose up to the highest point in
+the crescent of hills, and peeping above the trees at no great distance
+away, I detected the red brick chimneys of some old house in the woods.
+North and east, velvet sward swept down to the park.
+
+As I stood there admiring the prospect and telling myself that no
+Voodoo devilry could find a home in this peaceful English countryside,
+I detected a faint sound of voices far above. Someone had evidently come
+out upon the gallery of the tower. I looked upward, but I could not see
+the speakers. I pursued my stroll, until, near the eastern base of the
+tower, I encountered a perfect thicket of rhododendrons. Finding no
+path through this shrubbery, I retraced my steps, presently entering
+the Tudor garden; and there strolling toward me, a book in her hand, was
+Miss Beverley.
+
+"Holloa, Mr. Knox," she called; "I thought you had gone up the tower?"
+
+"No," I replied, laughing, "I lack the energy."
+
+"Do you?" she said, softly, "then sit down and talk to me."
+
+She dropped down upon a grassy bank, looking up at me invitingly, and I
+accepted the invitation without demur.
+
+"I love this old garden," she declared, "although of course it is really
+no older than the rest of the place. I always think there should be
+peacocks, though."
+
+"Yes," I agreed, "peacocks would be appropriate."
+
+"And little pages dressed in yellow velvet."
+
+She met my glance soberly for a moment and then burst into a peal of
+merry laughter.
+
+"Do you know, Miss Beverley," I said, watching her, "I find it hard to
+place you in the household of the Colonel."
+
+"Yes?" she said simply; "you must."
+
+"Oh, then you realize that you are--"
+
+"Out of place here?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Of course I am."
+
+She smiled, shook her head, and changed the subject.
+
+"I am so glad Mr. Paul Harley has come down," she confessed.
+
+"You know my friend by name, then?"
+
+"Yes," she replied, "someone I met in Nice spoke of him, and I know he
+is very clever."
+
+"In Nice? Did you live in Nice before you came here?"
+
+Val Beverley nodded slowly, and her glance grew oddly retrospective.
+
+"I lived for over a year with Madame de Staemer in a little villa on
+the Promenade des Anglaise," she replied. "That was after Madame was
+injured."
+
+"She sustained her injuries during the war, I understand?"
+
+"Yes. Poor Madame. The hospital of which she was in charge was bombed
+and the shock left her as you see her. I was there, too, but I luckily
+escaped without injury."
+
+"What, you were there?"
+
+"Yes. That was where I first met Madame de Staemer. She used to be very
+wealthy, you see, and she established this hospital in France at her own
+expense, and I was one of her assistants for a time. She lost both her
+husband and her fortune in the war, and as if that were not bad enough,
+lost the use of her limbs, too."
+
+"Poor woman," I said. "I had no idea her life had been so tragic. She
+has wonderful courage."
+
+"Courage!" exclaimed the girl, "if you knew all that I know about her."
+
+Her face grew sweetly animated as she bent toward me excitedly and
+confidentially.
+
+"Really, she is simply wonderful. I learned to respect her in those days
+as I have never respected any other woman in the world; and when, after
+all her splendid work, she, so vital and active, was stricken down like
+that, I felt that I simply could not leave her, especially as she asked
+me to stay."
+
+"So you went with her to Nice?"
+
+"Yes. Then the Colonel took this house, and we came here, but--"
+
+She hesitated, and glanced at me curiously.
+
+"Perhaps you are not quite happy?"
+
+"No," she said, "I am not. You see it was different in France. I knew so
+many people. But here at Cray's Folly it is so lonely, and Madame is--"
+
+Again she hesitated.
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Well," she laughed in an embarrassed fashion, "I am afraid of her at
+times."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"Oh, in a silly, womanish sort of way. Of course she is a wonderful
+manager; she rules the house with a rod of iron. But really I haven't
+anything to do here, and I feel frightfully out of place sometimes. Then
+the Colonel--Oh, but what am I talking about?"
+
+"Won't you tell me what it is that the Colonel fears?"
+
+"You know that he fears something, then?"
+
+"Of course. That is why Paul Harley is here."
+
+A change came over the girl's face; a look almost of dread.
+
+"I wish I knew what it all meant."
+
+"You are aware, then, that there is something wrong?"
+
+"Naturally I am. Sometimes I have been so frightened that I have made up
+my mind to leave the very next day."
+
+"You mean that you have been frightened at night?" I asked with
+curiosity.
+
+"Dreadfully frightened."
+
+"Won't you tell me in what way?"
+
+She looked up at me swiftly, then turned her head aside, and bit her
+lip.
+
+"No, not now," she replied. "I can't very well."
+
+"Then at least tell me why you stayed?"
+
+"Well," she smiled rather pathetically, "for one thing, I haven't
+anywhere else to go."
+
+"Have you no friends in England?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"No. There was only poor daddy, and he died over two years ago. That was
+when I went to Nice."
+
+"Poor little girl," I said; and the words were spoken before I realized
+their undue familiarity.
+
+An apology was on the tip of my tongue, but Miss Beverley did not seem
+to have noticed the indiscretion. Indeed my sympathy was sincere, and I
+think she had appreciated the fact.
+
+She looked up again with a bright smile.
+
+"Why are we talking about such depressing things on this simply heavenly
+day?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Goodness knows," said I. "Will you show me round these lovely gardens?"
+
+"Delighted, sir!" replied the girl, rising and sweeping me a mocking
+curtsey.
+
+Thereupon we set out, and at every step I found a new delight in some
+wayward curl, in a gesture, in the sweet voice of my companion. Her
+merry laugh was music, but in wistful mood I think she was even more
+alluring.
+
+The menace, if menace there were, which overhung Cray's Folly, ceased to
+exist--for me, at least, and I blessed the lucky chance which had led to
+my presence there.
+
+We were presently rejoined by Colonel Menendez and Paul Harley, and I
+gathered that my surmise that it had been their voices which I had heard
+proceeding from the top of the tower to have been only partly accurate.
+
+"I know you will excuse me, Mr. Harley," said the Colonel, "for
+detailing the duty to Pedro, but my wind is not good enough for the
+stairs."
+
+He used idiomatic English at times with that facility which some
+foreigners acquire, but always smiled in a self-satisfied way when he
+had employed a slang term.
+
+"I quite understand, Colonel," replied Harley. "The view from the top
+was very fine."
+
+"And now, gentlemen," continued the Colonel, "if Miss Beverley will
+excuse us, we will retire to the library and discuss business."
+
+"As you wish," said Harley; "but I have an idea that it is your custom
+to rest in the afternoon."
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders. "It used to be," he admitted,
+"but I have too much to think about in these days."
+
+"I can see that you have much to tell me," admitted Harley; "and
+therefore I am entirely at your service."
+
+Val Beverley smiled and walked away swinging her book, at the same time
+treating me to a glance which puzzled me considerably. I wondered if I
+had mistaken its significance, for it had seemed to imply that she had
+accepted me as an ally. Certainly it served to awaken me to the fact
+that I had discovered a keen personal interest in the mystery which hung
+over this queerly assorted household.
+
+I glanced at my friend as the Colonel led the way into the house. I
+saw him staring upward with a peculiar expression upon his face, and
+following the direction of his glance I could see an awning spread over
+one of the gray-stone balconies. Beneath it, reclining in a long cane
+chair, lay Madame de Staemer. I think she was asleep; at any rate,
+she gave no sign, but lay there motionless, as Harley and I walked in
+through the open French window followed by Colonel Menendez.
+
+Odd and unimportant details sometimes linger long in the memory. And
+I remember noticing that a needle of sunlight, piercing a crack in the
+gaily-striped awning rested upon a ring which Madame wore, so that the
+diamonds glittered like sparks of white-hot fire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE BARRIER
+
+
+
+Colonel Menendez conducted us to a long, lofty library in which might
+be detected the same note of un-English luxury manifested in the other
+appointments of the house. The room, in common with every other which
+I had visited in Cray's Folly, was carried out in oak: doors, window
+frames, mantelpiece, and ceiling representing fine examples of this
+massive woodwork. Indeed, if the eccentricity of the designer of Cray's
+Folly were not sufficiently demonstrated by the peculiar plan of the
+building, its construction wholly of granite and oak must have remarked
+him a man of unusual if substantial ideas.
+
+There were four long windows opening on to a veranda which commanded a
+view of part of the rose garden and of three terraced lawns descending
+to a lake upon which I perceived a number of swans. Beyond, in the
+valley, lay verdant pastures, where cattle grazed. A lark hung carolling
+blithely far above, and the sky was almost cloudless. I could hear a
+steam reaper at work somewhere in the distance. This, with the more
+intimate rattle of a lawn-mower wielded by a gardener who was not
+visible from where I stood, alone disturbed the serene silence, except
+that presently I detected the droning of many bees among the roses.
+Sunlight flooded the prospect; but the veranda lay in shadow, and that
+long, oaken room was refreshingly cool and laden with the heavy perfume
+of the flowers.
+
+From the windows, then, one beheld a typical English summer-scape, but
+the library itself struck an altogether more exotic note. There were
+many glazed bookcases of a garish design in ebony and gilt, and these
+were laden with a vast collection of works in almost every European
+language, reflecting perhaps the cosmopolitan character of the colonel's
+household. There was strange Spanish furniture upholstered in perforated
+leather and again displaying much gilt. There were suits of black armour
+and a great number of Moorish ornaments. The pictures were fine but
+sombre, and all of the Spanish school.
+
+One Velasquez in particular I noted with surprise, reflecting that,
+assuming it to be an authentic work of the master, my entire worldly
+possessions could not have enabled me to buy it. It was the portrait
+of a typical Spanish cavalier and beyond doubt a Menendez. In fact, the
+resemblance between the haughty Spanish grandee, who seemed about
+to step out of the canvas and pick a quarrel with the spectator, and
+Colonel Don Juan himself was almost startling. Evidently, our host had
+imported most of his belongings from Cuba.
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, as we entered, "make yourselves quite at home, I
+beg. All my poor establishment contains is for your entertainment and
+service."
+
+He drew up two long, low lounge chairs, the arms provided with
+receptacles to contain cooling drinks; and the mere sight of these
+chairs mentally translated me to the Spanish Main, where I pictured them
+set upon the veranda of that hacienda which had formerly been our host's
+residence.
+
+Harley and I became seated and Colonel Menendez disposed himself upon a
+leather-covered couch, nodding apologetically as he did so.
+
+"My health requires that I should recline for a certain number of hours
+every day," he explained. "So you will please forgive me."
+
+"My dear Colonel Menendez," said Harley, "I feel sure that you are
+interrupting your siesta in order to discuss the unpleasant business
+which finds us in such pleasant surroundings. Allow me once again to
+suggest that we postpone this matter until, shall we say, after dinner?"
+
+"No, no! No, no," protested the Colonel, waving his hand deprecatingly.
+"Here is Pedro with coffee and some curacao of a kind which I can really
+recommend, although you may be unfamiliar with it."
+
+I was certainly unfamiliar with the liqueur which he insisted we must
+taste, and which was contained in a sort of square, opaque bottle
+unknown, I think, to English wine merchants. Beyond doubt it was potent
+stuff; and some cigars which the Spaniard produced on this occasion and
+which were enclosed in little glass cylinders resembling test-tubes and
+elaborately sealed, I recognized to be priceless. They convinced me, if
+conviction had not visited me already, that Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento
+Menendez belonged to that old school of West Indian planters by whom
+the tradition of the Golden Americas had been for long preserved in the
+Spanish Main.
+
+We discussed indifferent matters for a while, sipping this wonderful
+curacao of our host's. The effect created by the Colonel's story faded
+entirely, and when, the latter being unable to conceal his drowsiness,
+Harley stood up, I took the hint with gratitude; for at that moment I
+did not feel in the mood to discuss serious business or indeed business
+of any kind.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Colonel, also rising, in spite of our protests, "I
+will observe your wishes. My guests' wishes are mine. We will meet the
+ladies for tea on the terrace."
+
+Harley and I walked out into the garden together, our courteous host
+standing in the open window, and bowing in that exaggerated fashion
+which in another might have been ridiculous but which was possible in
+Colonel Menendez, because of the peculiar grace of deportment which was
+his.
+
+As we descended the steps I turned and glanced back, I know not why. But
+the impression which I derived of the Colonel's face as he stood there
+in the shadow of the veranda was one I can never forget.
+
+His expression had changed utterly, or so it seemed to me. He no longer
+resembled Velasquez' haughty cavalier; gone, too, was the debonnaire
+bearing, I turned my head aside swiftly, hoping that he had not detected
+my backward glance.
+
+I felt that I had violated hospitality. I felt that I had seen what I
+should not have seen. And the result was to bring about that which no
+story of West Indian magic could ever have wrought in my mind.
+
+A dreadful, cold premonition claimed me, a premonition that this was a
+doomed man.
+
+The look which I had detected upon his face was an indefinable, an
+indescribable look; but I had seen it in the eyes of one who had been
+bitten by a poisonous reptile and who knew his hours to be numbered. It
+was uncanny, unnerving; and whereas at first the atmosphere of Colonel
+Menendez's home had seemed to be laden with prosperous security, now
+that sense of ease and restfulness was gone--and gone for ever.
+
+"Harley," I said, speaking almost at random, "this promises to be the
+strangest case you have ever handled."
+
+"Promises?" Paul Harley laughed shortly. "It _is_ the strangest case,
+Knox. It is a case of wheels within wheels, of mystery crowning mystery.
+Have you studied our host?"
+
+"Closely."
+
+"And what conclusion have you formed?"
+
+"None at the moment; but I think one is slowly crystalizing."
+
+"Hm," muttered Harley, as we paced slowly on amid the rose trees. "Of
+one thing I am satisfied."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That Colonel Menendez is not afraid of Bat Wing, whoever or whatever
+Bat Wing may be."
+
+"Not afraid?"
+
+"Certainly he is not afraid, Knox. He has possibly been afraid in the
+past, but now he is resigned."
+
+"Resigned to what?"
+
+"Resigned to death!"
+
+"Good God, Harley, you are right!" I cried. "You are right! I saw it in
+his eyes as we left the library."
+
+Harley stopped and turned to me sharply.
+
+"You saw this in the Colonel's eyes?" he challenged.
+
+"I did."
+
+"Which corroborates my theory," he said, softly; "for _I_ had seen it
+elsewhere."
+
+"Where do you mean, Harley?"
+
+"In the face of Madame de Staemer."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Knox"--Harley rested his hand upon my arm and looked about him
+cautiously--"_she knows._"
+
+"But knows what?"
+
+"That is the question which we are here to answer, but I am as sure
+as it is humanly possible to be sure of anything that whatever Colonel
+Menendez may tell us to-night, one point at least he will withhold."
+
+"What do you expect him to withhold?"
+
+"The meaning of the sign of the Bat Wing."
+
+"Then you think he knows its meaning?"
+
+"He has told us that it is the death-token of Voodoo."
+
+I stared at Harley in perplexity.
+
+"Then you believe his explanation to be false?"
+
+"Not necessarily, Knox. It may be what he claims for it. But he is
+keeping something back. He speaks all the time from behind a barrier
+which he, himself, has deliberately erected against me."
+
+"I cannot understand why he should do so," I declared, as he looked
+at me steadily. "Within the last few moments I have become definitely
+convinced that his appeal to you was no idle one. Therefore, why should
+he not offer you every aid in his power?"
+
+"Why, indeed?" muttered Harley.
+
+"The same thing," I continued, "applies to Madame de Staemer. If ever I
+have seen love-light in a woman's eyes I have seen it in hers, to-day,
+whenever her glance has rested upon Colonel Menendez. Harley, I believe
+she literally worships the ground he walks upon."
+
+"She does, she does!" cried my companion, and emphasized the words with
+beats of his clenched fist. "It is utterly, damnably mystifying. But I
+tell you, she knows, Knox, she knows!"
+
+"You mean she knows that he is a doomed man?"
+
+Harley nodded rapidly.
+
+"They both know," he replied; "but there is something which they dare
+not divulge."
+
+He glanced at me swiftly, and his bronzed face wore a peculiar
+expression.
+
+"Have you had an opportunity of any private conversation with Miss Val
+Beverley?" he enquired.
+
+"Yes," I said. "Surely you remember that you found me chatting with her
+when you returned from your inspection of the tower."
+
+"I remember perfectly well, but I thought you might have just met. Now
+it appears to me, Knox, that you have quickly established yourself in
+the good books of a very charming girl. My only reason for visiting
+the tower was to afford you just this opportunity! Don't frown. Beyond
+reminding you of the fact that she has been on intimate terms with
+Madame de Staemer for some years, I will not intrude in any way upon your
+private plans in that direction."
+
+I stared at him, and I suppose my expression was an angry one.
+
+"Surely you don't misunderstand me?" he said. "A cultured English
+girl of that type cannot possibly have lived with these people without
+learning something of the matters which are puzzling us so badly. Am I
+asking too much?"
+
+"I see what you mean," I said, slowly. "No, I suppose you are right,
+Harley."
+
+"Good," he muttered. "I will leave that side of the enquiry in your very
+capable hands, Knox."
+
+He paused, and began to stare about him.
+
+"From this point," said he, "we have an unobstructed view of the tower."
+
+We turned and stood looking up at the unsightly gray structure, with its
+geometrical rows of windows and the minaret-like gallery at the top.
+
+"Of course"--I broke a silence of some moments duration--"the entire
+scheme of Cray's Folly is peculiar, but the rooms, except for a
+uniformity which is monotonous, and an unimaginative scheme of
+decoration which makes them all seem alike, are airy and well
+lighted, eminently sane and substantial. The tower, however, is quite
+inexcusable, unless the idea was to enable the occupant to look over the
+tops of the trees in all directions."
+
+"Yes," agreed Harley, "it is an ugly landmark. But yonder up the slope I
+can see the corner of what seems to be a very picturesque house of some
+kind."
+
+"I caught a glimpse of it earlier to-day," I replied. "Yes, from this
+point a little more of it is visible. Apparently quite an old place."
+
+I paused, staring up the hillside, but Harley, hands locked behind
+him and chin lowered reflectively, was pacing on. I joined him, and we
+proceeded for some little distance in silence, passing a gardener who
+touched his cap respectfully and to whom I thought at first my companion
+was about to address some remark. Harley passed on, however, still
+occupied, it seemed, with his reflections, and coming to a gravel path
+which, bordering one side of the lawns, led down from terrace to terrace
+into the valley, turned, and began to descend.
+
+"Let us go and interview the swans," he murmured absently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AT THE LAVENDER ARMS
+
+
+
+In certain moods Paul Harley was impossible as a companion, and I,
+who knew him well, had learned to leave him to his own devices at such
+times. These moods invariably corresponded with his meeting some problem
+to the heart of which the lance of his keen wit failed to penetrate.
+His humour might not display itself in the spoken word, he merely became
+oblivious of everything and everybody around him. People might talk to
+him and he scarce noted their presence, familiar faces appear and he
+would see them not. Outwardly he remained the observant Harley who
+could see further into a mystery than any other in England, but his
+observation was entirely introspective; although he moved amid the
+hustle of life he was spiritually alone, communing with the solitude
+which dwells in every man's heart.
+
+Presently, then, as we came to the lake at the foot of the sloping
+lawns, where water lilies were growing and quite a number of swans had
+their habitation, I detected the fact that I had ceased to exist so
+far as Harley was concerned. Knowing this mood of old, I pursued my way
+alone, pressing on across the valley and making for a swing gate which
+seemed to open upon a public footpath. Coming to this gate I turned and
+looked back.
+
+Paul Harley was standing where I had left him by the edge of the lake,
+staring as if hypnotized at the slowly moving swans. But I would have
+been prepared to wager that he saw neither swans nor lake, but mentally
+was far from the spot, deep in some complex maze of reflection through
+which no ordinary mind could hope to follow him.
+
+I glanced at my watch and found that it was but little after two
+o'clock. Luncheon at Cray's Folly was early. I therefore had some time
+upon my hands and I determined to employ it in exploring part of the
+neighbourhood. Accordingly I filled and lighted my pipe and strolled
+leisurely along the footpath, enjoying the beauty of the afternoon, and
+admiring the magnificent timber which grew upon the southerly slopes of
+the valley.
+
+Larks sang high above me and the air was fragrant with those wonderful
+earthy scents which belong to an English countryside. A herd of very
+fine Jersey cattle presently claimed inspection, and a little farther on
+I found myself upon a high road where a brown-faced fellow seated aloft
+upon a hay-cart cheerily gave me good-day as I passed.
+
+Quite at random I turned to the left and followed the road, so that
+presently I found myself in a very small village, the principal building
+of which was a very small inn called the "Lavender Arms."
+
+Colonel Menendez's curacao, combined with the heat of the day, had made
+me thirsty; for which reason I stepped into the bar-parlour determined
+to sample the local ale. I wars served by the landlady, a neat, round,
+red little person, and as she retired, having placed a foam-capped mug
+upon the counter, her glance rested for a moment upon the only other
+occupant of the room, a man seated in an armchair immediately to the
+right of the door. A glass of whisky stood on the window ledge at his
+elbow, and that it was by no means the first which he had imbibed, his
+appearance seemed to indicate.
+
+Having tasted the cool contents of my mug, I leaned back against the
+counter and looked at this person curiously.
+
+He was apparently of about medium height, but of a somewhat fragile
+appearance. He was dressed like a country gentleman, and a stick and
+soft hat lay upon the ledge near his glass. But the thing about him
+which had immediately arrested my attention was his really extraordinary
+resemblance to Paul Harley's engraving of Edgar Allan Poe.
+
+I wondered at first if Harley's frequent references to the eccentric
+American genius, to whom he accorded a sort of hero-worship, were
+responsible for my imagining a close resemblance where only a slight one
+existed. But inspection of that strange, dark face convinced me of
+the fact that my first impression had been a true one. Perhaps, in my
+curiosity, I stared rather rudely.
+
+"You will pardon me, sir," said the stranger, and I was startled to
+note that he spoke with a faint American accent, "but are you a literary
+man?"
+
+As I had judged to be the case, he was slightly bemused, but by no
+means drunk, and although his question was abrupt it was spoken civilly
+enough.
+
+"Journalism is one of the several occupations in which I have failed," I
+replied, lightly.
+
+"You are not a fiction writer?"
+
+"I lack the imagination necessary for that craft, sir."
+
+The other wagged his head slowly and took a drink of whisky.
+"Nevertheless," he said, and raised his finger solemnly, "you were
+thinking that I resembled Edgar Allan Poe!"
+
+"Good heavens!" I exclaimed, for the man had really amazed me. "You
+clearly resemble him in more ways than one. I must really ask you to
+inform me how you deduced such a fact from a mere glance of mine."
+
+"I will tell you, sir," he replied. "But, first, I must replenish my
+glass, and I should be honoured if you would permit me to replenish
+yours."
+
+"Thanks very much," I said, "but I would rather you excused me."
+
+"As you wish, sir," replied the American with grave courtesy, "as you
+wish."
+
+He stepped up to the counter and rapped upon it with half a crown, until
+the landlady appeared. She treated me to a pathetic glance, but refilled
+the empty glass.
+
+My American acquaintance having returned to his seat and having added a
+very little water to the whisky went on:
+
+"Now, sir," said he, "my name is Colin Camber, formerly of Richmond,
+Virginia, United States of America, but now of the Guest House, Surrey,
+England, at your service."
+
+Taking my cue from Mr. Camber's gloomy but lofty manner, I bowed
+formally and mentioned my name.
+
+"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Knox," he assured me;
+"and now, sir, to answer your question. When you came in a few moments
+ago you glanced at me. Your eyes did not open widely as is the case
+when one recognizes, or thinks one recognizes, an acquaintance, they
+narrowed. This indicated retrospection. For a moment they turned aside.
+You were focussing a fugitive idea, a memory. You captured it. You
+looked at me again, and your successive glances read as follows: The
+hair worn uncommonly long, the mathematical brow, the eyes of a poet,
+the slight moustache, small mouth, weak chin; the glass at his elbow.
+The resemblance is complete. Knowing how complete it is myself, sir, I
+ventured to test my theory, and it proved to be sound."
+
+Now, as Mr. Colin Camber had thus spoken in the serious manner of a
+slightly drunken man, I had formed the opinion that I stood in the
+presence of a very singular character. Here was that seeming mesalliance
+which not infrequently begets genius: a powerful and original mind
+allied to a weak will. I wondered what Mr. Colin Camber's occupation
+might be, and somewhat, too, I wondered why his name was unfamiliar to
+me. For that the possessor of that brow and those eyes could fail to
+make his mark in any profession which he might take up I was unwilling
+to believe.
+
+"Your exposition has been very interesting, Mr. Camber," I said. "You
+are a singularly close observer, I perceive."
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I have passed my life in observing the ways of my
+fellowmen, a study which I have pursued in various parts of the world
+without appreciable benefit to myself. I refer to financial benefit."
+
+He contemplated me with a look which had grown suddenly pathetic.
+
+"I would not have you think, sir," he added, "that I am an habitual
+toper. I have latterly been much upset by--domestic worries, and--er--"
+He emptied his glass at a draught. "Surely, Mr. Knox, you are going
+to replenish? Whilst you are doing so, would you kindly request Mrs.
+Wootton to extend the same favour to myself?"
+
+But at that moment Mrs. Wootton in person appeared behind the counter.
+"Time, please, gentlemen," she said; "it is gone half-past two."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Mr. Camber, rising. "What is that? You decline to
+serve me, Mrs. Wootton?"
+
+"Why, not at all, Mr. Camber," answered the landlady, "but I can serve
+no one now; it's after time."
+
+"You decline to serve me," he muttered, his speech becoming slurred. "Am
+I, then, to be insulted?"
+
+I caught a glance of entreaty from the landlady. "My dear sir," I said,
+genially, "we must bow to the law, I suppose. At least we are better off
+here than in America."
+
+"Ah, that is true," agreed Mr. Camber, throwing his head back and
+speaking the words as though they possessed some deep dramatic
+significance. "Yes, but such laws are an insult to every intelligent
+man."
+
+He sat down again rather heavily, and I stood looking from him to the
+landlady, and wondering what I should do. The matter was decided for
+me, however, in a way which I could never have foreseen. For, hearing
+a light footfall upon the step which led up to the bar-parlour, I
+turned--and there almost beside me stood a wrinkled little Chinaman!
+
+ He wore a blue suit and a tweed cap, he wore queer, thick-soled
+slippers, and his face was like a smiling mask hewn out of very old
+ivory. I could scarcely credit the evidence of my senses, since the
+Lavender Arms was one of the last places in which I should have looked
+for a native of China.
+
+Mr. Colin Camber rose again, and fixing his melancholy eyes upon the
+newcomer:
+
+"Ah Tsong," he said in a tone of cold anger, "what are you doing here?"
+
+Quite unmoved the Chinaman replied:
+
+"Blingee you chit, sir, vellee soon go back."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Mr. Camber. "Answer me, Ah Tsong: who sent
+you?"
+
+"Lilly missee," crooned the Chinaman, smiling up into the other's face
+with a sort of childish entreaty. "Lilly missee."
+
+"Oh," said Mr. Camber in a changed voice. "Oh."
+
+He stood very upright for a moment, his gaze set upon the wrinkled
+Chinese face. Then he looked at Mrs. Wootton and bowed, and looked at me
+and bowed, very stiffly.
+
+"I must excuse myself, sir," he announced. "My wife desires my presence
+at home."
+
+I returned his bow, and as he walked quite steadily toward the door,
+followed by Ah Tsong, he paused, turned, and said: "Mr. Knox, I should
+esteem it a friendly action if you would spare me an hour of your
+company before you leave Surrey. My visitors are few. Any one, any one,
+will direct you to the Guest House. I am persuaded that we have much in
+common. Good-day, sir."
+
+He went down the steps, disappearing in company with the Chinaman,
+and having watched them go, I turned to Mrs. Wootton, the landlady, in
+silent astonishment.
+
+She nodded her head and sighed.
+
+"The same every day and every evening for months past," she said. "I am
+afraid it's going to be the death of him."
+
+"Do you mean that Mr. Camber comes here every day and is always fetched
+by the Chinaman?"
+
+"Twice every day," corrected the landlady, "and his poor wife sends here
+regularly."
+
+"What a tragedy," I muttered, "and such a brilliant man."
+
+"Ah," said she, busily removing jugs and glasses from the counter, "it
+does seem a terrible thing."
+
+"Has Mr. Camber lived for long in this neighbourhood?" I ventured to
+inquire.
+
+"It was about three years ago, sir, that he took the old Guest House at
+Mid-Hatton. I remember the time well enough because of all the trouble
+there was about him bringing a Chinaman down here."
+
+"I can imagine it must have created something of a sensation," I
+murmured. "Is the Guest House a large property?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir, only ten rooms and a garden, and it had been vacant for a
+long time. It belongs to what is called the Crayland Park Estate."
+
+"Mr. Camber, I take it, is a literary man?"
+
+"So I believe, sir."
+
+Mrs. Wootton, having cleared the counter, glanced up at the clock and
+then at me with a cheery but significant smile.
+
+"I see that it is after time," I said, returning the smile, "but the
+queer people who seem to live hereabouts interest me very much."
+
+"I can't wonder at that, sir!" said the landlady, laughing outright.
+"Chinamen and Spanish men and what-not. If some of the old gentry that
+lived here before the war could see it, they wouldn't recognize the
+place, of that I am sure."
+
+"Ah, well," said I, pausing at the step, "I shall hope to see more of
+Mr. Camber, and of yourself too, madam, for your ale is excellent."
+
+"Thank you, sir, I'm sure," said the landlady much gratified, "but as
+to Mr. Camber, I really doubt if he would know you if you met him again.
+Not if he was sober, I mean."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Oh, it's a fact, believe me. Just in the last six months or so he has
+started on the rampage like, but some of the people he has met in here
+and asked to call upon him have done it, thinking he meant it."
+
+"And they have not been well received?" said I, lingering.
+
+"They have had the door shut in their faces!" declared Mrs. Wootton with
+a certain indignation. "He either does not remember what he says or does
+when he is in drink, or he pretends he doesn't. Oh, dear, it's a funny
+world. Well, good-day, sir."
+
+"Good-day," said I, and came out of the Lavender Arms full of sympathy
+with the views of the "old gentry," as outlined by Mrs. Wootton; for
+certainly it would seem that this quiet spot in the Surrey Hills had
+become a rallying ground for peculiar people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CALL OF M'KOMBO
+
+
+
+Of tea upon the veranda of Cray's Folly that afternoon I retain several
+notable memories. I got into closer touch with my host and hostess,
+without achieving anything like a proper understanding of either of
+them, and I procured a new viewpoint of Miss Val Beverley. Her repose
+was misleading. She deliberately subjugated her own vital personality to
+that of Madame de Staemer, why, I knew not, unless she felt herself under
+an obligation to do so. That her blue-gray eyes could be wistful was
+true enough, they could also be gay; and once I detected in them a
+look of sadness which dispelled the butterfly illusion belonging to her
+dainty slenderness, to her mobile lips, to the vagabond curling hair of
+russet brown.
+
+Paul Harley's manner remained absent, but I who knew his moods so well
+recognized that this abstraction was no longer real. It was a pose
+which he often adopted when in reality he was keenly interested in
+his surroundings. It baffled me, however, as effectively as it baffled
+others, and whilst at one moment I decided that he was studying Colonel
+Menendez, in the next I became convinced that Madame de Staemer was the
+subject upon his mental dissecting table.
+
+That he should find in Madame a fascinating problem did not surprise me.
+She must have afforded tempting study for any psychologist. I could
+not fathom the nature of the kinship existing between herself and the
+Spanish colonel, for Madame de Staemer was French to her fingertips.
+Her expressions, her gestures, her whole outlook on life proclaimed the
+fashionable Parisienne.
+
+She possessed a vigorous masculine intelligence and was the most
+entertaining companion imaginable. She was daringly outspoken, and it
+was hard to believe that her gaiety was forced. Yet, as the afternoon
+wore on, I became more and more convinced that such was the case.
+
+I thought that before affliction visited her Madame de Staemer must have
+been a vivacious and a beautiful woman. Her vivacity remained and much
+of her beauty, so that it was difficult to believe her snow-white hair
+to be a product of nature. Again and again I found myself regarding it
+as a powdered coiffure of the Pompadour period and wondering why Madame
+wore no patches.
+
+That a deep and sympathetic understanding existed between herself and
+Colonel Menendez was unmistakable. More than once I intercepted glances
+from the dark eyes of Madame which were lover-like, yet laden with a
+profound sorrow. She was playing a role, and I was convinced that Harley
+knew this. It was not merely a courageous fight against affliction on
+the part of a woman of the world, versed in masking her real self from
+the prying eyes of society, it was a studied performance prompted by
+some deeper motive.
+
+She dressed with exquisite taste, and to see her seated there amid her
+cushions, gesticulating vivaciously, one would never have supposed that
+she was crippled. My admiration for her momentarily increased, the more
+so since I could see that she was sincerely fond of Val Beverley, whose
+every movement she followed with looks of almost motherly affection.
+This was all the more strange as Madame de Staemer whose age, I supposed,
+lay somewhere on the sunny side of forty, was of a type which expects,
+and wins, admiration, long after the average woman has ceased to be
+attractive.
+
+One endowed with such a temperament is as a rule unreasonably jealous
+of youth and good looks in another. I could not determine if Madame's
+attitude were to be ascribed to complacent self-satisfaction or to a
+nobler motive. It sufficed for me that she took an unfeigned joy in the
+youthful sweetness of her companion.
+
+"Val, dear," she said, presently, addressing the girl, "you should make
+those sleeves shorter, my dear."
+
+She had a rapid way of speaking, and possessed a slightly husky but
+fascinatingly vibrant voice.
+
+"Your arms are very pretty. You should not hide them."
+
+Val Beverley blushed, and laughed to conceal her embarrassment.
+
+"Oh, my dear," exclaimed Madame, "why be ashamed of arms? All women have
+arms, but some do well to hide them."
+
+"Quite right, Marie," agreed the Colonel, his thin voice affording an
+odd contrast to the deeper tones of his cousin. "But it is the scraggy
+ones who seem to delight in displaying their angles."
+
+"The English, yes," Madame admitted, "but the French, no. They are too
+clever, Juan."
+
+"Frenchwomen think too much about their looks," said Val Beverley,
+quietly. "Oh, you know they do, Madame. They would rather die than be
+without admiration."
+
+Madame shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"So would I, my dear," she confessed, "although I cannot walk. Without
+admiration there is"--she snapped her fingers--"nothing. And who would
+notice a linnet when a bird of paradise was about, however sweet her
+voice? Tell me that, my dear?"
+
+Paul Harley aroused himself and laughed heartily.
+
+"Yet," he said, "I think with Miss Beverley, that this love of elegance
+does not always make for happiness. Surely it is the cause of half the
+domestic tragedies in France?"
+
+"Ah, the French love elegance," cried Madame, shrugging, "they cannot
+help it. To secure what is elegant a Frenchwoman will sometimes forget
+her husband, yes, but never forget herself."
+
+"Really, Marie," protested the Colonel, "you say most strange things!"
+
+"Is that so, Juan?" she replied, casting one of her queer glances in his
+direction; "but how would you like to be surrounded by a lot of drabs,
+eh? That man, Mr. Knox," she extended one white hand in the direction of
+Colonel Menendez, the fingers half closed, in a gesture which curiously
+reminded me of Sarah Bernhardt, "that man would notice if a parlourmaid
+came into the room with a shoe unbuttoned. Poof! if we love elegance it
+is because without it the men would never love _us_."
+
+Colonel Menendez bent across the table and kissed the white fingers in
+his courtier-like fashion.
+
+"My sweet cousin," he said, "I should love you in rags."
+
+Madame smiled and flushed like a girl, but withdrawing her hand she
+shrugged.
+
+"They would have to be _pretty_ rags!" she added.
+
+During this little scene I detected Val Beverley looking at me in a
+vaguely troubled way, and it was easy to guess that she was wondering
+what construction I should place upon it. However:
+
+"I am going into the town," declared Madame de Staemer, energetically.
+"Half the things ordered from Hartley's have never been sent."
+
+"Oh, Madame, please let _me_ go," cried Val Beverley.
+
+"My dear," pronounced Madame, "I will not let you go, but I will let you
+come with me if you wish."
+
+She rang a little bell which stood upon the tea-table beside the urn,
+and Pedro came out through the drawing room.
+
+"Pedro," she said, "is the car ready?"
+
+The Spanish butler bowed.
+
+"Tell Carter to bring it round. Hurry, dear," to the girl, "if you are
+coming with me. I shall not be a minute."
+
+Thereupon she whisked her mechanical chair about, waved her hand to
+dismiss Pedro, and went steering through the drawing room at a great
+rate, with Val Beverley walking beside her.
+
+As we resumed our seats Colonel Menendez lay back with half-closed
+eyes, his glance following the chair and its occupant until both were
+swallowed up in the shadows of the big drawing room.
+
+"Madame de Staemer is a very remarkable woman," said Paul Harley.
+
+"Remarkable?" replied the Colonel. "The spirit of all the old chivalry
+of France is imprisoned within her, I think."
+
+He passed cigarettes around, of a long kind resembling cheroots
+and wrapped in tobacco leaf. I thought it strange that having thus
+emphasized Madame's nationality he did not feel it incumbent upon him to
+explain the mystery of their kinship. However, he made no attempt to do
+so, and almost before we had lighted up, a racy little two-seater was
+driven around the gravel path by Carter, the chauffeur who had brought
+us to Cray's Folly from London.
+
+The man descended and began to arrange wraps and cushions, and a few
+moments later back came Madame again, dressed for driving. Carter
+was about to lift her into the car when Colonel Menendez stood up and
+advanced.
+
+"Sit down, Juan, sit down!" said Madame, sharply.
+
+A look of keen anxiety, I had almost said of pain, leapt into her eyes,
+and the Colonel hesitated.
+
+"How often must I tell you," continued the throbbing voice, "that you
+must not exert yourself."
+
+Colonel Menendez accepted the rebuke humbly, but the incident struck
+me as grotesque; for it was difficult to associate delicacy with such a
+fine specimen of well-preserved manhood as the Colonel.
+
+However, Carter performed the duty of assisting Madame into her little
+car, and when for a moment he supported her upright, before placing
+her among the cushions, I noted that she was a tall woman, slender and
+elegant.
+
+All smiles and light, sparkling conversation, she settled herself
+comfortably at the wheel and Val Beverley got in beside her. Madame
+nodded to Carter in dismissal, waved her hand to Colonel Menendez, cried
+"Au revoir!" and then away went the little car, swinging around the
+angle of the house and out of sight.
+
+Our host stood bare-headed upon the veranda listening to the sound
+of the engine dying away among the trees. He seemed to be lost in
+reflection from which he only aroused himself when the purr of the motor
+became inaudible.
+
+"And now, gentlemen," he said, and suppressed a sigh, "we have much to
+talk about. This spot is cool, but is it sufficiently private? Perhaps,
+Mr. Harley, you would prefer to talk in the library?"
+
+Paul Harley flicked ash from the end of his cigarette.
+
+"Better still in your own study, Colonel Menendez," he replied.
+
+"What, do you suspect eavesdroppers?" asked the Colonel, his manner
+becoming momentarily agitated.
+
+He looked at Harley as though he suspected the latter of possessing
+private information.
+
+"We should neglect no possible precaution," answered my friend. "That
+agencies inimical to your safety are focussed upon the house your own
+statement amply demonstrates."
+
+Colonel Menendez seemed to be on the point of speaking again, but he
+checked himself and in silence led the way through the ornate library
+to a smaller room which opened out of it, and which was furnished as a
+study.
+
+Here the motif was distinctly one of officialdom. Although the Southern
+element was not lacking, it was not so marked as in the library or in
+the hall. The place was appointed for utility rather than ornament.
+Everything was in perfect order. In the library, with the blinds drawn,
+one might have supposed oneself in Trinidad; in the study, under similar
+conditions, one might equally well have imagined Downing Street to lie
+outside the windows. Essentially, this was the workroom of a man of
+affairs.
+
+Having settled ourselves comfortably, Paul Harley opened the
+conversation.
+
+"In several particulars," said he, "I find my information to be
+incomplete."
+
+He consulted the back of an envelope, upon which, I presumed during the
+afternoon, he had made a number of pencilled notes.
+
+"For instance," he continued, "your detection of someone watching the
+house, and subsequently of someone forcing an entrance, had no visible
+association with the presence of the bat wing attached to your front
+door?"
+
+"No," replied the Colonel, slowly, "these episodes took place a month
+ago."
+
+"Exactly a month ago?"
+
+"They took place immediately before the last full moon."
+
+"Ah, before the full moon. And because you associate the activities of
+Voodoo with the full moon, you believe that the old menace has again
+become active?"
+
+The Colonel nodded emphatically. He was busily engaged in rolling one of
+his eternal cigarettes.
+
+"This belief of yours was recently confirmed by the discovery of the bat
+wing?"
+
+"I no longer doubted," said Colonel Menendez, shrugging his shoulders.
+"How could I?"
+
+"Quite so," murmured Harley, absently, and evidently pursuing some
+private train of thought. "And now, I take it that your suspicions, if
+expressed in words would amount to this: During your last visit to Cuba
+you (_a_) either killed some high priest of Voodoo, or (_b_) seriously
+injured him? Assuming the first theory to be the correct one, your death
+was determined upon by the sect over which he had formerly presided.
+Assuming the second to be accurate, however, it is presumably the man
+himself for whom we must look. Now, Colonel Menendez, kindly inform me
+if you recall the name of this man?"
+
+"I recall it very well," replied the Colonel. "His name was M'kombo, and
+he was a Benin negro."
+
+"Assuming that he is still alive, what, roughly, would his age be
+to-day?"
+
+The Colonel seemed to meditate, pushing a box of long Martinique cigars
+across the table in my direction.
+
+"He would be an old man," he pronounced. "I, myself, am fifty-two, and I
+should say that M'kombo if alive to-day would be nearer to seventy than
+sixty."
+
+"Ah," murmured Harley, "and did he speak English?"
+
+"A few words, I believe."
+
+Paul Harley fixed his gaze upon the dark, aquiline face.
+
+"In short," he said, "do you really suspect that it was M'kombo whose
+shadow you saw upon the lawn, who a month ago made a midnight entrance
+into Cray's Folly, and who recently pinned a bat wing to the door?"
+
+Colonel Menendez seemed somewhat taken aback by this direct question. "I
+cannot believe it," he confessed.
+
+"Do you believe that this order or religion of Voodooism has any
+existence outside those places where African negroes or descendents of
+negroes are settled?"
+
+"I should not have been prepared to believe it, Mr. Harley, prior to my
+experiences in Washington and elsewhere."
+
+"Then you do believe that there are representatives of this cult to be
+met with in Europe and America?"
+
+"I should have been prepared to believe it possible in America, for in
+America there are many negroes, but in England----"
+
+Again he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I would remind you," said Harley, quietly, "that there are also quite a
+number of negroes in England. If you seriously believe Voodoo to follow
+negro migration, I can see no objection to assuming it to be a universal
+cult."
+
+"Such an idea is incredible."
+
+"Yet by what other hypothesis," asked Harley, "are we to cover the facts
+of your own case as stated by yourself? Now," he consulted his pencilled
+notes, "there is another point. I gather that these African sorcerers
+rely largely upon what I may term intimidation. In other words, they
+claim the power of wishing an enemy to death."
+
+He raised his eyes and stared grimly at the Colonel.
+
+"I should not like to suppose that a man of your courage and culture
+could subscribe to such a belief."
+
+"I do not, sir," declared the Colonel, warmly. "No Obeah man could ever
+exercise his will upon _me!_"
+
+"Yet, if I may say so," murmured Harley, "your will to live seems to
+have become somewhat weakened."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+Colonel Menendez stood up, his delicate nostrils dilated. He glared
+angrily at Harley.
+
+"I mean that I perceive a certain resignation in your manner of which I
+do not approve."
+
+"You do not _approve?_" said Colonel Menendez, softly; and I thought
+as he stood looking down upon my friend that I had rarely seen a more
+formidable figure.
+
+Paul Harley had roused him unaccountably, and knowing my friend for a
+master of tact I knew also that this had been deliberate, although I
+could not even dimly perceive his object.
+
+"I occupy the position of a specialist," Harley continued, "and you
+occupy that of my patient. Now, you cannot disguise from me that your
+mental opposition to this danger which threatens has become slackened.
+Allow me to remind you that the strongest defence is counter-attack.
+You are angry, Colonel Menendez, but I would rather see you angry than
+apathetic. To come to my last point. You spoke of a neighbour in terms
+which led me to suppose that you suspected him of some association with
+your enemies. May I ask for the name of this person?"
+
+Colonel Menendez sat down again, puffing furiously at his cigarette,
+whilst beginning to roll another. He was much disturbed, was fighting to
+regain mastery of himself.
+
+"I apologize from the bottom of my heart," he said, "for a breach of
+good behaviour which really was unforgivable. I was angry when I should
+have been grateful. Much that you have said is true. Because it is true,
+I despise myself."
+
+He flashed a glance at Paul Harley.
+
+"Awake," he continued, "I care for no man breathing, black or white; but
+_asleep_"--he shrugged his shoulders. "It is in sleep that these dealers
+in unclean things obtain their advantage."
+
+"You excite my curiosity," declared Harley.
+
+"Listen," Colonel Menendez bent forward, resting his elbows upon his
+knees. Between the yellow fingers of his left hand he held the newly
+completed cigarette whilst he continued to puff vigorously at the old
+one. "You recollect my speaking of the death of a certain native girl?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"The real cause of her death was never known, but I obtained evidence to
+show that on the night after the wing of a bat had been attached to her
+hut, she wandered out in her sleep and visited the Black Belt. Can you
+doubt that someone was calling her?"
+
+"Calling her?"
+
+"Mr. Harley, she was obeying the call of M'kombo!"
+
+"The _call_ of M'kombo? You refer to some kind of hypnotic suggestions?"
+
+"I illustrate," replied the Colonel, "to help to make clear something
+which I have to tell you. On the night when last the moon was full--on
+the night after someone had entered the house--I had retired early to
+bed. Suddenly I awoke, feeling very cold. I awoke, I say, and where do
+you suppose I found myself?"
+
+"I am all anxiety to hear."
+
+"On the point of entering the Tudor garden--you call it Tudor
+garden?--which is visible from the window of your room!"
+
+"Most extraordinary," murmured Harley; "and you were in your night
+attire?"
+
+"I was."
+
+"And what had awakened you?"
+
+"An accident. I believe a lucky accident. I had cut my bare foot upon
+the gravel and the pain awakened me."
+
+"You had no recollection of any dream which had prompted you to go down
+into the garden?"
+
+"None whatever."
+
+"Does your room face in that direction?"
+
+"It does not. It faces the lake on the south of the house. I had
+descended to a side door, unbarred it, and walked entirely around the
+east wing before I awakened."
+
+"Your room faces the lake," murmured Harley.
+
+"Yes."
+
+Their glances met, and in Paul Harley's expression there seemed to be a
+challenge.
+
+"You have not yet told me," said he, "the name of your neighbour."
+
+Colonel Menendez lighted his new cigarette.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he confessed, "I regret that I ever referred to this
+suspicion of mine. Indeed it is hardly a suspicion, it is what I may
+call a desperate doubt. Do you say that, a desperate doubt?"
+
+"I think I follow you," said Harley.
+
+"The fact is this, I only know of one person within ten miles of Cray's
+Folly who has ever visited Cuba."
+
+"Ah."
+
+"I have no other scrap of evidence to associate him I with my shadowy
+enemy. This being so, you will pardon me if I ask you to forget that I
+ever referred to his existence."
+
+He spoke the words with a sort of lofty finality, and accompanied them
+with a gesture of the hands which really left Harley no alternative but
+to drop the subject.
+
+Again their glances met, and it was patent to me that underlying all
+this conversation was something beyond my ken. What it was that Harley
+suspected I could not imagine, nor what it was that Colonel Menendez
+desired to conceal; but tension was in the very air. The Spaniard was on
+the defensive, and Paul Harley was puzzled, irritated.
+
+It was a strange interview, and one which in the light of after events
+I recognized to possess extraordinary significance. That sixth sense of
+Harley's was awake, was prompting him, but to what extent he understood
+its promptings at that hour I did not know, and have never known to
+this day. Intuitively, I believe, as he sat there staring at Colonel
+Menendez, he began to perceive the shadow within a shadow which was the
+secret of Cray's Folly, which was the thing called Bat Wing, which was
+the devilish force at that very hour alive and potent in our midst.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+OBEAH
+
+
+
+This conversation in Colonel Menendez's study produced a very unpleasant
+impression upon my mind. The atmosphere of Cray's Folly seemed to become
+charged with unrest. Of Madame de Staemer and Miss Beverley I saw nothing
+up to the time that I retired to dress. Having dressed I walked into
+Harley's room, anxious to learn if he had formed any theory to account
+for the singular business which had brought us to Surrey.
+
+Harley had excused himself directly we had left the study, stating that
+he wished to get to the village post-office in time to send a telegram
+to London. Our host had suggested a messenger, but this, as well as the
+offer of a car, Harley had declined, saying that the exercise would aid
+reflection. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find his room empty, for I
+could not imagine why the sending of a telegram should have detained him
+so long.
+
+Dusk was falling, and viewed from the open window the Tudor garden below
+looked very beautiful, part of it lying in a sort of purplish shadow
+and the rest being mystically lighted as though viewed through a golden
+veil. To the whole picture a sort of magic quality was added by a speck
+of high-light which rested upon the face of the old sun-dial.
+
+I thought that here was a fit illustration for a fairy tale; then I
+remembered the Colonel's account of how he had awakened in the act
+of entering this romantic plaisance, and I was touched anew by an
+unrestfulness, by a sense of the uncanny.
+
+I observed a book lying upon the dressing table, and concluding that it
+was one which Harley had brought with him, I took it up, glancing at the
+title. It was "Negro Magic," and switching on the light, for there was a
+private electric plant in Cray's Folly, I opened the book at random and
+began to read.
+
+"The religion of the negro," said this authority, "is emotional, and
+more often than not associated with beliefs in witchcraft and in the
+rites known as Voodoo or Obi Mysteries. It has been endeavoured by
+some students to show that these are relics of the Fetish worship of
+equatorial Africa, but such a genealogy has never been satisfactorily
+demonstrated. The cannibalistic rituals, human sacrifices, and obscene
+ceremonies resembling those of the Black Sabbath of the Middle Ages,
+reported to prevail in Haiti and other of the islands, and by some among
+the negroes of the Southern States of America, may be said to rest on
+doubtful authority. Nevertheless, it is a fact beyond doubt that among
+the negroes both of the West Indies and the United States there is a
+widespread belief in the powers of the Obeah man. A native who believes
+himself to have come under the spell of such a sorcerer will sink into a
+kind of decline and sometimes die."
+
+At this point I discovered several paragraphs underlined in pencil, and
+concluding that the underlining had been done by Paul Harley, I read
+them with particular care. They were as follows: "According to Hesketh
+J. Bell, the term Obeah is most probably derived from the substantive
+Obi, a word used on the East coast of Africa to denote witchcraft,
+sorcery, and fetishism in general. The etymology of Obi has been traced
+to a very antique source, stretching far back into Egyptian mythology.
+A serpent in the Egyptian language was called Ob or Aub. Obion is still
+the Egyptian name for a serpent. Moses, in the name of God, forbade the
+Israelites ever to enquire of the demon, Ob, which is translated in our
+Bible: Charmer or wizard, divinator or sorcerer. The Witch of Endor is
+called Oub or Ob, translated Pythonissa; and Oubois was the name of the
+basilisk or royal serpent, emblem of the Sun and an ancient oracular
+deity of Africa."
+
+A paragraph followed which was doubly underlined, and pursuing my
+reading I made a discovery which literally caused me to hold my breath.
+This is what I read:
+
+"In a recent contribution to the _Occult Review_, Mr. Colin Camber, the
+American authority, offered some very curious particulars in support
+of a theory to show that whereas snakes and scorpions have always been
+recognized as sacred by Voodoo worshippers, the real emblem of their
+unclean religion is the bat, especially _the Vampire Bat of South
+America._
+
+"He pointed out that the symptoms of one dying beneath the spell of an
+Obeah man are closely paralleled in the cases of men and animals who
+have suffered from nocturnal attacks of blood-sucking bats."
+
+I laid the open book down upon the bed. My brain was in a tumult.
+The several theories, or outlines of theories which hitherto I had
+entertained, were, by these simple paragraphs, cast into the utmost
+disorder. I thought of the Colonel's covert references to a neighbour
+whom he feared, of his guarded statement that the devotees of Voodoo
+were not confined to the West Indies, of the attack upon him in
+Washington, of the bat wing pinned to the door of Cray's Folly.
+
+Incredulously, I thought of my acquaintance of the Lavender Arms, with
+his bemused expression and his magnificent brow; and a great doubt and
+wonder grew up in my mind.
+
+I became increasingly impatient for the return of Paul Harley. I felt
+that a clue of the first importance had fallen into my possession; so
+that when, presently, as I walked impatiently up and down the room, the
+door opened and Harley entered, I greeted him excitedly.
+
+"Harley!" I cried, "Harley! I have learned a most extraordinary thing!"
+
+Even as I spoke and looked into the keen, eager face, the expression
+in Harley's eyes struck me. I recognized that in him, too, intense
+excitement was pent up. Furthermore, he was in one of his irritable
+moods. But, full of my own discoveries:
+
+"I chanced to glance at this book," I continued, "whilst I was waiting
+for you. You have underlined certain passages."
+
+He stared at me queerly.
+
+"I discovered the book in my own library after you had gone last night,
+Knox, and it was then that I marked the passages which struck me as
+significant."
+
+"But, Harley," I cried, "the man who is quoted here, Colin Camber, lives
+in this very neighbourhood!"
+
+"I know."
+
+"What! You know?"
+
+"I learned it from Inspector Aylesbury of the County Police half an hour
+ago."
+
+Harley frowned perplexedly. "Then, why, in Heaven's name didn't you tell
+me?" he exclaimed. "It would have saved me a most disagreeable journey
+into Market Hilton."
+
+"Market Hilton! What, have you been into the town?"
+
+"That is exactly where I have been, Knox. I 'phoned through to Innes
+from the village post-office after lunch to have the car sent down.
+There is a convenient garage by the Lavender Arms."
+
+"But the Colonel has three cars," I exclaimed.
+
+"The horse has four legs," replied Harley, irritably, "but although I
+have only two, there are times when I prefer to use them. I am still
+wondering why you failed to mention this piece of information when you
+had obtained it."
+
+"My dear Harley," said I, patiently, "how could I possibly be expected
+to attach any importance to the matter? You must remember that at the
+time I had never seen this work on negro sorcery."
+
+"No," said Harley, dropping down upon the bed, "that is perfectly true,
+Knox. I am afraid I have a liver at times; a distinct Indian liver.
+Excuse me, old man, but to tell you the truth I feel strangely inclined
+to pack my bag and leave for London without a moment's delay."
+
+"What!" I cried.
+
+"Oh, I know you would be sorry to go, Knox," said Harley, smiling,
+"and so, for many reasons, should I. But I have the strongest possible
+objection to being trifled with."
+
+"I am afraid I don't quite understand you, Harley."
+
+"Well, just consider the matter for a moment. Do you suppose that
+Colonel Menendez is ignorant of the fact that his nearest neighbour is a
+recognized authority upon Voodoo and allied subjects?"
+
+"You are speaking, of course, of Colin Camber?"
+
+"Of none other."
+
+"No," I replied, thoughtfully, "the Colonel must know, of course, that
+Camber resides in the neighbourhood."
+
+"And that he knows something of the nature of Camber's studies his
+remarks sufficiently indicate," added Harley. "The whole theory to
+account for these attacks upon his life rests on the premise that agents
+of these Obeah people are established in England and America. Then, in
+spite of my direct questions, he leaves me to find out for myself that
+Colin Camber's property practically adjoins his own!"
+
+"Really! Does he reside so near as that?"
+
+"My dear fellow," cried Harley, "he lives at a place called the Guest
+House. You can see it from part of the grounds of Cray's Folly. We were
+looking at it to-day."
+
+"What! the house on the hillside?"
+
+"That's the Guest House! What do you make of it, Knox? That Menendez
+suspects this man is beyond doubt. Why should he hesitate to mention his
+name?"
+
+"Well," I replied, slowly, "probably because to associate practical
+sorcery and assassination with such a character would be preposterous."
+
+"But the man is admittedly a student of these things, Knox."
+
+"He may be, and that he is a genius of some kind I am quite prepared to
+believe. But having had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Colin Camber, I am
+not prepared to believe him capable of murder."
+
+I suppose I spoke with a certain air of triumph, for Paul Harley
+regarded me silently for a while.
+
+"You seem to be taking this case out of my hands, Knox," he said.
+"Whilst I have been systematically at work racing about the county in
+quest of information you would appear to have blundered further into the
+labyrinth than all my industry has enabled me to do."
+
+He remained in a very evil humour, and now the cause of this suddenly
+came to light.
+
+"I have spent a thoroughly unpleasant afternoon," he continued,
+"interviewing an impossible country policeman who had never heard of my
+existence!"
+
+This display of human resentment honestly delighted me. It was
+refreshing to know that the omniscient Paul Harley was capable of pique.
+
+"One, Inspector Aylesbury," he went on, bitterly, "a large person
+bearing a really interesting resemblance to a walrus, but lacking that
+creature's intelligence. It was not until Superintendent East had spoken
+to him from Scotland Yard that he ceased to treat me as a suspect. But
+his new attitude was almost more provoking than the old one. He adopted
+the manner of a regimental sergeant-major reluctantly interviewing
+a private with a grievance. If matters should so develop that we are
+compelled to deal with that fish-faced idiot, God help us all!"
+
+He burst out laughing, his good humour suddenly quite restored, and
+taking out his pipe began industriously to load it.
+
+"I can smoke while I am changing," he said, "and you can sit there and
+tell me all about Colin Camber."
+
+I did as he requested, and Harley, who could change quicker than any
+man I had ever known, had just finished tying his bow as I completed my
+story of the encounter at the Lavender Arms.
+
+"Hm," he muttered, as I ceased speaking. "At every turn I realize that
+without you I should have been lost, Knox. I am afraid I shall have to
+change your duties to-morrow."
+
+"Change my duties? What do you mean?"
+
+"I warn you that the new ones will be less pleasant than the old! In
+other words, I must ask you to tear yourself away from Miss Val
+Beverley for an hour in the morning, and take advantage of Mr. Camber's
+invitation to call upon him."
+
+"Frankly, I doubt if he would acknowledge me."
+
+"Nevertheless, you have a better excuse than I. In the circumstances it
+is most important that we should get in touch with this man."
+
+"Very well," I said, ruefully. "I will do my best. But you don't
+seriously think, Harley, that the danger comes from there?"
+
+Paul Harley took his dinner jacket from the chair upon which the man had
+laid it out, and turned to me.
+
+"My dear Knox," he said, "you may remember that I spoke, recently, of
+retiring from this profession?"
+
+"You did."
+
+"My retirement will not be voluntary, Knox. I shall be kicked out as
+an incompetent ass; for, respecting the connection, if any, between the
+narrative of Colonel Menendez, the bat wing nailed to the door of the
+house, and Mr. Colin Camber, I have not the foggiest notion. In this, at
+last, I have triumphed over Auguste Dupin. Auguste Dupin never confessed
+defeat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE NIGHT WALKER
+
+
+
+If luncheon had seemed extravagant, dinner at Cray's Folly proved to be
+a veritable Roman banquet. To associate ideas of selfishness with Miss
+Beverley was hateful, but the more I learned of the luxurious life of
+this queer household hidden away in the Surrey Hills the less I wondered
+at any one's consenting to share such exile. I had hitherto counted an
+American freak dinner, organized by a lucky plunger and held at the Cafe
+de Paris, as the last word in extravagant feasting. But I learned now
+that what was caviare in Monte Carlo was ordinary fare at Cray's Folly.
+
+Colonel Menendez was an epicure with an endless purse. The excellence of
+one of the courses upon which I had commented led to a curious incident.
+
+"You approve of the efforts of my chef?" said the Colonel.
+
+"He is worthy of his employer," I replied.
+
+Colonel Menendez bowed in his cavalierly fashion and Madame de Staemer
+positively beamed upon me.
+
+"You shall speak for him," said the Spaniard. "He was with me in Cuba,
+but has no reputation in London. There are hotels that would snap him
+up."
+
+I looked at the speaker in surprise.
+
+"Surely he is not leaving you?" I asked.
+
+The Colonel exhibited a momentary embarrassment.
+
+"No, no. No, no," he replied, waving his hand gracefully, "I was only
+thinking that he--" there was a scarcely perceptible pause--"might wish
+to better himself. You understand?"
+
+I understood only too well; and recollecting the words spoken by Paul
+Harley that afternoon, respecting the Colonel's will to live, I became
+conscious of an uncomfortable sense of chill.
+
+If I had doubted that in so speaking he had been contemplating his own
+death, the behaviour of Madame de Staemer must have convinced me. Her
+complexion was slightly but cleverly made up, with all the exquisite
+art of the Parisienne, but even through the artificial bloom I saw her
+cheeks blanch. Her face grew haggard and her eyes burned unnaturally.
+She turned quickly aside to address Paul Harley, but I knew that the
+significance of this slight episode had not escaped him.
+
+He was by no means at ease. In the first place, he was badly puzzled;
+in the second place, he was angry. He felt it incumbent upon him to save
+this man from a menace which he, Paul Harley, evidently recognized to be
+real, although to me it appeared wildly chimerical, and the very person
+upon whose active cooeperation he naturally counted not only seemed
+resigned to his fate, but by deliberate omission of important data added
+to Harley's difficulties.
+
+How much of this secret drama proceeding in Cray's Folly was appreciated
+by Val Beverley I could not determine. On this occasion, I remember,
+she was simply but perfectly dressed and, in my eyes, seemed the most
+sweetly desirable woman I had ever known. Realizing that I had already
+revealed my interest in the girl, I was oddly self-conscious, and a
+hundred times during the progress of dinner I glanced across at Harley,
+expecting to detect his quizzical smile. He was very stern, however, and
+seemed more reserved than usual. He was uncertain of his ground, I
+could see. He resented the understanding which evidently existed between
+Colonel Menendez and Madame de Staemer, and to which, although his aid
+had been sought, he was not admitted.
+
+It seemed to me, personally, that an almost palpable shadow lay upon
+the room. Although, save for this one lapse, our host throughout talked
+gaily and entertainingly, I was obsessed by a memory of the expression
+which I had detected upon his face that morning, the expression of a
+doomed man.
+
+What, in Heaven's name, I asked myself, did it all mean? If ever I saw
+the fighting spirit looking out of any man's eyes, it looked out of the
+eyes of Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez. Why, then, did he lie down to the
+menace of this mysterious Bat Wing, and if he counted opposition futile,
+why had he summoned Paul Harley to Cray's Folly?
+
+With the passing of every moment I sympathized more fully with the
+perplexity of my friend, and no longer wondered that even his highly
+specialized faculties had failed to detect an explanation.
+
+Remembering Colin Camber as I had seen him at the Lavender Arms, it was
+simply impossible to suppose that such a man as Menendez could fear such
+a man as Camber. True, I had seen the latter at a disadvantage, and
+I knew well enough that many a genius has been also a drunkard. But
+although I was prepared to find that Colin Camber possessed genius, I
+found it hard to believe that this was of a criminal type. That such a
+character could be the representative of some remote negro society was
+an idea too grotesque to be entertained for a moment.
+
+I was tempted to believe that his presence in the neighbourhood of this
+haunted Cuban was one of those strange coincidences which in criminal
+history have sometimes proved so tragic for their victims.
+
+Madame de Staemer, avoiding the Colonel's glances, which were
+pathetically apologetic, gradually recovered herself, and:
+
+"My dear," she said to Val Beverley, "you look perfectly sweet to-night.
+Don't you think she looks perfectly sweet, Mr. Knox?"
+
+Ignoring a look of entreaty from the blue-gray eyes:
+
+"Perfectly," I replied.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox," cried the girl, "why do you encourage her? She says
+embarrassing things like that every time I put on a new dress."
+
+Her reference to a new dress set me speculating again upon the apparent
+anomaly of her presence at Cray's Folly. That she was not a professional
+"companion" was clear enough. I assumed that her father had left her
+suitably provided for, since she wore such expensively simple gowns. She
+had a delightful trick of blushing when attention was focussed upon her,
+and said Madame de Staemer:
+
+"To be able to blush like that I would give my string of pearls--no,
+half of it."
+
+"My dear Marie," declared Colonel Menendez, "I have seen you blush
+perfectly."
+
+"No, no," Madame disclaimed the suggestion with one of those Bernhardt
+gestures, "I blushed my last blush when my second husband introduced me
+to my first husband's wife."
+
+"Madame!" exclaimed Val Beverley, "how can you say such things?" She
+turned to me. "Really, Mr. Knox, they are all fables."
+
+"In fables we renew our youth," said Madame.
+
+"Ah," sighed Colonel Menendez; "our youth, our youth."
+
+"Why sigh, Juan, why regret?" cried Madame, immediately. "Old age is
+only tragic to those who have never been young."
+
+She directed a glance toward him as she spoke those words, and as I had
+felt when I had seen his tragic face on the veranda that morning I felt
+again in detecting this look of Madame de Staemer's. The yearning yet
+selfless love which it expressed was not for my eyes to witness.
+
+"Thank God, Marie," replied the Colonel, and gallantly kissed his hand
+to her, "we have both been young, gloriously young."
+
+When, at the termination of this truly historic dinner, the ladies left
+us:
+
+"Remember, Juan," said Madame, raising her white, jewelled hand, and
+holding the fingers characteristically curled, "no excitement, no
+billiards, no cards."
+
+Colonel Menendez bowed deeply, as the invalid wheeled herself from the
+room, followed by Miss Beverley. My heart was beating delightfully, for
+in the moment of departure the latter had favoured me with a significant
+glance, which seemed to say, "I am looking forward to a chat with you
+presently."
+
+"Ah," said Colonel Menendez, when we three men found ourselves alone,
+"truly I am blessed in the autumn of my life with such charming
+companionship. Beauty and wit, youth and discretion. Is he not a happy
+man who possesses all these?"
+
+"He should be," said Harley, gravely.
+
+The saturnine Pedro entered with some wonderful crusted port, and
+Colonel Menendez offered cigars.
+
+"I believe you are a pipe-smoker," said our courteous host to Harley,
+"and if this is so, I know that you will prefer your favourite mixture
+to any cigar that ever was rolled."
+
+"Many thanks," said Harley, to whom no more delicate compliment could
+have been paid.
+
+He was indeed an inveterate pipe-smoker, and only rarely did he truly
+enjoy a cigar, however choice its pedigree. With a sigh of content
+he began to fill his briar. His mood was more restful, and covertly I
+watched him studying our host. The night remained very warm and one of
+the two windows of the dining room, which was the most homely apartment
+in Cray's Folly, was wide open, offering a prospect of sweeping velvet
+lawns touched by the magic of the moonlight.
+
+A short silence fell, to be broken by the Colonel.
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "I trust you do not regret your fishing
+excursion?"
+
+"I could cheerfully pass the rest of my days in such ideal
+surroundings," replied Paul Harley.
+
+I nodded in agreement.
+
+"But," continued my friend, speaking very deliberately, "I have
+to remember that I am here upon business, and that my professional
+reputation is perhaps at stake."
+
+He stared very hard at Colonel Menendez.
+
+"I have spoken with your butler, known as Pedro, and with some of the
+other servants, and have learned all that there is to be learned about
+the person unknown who gained admittance to the house a month ago, and
+concerning the wing of a bat, found attached to the door more recently."
+
+"And to what conclusion have you come?" asked Colonel Menendez, eagerly.
+
+He bent forward, resting his elbows upon his knees, a pose which he
+frequently adopted. He was smoking a cigar, but his total absorption in
+the topic under discussion was revealed by the fact that from a pocket
+in his dinner jacket he had taken out a portion of tobacco, had laid
+it in a slip of rice paper, and was busily rolling one of his eternal
+cigarettes.
+
+"I might be enabled to come to one," replied Harley, "if you would
+answer a very simple question."
+
+"What is this question?"
+
+"It is this--Have you any idea who nailed the bat's wing to your door?"
+
+Colonel Menendez's eyes opened very widely, and his face became more
+aquiline than ever.
+
+"You have heard my story, Mr. Harley," he replied, softly. "If I know
+the explanation, why do I come to you?"
+
+Paul Harley puffed at his pipe. His expression did not alter in the
+slightest.
+
+"I merely wondered if your suspicions tended in the direction of Mr.
+Colin Camber," he said.
+
+"Colin Camber!"
+
+As the Colonel spoke the name either I became victim of a strange
+delusion or his face was momentarily convulsed. If my senses served me
+aright then his pronouncing of the words "Colin Camber" occasioned him
+positive agony. He clutched the arms of his chair, striving, I thought,
+to retain composure, and in this he succeeded, for when he spoke again
+his voice was quite normal.
+
+"Have you any particular reason for your remark, Mr. Harley?"
+
+"I have a reason," replied Paul Harley, "but don't misunderstand me. I
+suggest nothing against Mr. Camber. I should be glad, however, to know
+if you are acquainted with him?"
+
+"We have never met."
+
+"You possibly know him by repute?"
+
+"I have heard of him, Mr. Harley. But to be perfectly frank, I have
+little in common with citizens of the United States."
+
+A note of arrogance, which at times crept into his high, thin voice,
+became perceptible now, and the aristocratic, aquiline face looked very
+supercilious.
+
+How the conversation would have developed I know not, but at this
+moment Pedro entered and delivered a message in Spanish to the Colonel,
+whereupon the latter arose and with very profuse apologies begged
+permission to leave us for a few moments.
+
+When he had retired:
+
+"I am going upstairs to write a letter, Knox," said Paul Harley. "Carry
+on with your old duties to-day, your new ones do not commence until
+to-morrow."
+
+With that he laughed and walked out of the dining room, leaving me
+wondering whether to be grateful or annoyed. However, it did not take me
+long to find my way to the drawing room where the two ladies were seated
+side by side upon a settee, Madame's chair having been wheeled into a
+corner.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Knox," exclaimed Madame as I entered, "have the others
+deserted, then?"
+
+"Scarcely deserted, I think. They are merely straggling."
+
+"Absent without leave," murmured Val Beverley.
+
+I laughed, and drew up a chair. Madame de Staemer was smoking, but Miss
+Beverley was not. Accordingly, I offered her a cigarette, which she
+accepted, and as I was lighting it with elaborate care, every moment
+finding a new beauty in her charming face, Pedro again appeared and
+addressed some remark in Spanish to Madame.
+
+"My chair, Pedro," she said; "I will come at once."
+
+The Spanish butler wheeled the chair across to the settee, and lifting
+her with an ease which spoke of long practice, placed her amidst the
+cushions where she spent so many hours of her life.
+
+"I know you will excuse me, dear," she said to Val Beverley, "because I
+feel sure that Mr. Knox will do his very best to make up for my absence.
+Presently, I shall be back."
+
+Pedro holding the door open, she went wheeling out, and I found myself
+alone with Val Beverley.
+
+At the time I was much too delighted to question the circumstances which
+had led to this tete-a-tete, but had I cared to give the matter any
+consideration, it must have presented rather curious features. The call
+first of host and then of hostess was inconsistent with the courtesy of
+the master of Cray's Folly, which, like the appointments of his home and
+his mode of life, was elaborate. But these ideas did not trouble me at
+the moment.
+
+Suddenly, however, indeed before I had time to speak, the girl started
+and laid her hand upon my arm.
+
+"Did you hear something?" she whispered, "a queer sort of sound?"
+
+"No," I replied, "what kind of sound?"
+
+"An odd sort of sound, almost like--the flapping of wings."
+
+I saw that she had turned pale, I saw the confirmation of something
+which I had only partly realised before: that her life at Cray's Folly
+was a constant fight against some haunting shadow. Her gaiety, her
+lightness, were but a mask. For now, in those wide-open eyes, I read
+absolute horror.
+
+"Miss Beverley," I said, grasping her hand reassuringly, "you alarm me.
+What has made you so nervous to-night?"
+
+"To-night!" she echoed, "to-night? It is every night. If you had not
+come--" she corrected herself--"if someone had not come, I don't think I
+could have stayed. I am sure I could not have stayed."
+
+"Doubtless the attempted burglary alarmed you?" I suggested, intending
+to sooth her fears.
+
+"Burglary?" She smiled unmirthfully. "It was no burglary."
+
+"Why do you say so, Miss Beverley?"
+
+"Do you think I don't know why Mr. Harley is here?" she challenged. "Oh,
+believe me, I know--I know. I, too, saw the bat's wing nailed to the
+door, Mr. Knox. You are surely not going to suggest that this was the
+work of a burglar?"
+
+I seated myself beside her on the settee.
+
+"You have great courage," I said. "Believe me, I quite understand all
+that you have suffered."
+
+"Is my acting so poor?" she asked, with a pathetic smile.
+
+"No, it is wonderful, but to a sympathetic observer only acting,
+nevertheless."
+
+I noted that my presence reassured her, and was much comforted by this
+fact.
+
+"Would you like to tell me all about it," I continued; "or would this
+merely renew your fears?"
+
+"I should like to tell you," she replied in a low voice, glancing about
+her as if to make sure that we were alone. "Except for odd people,
+friends, I suppose, of the Colonel's, we have had so few visitors since
+we have been at Cray's Folly. Apart from all sorts of queer happenings
+which really"--she laughed nervously--"may have no significance
+whatever, the crowning mystery to my mind is why Colonel Menendez should
+have leased this huge house."
+
+"He does not entertain very much, then?"
+
+"Scarcely at all. The 'County'--do you know what I mean by the
+'County?'--began by receiving him with open arms and ended by sending
+him to Coventry. His lavish style of entertainment they labelled
+'swank'--horrible word but very expressive! They concluded that they
+did not understand him, and of everything they don't understand they
+disapprove. So after the first month or so it became very lonely
+at Cray's Folly. Our foreign servants--there are five of them
+altogether--got us a dreadfully bad name. Then, little by little, a sort
+of cloud seemed to settle on everything. The Colonel made two visits
+abroad, I don't know exactly where he went, but on his return from the
+first visit Madame de Staemer changed."
+
+"Changed?--in what way?"
+
+"I am afraid it would be hopeless to try to make you understand, Mr.
+Knox, but in some subtle way she changed. Underneath all her vivacity
+she is a tragic woman, and--oh, how can I explain?" Val Beverley made a
+little gesture of despair.
+
+"Perhaps you mean," I suggested, "that she seemed to become even less
+happy than before?"
+
+"Yes," she replied, looking at me eagerly. "Has Colonel Menendez told
+you anything to account for it?"
+
+"Nothing," I said, "He has left us strangely in the dark. But you say he
+went abroad on a second and more recent occasion?"
+
+"Yes, not much more than a month ago. And after that, somehow or
+other, matters seemed to come to a head. I confess I became horribly
+frightened, but to have left would have seemed like desertion, and
+Madame de Staemer has been so good to me."
+
+"Did you actually witness any of the episodes which took place about a
+month ago?"
+
+Val Beverley shook her head.
+
+"I never saw anything really definite," she replied.
+
+"Yet, evidently you either saw or heard something which alarmed you."
+
+"Yes, that is true, but it is so difficult to explain."
+
+"Could you try to explain?"
+
+"I will try if you wish, for really I am longing to talk to someone
+about it. For instance, on several occasions I have heard footsteps in
+the corridor outside my room."
+
+"At night?"
+
+"Yes, at night."
+
+"Strange footsteps?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"That is the uncanny part of it. You know how familiar one grows with
+the footsteps of persons living in the same house? Well, these footsteps
+were quite unfamiliar to me."
+
+"And you say they passed your door?"
+
+"Yes. My rooms are almost directly overhead. And right at the end of the
+corridor, that is on the southeast corner of the building, is Colonel
+Menendez's bedroom, and facing it a sort of little smoke-room. It was in
+this direction that the footsteps went."
+
+"To Colonel Menendez's room?"
+
+"Yes. They were light, furtive footsteps."
+
+"This took place late at night?"
+
+"Quite late, long after everyone had retired."
+
+She paused, staring at me with a sort of embarrassment, and presently:
+
+"Were the footsteps those of a man or a woman?" I asked.
+
+"Of a woman. Someone, Mr. Knox," she bent forward, and that look of fear
+began to creep into her eyes again, "with whose footsteps I was quite
+unfamiliar."
+
+"You mean a stranger to the house?"
+
+"Yes. Oh, it was uncanny." She shuddered. "The first time I heard it I
+had been lying awake listening. I was nervous. Madame de Staemer had
+told me that morning that the Colonel had seen someone lurking about
+the lawns on the previous night. Then, as I lay awake listening for
+the slightest sound, I suddenly detected these footsteps; and they
+paused--right outside my door."
+
+"Good heavens!" I exclaimed. "What did you do?"
+
+"Frankly, I was too frightened to do anything. I just lay still with my
+heart beating horribly, and presently they passed on, and I heard them
+no more."
+
+"Was your door locked?"
+
+"No." She laughed nervously. "But it has been locked every night since
+then!"
+
+"And these sounds were repeated on other nights?"
+
+"Yes, I have often heard them, Mr. Knox. What makes it so strange is
+that all the servants sleep out in the west wing, as you know, and Pedro
+locks the communicating door every night before retiring."
+
+"It is certainly strange," I muttered.
+
+"It is horrible," declared the girl, almost in a whisper. "For what can
+it mean except that there is someone in Cray's Folly who is never seen
+during the daytime?"
+
+"But that is incredible."
+
+"It is not so incredible in a big house like this. Besides, what other
+explanation can there be?"
+
+"There must be one," I said, reassuringly. "Have you spoken of this to
+Madame de Staemer?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Val Beverley's expression grew troubled.
+
+"Had she any explanation to offer?"
+
+"None. Her attitude mystified me very much. Indeed, instead of
+reassuring me, she frightened me more than ever by her very silence.
+I grew to dread the coming of each night. Then--" she hesitated again,
+looking at me pathetically--"twice I have been awakened by a loud cry."
+
+"What kind of cry?"
+
+"I could not tell you, Mr. Knox. You see I have always been asleep when
+it has come, but I have sat up trembling and dimly aware that what had
+awakened me was a cry of some kind."
+
+"You have no idea from whence it proceeded?"
+
+"None whatever. Of course, all these things may seem trivial to you, and
+possibly they can be explained in quite a simple way. But this feeling
+of something pending has grown almost unendurable. Then, I don't
+understand Madame and the Colonel at all."
+
+She suddenly stopped speaking and flushed with embarrassment.
+
+"If you mean that Madame de Staemer is in love with her cousin, I agree
+with you," I said, quietly.
+
+"Oh, is it so evident as that?" murmured Val Beverley. She laughed to
+cover her confusion. "I wish I could understand what it all means."
+
+At this point our tete-a-tete was interrupted by the return of Madame de
+Staemer.
+
+"Oh, la la!" she cried, "the Colonel must have allowed himself to become
+too animated this evening. He is threatened with one of his attacks and
+I have insisted upon his immediate retirement. He makes his apologies,
+but knows you will understand."
+
+I expressed my concern, and:
+
+"I was unaware that Colonel Menendez's health was impaired," I said.
+
+"Ah," Madame shrugged characteristically. "Juan has travelled too much
+of the road of life on top speed, Mr. Knox." She snapped her white
+fingers and grimaced significantly. "Excitement is bad for him."
+
+She wheeled her chair up beside Val Beverley, and taking the girl's hand
+patted it affectionately.
+
+"You look pale to-night, my dear," she said. "All this bogey business is
+getting on your nerves, eh?"
+
+"Oh, not at all," declared the girl. "It is very mysterious and
+annoying, of course."
+
+"But M. Paul Harley will presently tell us what it is all about,"
+concluded Madame. "Yes, I trust so. We want no Cuban devils here at
+Cray's Folly."
+
+I had hoped that she would speak further of the matter, but having thus
+apologized for our host's absence, she plunged into an amusing account
+of Parisian society, and of the changes which five years of war had
+brought about. Her comments, although brilliant, were superficial, the
+only point I recollect being her reference to a certain Baron Bergmann,
+a Swedish diplomat, who, according to Madame, had the longest nose and
+the shortest memory in Paris, so that in the cold weather, "he even
+sometimes forgot to blow his nose."
+
+Her brightness I thought was almost feverish. She chattered and laughed
+and gesticulated, but on this occasion she was overacting. Underneath
+all her vivacity lay something cold and grim.
+
+Harley rejoined us in half an hour or so, but I could see that he was
+as conscious of the air of tension as I was. All Madame's high spirits
+could not enable her to conceal the fact that she was anxious to retire.
+But Harley's evident desire to do likewise surprised me very greatly;
+for from the point of view of the investigation the day had been an
+unsatisfactory one. I knew that there must be a hundred and one things
+which my friend desired to know, questions which Madame de Staemer could
+have answered. Nevertheless, at about ten o'clock we separated for
+the night, and although I was intensely anxious to talk to Harley, his
+reticent mood had descended upon him again, and:
+
+"Sleep well, Knox," he said, as he paused at my door. "I may be
+awakening you early."
+
+With which cryptic remark and not another word he passed on and entered
+his own room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND
+
+
+
+Perhaps it was childish on my part, but I accepted this curt dismissal
+very ill-humouredly. That Harley, for some reason of his own, wished
+to be alone, was evident enough, but I resented being excluded from his
+confidence, even temporarily. It would seem that he had formed a theory
+in the prosecution of which my cooeperation was not needed. And what
+with profitless conjectures concerning its nature, and memories of
+Val Beverley's pathetic parting glance as we had bade one another
+good-night, sleep seemed to be out of the question, and I stood for a
+long time staring out of the open window.
+
+The weather remained almost tropically hot, and the moon floated in a
+cloudless sky. I looked down upon the closely matted leaves of the box
+hedge, which rose to within a few feet of my window, and to the left I
+could obtain a view of the close-hemmed courtyard before the doors of
+Cray's Folly. On the right the yews began, obstructing my view of the
+Tudor garden, but the night air was fragrant, and the outlook one of
+peace.
+
+After a time, then, as no sound came from the adjoining room, I turned
+in, and despite all things was soon fast asleep.
+
+Almost immediately, it seemed, I was awakened. In point of fact, nearly
+four hours had elapsed. A hand grasped my shoulder, and I sprang up in
+bed with a stifled cry, but:
+
+"It's all right, Knox," came Harley's voice. "Don't make a noise."
+
+"Harley!" I said. "Harley! what has happened?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing. I am sorry to have to disturb your beauty sleep, but
+in the absence of Innes I am compelled to use you as a dictaphone,
+Knox. I like to record impressions while they are fresh, hence my having
+awakened you."
+
+"But what has happened?" I asked again, for my brain was not yet fully
+alert.
+
+"No, don't light up!" said Harley, grasping my wrist as I reached out
+toward the table-lamp.
+
+His figure showed as a black silhouette against the dim square of the
+window.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Well, it's nearly two o'clock. The light might be observed."
+
+"Two o'clock?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes. I think we might smoke, though. Have you any cigarettes? I have
+left my pipe behind."
+
+I managed to find my case, and in the dim light of the match which I
+presently struck I saw that Paul Harley's face was very fixed and grim.
+He seated himself on the edge of my bed, and:
+
+"I have been guilty of a breach of hospitality, Knox," he began. "Not
+only have I secretly had my own car sent down here, but I have had
+something else sent, as well. I brought it in under my coat this
+evening."
+
+"To what do you refer, Harley?"
+
+"You remember the silken rope-ladder with bamboo rungs which I brought
+from Hongkong on one occasion?"
+
+"Yes--"
+
+"Well, I have it in my bag now."
+
+"But, my dear fellow, what possible use can it be to you at Cray's
+Folly?"
+
+"It has been of great use," he returned, shortly.
+
+"It enabled me to descend from my window a couple of hours ago and to
+return again quite recently without disturbing the household. Don't
+reproach me, Knox. I know it is a breach of confidence, but so is the
+behaviour of Colonel Menendez."
+
+"You refer to his reticence on certain points?"
+
+"I do. I have a reputation to lose, Knox, and if an ingenious piece of
+Chinese workmanship can save it, it shall be saved."
+
+"But, my dear Harley, why should you want to leave the house secretly at
+night?"
+
+Paul Harley's cigarette glowed in the dark, then:
+
+"My original object," he replied, "was to endeavour to learn if any one
+were really watching the place. For instance, I wanted to see if all
+lights were out at the Guest House."
+
+"And were they?" I asked, eagerly.
+
+"They were. Secondly," he continued, "I wanted to convince myself that
+there were no nocturnal prowlers from within or without."
+
+"What do you mean by within or without?"
+
+"Listen, Knox." He bent toward me in the dark, grasping my shoulder
+firmly. "One window in Cray's Folly was lighted up."
+
+"At what hour?"
+
+"The light is there yet."
+
+That he was about to make some strange revelation I divined. I detected
+the fact, too, that he believed this revelation would be unpleasant to
+me; and in this I found an explanation of his earlier behaviour. He had
+seemed distraught and ill at ease when he had joined Madame de Staemer,
+Miss Beverley, and myself in the drawing room. I could only suppose that
+this and the abrupt parting with me outside my door had been due to
+his holding a theory which he had proposed to put to the test before
+confiding it to me. I remember that I spoke very slowly as I asked him
+the question:
+
+"Whose is the lighted window, Harley?"
+
+"Has Colonel Menendez taken you into a little snuggery or smoke-room
+which faces his bedroom in the southeast corner of the house?"
+
+"No, but Miss Beverley has mentioned the room."
+
+"Ah. Well, there is a light in that room, Knox."
+
+"Possibly the Colonel has not retired?"
+
+"According to Madame de Staemer he went to bed several hours ago, you may
+remember."
+
+"True," I murmured, fumbling for the significance of his words.
+
+"The next point is this," he resumed. "You saw Madame retire to her own
+room, which, as you know, is on the ground floor, and I have satisfied
+myself that the door communicating with the servants' wing is locked."
+
+"I see. But to what is all this leading, Harley?"
+
+"To a very curious fact, and the fact is this: The Colonel is not
+alone."
+
+I sat bolt upright.
+
+"What?" I cried.
+
+"Not so loud," warned Harley.
+
+"But, Harley--"
+
+"My dear fellow, we must face facts. I repeat, the Colonel is not
+alone."
+
+"Why do you say so?"
+
+"Twice I have seen a shadow on the blind of the smoke-room."
+
+"His own shadow, probably."
+
+Again Paul Harley's cigarette glowed in the darkness.
+
+"I am prepared to swear," he replied, "that it was the shadow of a
+woman."
+
+"Harley----"
+
+"Don't get excited, Knox. I am dealing with the strangest case of my
+career, and I am jumping to no conclusions. But just let us look at
+the circumstances judicially. The whole of the domestic staff we may
+dismiss, with the one exception of Mrs. Fisher, who, so far as I can
+make out, occupies the position of a sort of working housekeeper, and
+whose rooms are in the corner of the west wing immediately facing the
+kitchen garden. Possibly you have not met Mrs. Fisher, Knox, but I have
+made it my business to interview the whole of the staff and I may
+say that Mrs. Fisher is a short, stout old lady, a native of Kent, I
+believe, whose outline in no way corresponds to that which I saw upon
+the blind. Therefore, unless the door which communicates with the
+servants' quarters was unlocked again to-night--to what are we reduced
+in seeking to explain the presence of a woman in Colonel Menendez's
+room? Madame de Staemer, unassisted, could not possibly have mounted the
+stairs."
+
+"Stop, Harley!" I said, sternly. "Stop."
+
+He ceased speaking, and I watched the steady glow of his cigarette in
+the darkness. It lighted up his bronzed face and showed me the steely
+gleam of his eyes.
+
+"You are counting too much on the locking of the door by Pedro," I
+continued, speaking very deliberately. "He is a man I would trust no
+farther than I could see him, and if there is anything dark underlying
+this matter you depend that he is involved in it. But the most natural
+explanation, and also the most simple, is this--Colonel Menendez has
+been taken seriously ill, and someone is in his room in the capacity of
+a nurse."
+
+"Her behaviour was scarcely that of a nurse in a sick-room," murmured
+Harley.
+
+"For God's sake tell me the truth," I said. "Tell me all you saw."
+
+"I am quite prepared to do so, Knox. On three occasions, then, I saw
+the figure of a woman, who wore some kind of loose robe, quite clearly
+silhouetted upon the linen blind. Her gestures strongly resembled those
+of despair."
+
+"Of despair?"
+
+"Exactly. I gathered that she was addressing someone, presumably Colonel
+Menendez, and I derived a strong impression that she was in a condition
+of abject despair."
+
+"Harley," I said, "on your word of honour did you recognize anything
+in the movements, or in the outline of the figure, by which you could
+identify the woman?"
+
+"I did not," he replied, shortly. "It was a woman who wore some kind
+of loose robe, possibly a kimono. Beyond that I could swear to nothing,
+except that it was not Mrs. Fisher."
+
+We fell silent for a while. What Paul Harley's thoughts may have been
+I know not, but my own were strange and troubled. Presently I found my
+voice again, and:
+
+"I think, Harley," I said, "that I should report to you something which
+Miss Beverley told me this evening."
+
+"Yes?" said he, eagerly. "I am anxious to hear anything which may be of
+the slightest assistance. You are no doubt wondering why I retired so
+abruptly to-night. My reason was this: I could see that you were full of
+some story which you had learned from Miss Beverley, and I was anxious
+to perform my tour of inspection with a perfectly unprejudiced mind."
+
+"You mean that your suspicions rested upon an inmate of Cray's Folly?"
+
+"Not upon any particular inmate, but I had early perceived a distinct
+possibility that these manifestations of which the Colonel complained
+might be due to the agency of someone inside the house. That this
+person might be no more than an accomplice of the prime mover I also
+recognized, of course. But what did you learn to-night, Knox?"
+
+I repeated Val Beverley's story of the mysterious footsteps and of the
+cries which had twice awakened her in the night.
+
+"Hm," muttered Harley, when I had ceased speaking. "Assuming her account
+to be true----"
+
+"Why should you doubt it?" I interrupted, hotly.
+
+"My dear Knox, it is my business to doubt everything until I have
+indisputable evidence of its truth. I say, assuming her story to be
+true, we find ourselves face to face with the fantastic theory that some
+woman unknown is living secretly in Cray's Folly."
+
+"Perhaps in one of the tower rooms," I suggested, eagerly. "Why, Harley,
+that would account for the Colonel's marked unwillingness to talk about
+this part of the house."
+
+My sight was now becoming used to the dusk, and I saw Harley vigorously
+shake his head.
+
+"No, no," he replied; "I have seen all the tower rooms. I can swear that
+no one inhabits them. Besides, is it feasible?"
+
+"Then whose were the footsteps that Miss Beverley heard?"
+
+"Obviously those of the woman who, at this present moment, so far as I
+know, is in the smoking-room with Colonel Menendez."
+
+I sighed wearily.
+
+"This is a strange business, Harley. I begin to think that the mystery
+is darker than I ever supposed."
+
+We fell silent again. The weird cry of a night hawk came from somewhere
+in the valley, but otherwise everything within and without the great
+house seemed strangely still. This stillness presently imposed its
+influence upon me, for when I spoke again, I spoke in a low voice.
+
+"Harley," I said, "my imagination is playing me tricks. I thought I
+heard the fluttering of wings at that moment."
+
+"Fortunately, my imagination remains under control," he replied, grimly;
+"therefore I am in a position to inform you that you did hear the
+fluttering of wings. An owl has just flown into one of the trees
+immediately outside the window."
+
+"Oh," said I, and uttered a sigh of relief.
+
+"It is extremely fortunate that my imagination is so carefully trained,"
+continued Harley; "otherwise, when the woman whose shadow I saw upon the
+blind to-night raised her arms in a peculiar fashion, I could not well
+have failed to attach undue importance to the shape of the shadow thus
+created."
+
+"What was the shape of the shadow, then?"
+
+"Remarkably like that of a bat."
+
+He spoke the words quietly, but in that still darkness, with dawn yet a
+long way off, they possessed the power which belongs to certain chords
+in music, and to certain lines in poetry. I was chilled unaccountably,
+and I peopled the empty corridors of Cray's Folly with I know not
+what uncanny creatures; nightmare fancies conjured up from memories of
+haunted manors.
+
+Such was my mood, then, when suddenly Paul Harley stood up. My eyes were
+growing more and more used to the darkness, and from something strained
+in his attitude I detected the fact that he was listening intently.
+
+He placed his cigarette on the table beside the bed and quietly crossed
+the room. I knew from his silent tread that he wore shoes with rubber
+soles. Very quietly he turned the handle and opened the door.
+
+"What is it, Harley?" I whispered.
+
+Dimly I saw him raise his hand. Inch by inch he opened the door. My
+nerves in a state of tension, I sat there watching him, when without
+a sound he slipped out of the room and was gone. Thereupon I arose and
+followed as far as the doorway.
+
+Harley was standing immediately outside in the corridor. Seeing me, he
+stepped back, and: "Don't move, Knox," he said, speaking very close to
+my ear. "There is someone downstairs in the hall. Wait for me here."
+
+With that he moved stealthily off, and I stood there, my heart beating
+with unusual rapidity, listening--listening for a challenge, a cry, a
+scuffle--I knew not what to expect.
+
+Cavernous and dimly lighted, the corridor stretched away to my left.
+On the right it branched sharply in the direction of the gallery
+overlooking the hall.
+
+The seconds passed, but no sound rewarded my alert listening--until,
+very faintly, but echoing in a muffled, church-like fashion around that
+peculiar building, came a slight, almost sibilant sound, which I took to
+be the gentle closing of a distant door.
+
+Whilst I was still wondering if I had really heard this sound or merely
+imagined it:
+
+"Who goes there?" came sharply in Harley's voice.
+
+I heard a faint click, and knew that he had shone the light of an
+electric torch down into the hall.
+
+I hesitated no longer, but ran along to join him. As I came to the head
+of the main staircase, however, I saw him crossing the hall below. He
+was making in the direction of the door which shut off the servants'
+quarters. Here he paused, and I saw him trying the handle. Evidently
+the door was locked, for he turned and swept the white ray all about the
+place. He tried several other doors, but found them all to be locked,
+for presently he came upstairs again, smiling grimly when he saw me
+there awaiting him.
+
+"Did you hear it, Knox?" he said.
+
+"A sound like the closing of a door?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"It _was_ the closing of a door," he replied; "but before that I had
+distinctly heard a stair creak. Someone crossed the hall then, Knox.
+Yet, as you perceive for yourself, it affords no hiding-place."
+
+His glance met and challenged mine.
+
+"The Colonel's visitor has left him," he murmured. "Unless something
+quite unforeseen occurs, I shall throw up the case to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MORNING MISTS
+
+
+
+The man known as Manoel awakened me in the morning. Although
+characteristically Spanish, he belonged to a more sanguine type than
+the butler and spoke much better English than Pedro. He placed upon the
+table beside me a tray containing a small pot of China tea, an apple, a
+peach, and three slices of toast.
+
+"How soon would you like your bath, sir?" he enquired.
+
+"In about half an hour," I replied.
+
+"Breakfast is served at 9.30 if you wish, sir," continued Manoel, "but
+the ladies rarely come down. Would you prefer to breakfast in your
+room?"
+
+"What is Mr. Harley doing?"
+
+"He tells me that he does not take breakfast, sir. Colonel Don Juan
+Menendez will be unable to ride with you this morning, but a groom will
+accompany you to the heath if you wish, which is the best place for a
+gallop. Breakfast on the south veranda is very pleasant, sir, if you are
+riding first."
+
+"Good," I replied, for indeed I felt strangely heavy; "it shall be the
+heath, then, and breakfast on the veranda."
+
+Having drunk a cup of tea and dressed I went into Harley's room, to
+find him propped up in bed reading the _Daily Telegraph_ and smoking a
+cigarette.
+
+"I am off for a ride," I said. "Won't you join me?"
+
+He fixed his pillows more comfortably, and slowly shook his head.
+
+"Not a bit of it, Knox," he replied, "I find exercise to be fatal to
+concentration."
+
+"I know you have weird theories on the subject, but this is a beautiful
+morning."
+
+"I grant you the beautiful morning, Knox, but here you will find me when
+you return."
+
+I knew him too well to debate the point, and accordingly I left him to
+his newspaper and cigarette, and made my way downstairs. A housemaid was
+busy in the hall, and in the courtyard before the monastic porch a negro
+groom awaited me with two fine mounts. He touched his hat and grinned
+expansively as I appeared. A spirited young chestnut was saddled for
+my use, and the groom, who informed me that his name was Jim, rode a
+smaller, Spanish horse, a beautiful but rather wicked-looking creature.
+
+We proceeded down the drive. Pedro was standing at the door of the
+lodge, talking to his surly-looking daughter. He saluted me very
+ceremoniously as I passed.
+
+Pursuing an easterly route for a quarter of a mile or so, we came to a
+narrow lane which branched off to the left in a tremendous declivity.
+Indeed it presented the appearance of the dry bed of a mountain torrent,
+and in wet weather a torrent this lane became, so I was informed by
+Jim. It was very rugged and dangerous, and here we dismounted, the groom
+leading the horses.
+
+Then we were upon a well-laid main road, and along this we trotted on to
+a tempting stretch of heath-land. There was a heavy mist, but the
+scent of the heather in the early morning was delightful, and there was
+something exhilarating in the dull thud of the hoofs upon the springy
+turf. The negro was a natural horseman, and he seemed to enjoy the ride
+every bit as much as I did. For my own part I was sorry to return. But
+the vapours of the night had been effectively cleared from my mind, and
+when presently we headed again for the hills, I could think more coolly
+of those problems which overnight had seemed well-nigh insoluble.
+
+We returned by a less direct route, but only at one point was the path
+so steep as that by which we had descended. This brought us out on a
+road above and about a mile to the south of Cray's Folly. At one point,
+through a gap in the trees, I found myself looking down at the gray
+stone building in its setting of velvet lawns and gaily patterned
+gardens. A faint mist hovered like smoke over the grass.
+
+Five minutes later we passed a queer old Jacobean house, so deeply
+hidden amidst trees that the early morning sun had not yet penetrated to
+it, except for one upstanding gable which was bathed in golden light. I
+should never have recognized the place from that aspect, but because of
+its situation I knew that this must be the Guest House. It seemed very
+gloomy and dark, and remembering how I was pledged to call upon Mr.
+Colin Camber that day, I apprehended that my reception might be a cold
+one.
+
+Presently we left the road and cantered across the valley meadows, in
+which I had walked on the previous day, reentering Cray's Folly on
+the south, although we had left it on the north. We dismounted in the
+stable-yard, and I noted two other saddle horses in the stalls, a pair
+of very clean-looking hunters, as well as two perfectly matched ponies,
+which, Jim informed me, Madame de Staemer sometimes drove in a chaise.
+
+Feeling vastly improved by the exercise, I walked around to the veranda,
+and through the drawing room to the hall. Manoel was standing there,
+and:
+
+"Your bath is ready, sir," he said.
+
+I nodded and went upstairs. It seemed to me that life at Cray's Folly
+was quite agreeable, and such was my mood that the shadowy Bat Wing
+menace found no place in it save as the chimera of a sick man's
+imagination. One thing only troubled me: the identity of the woman who
+had been with Colonel Menendez on the previous night.
+
+However, such unconscious sun worshippers are we all that in the glory
+of that summer morning I realized that life was good, and I resolutely
+put behind me the dark suspicions of the night.
+
+I looked into Harley's room ere descending, and, as he had assured
+me would be the case, there he was, propped up in bed, the _Daily
+Telegraph_ upon the floor beside him and the _Times_ now open upon the
+coverlet.
+
+"I am ravenously hungry," I said, maliciously, "and am going down to eat
+a hearty breakfast."
+
+"Good," he returned, treating me to one of his quizzical smiles. "It is
+delightful to know that someone is happy."
+
+Manoel had removed my unopened newspapers from the bedroom, placing
+them on the breakfast table on the south veranda; and I had propped the
+_Mail_ up before me and had commenced to explore a juicy grapefruit
+when something, perhaps a faint breath of perfume, a slight rustle of
+draperies, or merely that indefinable aura which belongs to the presence
+of a woman, drew my glance upward and to the left. And there was Val
+Beverley smiling down at me.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Knox," she said. "Oh, please don't interrupt your
+breakfast. May I sit down and talk to you?"
+
+"I should be most annoyed if you refused."
+
+She was dressed in a simple summery frock which left her round,
+sun-browned arms bare above the elbow, and she laid a huge bunch of
+roses upon the table beside my tray.
+
+"I am the florist of the establishment," she explained. "These
+will delight your eyes at luncheon. Don't you think we are a lot of
+barbarians here, Mr. Knox?"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, if I had not taken pity upon you, here you would have bat over a
+lonely breakfast just as though you were staying at a hotel."
+
+"Delightful," I replied, "now that you are here."
+
+"Ah," said she, and smiled roguishly, "that afterthought just saved
+you."
+
+"But honestly," I continued, "the hospitality of Colonel Menendez is
+true hospitality. To expect one's guests to perform their parlour tricks
+around a breakfast table in the morning is, on the other hand, true
+barbarism."
+
+"I quite agree with you," she said, quietly. "There is a perfectly
+delightful freedom about the Colonel's way of living. Only some horrid
+old Victorian prude could possibly take exception to it. Did you enjoy
+your ride?"
+
+"Immensely," I replied, watching her delightedly as she arranged the
+roses in carefully blended groups.
+
+Her fingers were very delicate and tactile, and such is the character
+which resides in the human hand, that whereas the gestures of Madame de
+Staemer were curiously stimulating, there was something in the movement
+of Val Beverley's pretty fingers amidst the blooms which I found most
+soothing.
+
+"I passed the Guest House on my return," I continued. "Do you know Mr.
+Camber?"
+
+She looked at me in a startled way.
+
+"No," she replied, "I don't. Do you?"
+
+"I met him by chance yesterday."
+
+"Really? I thought he was quite unapproachable; a sort of ogre."
+
+"On the contrary, he is a man of great charm."
+
+"Oh," said Val Beverley, "well, since you have said so, I might as
+well admit that he has always seemed a charming man to me. I have never
+spoken to him, but he looks as though he could be very fascinating. Have
+you met his wife?"
+
+"No. Is she also American?"
+
+My companion shook her head.
+
+"I have no idea," she replied. "I have seen her several times of course,
+and she is one of the daintiest creatures imaginable, but I know nothing
+about her nationality."
+
+"She is young, then?"
+
+"Very young, I should say. She looks quite a child."
+
+"The reason of my interest," I replied, "is that Mr. Camber asked me to
+call upon him, and I propose to do so later this morning."
+
+"Really?"
+
+Again I detected the startled expression upon Val Beverley's face.
+
+"That is rather curious, since you are staying here."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well," she looked about her nervously, "I don't know the reason, but
+the name of Mr. Camber is anathema in Cray's Folly."
+
+"Colonel Menendez told me last night that he had never met Mr. Camber."
+
+Val Beverley shrugged her shoulders, a habit which it was easy to see
+she had acquired from Madame de Staemer.
+
+"Perhaps not," she replied, "but I am certain he hates him."
+
+"Hates Mr. Camber?"
+
+"Yes." Her expression grew troubled. "It is another of those mysteries
+which seem to be part of Colonel Menendez's normal existence."
+
+"And is this dislike mutual?"
+
+"That I cannot say, since I have never met Mr. Camber."
+
+"And Madame de Staemer, does she share it?"
+
+"Fully, I think. But don't ask me what it means, because I don't know."
+
+She dismissed the subject with a light gesture and poured me out a
+second cup of coffee.
+
+"I am going to leave you now," she said. "I have to justify my existence
+in my own eyes."
+
+"Must you really go?"
+
+"I must really."
+
+"Then tell me something before you go."
+
+She gathered up the bunches of roses and looked down at me with a
+wistful expression.
+
+"Yes, what is it?"
+
+"Did you detect those mysterious footsteps again last night?"
+
+The look of wistfulness changed to another which I hated to see in her
+eyes, an expression of repressed fear.
+
+"No," she replied in a very low voice, "but why do you ask the
+question?"
+
+Doubt of her had been far enough from my mind, but that something in the
+tone of my voice had put her on her guard I could see.
+
+"I am naturally curious," I replied, gravely.
+
+"No," she repeated, "I have not heard the sound for some time now.
+Perhaps, after all, my fears were imaginary."
+
+There was a constraint in her manner which was all too obvious, and
+when presently, laden with the spoil of the rose garden, she gave me a
+parting smile and hurried into the house, I sat there very still for a
+while, and something of the brightness had faded from the coming, nor
+did life seem so glad a business as I had thought it quite recently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+AT THE GUEST HOUSE
+
+
+
+I presented myself at the Guest House at half-past eleven. My mental
+state was troubled and indescribably complex. Perhaps my own uneasy,
+thoughts were responsible for the idea, but it seemed to me that the
+atmosphere of Cray's Folly had changed yet again. Never before had
+I experienced a sense of foreboding like that which had possessed me
+throughout the hours of this bright summer's morning.
+
+Colonel Menendez had appeared about nine o'clock. He exhibiting no
+traces of illness that were perceptible to me. But this subtle change
+which I had detected, or thought I had detected, was more marked in
+Madame Staemer than in any one. In her strange, still eyes I had read
+what I can only describe as a stricken look. It had none of the heroic
+resignation and acceptance of the inevitable which had so startled me in
+the face of the Colonel on the previous day. There was a bitterness in
+it, as of one who has made a great but unwilling sacrifice, and again I
+had found myself questing that faint but fugitive memory, conjured up by
+the eyes of Madame de Staemer.
+
+Never had the shadow lain so darkly upon the house as it lay this
+morning with the sun blazing gladly out of a serene sky. The birds, the
+flowers, and Mother Earth herself bespoke the joy of summer. But beneath
+the roof of Cray's Folly dwelt a spirit of unrest, of apprehension. I
+thought of that queer lull which comes before a tropical storm, and I
+thought I read a knowledge of pending evil even in the glances of the
+servants.
+
+I had spoken to Harley of this fear. He had smiled and nodded grimly,
+saying:
+
+"Evidently, Knox, you have forgotten that to-night is the night of the
+full moon."
+
+It was in no easy state of mind, then, that I opened the gate and walked
+up to the porch of the Guest House. That the solution of the grand
+mystery of Cray's Folly would automatically resolve these lesser
+mysteries I felt assured, and I was supported by the idea that a clue
+might lie here.
+
+The house, which from the roadway had an air of neglect, proved on close
+inspection to be well tended, but of an unprosperous aspect. The brass
+knocker, door knob, and letter box were brilliantly polished, whilst
+the windows and the window curtains were spotlessly clean. But the place
+cried aloud for the service of the decorator, and it did not need the
+deductive powers of a Paul Harley to determine that Mr. Colin Camber was
+in straitened circumstances.
+
+In response to my ringing the door was presently opened by Ah Tsong. His
+yellow face exhibited no trace of emotion whatever. He merely opened the
+door and stood there looking at me.
+
+"Is Mr. Camber at home?" I enquired.
+
+"Master no got," crooned Ah Tsong.
+
+He proceeded quietly to close the door again.
+
+"One moment," I said, "one moment. I wish, at any rate, to leave my
+card."
+
+Ah Tsong allowed the door to remain open, but:
+
+"No usee palaber so fashion," he said. "No feller comee here. Sabby?"
+
+"I savvy, right enough," said I, "but all the same you have got to take
+my card in to Mr. Camber."
+
+I handed him a card as I spoke, and suddenly addressing him in "pidgin,"
+of which, fortunately, I had a smattering:
+
+"Belong very quick, Ah Tsong," I said, sharply, "or plenty big trouble,
+savvy?"
+
+"Sabby, sabby," he muttered, nodding his head; and leaving me standing
+in the porch he retired along the sparsely carpeted hall.
+
+This hall was very gloomily lighted, but I could see several pieces of
+massive old furniture and a number of bookcases, all looking incredibly
+untidy.
+
+Rather less than a minute elapsed, I suppose, when from some place at
+the farther end of the hallway Mr. Camber appeared in person. He wore a
+threadbare dressing gown, the silken collar and cuffs of which were very
+badly frayed. His hair was dishevelled and palpably he had not shaved
+this morning.
+
+He was smoking a corncob pipe, and he slowly approached, glancing from
+the card which he held in his hand in my direction, and then back again
+at the card, with a curious sort of hesitancy. In spite of his untidy
+appearance I could not fail to mark the dignity of his bearing, and the
+almost arrogant angle at which he held his head.
+
+"Mr--er--Malcolm Knox?" he began, fixing his large eyes upon me with a
+look in which I could detect no sign of recognition. "I am advised that
+you desire to see me?"
+
+"That is so, Mr. Camber," I replied, cheerily. "I fear I have
+interrupted your work, but as no other opportunity may occur of renewing
+an acquaintance which for my part I found extremely pleasant--"
+
+"Of renewing an acquaintance, you say, Mr. Knox?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Quite." He looked me up and down critically. "To be sure, we have met
+before, I understand?"
+
+"We met yesterday, Mr. Camber, you may recall. Having chanced to come
+across a contribution of yours of the _Occult Review_, I have availed
+myself of your invitation to drop in for a chat."
+
+His expression changed immediately and the sombre eyes lighted up.
+
+"Ah, of course," he cried, "you are a student of the transcendental.
+Forgive my seeming rudeness, Mr. Knox, but indeed my memory is of the
+poorest. Pray come in, sir; your visit is very welcome."
+
+He held the door wide open, and inclined his head in a gesture of
+curious old-world courtesy which was strange in so young a man. And
+congratulating myself upon the happy thought which had enabled me to win
+such instant favour, I presently found myself in a study which I despair
+of describing.
+
+In some respects it resembled the lumber room of an antiquary, whilst
+in many particulars it corresponded to the interior of one of those
+second-hand bookshops which abound in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross
+Road. The shelves with which it was lined literally bulged with books,
+and there were books on the floor, books on the mantelpiece, and books,
+some open and some shut, some handsomely bound, and some having the
+covers torn off, upon every table and nearly every chair in the place.
+
+Volume seven of Burton's monumental "Thousand Nights and a Night" lay
+upon a littered desk before which I presumed Mr. Camber had been seated
+at the time of my arrival. Some wet vessel, probably a cup of tea or
+coffee, had at some time been set down upon the page at which this
+volume was open, for it was marked with a dark brown ring. A volume of
+Fraser's "Golden Bough" had been used as an ash tray, apparently, since
+the binding was burned in several places where cigarettes had been laid
+upon it.
+
+In this interesting, indeed unique apartment, East met West, unabashed
+by Kipling's dictum. Roman tear-vases and Egyptian tomb-offerings stood
+upon the same shelf as empty Bass bottles; and a hideous wooden idol
+from the South Sea Islands leered on eternally, unmoved by the
+presence upon his distorted head of a soft felt hat made, I believe, in
+Philadelphia.
+
+Strange implements from early British barrows found themselves in the
+company of _Thugee_ daggers There were carved mammals' tusks and snake
+emblems from Yucatan; against a Chinese ivory model of the Temple of Ten
+Thousand Buddhas rested a Coptic crucifix made from a twig of the Holy
+Rose Tree. Across an ancient Spanish coffer was thrown a Persian rug
+into which had been woven the monogram of Shah-Jehan and a text from
+the Koran. It was easy to see that Mr. Colin Camber's studies must have
+imposed a severe strain upon his purse.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Knox, sit down," he said, sweeping a vellum-bound volume
+of Eliphas Levi from a chair, and pushing the chair forward. "The visit
+of a fellow-student is a rare pleasure for me. And you find me, sir," he
+seated himself in a curious, carved chair which stood before the desk,
+"you find me engaged upon enquiries, the result of which will constitute
+chapter forty-two of my present book. Pray glance at the contents of
+this little box."
+
+He placed in my hands a small box of dark wood, evidently of great age.
+It contained what looked like a number of shrivelled beans.
+
+Having glanced at it curiously I returned it to him, shaking my head
+blankly.
+
+"You are puzzled?" he said, with a kind of boyish triumph, which lighted
+up his face, which rejuvenated him and gave me a glimpse of another man.
+"These, sir," he touched the shrivelled objects with a long, delicate
+forefinger "are seeds of the sacred lotus of Ancient Egypt. They were
+found in the tomb of a priest."
+
+"And in what way do they bear upon the enquiry to which you referred,
+Mr. Camber?"
+
+"In this way," he replied, drawing toward him a piece of newspaper
+upon which rested a mound of coarse shag. "I maintain that the vital
+principle survives within them. Now, I propose to cultivate these seeds,
+Mr. Knox. Do you grasp the significance, of this experiment?"
+
+He knocked out the corn-cob upon the heel of his slipper and began to
+refill the hot bowl with shag from the newspaper at his elbow.
+
+"From a physical point of view, yes," I replied, slowly. "But I should
+not have supposed such an experiment to come within the scope of your
+own particular activities, Mr. Camber."
+
+"Ah," he returned, triumphantly, at the same time stuffing tobacco
+into the bowl of the corn-cob, "it is for this very reason that chapter
+forty-two of my book must prove to be the hub of the whole, and the
+whole, Mr. Knox, I am egotist enough to believe, shall establish a new
+focus for thought, an intellectual Rome bestriding and uniting the Seven
+Hills of Unbelief."
+
+He lighted his pipe and stared at me complacently.
+
+Whilst I had greatly revised my first estimate of the man, my revisions
+had been all in his favour. Respecting his genius my first impression
+was confirmed. That he was ahead of his generation, perhaps a new
+Galileo, I was prepared to believe. He had a pride of bearing which I
+think was partly racial, but which in part, too, was the insignia of
+intellectual superiority. He stood above the commonplace, caring little
+for the views of those around and beneath him. From vanity he was
+utterly free. His was strangely like the egotism of true genius.
+
+"Now, sir," he continued, puffing furiously at his corn-cob, "I observed
+you glancing a moment ago at this volume of the 'Golden Bough.'" He
+pointed to the scarred book which I have already mentioned. "It is a
+work of profound scholarship. But having perused its hundreds of pages,
+what has the student learned? Does he know why the twenty-sixth
+chapter of the 'Book of the dead' was written upon lapis-lazuli, the
+twenty-seventh upon green felspar, the twenty-ninth upon cornelian, and
+the thirtieth upon serpentine? He does not. Having studied Part Four,
+has he learned the secret of why Osiris was a black god, although he
+typified the Sun? Has he learned why modern Christianity is losing its
+hold upon the nations, whilst Buddhism, so called, counts its disciples
+by millions? He has not. This is because the scholar is rarely the
+seer."
+
+"I quite agree with you," I said, thinking that I detected the drift of
+his argument.
+
+"Very well," said he. "I am an American citizen, Mr. Knox, which is
+tantamount to stating that I belong to the greatest community of traders
+which has appeared since the Phoenicians overran the then known world.
+America has not produced the mystic, yet Judaea produced the founder of
+Christianity, and Gautama Buddha, born of a royal line, established
+the creed of human equity. In what way did these magicians, for a
+miracle-worker is nothing but a magician, differ from ordinary men? In
+one respect only: They had learned to control that force which we have
+to-day termed Will."
+
+As he spoke those words Colin Camber directed upon me a glance from
+his luminous eyes which frankly thrilled me. The bemused figure of the
+Lavender Arms was forgotten. I perceived before me a man of power, a man
+of extraordinary knowledge and intellectual daring. His voice, which was
+very beautiful, together with his glance, held me enthralled.
+
+"What we call Will," he continued, "is what the Ancient Egyptians called
+_Khu_. It is not mental: it is a property of the soul. At this
+point, Mr. Knox, I depart from the laws generally accepted by my
+contemporaries. I shall presently propose to you that the eye of the
+Divine Architect literally watches every creature upon the earth."
+
+"Literally?"
+
+"Literally, Mr. Knox. We need no images, no idols, no paintings. All
+power, all light comes from one source. That source is the sun! The sun
+controls Will, and the Will is the soul. If there were a cavern in the
+earth so deep that the sun could never reach it, and if it were possible
+for a child to be born in that cavern, do you know what that child would
+be?"
+
+"Almost certainly blind," I replied; "beyond which my imagination fails
+me."
+
+"Then I will inform you, Mr. Knox. It would be a demon."
+
+"What!" I cried, and was momentarily touched with the fear that this was
+a brilliant madman.
+
+"Listen," he said, and pointed with the stem of his pipe. "Why, in all
+ancient creeds, is Hades depicted as below? For the simple reason that
+could such a spot exist and be inhabited, it must be _sunless_, when
+it could only be inhabited by devils; and what are devils but creatures
+without souls?"
+
+"You mean that a child born beyond reach of the sun's influence would
+have no soul?"
+
+"Such is my meaning, Mr. Knox. Do you begin to see the importance of my
+experiment with the lotus seeds?"
+
+I shook my head slowly. Whereupon, laying his corn-cob upon the desk,
+Colin Camber burst into a fit of boyish laughter, which seemed to
+rejuvenate him again, which wiped out the image of the magus completely,
+and only left before me a very human student of strange subjects, and
+withal a fascinating companion.
+
+"I fear, sir," he said, presently, "that my steps have led me farther
+into the wilderness than it has been your fate to penetrate. The whole
+secret of the universe is contained in the words Day and Night, Darkness
+and Light. I have studied both the light and the darkness, deliberately
+and without fear. A new age is about to dawn, sir, and a new age
+requires new beliefs, new truths. Were you ever in the country of the
+Hill Dyaks?"
+
+This abrupt question rather startled me, but:
+
+"You refer to the Borneo hill-country?"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"No, I was never there."
+
+"Then this little magical implement will be new to you," said he.
+
+Standing up, he crossed to a cabinet littered untidily with all sorts
+of strange-looking objects, carved bones, queer little inlaid boxes,
+images, untidy manuscripts, and what-not.
+
+He took up what looked like a very ungainly tobacco-pipe, made of some
+rich brown wood, and, handing it to me:
+
+"Examine this, Mr. Knox," he said, the boyish smile of triumph returning
+again to his face.
+
+I did as he requested and made no discovery of note. The thing clearly
+was not intended for a pipe. The stem was soiled and, moreover, there
+was carving inside the bowl. So that presently I returned it to him,
+shaking my head.
+
+"Unless one should be informed of the properties of this little
+instrument," he declared, "discovery by experiment is improbable. Now,
+note."
+
+He struck the hollow of the bowl upon the palm of his hand, and it
+delivered a high, bell-like note which lingered curiously. Then:
+
+"Note again."
+
+He made a short striking motion with the thing, similar to that which
+one would employ who had designed to jerk something out of the bowl.
+And at the very spot on the floor where any object contained in the bowl
+would have fallen, came a reprise of the bell note! Clearly, from almost
+at my feet, it sounded, a high, metallic ring.
+
+He struck upward, and the bell-note sounded on the ceiling; to the
+right, and it came from the window; in my direction, and the tiny bell
+seemed to ring beside my ear! I will honestly admit that I was startled,
+but:
+
+"Dyak magic," said Colin Camber; "one of nature's secrets not yet
+discovered by conventional Western science. It was known to the Egyptian
+priesthood, of course; hence the Vocal Memnon. It was known to Madame
+Blavatsky, who employed an 'astral bell'; and it is known to me."
+
+He returned the little instrument to its place upon the cabinet.
+
+"I wonder if the fact will strike you as significant," said he, "that
+the note which you have just heard can only be produced between sunrise
+and sunset?"
+
+Without giving me time to reply:
+
+"The most notable survival of black magic--that is, the scientific
+employment of darkness against light--is to be met with in Haiti and
+other islands of the West Indies."
+
+"You are referring to Voodooism?" I said, slowly.
+
+He nodded, replacing his pipe between his teeth.
+
+"A subject, Mr. Knox, which I investigated exhaustively some years ago."
+
+I was watching him closely as he spoke, and a shadow, a strange shadow,
+crept over his face, a look almost of exaltation--of mingled sorrow and
+gladness which I find myself quite unable to describe.
+
+"In the West Indies, Mr. Knox," he continued, in a strangely altered
+voice, "I lost all and found all. Have you ever realized, sir, that
+sorrow is the price we must pay for joy?"
+
+I did not understand his question, and was still wondering about it when
+I heard a gentle knock, the door opened, and a woman came in.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+YSOLA CAMBER
+
+
+
+I find it difficult, now, to recapture my first impression of that
+meeting. About the woman, hesitating before me, there was something
+unexpected, something wholly unfamiliar. She belonged to a type with
+which I was not acquainted. Nor was it wonderful that she should strike
+me in this fashion, since my wanderings, although fairly extensive,
+had never included the West Indies, nor had I been to Spain; and this
+girl--I could have sworn that she was under twenty--was one of those
+rare beauties, a golden Spaniard.
+
+That she was not purely Spanish I learned later.
+
+She was small, and girlishly slight, with slender ankles and exquisite
+little feet; indeed I think she had the tiniest feet of any woman I
+had ever met. She wore a sort of white pinafore over her dress, and her
+arms, which were bare because of the short sleeves of her frock, were of
+a child-like roundness, whilst her creamy skin was touched with a faint
+tinge of bronze, as though, I remember thinking, it had absorbed
+and retained something of the Southern sunshine. She had the swaying
+carriage which usually belongs to a tall woman, and her head and neck
+were Grecian in poise.
+
+Her hair, which was of a curious dull gold colour, presented a mass of
+thick, tight curls, and her beauty was of that unusual character which
+makes a Cleopatra a subject of deathless debate. What I mean to say is
+this: whilst no man could have denied, for instance, that Val Beverley
+was a charmingly pretty woman, nine critics out of ten must have failed
+to classify this golden Spaniard correctly or justly. Her complexion was
+peach-like in the Oriental sense, that strange hint of gold underlying
+the delicate skin, and her dark blue eyes were shaded by really
+wonderful silken lashes.
+
+Emotion had the effect of enlarging the pupils, a phenomenon rarely met
+with, so that now as she entered the room and found a stranger present
+they seemed to be rather black than blue.
+
+Her embarrassment was acute, and I think she would have retired without
+speaking, but:
+
+"Ysola," said Colin Camber, regarding her with a look curiously
+compounded of sorrow and pride, "allow me to present Mr. Malcolm Knox,
+who has honoured us with a visit."
+
+He turned to me.
+
+"Mr. Knox," he said, "it gives me great pleasure that you should meet my
+wife."
+
+Perhaps I had expected this, indeed, subconsciously, I think I had.
+Nevertheless, at the words "my wife" I felt that I started. The analogy
+with Edgar Allan Poe was complete.
+
+As Mrs. Camber extended her hand with a sort of appealing timidity, it
+appeared to me that she felt herself to be intruding. The expression
+in her beautiful eyes when she glanced at her husband could only be
+described as one of adoration; and whilst it was impossible to doubt
+his love for her, I wondered if his colossal egotism were capable of
+stooping to affection. I wondered if he knew how to tend and protect
+this delicate Southern girl wife of his.
+
+Remembering the episode of the Lavender Arms, I felt justified in
+doubting her happiness, and in this I saw an explanation of the mingled
+sorrow and pride with which Colin Camber regarded her. It might betoken
+recognition of his own shortcomings as a husband.
+
+"How nice of you to come and see us. Mr. Knox," she said.
+
+She spoke in a faintly husky manner which was curiously attractive,
+although lacking the deep, vibrant tones of Madame de Staemer's memorable
+voice. Her English was imperfect, but her accent good.
+
+"Your husband has been carrying me to enchanted lands, Mrs. Camber," I
+replied. "I have never known a morning to pass so quickly."
+
+"Oh," she replied, and laughed with a childish glee which I was glad to
+witness. "Did he tell you all about the book which is going to make the
+world good? Did he tell you it will make us rich as well?"
+
+"Rich?" said Camber, frowning slightly. "Nature's riches are health and
+love. If we hold these the rest will come. Now that you have joined
+us, Ysola, I shall beg Mr. Knox, in honour of this occasion, to drink a
+glass of wine and break a biscuit as a pledge of future meetings."
+
+I watched him as he spoke, a lean, unkempt figure invested with a
+curious dignity, and I found it almost impossible to believe that this
+was the same man who had sat in the bar of the Lavender Arms, sipping
+whisky and water. The resemblance to the portrait in Harley's office
+became more marked than ever. There was an air of high breeding about
+the delicate features which, curiously enough, was accentuated by the
+unshaven chin. I recognized that refusal would be regarded as a rebuff,
+and therefore:
+
+"You are very kind," I said.
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head gravely and courteously.
+
+"We are very glad to have you with us, Mr. Knox," he replied.
+
+He clapped his hands, and, silent as a shadow, Ah Tsong appeared. I
+noted that although it was Camber who had summoned him, it was to Mrs.
+Camber that the Chinaman turned for orders. I had thought his yellow
+face incapable of expression, but as his oblique eyes turned in the
+direction of the girl I read in them a sort of dumb worship, such as one
+sees in the eyes of a dog.
+
+She spoke to him rapidly in Chinese.
+
+"Hoi, hoi," he muttered, "hoi, hoi," nodded his head, and went out.
+
+I saw that Colin Camber had detected my interest, for:
+
+"Ah Tsong is really my wife's servant," he explained.
+
+"Oh," she said in a low voice, and looked at me earnestly, "Ah Tsong
+nursed me when I was a little baby so high." She held her hand about
+four feet from the floor and laughed gleefully. "Can you imagine what a
+funny little thing I was?"
+
+"You must have been a wonder-child, Mrs. Camber," I replied with
+sincerity; "and Ah Tsong has remained with you ever since?"
+
+"Ever since," she echoed, shaking her head in a vaguely pathetic way.
+"He will never leave me, do you think, Colin?"
+
+"Never," replied her husband; "you are all he loves in the world. A
+case, Mr. Knox," he turned to me, "of deathless fidelity rarely met with
+nowadays and only possible, perhaps, in its true form in an Oriental."
+
+Mrs. Camber having seated herself upon one of the few chairs which was
+not piled with books, her husband had resumed his place by the writing
+desk, and I sought in vain to interpret the glances which passed between
+them.
+
+The fact that these two were lovers none could have mistaken. But here
+again, as at Cray's Folly, I detected a shadow. I felt that something
+had struck at the very root of their happiness, in fact, I wondered if
+they had been parted, and were but newly reunited for there was a sort
+of constraint between them, the more marked on the woman's side than on
+the man's. I wondered how long they had been married, but felt that it
+would have been indiscreet to ask.
+
+Even as the idea occurred to me, however, an opportunity arose of
+learning what I wished to know. I heard a bell ring, and:
+
+"There is someone at the door, Colin," said Mrs. Camber.
+
+"I will go," he replied. "Ah Tsong has enough to do."
+
+Without another word he stood up and walked out of the room.
+
+"You see," said Mrs. Camber, smiling in her naive way, "we only have one
+servant, except Ah Tsong, her name is Mrs. Powis. She is visiting her
+daughter who is married. We made the poor old lady take a holiday."
+
+"It is difficult to imagine you burdened with household
+responsibilities, Mrs. Camber," I replied. "Please forgive me but I
+cannot help wondering how long you have been married?"
+
+"For nearly four years."
+
+"Really?" I exclaimed. "You must have been married very young?"
+
+"I was twenty. Do I look so young?"
+
+I gazed at her in amazement.
+
+"You astonish me," I declared, which was quite true and no mere
+compliment. "I had guessed your age to be eighteen."
+
+"Oh," she laughed, and resting her hands upon the settee leaned forward
+with sparkling eyes, "how funny. Sometimes I wish I looked older. It is
+dreadful in this place, although we have been so happy here. At all the
+shops they look at me so funny, so I always send Mrs. Powis now."
+
+"You are really quite wonderful," I said. "You are Spanish, are you not,
+Mrs. Camber?"
+
+She slightly shook her head, and I saw the pupils begin to dilate.
+
+"Not really Spanish," she replied, haltingly. "I was born in Cuba."
+
+"In Cuba?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Then it was in Cuba that you met Mr. Camber?"
+
+She nodded again, watching me intently.
+
+"It is strange that a Virginian should settle in Surrey."
+
+"Yes?" she murmured, "you think so? But really it is not strange at all.
+Colin's people are so proud, so proud. Do you know what they are like,
+those Virginians? Oh! I hate them."
+
+"You hate them?"
+
+"No, I cannot hate them, for he is one. But he will never go back."
+
+"Why should he never go back, Mrs. Camber?"
+
+"Because of me."
+
+"You mean that you do not wish to settle in America?"
+
+"I could not--not where he comes from. They would not have me."
+
+Her eyes grew misty, and she quickly lowered her lashes.
+
+"Would not have you?" I exclaimed. "I don't understand."
+
+"No?" she said, and smiled up at me very gravely. "It is simple. I am a
+Cuban, one, as they say, of an inferior race--and of mixed blood."
+
+She shook her golden head as if to dismiss the subject, and stood up, as
+Camber entered, followed by Ah Tsong bearing a tray of refreshments.
+
+Of the ensuing conversation I remember nothing. My mind was focussed
+upon the one vital fact that Mrs. Camber was a Cuban Creole. Dimly I
+felt that here was the missing link for which Paul Harley was groping.
+For it was in Cuba that Colin Camber had met his wife, it was from Cuba
+that the menace of Bat Wing came.
+
+What could it mean? Surely it was more than a coincidence that these
+two families, both associated with the West Indies, should reside within
+sight of one another in the Surrey Hills. Yet, if it were the result of
+design, the design must be on the part of Colonel Menendez, since the
+Cambers had occupied the Guest House before he had leased Cray's Folly.
+
+I know not if I betrayed my absentmindedness during the time that I was
+struggling vainly with these maddening problems, but presently, Mrs.
+Camber having departed about her household duties, I found myself
+walking down the garden with her husband.
+
+"This is the summer house of which I was speaking, Mr. Knox," he said,
+and I regret to state that I retained no impression of his having
+previously mentioned the subject. "During the time that Sir James
+Appleton resided at Cray's Folly, I worked here regularly in the summer
+months. It was Sir James, of course, who laid out the greater part of
+the gardens and who rescued the property from the state of decay into
+which it had fallen."
+
+I aroused myself from the profitless reverie in which I had become lost.
+We were standing before a sort of arbour which marked the end of the
+grounds of the Guest House. It overhung the edge of a miniature ravine,
+in which, over a pebbly course, a little stream pursued its way down the
+valley to feed the lake in the grounds of Cray's Folly.
+
+From this point of vantage I could see the greater part of Colonel
+Menendez's residence. I had an unobstructed view of the tower and of the
+Tudor garden.
+
+"I abandoned my work-shop," pursued Colin Camber, "when the--er--the new
+tenant took up his residence. I work now in the room in which you found
+me this morning."
+
+He sighed, and turning abruptly, led the way back to the house, holding
+himself very erect, and presenting a queer figure in his threadbare
+dressing gown.
+
+It was now a perfect summer's day, and I commented upon the beauty of
+the old garden, which in places was bordered by a crumbling wall.
+
+"Yes, a quaint old spot," said Camber. "I thought at one time, because
+of the name of the house, that it might have been part of a monastery
+or convent. This was not the case, however. It derives its name from a
+certain Sir Jaspar Guest, who flourished, I believe, under King Charles
+of merry memory."
+
+"Nevertheless," I added, "the Guest House is a charming survival of more
+spacious days."
+
+"True," returned Colin Camber, gravely. "Here it is possible to lead
+one's own life, away from the noisy world," he sighed again wearily.
+"Yes, I shall regret leaving the Guest House."
+
+"What! You are leaving?"
+
+"I am leaving as soon as I can find another residence, suited both to my
+requirements and to my slender purse. But these domestic affairs can be
+of no possible interest to you. I take it, Mr. Knox, that you will grant
+my wife and myself the pleasure of your company at lunch?"
+
+"Many thanks," I replied, "but really I must return to Cray's Folly."
+
+As I spoke the words I had moved a little ahead at a point where
+the path was overgrown by a rose bush, for the garden was somewhat
+neglected.
+
+"You will quite understand," I said, and turned.
+
+Never can I forget the spectacle which I beheld.
+
+Colin Camber's peculiarly pale complexion had assumed a truly ghastly
+pallor, and he stood with tightly clenched hands, glaring at me almost
+insanely.
+
+"Mr. Camber," I cried, with concern, "are you unwell?"
+
+He moistened his dry lips, and:
+
+"You are returning--to Cray's Folly?" he said, speaking, it seemed, with
+difficulty.
+
+"I am, sir. I am staying with Colonel Menendez."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+He clutched the collar of his pyjama jacket and wrenched so strongly
+that the button was torn off. His passion was incredible, insane. The
+power of speech had almost left him.
+
+"You are a guest of--of Devil Menendez," he whispered, and the
+speaking of the name seemed almost to choke him. "Of--Devil Menendez.
+You--you--are a spy. You have stolen my hospitality--you have obtained
+access to my house under false pretences. God! if I had known!"
+
+"Mr. Camber," I said, sternly, and realized that I, too, had clenched
+my fists, for the man's language was grossly insulting, "you forget
+yourself."
+
+"Perhaps I do," he muttered, thickly; "and therefore"--he raised a
+quivering forefinger--"go! If you have any spark of compassion in your
+breast, go! Leave my house."
+
+Nostrils dilated, he stood with that quivering finger outstretched, and
+now having become as speechless as he, I turned and walked rapidly up to
+the house.
+
+"Ah Tsong! Ah Tsong!" came a cry from behind me in tones which I can
+only describe as hysterical--"Mr. Knox's hat and stick. Quickly."
+
+As I walked in past the study door the Chinaman came to meet me, holding
+my hat and cane. I took them from him without a word, and, the door
+being held open by Ah Tsong, walked out on to the road.
+
+My heart was beating rapidly. I did not know what to think nor what to
+do. This ignominious dismissal afforded an experience new to me. I was
+humiliated, mortified, but above all, wildly angry.
+
+How far I had gone on my homeward journey I cannot say, when the sound
+of quickly pattering footsteps intruded upon my wild reverie. I stopped,
+turned, and there was Ah Tsong almost at my heels.
+
+"Blinga chit flom lilly missee," he said, and held the note toward me.
+
+I hesitated, glaring at him in a way that must have been very
+unpleasant; but recovering myself I tore open the envelope, and read the
+following note, written in pencil and very shakily:
+
+MR. KNOX. Please forgive him. If you knew what we have suffered from
+Senor Don Juan Menendez, I know you would forgive him. Please, for my
+sake. YSOLA CAMBER.
+
+The Chinaman was watching me, that strangely pathetic expression in his
+eyes, and:
+
+"Tell your mistress that I quite understand and will write to her," I
+said.
+
+"Hoi, hoi."
+
+Ah Tsong turned, and ran swiftly off, as I pursued my way back to Cray's
+Folly in a mood which I shall not attempt to describe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+UNREST
+
+
+
+I sat in Paul Harley's room. Luncheon was over, and although, as on the
+previous day, it had been a perfect repast, perfectly served, the sense
+of tension which I had experienced throughout the meal had made me
+horribly ill at ease.
+
+That shadow of which I have spoken elsewhere seemed to have become
+almost palpable. In vain I had ascribed it to a morbid imagination:
+persistently it lingered.
+
+Madame de Staemer's gaiety rang more false than ever. She twirled the
+rings upon her slender fingers and shot little enquiring glances all
+around the table. This spirit of unrest, from wherever it arose, had
+communicated itself to everybody. Madame's several bon mots one and all
+were failures. She delivered them without conviction like an amateur
+repeating lines learned by heart. The Colonel was unusually silent,
+eating little but drinking much. There was something unreal, almost
+ghastly, about the whole affair; and when at last Madame de Staemer
+retired, bearing Val Beverley with her, I felt certain that the Colonel
+would make some communication to us. If ever knowledge of portentous
+evil were written upon a man's face it was written upon his, as he sat
+there at the head of the table, staring straightly before him. However:
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "if your enquiries here have led to no result of,
+shall I say, a tangible character, at least I feel sure that you must
+have realized one thing."
+
+Harley stared at him sternly.
+
+"I have realized, Colonel Menendez," he replied, "that something is
+pending."
+
+"Ah!" murmured the Colonel, and he clutched the edge of the table with
+his strong brown hands.
+
+"But," continued my friend, "I have realized something more. You have
+asked for my aid, and I am here. Now you have deliberately tied my
+hands."
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" asked the other, softly.
+
+"I will speak plainly. I mean that you know more about the nature of
+this danger than you have ever communicated to me. Allow me to proceed,
+if you please, Colonel Menendez. For your delightful hospitality I thank
+you. As your guest I could be happy, but as a professional investigator
+whose services have been called upon under most unusual circumstances, I
+cannot be happy and I do not thank you."
+
+Their glances met. Both were angry, wilful, and self-confident.
+Following a few moments of silence:
+
+"Perhaps, Mr. Harley," said the Colonel, "you have something further to
+say?"
+
+"I have this to say," was the answer: "I esteem your friendship, but I
+fear I must return to town without delay."
+
+The Colonel's jaws were clenched so tightly that I could see the muscles
+protruding. He was fighting an inward battle; then:
+
+"What!" he said, "you would desert me?"
+
+"I never deserted any man who sought my aid."
+
+"I have sought your aid."
+
+"Then accept it!" cried Harley. "This, or allow me to retire from the
+case. You ask me to find an enemy who threatens you, and you withhold
+every clue which could aid me in my search."
+
+"What clue have I withheld?"
+
+Paul Harley stood up.
+
+"It is useless to discuss the matter further, Colonel Menendez," he
+said, coldly.
+
+The Colonel rose also, and:
+
+"Mr. Harley," he replied, and his high voice was ill-controlled, "if I
+give you my word of honour that I dare not tell you more, and if, having
+done so, I beg of you to remain at least another night, can you refuse
+me?"
+
+Harley stood at the end of the table watching him.
+
+"Colonel Menendez," he said, "this would appear to be a game in which my
+handicap rests on the fact that I do not know against whom I am pitted.
+Very well. You leave me no alternative but to reply that I will stay."
+
+"I thank you, Mr. Harley. As I fear I am far from well, dare I hope to
+be excused if I retire to my room for an hour's rest?"
+
+Harley and I bowed, and the Colonel, returning our salutations, walked
+slowly out, his bearing one of grace and dignity. So that memorable
+luncheon terminated, and now we found ourselves alone and faced with
+a problem which, from whatever point one viewed it, offered no single
+opening whereby one might hope to penetrate to the truth.
+
+Paul Harley was pacing up and down the room in a state of such nervous
+irritability as I never remembered to have witnessed in him before.
+
+I had just finished an account of my visit to the Guest House and of the
+indignity which had been put upon me, and:
+
+"Conundrums! conundrums!" my friend exclaimed. "This quest of Bat Wing
+is like the quest of heaven, Knox. A hundred open doors invite us,
+each one promising to lead to the light, and if we enter where do they
+lead?--to mystification. For instance, Colonel Menendez has broadly
+hinted that he looks upon Colin Camber as an enemy. Judging from your
+reception at the Guest House to-day, such an enmity, and a deadly
+enmity, actually exists. But whereas Camber has resided here for
+three years, the Colonel is a newcomer. We are, therefore, offered
+the spectacle of a trembling victim seeking the sacrifice. Bah! it is
+preposterous."
+
+"If you had seen Colin Camber's face to-day, you might not have thought
+it so preposterous."
+
+"But I should, Knox! I should! It is impossible to suppose that Colonel
+Menendez was unaware when he leased Cray's Folly that Camber occupied
+the Guest House."
+
+"And Mrs. Camber is a Cuban," I murmured.
+
+"Don't, Knox!" my friend implored. "This case is driving me mad. I have
+a conviction that it is going to prove my Waterloo."
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, "this mood is new to you."
+
+"Why don't you advise me to remember Auguste Dupin?" asked Harley,
+bitterly. "That great man, preserving his philosophical calm, doubtless
+by this time would have pieced together these disjointed clues, and
+have produced an elegant pattern ready to be framed and exhibited to the
+admiring public."
+
+He dropped down upon the bed, and taking his briar from his pocket,
+began to load it in a manner which was almost vicious. I stood watching
+him and offered no remark, until, having lighted the pipe, he began to
+smoke. I knew that these "Indian moods" were of short duration, and,
+sure enough, presently:
+
+"God bless us all, Knox," he said, breaking into an amused smile, "how
+we bristle when someone tries to prove that we are not infallible! How
+human we are, Knox, but how fortunate that we can laugh at ourselves."
+
+I sighed with relief, for Harley at these times imposed a severe strain
+even upon my easy-going disposition.
+
+"Let us go down to the billiard room," he continued. "I will play you a
+hundred up. I have arrived at a point where my ideas persistently work
+in circles. The best cure is golf; failing golf, billiards."
+
+The billiard room was immediately beneath us, adjoining the last
+apartment in the east wing, and there we made our way. Harley
+played keenly, deliberately, concentrating upon the game. I was less
+successful, for I found myself alternately glancing toward the door
+and the open window, in the hope that Val Beverley would join us. I was
+disappointed, however. We saw no more of the ladies until tea-time, and
+if a spirit of constraint had prevailed throughout luncheon, a veritable
+demon of unrest presided upon the terrace during tea.
+
+Madame de Staemer made apologies on behalf of the Colonel. He was
+prolonging his siesta, but he hoped to join us at dinner.
+
+"Is the Colonel's heart affected?" Harley asked.
+
+Madame de Staemer shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, blankly.
+
+"It is mysterious, the state of his health," she replied. "An old
+trouble, which began years and years ago in Cuba."
+
+Harley nodded sympathetically, but I could see that he was not
+satisfied. Yet, although he might doubt her explanation, he had noted,
+and so had I, that Madame de Staemer's concern was very real. Her slender
+hands were strangely unsteady; indeed her condition bordered on one of
+distraction.
+
+Harley concealed his thoughts, whatever they may have been, beneath that
+mask of reserve which I knew so well, whilst I endeavoured in vain to
+draw Val Beverley into conversation with me.
+
+I gathered that Madame de Staemer had been to visit the invalid, and
+that she was all anxiety to return was a fact she was wholly unable to
+conceal. There was a tired look in her still eyes, as though she had
+undertaken a task beyond her powers to perform, and, so unnatural a
+quartette were we, that when presently she withdrew I was glad, although
+she took Val Beverley with her.
+
+Paul Harley resumed his seat, staring at me with unseeing eyes. A
+sound reached us through the drawing room which told us that Madame de
+Staemer's chair was being taken upstairs, a task always performed when
+Madame desired to visit the upper floors by Manoel and Pedro's daughter,
+Nita, who acted as Madame's maid. These sounds died away, and I thought
+how silent everything had become. Even the birds were still, and
+presently, my eye being attracted to a black speck in the sky above, I
+learned why the feathered choir was mute. A hawk was hovering loftily
+overhead.
+
+Noting my upward glance, Paul Harley also raised his eyes.
+
+"Ah," he murmured, "a hawk. All the birds are cowering in their nests.
+Nature is a cruel mistress, Knox."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+RED EVE
+
+
+
+Over the remainder of that afternoon I will pass in silence. Indeed,
+looking backward now, I cannot recollect that it afforded one incident
+worthy of record. But because great things overshadow small, so it may
+be that whereas my recollections of quite trivial episodes are sharp
+enough up to a point, my memories from this point onward to the horrible
+and tragic happening which I have set myself to relate are hazy and
+indistinct. I was troubled by the continued absence of Val Beverley.
+I thought that she was avoiding me by design, and in Harley's gloomy
+reticence I could find no shadow of comfort.
+
+We wandered aimlessly about the grounds, Harley staring up in a vague
+fashion at the windows of Cray's Folly; and presently, when I stopped to
+inspect a very perfect rose bush, he left me without a word, and I found
+myself alone.
+
+Later, as I sauntered toward the Tudor garden, where I had hoped to
+encounter Miss Beverley, I heard the clicking of billiard balls; and
+there was Harley at the table, practising fancy shots.
+
+He glanced up at me as I paused by the open window, stopped to relight
+his pipe, and then bent over the table again.
+
+"Leave me alone, Knox," he muttered; "I am not fit for human society."
+
+Understanding his moods as well as I did, I merely laughed and withdrew.
+
+I strolled around into the library and inspected scores of books without
+forming any definite impression of the contents of any of them. Manoel
+came in whilst I was there and I was strongly tempted to send a message
+to Miss Beverley, but common sense overcame the inclination.
+
+When at last my watch told me that the hour for dressing was arrived,
+I heaved a sigh of relief. I cannot say that I was bored, my ill-temper
+sprang from a deeper source than this. The mysterious disappearance of
+the inmates of Cray's Folly, and a sort of brooding stillness which lay
+over the great house, had utterly oppressed me.
+
+As I passed along the terrace I paused to admire the spectacle afforded
+by the setting sun. The horizon was on fire from north to south and the
+countryside was stained with that mystic radiance which is sometimes
+called the Blood of Apollo. Turning, I saw the disk of the moon coldly
+rising in the heavens. I thought of the silent birds and the hovering
+hawk, and I began my preparations for dinner mechanically, dressing as
+an automaton might dress.
+
+Paul Harley's personality was never more marked than in his evil moods.
+His power to fascinate was only equalled by his power to repel. Thus,
+although there was a light in his room and I could hear Lim moving
+about, I did not join him when I had finished dressing, but lighting a
+cigarette walked downstairs.
+
+The beauty of the night called to me, although as I stepped out upon the
+terrace I realized with a sort of shock that the gathering dusk held a
+menace, so that I found myself questioning the shadows and doubting
+the rustle of every leaf. Something invisible, intangible yet potent,
+brooded over Cray's Folly. I began to think more kindly of the
+disappearance of Val Beverley during the afternoon. Doubtless she, too,
+had been touched by this spirit of unrest and in solitude had sought to
+dispel it.
+
+So thinking. I walked on in the direction of the Tudor garden. The place
+was bathed in a sort of purple half-light, lending it a fairy air of
+unreality, as though banished sun and rising moon yet disputed for
+mastery over earth. This idea set me thinking of Colin Camber, of
+Osiris, whom he had described as a black god, and of Isis, whose silver
+disk now held undisputed sovereignty of the evening sky.
+
+Resentment of the treatment which I had received at the Guest House
+still burned hotly within me, but the mystery of it all had taken the
+keen edge off my wrath, and I think a sort of melancholy was the keynote
+of my reflections as, descending the steps to the sunken garden, I saw
+Val Beverley, in a delicate blue gown, coming toward me. She was the
+spirit of my dreams, and the embodiment of my mood. When she lowered her
+eyes at my approach, I knew by virtue of a sort of inspiration that she
+had been avoiding me.
+
+"Miss Beverley," I said, "I have been looking for you all the
+afternoon."
+
+"Have you? I have been in my room writing letters."
+
+I paced slowly along beside her.
+
+"I wish you would be very frank with me," I said.
+
+She glanced up swiftly, and as swiftly lowered her lashes again.
+
+"Do you think I am not frank?"
+
+"I do think so. I understand why."
+
+"Do you really understand?"
+
+"I think I do. Your woman's intuition has told you that there is
+something wrong."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"You are afraid of your thoughts. You can see that Madame de Staemer and
+Colonel Menendez are deliberately concealing something from Paul Harley,
+and you don't know where your duty lies. Am I right?"
+
+She met my glance for a moment in a startled way, then: "Yes," she said,
+softly; "you are quite right. How have you guessed?"
+
+"I have tried very hard to understand you," I replied, "and so perhaps
+up to a point I have succeeded."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox." She suddenly laid her hand upon my arm. "I am oppressed
+with such a dreadful foreboding, yet I don't know how to explain it to
+you."
+
+"I understand. I, too, have felt it."
+
+"You have?" She paused, and looked at me eagerly. "Then it is not
+just morbid imagination on my part. If only I knew what to do, what to
+believe. Really, I am bewildered. I have just left Madame de Staemer--"
+
+"Yes?" I said, for she had paused in evident doubt.
+
+"Well, she has utterly broken down."
+
+"Broken down?"
+
+"She came to my room and sobbed hysterically for nearly an hour this
+afternoon."
+
+"But what was the cause of her grief?"
+
+"I simply cannot understand."
+
+"Is it possible that Colonel Menendez is dangerously ill?"
+
+"It may be so, Mr. Knox, but in that event why have they not sent for a
+physician?"
+
+"True," I murmured; "and no one has been sent for?"
+
+"No one."
+
+"Have you seen Colonel Menendez?"
+
+"Not since lunch-time."
+
+"Have you ever known him to suffer in this way before?"
+
+"Never. It is utterly unaccountable. Certainly during the last few
+months he has given up riding practically altogether, and in other ways
+has changed his former habits, but I have never known him to exhibit
+traces of any real illness."
+
+"Has any medical man attended him?"
+
+"Not that I know of. Oh, there is something uncanny about it all.
+Whatever should I do if you were not here?"
+
+She had spoken on impulse, and seeing her swift embarrassment:
+
+"Miss Beverley," I said, "I am delighted to know that my company cheers
+you."
+
+Truth to tell my heart was beating rapidly, and, so selfish is the
+nature of man, I was more glad to learn that my company was acceptable
+to Val Beverley than I should have been to have had the riddle of Cray's
+Folly laid bare before me.
+
+Those sweetly indiscreet words, however, had raised a momentary barrier
+between us, and we walked on silently to the house, and entered the
+brightly lighted hall.
+
+The silver peal of a Chinese tubular gong rang out just when we reached
+the veranda, and as Val Beverley and I walked in from the garden, Madame
+de Staemer came wheeling through the doorway, closely followed by Paul
+Harley. In her the art of the toilette amounted almost to genius, and
+she had so successfully concealed all traces of her recent grief that I
+wondered if this could have been real.
+
+"My dear Mr. Knox," she cried, "I seem to be fated always to apologize
+for other people. The Colonel is truly desolate, but he cannot join us
+for dinner. I have already explained to Mr. Harley."
+
+Harley inclined his head sympathetically, and assisted to arrange Madame
+in her place.
+
+"The Colonel requests us to smoke a cigar with him after dinner, Knox,"
+he said, glancing across to me. "It would seem that troubles never come
+singly."
+
+"Ah," Madame shrugged her shoulders, which her low gown left daringly
+bare, "they come in flocks, or not at all. But I suppose we should feel
+lonely in the world without a few little sorrows, eh, Mr. Harley?"
+
+I loved her unquenchable spirit, and I have wondered often enough what
+I should have thought of her if I had known the truth. France has bred
+some wonderful women, both good and bad, but none I think more wonderful
+than Marie de Staemer.
+
+If such a thing were possible, we dined more extravagantly than on
+the previous night. Madame's wit was at its keenest; she was truly
+brilliant. Pedro, from the big bouffet at the end of the room,
+supervised this feast of Lucullus, and except for odd moments of silence
+in which Madame seemed to be listening for some distant sound, there was
+nothing, I think, which could have told a casual observer that a black
+cloud rested upon the house.
+
+Once, interrupting a tete-a-tete between Val Beverley and Paul Harley:
+
+"Do not encourage her, Mr. Harley," said Madame, "she is a desperate
+flirt."
+
+"Oh, Madame," cried Val Beverley and blushed deeply.
+
+"You know you are, my dear, and you are very wise. Flirt all your
+life, but never fall in love. It is fatal, don't you think so, Mr.
+Knox?"--turning to me in her rapid manner.
+
+I looked into her still eyes, which concealed so much.
+
+"Say, rather, that it is Fate," I murmured.
+
+"Yes, that is more pretty, but not so true. If I could live my life
+again, M. Knox," she said, for she sometimes used the French and
+sometimes the English mode of address, "I should build a stone wall
+around my heart. It could peep over, but no one could ever reach it."
+
+Oddly enough, then, as it seems to me now, the spirit of unrest seemed
+almost to depart for awhile, and in the company of the vivacious
+Frenchwoman time passed very quickly up to the moment when Harley and I
+walked slowly upstairs to join the Colonel.
+
+During the latter part of dinner an idea had presented itself to me
+which I was anxious to mention to Harley, and:
+
+"Harley," I said, "an explanation of the Colonel's absence has occurred
+to me."
+
+"Really!" he replied; "possibly the same one that has occurred to me."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+Paul Harley paused on the stairs, turning to me.
+
+"You are thinking that he has taken cover from the danger which he
+believes particularly to threaten him to-night?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"You may be right," he murmured, proceeding upstairs.
+
+He led the way to a little smoke-room which hitherto I had never
+visited, and in response to his knock:
+
+"Come in," cried the high voice of Colonel Menendez.
+
+We entered to find ourselves in a small and very cosy room. There was a
+handsome oak bureau against one wall, which was littered with papers
+of various kinds, and there was also a large bookcase occupied almost
+exclusively by French novels. It occurred to me that the Colonel spent a
+greater part of his time in this little snuggery than in the more formal
+study below. At the moment of our arrival he was stretched upon a
+settee near which stood a little table; and on this table I observed the
+remains of what appeared to me to have been a fairly substantial repast.
+For some reason which I did not pause to analyze at the moment I noted
+with disfavour the presence of a bowl of roses upon the silver tray.
+
+Colonel Menendez was smoking a cigarette, and Manoel was in the act of
+removing the tray.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Colonel, "I have no words in which to express
+my sorrow. Manoel, pull up those armchairs. Help yourself to port, Mr.
+Harley, and fill Mr. Knox's glass. I can recommend the cigars in the
+long box."
+
+As we seated ourselves:
+
+"I am extremely sorry to find you indisposed, sir," said Harley.
+
+He was watching the dark face keenly, and probably thinking, as I was
+thinking, that it exhibited no trace of illness.
+
+Colonel Menendez waved his cigarette gracefully, settling himself amid
+the cushions.
+
+"An old trouble, Mr. Harley," he replied, lightly; "a legacy from
+ancestors who drank too deep of the wine of life."
+
+"You are surely taking medical advice?"
+
+Colonel Menendez shrugged slightly.
+
+"There is no doctor in England who would understand the case," he
+replied. "Besides, there is nothing for it but rest and avoidance of
+excitement."
+
+"In that event, Colonel," said Harley, "we will not disturb you for
+long. Indeed, I should not have consented to disturb you at all, if
+I had not thought that you might have some request to make upon this
+important night."
+
+"Ah!" Colonel Menendez shot a swift glance in his direction. "You have
+remembered about to-night?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"Your interest comforts me very greatly, gentlemen, and I am only
+sorry that my uncertain health has made me so poor a host. Nothing
+has occurred since your arrival to help you, I am aware. Not that I
+am anxious for any new activity on the part of my enemies. But almost
+anything which should end this deathly suspense would be welcome."
+
+He spoke the final words with a peculiar intonation. I saw Harley
+watching him closely.
+
+"However," he continued, "everything is in the hands of Fate, and
+if your visit should prove futile, I can only apologize for
+having interrupted your original plans. Respecting to-night"--he
+shrugged--"what can I say?"
+
+"Nothing has occurred," asked Harley, slowly, "nothing fresh, I mean,
+to indicate that the danger which you apprehend may really culminate
+to-night?"
+
+"Nothing fresh, Mr. Harley, unless you yourself have observed anything."
+
+"Ah," murmured Paul Harley, "let us hope that the threat will never be
+fulfilled."
+
+Colonel Menendez inclined his head gravely.
+
+"Let us hope so," he said.
+
+On the whole, he was curiously subdued. He was most solicitous for our
+comfort and his exquisite courtesy had never been more marked. I often
+think of him now--his big but graceful figure reclining upon the settee,
+whilst he skilfully rolled his eternal cigarettes and chatted in that
+peculiar, light voice. Before the memory of Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento
+Menendez I sometimes stand appalled. If his Maker had but endowed him
+with other qualities of mind and heart equal to his magnificent courage,
+then truly he had been a great man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON
+
+
+
+I stood at Harley's open window--looking down in the Tudor garden. The
+moon, like a silver mirror, hung in a cloudless sky. Over an hour had
+elapsed since I had heard Pedro making his nightly rounds. Nothing
+whatever of an unusual nature had occurred, and although Harley and I
+had listened for any sound of nocturnal footsteps, our vigilance had
+passed unrewarded. Harley, unrolling the Chinese ladder, had set out
+upon a secret tour of the grounds, warning me that it must be a long
+business, since the brilliance of the moonlight rendered it necessary
+that he should make a wide detour, in order to avoid possible
+observation from the windows. I had wished to join him, but:
+
+"I count it most important that one of us should remain in the house,"
+he had replied.
+
+As a result, here was I at the open window, questioning the shadows to
+right and left of me, and every moment expecting to see Harley reappear.
+I wondered what discoveries he would make. It would not have surprised
+me to learn that there were lights in many windows of Cray's Folly
+to-night.
+
+Although, when we had rejoined the ladies for half an hour, after
+leaving Colonel Menendez's room, there had been no overt reference to
+the menace overhanging the house, yet, as we separated for the night, I
+had detected again in Val Beverley's eyes that look of repressed fear.
+Indeed, she was palpably disinclined to retire, but was carried off by
+the masterful Madame, who declared that she looked tired.
+
+I wondered now, as I gazed down into the moon-bathed gardens, if Harley
+and I were the only wakeful members of the household at that hour. I
+should have been prepared to wager that there were others. I thought of
+the strange footsteps which so often passed Miss Beverley's room, and I
+discovered this thought to be an uncomfortable one.
+
+Normally, I was sceptical enough, but on this night of the full moon
+as I stood there at the window, the horrors which Colonel Menendez
+had related to us grew very real in my eyes, and I thought that the
+mysteries of Voodoo might conceal strange and ghastly truths, "The
+scientific employment of darkness against light." Colin Camber's words
+leapt unbidden to my mind; and, such is the magic of moonlight, they
+became invested with a new and a deeper significance. Strange, that
+theories which one rejects whilst the sun is shining should assume a
+spectral shape in the light of the moon.
+
+Such were my musings, when suddenly I heard a faint sound as of
+footsteps crunching upon gravel. I leaned farther out of the window,
+listening intently. I could not believe that Harley would be guilty of
+such an indiscretion as this, yet who else could be walking upon the
+path below?
+
+As I watched, craning from the window, a tall figure appeared, and,
+slowly crossing the gravel path, descended the moss-grown steps to the
+Tudor garden.
+
+It was Colonel Menendez!
+
+He was bare-headed, but fully dressed as I had seen him in the
+smoking-room; and not yet grasping the portent of his appearance at that
+hour, but merely wondering why he had not yet retired, I continued to
+watch him. As I did so, something in his gait, something unnatural in
+his movements, caught hold of my mind with a sudden great conviction. He
+had reached the path which led to the sun-dial, and with short, queer,
+ataxic steps was proceeding in its direction, a striking figure in the
+brilliant moonlight which touched his gray hair with a silvery sheen.
+
+His unnatural, automatic movements told their own story. He was walking
+in his sleep! Could it be in obedience to the call of M'kombo?
+
+My throat grew dry and I knew not how to act. Unwillingly it seemed,
+with ever-halting steps, the figure moved onward. I could see that his
+fists were tightly clenched and that he held his head rigidly upright.
+All horrors, real and imaginary, which I had ever experienced,
+culminated in the moment when I saw this man of inflexible character,
+I could have sworn of indomitable will, moving like a puppet under the
+influence of some unnameable force.
+
+He was almost come to the sun-dial when I determined to cry out. Then,
+remembering the shock experienced by a suddenly awakened somnambulist,
+and remembering that the Chinese ladder hung from the window at my feet,
+I changed my mind. Checking the cry upon my lips, I got astride of the
+window ledge, and began to grope for the bamboo rungs beneath me. I had
+found the first of these, and, turning, had begun to descend, when:
+
+"Knox! Knox!" came softly from the opening in the box hedge, "what the
+devil are you about?"
+
+It was Paul Harley returned from his tour of the building.
+
+"Harley!" I whispered, descending, "quick! the Colonel has just gone
+into the Tudor garden!"
+
+"What!" There was a note of absolute horror in the exclamation. "You
+should have stopped him, Knox, you should have stopped him!" cried
+Harley, and with that he ran off in the same direction.
+
+Disentangling my foot from the rungs of the ladder which lay upon
+the ground, I was about to follow, when it happened--that strange and
+ghastly thing toward which, secretly, darkly, events had been tending.
+
+The crack of a rifle sounded sharply in the stillness, echoing and
+re-echoing from wing to wing of Cray's Folly and then, more dimly, up
+the wooded slopes beyond! Somewhere ahead of me I heard Harley cry out:
+
+"My God, I am too late! They have got him!"
+
+Then, hotfoot, I was making for the entrance to the garden. Just as I
+came to it and raced down the steps I heard another sound the memory of
+which haunts me to this day.
+
+Where it came from I had no idea. Perhaps I was too confused to judge
+accurately. It might have come from the house, or from the slopes beyond
+the house, But it was a sort of shrill, choking laugh, and it set the
+ultimate touch of horror upon a _scene macabre_ which, even as I write
+of it, seems unreal to me.
+
+I ran up the path to where Harley was kneeling beside the sun-dial.
+Analysis of my emotions at this moment were futile; I can only say that
+I had come to a state of stupefaction. Face downward on the grass, arms
+outstretched and fists clenched, lay Colonel Menendez. I think I saw him
+move convulsively, but as I gained his side Harley looked up at me, and
+beneath the tan which he never lost his face had grown pale. He spoke
+through clenched teeth.
+
+"Merciful God," he said, "he is shot through the head."
+
+One glance I gave at the ghastly wound in the base of the Colonel's
+skull, and then swayed backward in a sort of nausea. To see a man die
+in the heat of battle, a man one has known and called friend, is strange
+and terrible. Here in this moon-bathed Tudor garden it was a horror
+almost beyond my powers to endure.
+
+Paul Harley, without touching the prone figure, stood up. Indeed no
+examination of the victim was necessary. A rifle bullet had pierced his
+brain, and he lay there dead with his head toward the hills.
+
+I clutched at Harley's shoulder, but he stood rigidly, staring up the
+slope past the angle of the tower, to where a gable of the Guest House
+jutted out from the trees.
+
+"Did you hear--that cry?" I whispered, "immediately after the shot?"
+
+"I heard it."
+
+A moment longer he stood fixedly watching, and then:
+
+"Not a wisp of smoke," he said. "You note the direction in which he was
+facing when he fell?"
+
+He spoke in a stern and unnatural voice.
+
+"I do. He must have turned half right when he came to the sun-dial."
+
+"Where were you when the shot was fired?"
+
+"Running in this direction."
+
+"You saw no flash?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Neither did I," groaned Harley; "neither did I. And short of throwing a
+cordon round the hills what can be done? How can I move?"
+
+He had somewhat relaxed, but now as I continued to clutch his arm, I
+felt the muscles grow rigid again.
+
+"Look, Knox!" he whispered--"look!"
+
+I followed the direction of his fixed stare, and through the trees on
+the hillside a dim light shone out. Someone had lighted a lamp in the
+Guest House.
+
+A faint, sibilant sound drew my glance upward, and there overhead a
+bat circled--circled--dipped--and flew off toward the distant woods. So
+still was the night that I could distinguish the babble of the little
+stream which ran down into the lake. Then, suddenly, came a loud
+flapping of wings. The swans had been awakened by the sound of the shot.
+Others had been awakened, too, for now distant voices became audible,
+and then a muffled scream from somewhere within Cray's Folly.
+
+"Back to the house, Knox," said Harley, hoarsely. "For God's sake keep
+the women away. Get Pedro, and send Manoel for the nearest doctor.
+It's useless but usual. Let no one deface his footprints. My worst
+anticipations have come true. The local police must be informed."
+
+Throughout the time that he spoke he continued to search the moon-bathed
+landscape with feverish eagerness, but except for a faint movement
+of birds in the trees, for they, like the swans on the lake, had been
+alarmed by the shot, nothing stirred.
+
+"It came from the hillside," he muttered. "Off you go, Knox."
+
+And even as I started on my unpleasant errand, he had set out running
+toward the gate in the southern corner of the garden.
+
+For my part I scrambled unceremoniously up the bank, and emerged where
+the yews stood sentinel beside the path. I ran through the gap in the
+box hedge just as the main doors were thrown open by Pedro.
+
+He started back as he saw me.
+
+"Pedro! Pedro!" I cried, "have the ladies been awakened?"
+
+"Yes, yes! there is terrible trouble, sir. What has happened? What has
+happened?"
+
+"A tragedy," I said, shortly. "Pull yourself together. Where is Madame
+de Staemer?"
+
+Pedro uttered some exclamation in Spanish and stood, pale-faced, swaying
+before me, a dishevelled figure in a dressing gown. And now in the
+background Mrs. Fisher appeared. One frightened glance she cast in my
+direction, and would have hurried across the hall but I intercepted her.
+
+"Where are you going, Mrs. Fisher?" I demanded. "What has happened
+here?"
+
+"To Madame, to Madame," she sobbed, pointing toward the corridor which
+communicated with Madame de Staemer's bedchamber.
+
+I heard a frightened cry proceeding from that direction, and recognized
+the voice of Nita, the girl who acted as Madame's maid. Then I heard Val
+Beverley.
+
+"Go and fetch Mrs. Fisher, Nita, at once--and try to behave yourself. I
+have trouble enough."
+
+I entered the corridor and pulled up short. Val Beverley, fully dressed,
+was kneeling beside Madame de Staemer, who wore a kimono over her
+night-robe, and who lay huddled on the floor immediately outside the
+door of her room!
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox!" cried the girl, pitifully, and raised frightened eyes to
+me. "For God's sake, what has happened?"
+
+Nita, the Spanish girl, who was sobbing hysterically, ran along to join
+Mrs. Fisher.
+
+"I will tell you in a moment," I said, quietly, rendered cool, as one
+always is, by the need of others. "But first tell me--how did Madame de
+Staemer get here?"
+
+"I don't know, I don't know! I was startled by the shot. It has awakened
+everybody. And just as I opened my door to listen, I heard Madame cry
+out in the hall below. I ran down, turned on the light, and found her
+lying here. She, too, had been awakened, I suppose, and was endeavouring
+to drag herself from her room when her strength failed her and she
+swooned. She is too heavy for me to lift," added the girl, pathetically,
+"and Pedro is out of his senses, and Nita, who was the first of the
+servants to come, is simply hysterical, as you can see."
+
+I nodded reassuringly, and stooping, lifted the swooning woman. She was
+much heavier than I should have supposed, but, Val Beverley leading the
+way, I carried her into her apartment and placed her upon the bed.
+
+"I will leave her to you," I said. "You have courage, and so I will tell
+you what has happened."
+
+"Yes, tell me, oh, tell me!"
+
+She laid her hands upon my shoulders appealingly, and looked up into my
+eyes in a way that made me long to take her in my arms and comfort her,
+an insane longing which I only crushed with difficulty.
+
+"Someone has shot Colonel Menendez," I said, in a low voice, for Mrs.
+Fisher had just entered.
+
+"You mean--"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+Val Beverley opened and closed her eyes, clutching at me dizzily for a
+moment, then:
+
+"I think," she whispered, "she must have known, and that was why she
+swooned. Oh, my God! how horrible."
+
+I made her sit down in an armchair, and watched her anxiously, but
+although every speck of colour had faded from her cheeks, she was
+splendidly courageous, and almost immediately she smiled up at me, very
+wanly, but confidently.
+
+"I will look after her," she said. "Mr. Harley will need your
+assistance."
+
+When I returned to the hall I found it already filled with a number of
+servants incongruously attired. Carter the chauffeur, who lived at the
+lodge, was just coming in at the door, and:
+
+"Carter," I said, "get a car out quickly, and bring the nearest doctor.
+If there is another man who can drive, send him for the police. Your
+master has been shot."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET HILTON
+
+
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said Inspector Aylesbury, "I will take evidence."
+
+Dawn was creeping grayly over the hills, and the view from the library
+windows resembled a study by Bastien-Lepage. The lamps burned yellowly,
+and the exotic appointments of the library viewed in that cold light for
+some reason reminded me of a stage set seen in daylight. The Velasquez
+portrait mentally translated me to the billiard room where something lay
+upon the settee with a white sheet drawn over it; and I wondered if
+my own face looked as wan and comfortless as did the faces of my
+companions, that is, of two of them, for I must except Inspector
+Aylesbury.
+
+Squarely before the oaken mantel he stood, a large, pompous man, but in
+this hour I could find no humour in Paul Harley's description of him as
+resembling a walrus. He had a large auburn moustache tinged with
+gray, and prominent brown eyes, but the lower part of his face, which
+terminated in a big double chin, was ill-balanced by his small forehead.
+He was bulkily built, and I had conceived an unreasonable distaste for
+his puffy hands. His official air and oratorical manner were provoking.
+
+Harley sat in the chair which he had occupied during our last interview
+with Colonel Menendez in the library, and I had realized--a realization
+which had made me uncomfortable--that I was seated upon the couch
+on which the Colonel had reclined. Only one other was present, Dr.
+Rolleston of Mid-Hatton, a slight, fair man with a brisk, military
+manner, acquired perhaps during six years of war service. He was
+standing beside me smoking a cigarette.
+
+"I have taken all the necessary particulars concerning the position of
+the body," continued the Inspector, "the nature of the wound, contents
+of pockets, etc., and I now turn to you, Mr. Harley, as the first person
+to discover the murdered man."
+
+Paul Harley lay back in the armchair watching the speaker.
+
+"Before we come to what happened here to-night I should like to be quite
+clear about your own position in the matter, Mr. Harley. Now"--Inspector
+Aylesbury raised one finger in forensic manner--"now, you visited me
+yesterday afternoon, Mr. Harley, and asked for certain information
+regarding the neighbourhood."
+
+"I did," said Harley, shortly.
+
+"The questions which you asked me were," continued the Inspector, slowly
+and impressively, "did I know of any negro or coloured people living
+in, or about, Mid-Hatton, and could I give you a list of the residents
+within a two-mile radius of Cray's Folly. I gave you the information
+which you required, and now it is your turn to give me some. Why did you
+ask those questions?"
+
+"For this reason," was the reply--"I had been requested by Colonel
+Menendez to visit Cray's Folly, accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, in
+order that I might investigate certain occurrences which had taken place
+here."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, raising his eyebrows, "I see. You were here to
+make investigations?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And these occurrences, will you tell me what they were?"
+
+"Simple enough in themselves," replied Harley. "Someone broke into the
+house one night."
+
+"Broke into the house?"
+
+"Undoubtedly."
+
+"But this was never reported to us."
+
+"Possibly not, but someone broke in, nevertheless. Secondly, Colonel
+Menendez had detected someone lurking about the lawns, and thirdly, the
+wing of a bat was nailed to the main door."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury lowered his eyebrows and concentrated a frowning
+glance upon the speaker.
+
+"Of course, sir," he said, "I don't want to jump to conclusions, but you
+are not by any chance trying to be funny at a time like this?"
+
+"My sense of humour has failed me entirely," replied Harley. "I am
+merely stating bald facts in reply to your questions."
+
+"Oh, I see."
+
+The Inspector cleared his throat.
+
+"Someone broke into Cray's Folly, then, a fact which was not reported to
+me, a suspicious loiterer was seen in the grounds, again not reported,
+and someone played a silly practical joke by nailing the wing of a bat,
+you say, to the door. Might I ask, Mr. Harley, why you mention this
+matter? The other things are serious, but why you should mention the
+trick of some mischievous boy at a time like this I can't imagine."
+
+"No," said Harley, wearily, "it does sound absurd, Inspector; I quite
+appreciate the fact. But, you see, Colonel Menendez regarded it as the
+most significant episode of them all."
+
+"What! The bat wing nailed on the door?"
+
+"The bat wing, decidedly. He believed it to be the token of a negro
+secret society which had determined upon his death, hence my enquiries
+regarding coloured men in the neighbourhood. Do you understand,
+Inspector?"
+
+Inspector Aylesbury took a large handkerchief from his pocket and blew
+his nose. Replacing the handkerchief he cleared his throat, and:
+
+"Am I to understand," he enquired, "that the late Colonel Menendez had
+expected to be attacked?"
+
+"You may understand that," replied Harley. "It explains my presence in
+the house."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, "I see. It looks as though he might have done
+better if he had applied to me."
+
+Paul Harley glanced across in my direction and smiled grimly.
+
+"As I had predicted, Knox," he murmured, "my Waterloo."
+
+"What's that you say about Waterloo, Mr. Harley?" demanded the
+Inspector.
+
+"Nothing germane to the case," replied Harley. "It was a reference to a
+battle, not to a railway station."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stared at him dully.
+
+"You quite understand that you are giving evidence?" he said.
+
+"It were impossible not to appreciate the fact."
+
+"Very well, then. The late Colonel Menendez thought he was in danger
+from negroes. Why did he think that?"
+
+"He was a retired West Indian planter," replied Harley, patiently,
+"and he was under the impression that he had offended a powerful native
+society, and that for many years their vengeance had pursued him.
+Attempts to assassinate him had already taken place in Cuba and in the
+United States."
+
+"What sort of attempts?"
+
+"He was shot at, several times, and once, in Washington, was attacked by
+a man with a knife. He maintained in my presence and in the presence
+of my friend, Mr. Knox, here, that these various attempts were due to
+members of a sect or religion known as Voodoo."
+
+"Voodoo?"
+
+"Voodoo, Inspector, also known as Obeah, a cult which has spread from
+the West Coast of Africa throughout the West Indies and to parts of the
+United States. The bat wing is said to be a sign used by these people."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+
+"Now let me get this thing clear," said he: "Colonel Menendez believed
+that people called Voodoos wanted to kill him? Before we go any farther,
+why?"
+
+"Twenty years ago in the West Indies he had shot an important member of
+this sect."
+
+"Twenty years ago?"
+
+"According to a statement which he made to me, yes."
+
+"I see. Then for twenty years these Voodoos have been trying to kill
+him? Then he comes and settles here in Surrey and someone nails a bat
+wing to his door? Did you see this bat wing?"
+
+"I did. I have it upstairs in my bag if you would care to examine it."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, "I see. And thinking he had been followed to
+England he came to you to see if you could save him?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded grimly.
+
+"Why did he go to you in preference to the local police, the proper
+authorities?" demanded the Inspector.
+
+"He was advised to do so by the Spanish ambassador, or so he informed
+me."
+
+"Is that so? Well, I suppose it had to be. Coming from foreign parts. I
+expect he didn't know what our police are for." He cleared his throat.
+"Very well, I understand now what you were doing here, Mr. Harley. The
+next thing is, what were you doing tonight, as I see that both you and
+Mr. Knox are still in evening dress?"
+
+"We were keeping watch," I replied.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned to me ponderously, raising a fat hand.
+"One moment, Mr. Knox, one moment," he protested. "The evidence of one
+witness at a time."
+
+"We were keeping watch," said Harley, deliberately echoing my words.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"More or less we were here for that purpose. You see, on the night
+of the full moon, according to Colonel Menendez, Obeah people become
+particularly active."
+
+"Why on the night of the full moon?"
+
+"This I cannot tell you."
+
+"Oh, I see. You were keeping watch. Where were you keeping watch?"
+
+"In my room."
+
+"In which part of the house is your room?"
+
+"Northeast. It overlooks the Tudor garden."
+
+"At what time did you retire?"
+
+"About half-past ten."
+
+"Did you leave the Colonel well?"
+
+"No, he had been unwell all day. He had remained in his room."
+
+"Had he asked you to sit up?"
+
+"Not at all; our vigil was quite voluntary."
+
+"Very well, then, you were in your room when the shot was fired?"
+
+"On the contrary, I was on the path in front of the house."
+
+"Oh, I see. The front door was open, then?"
+
+"Not at all. Pedro had locked up for the night."
+
+"And locked you out?"
+
+"No; I descended from my window by means of a ladder which I had brought
+with me for the purpose."
+
+"With a ladder? That's rather extraordinary, Mr Harley."
+
+"It is extraordinary. I have strange habits."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again and looked frowningly
+across at my friend.
+
+"What part of the grounds were you in when the shot was fired?" he
+demanded.
+
+"Halfway along the north side."
+
+"What were you doing?"
+
+"I was running."
+
+"Running?"
+
+"You see, Inspector, I regarded it as my duty to patrol the grounds of
+the house at nightfall, since, for all I knew to the contrary, some of
+the servants might be responsible for the attempts of which the Colonel
+complained. I had descended from the window of my room, had passed
+entirely around the house east to west, and had returned to my
+starting-point when Mr. Knox, who was looking out of the window,
+observed Colonel Menendez entering the Tudor garden."
+
+"Oh. Colonel Menendez was not visible to you?"
+
+"Not from my position below, but being informed by my friend, who
+was hurriedly descending the ladder, that the Colonel had entered the
+garden, I set off running to intercept him."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"He had acquired a habit of walking in his sleep, and I presumed that he
+was doing so on this occasion."
+
+"Oh, I see. So being told by the gentleman at the window that Colonel
+Menendez was in the garden, you started to run toward him. While you
+were running you heard a shot?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Where do you think it came from?"
+
+"Nothing is more difficult to judge, Inspector, especially when one is
+near to a large building surrounded by trees."
+
+"Nevertheless," said the Inspector, again raising his finger and
+frowning at Harley, "you cannot tell me that you formed no impression on
+the point. For instance, was it near, or a long way off?"
+
+"It was fairly near."
+
+"Ten yards, twenty yards, a hundred yards, a mile?"
+
+"Within a hundred yards. I cannot be more exact."
+
+"Within a hundred yards, and you have no idea from which direction the
+shot was fired?"
+
+"From the sound I could form none."
+
+"Oh, I see. And what did you do?"
+
+"I ran on and down into the sunken garden. I saw Colonel Menendez lying
+upon his face near the sun-dial. He was moving convulsively. Running up
+to him, I that he had been shot through the head."
+
+"What steps did you take?"
+
+"My friend, Mr. Knox, had joined me, and I sent him for assistance."
+
+"But what steps did you take to apprehend the murderer?"
+
+Paul Harley looked at him quietly.
+
+"What steps should you have taken?" he asked.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again, and:
+
+"I don't think I should have let my man slip through my fingers like
+that," he replied. "Why! by now he may be out of the county."
+
+"Your theory is quite feasible," said Harley, tonelessly.
+
+"You were actually on the spot when the shot was fired, you admit that
+it was fired within a hundred yards, yet you did nothing to apprehend
+the murderer."
+
+"No," replied Harley, "I was ridiculously inactive. You see, I am a mere
+amateur, Inspector. For my future guidance I should be glad to know what
+the correct procedure would have been."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury blew his nose.
+
+"I know my job," he said. "If I had been called in there might have been
+a different tale to tell. But he was a foreigner, and he paid for his
+ignorance, poor fellow."
+
+Paul Harley took out his pipe and began to load it in a deliberate and
+lazy manner.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned his prominent eyes in my direction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+COMPLICATIONS
+
+
+
+"I am afraid of this man Aylesbury," said Paul Harley. We sat in the
+deserted dining room. I had contributed my account of the evening's
+happenings, Dr. Rolleston had made his report, and Inspector Aylesbury
+was now examining the servants in the library. Harley and I had obtained
+his official permission to withdraw, and the physician was visiting
+Madame de Staemer, who lay in a state of utter prostration.
+
+"What do you mean, Harley?"
+
+"I mean that he will presently make some tragic blunder. Good God,
+Knox, to think that this man had sought my aid, and that I stood by idly
+whilst he walked out to his death. I shall never forgive myself." He
+banged the table with his fist. "Even now that these unknown fiends have
+achieved their object, I am helpless, helpless. There was not a wisp of
+smoke to guide me, Knox, and one man cannot search a county."
+
+I sighed wearily.
+
+"Do you know, Harley," I said, "I am thinking of a verse of Kipling's."
+
+"I know!" he interrupted, almost savagely.
+
+  "A Snider squibbed in the jungle.
+  Somebody laughed and fled--"
+
+"Oh, I know, Knox. I heard that damnable laughter, too."
+
+"My God," I whispered, "who was it? What was it? Where did it come
+from?"
+
+"As well ask where the shot came from, Knox. Out amongst all those
+trees, with a house that might have been built for a sounding-board, who
+could presume to say where either came from? One thing we know, that the
+shot came from the south."
+
+He leaned upon a corner of the table, staring at me intently.
+
+"From the south?" I echoed.
+
+Harley glanced in the direction of the open door.
+
+"Presently," he said, "we shall have to tell Aylesbury everything
+that we know. After all, he represents the law; but unless we can get
+Inspector Wessex down from Scotland Yard, I foresee a miscarriage of
+justice. Colonel Menendez lay on his face, and the line made by his
+recumbent body pointed almost directly toward--"
+
+I nodded, watching him.
+
+"I know, Harley--toward the Guest House."
+
+Paul Harley inclined his head, grimly.
+
+"The first light which we saw," he continued, "was in a window of the
+Guest House. It may have had no significance. Awakened by the sound of a
+rifle-shot near by, any one would naturally get up."
+
+"And having decided to come downstairs and investigate," I continued,
+"would naturally light a lamp."
+
+"Quite so." He stared at me very hard. "Yet," he said, "unless Mr. Colin
+Camber can produce an alibi I foresee a very stormy time for him."
+
+"So do I, Harley. A deadly hatred existed between these two men, and
+probably this horrible deed was done on the spur of the moment. It is
+of his poor little girl-wife that I am thinking. As though her troubles
+were not heavy enough already."
+
+"Yes," he agreed. "I am almost tempted to hold my tongue, Knox, until
+I have personally interviewed these people. But of course if our
+blundering friend directly questions me, I shall have no alternative. I
+shall have to answer him. His talent for examination, however, scarcely
+amounts to genius, so that we may not be called upon for further details
+at the moment. I wonder how I can induce him to requisition Scotland
+Yard?"
+
+He rested his chin in his hand and stared down reflectively at the
+carpet. I thought that he looked very haggard, as he sat there in the
+early morning light, dressed as for dinner. There was something pathetic
+in the pose of his bowed head.
+
+Leaning across, I placed my hand on his shoulder.
+
+"Don't get despondent, old chap," I said. "You have not failed yet."
+
+"Oh, but I have, Knox!" he cried, fiercely, "I have! He came to me for
+protection. Now he lies dead in his own house. Failed? I have failed
+utterly, miserably."
+
+I turned aside as the door opened and Dr. Rolleston came in.
+
+"Ah, gentlemen," he said, "I wanted to see you before leaving. I have
+just been to visit Madame de Staemer again."
+
+"Yes," said Harley, eagerly; "how is she?"
+
+Dr. Rolleston lighted a cigarette, frowning perplexedly the while.
+
+"To be honest," he replied, "her condition puzzles me."
+
+He walked across to the fireplace and dropped the match, staring at
+Harley with a curious expression.
+
+"Has any one told her the truth?" he asked.
+
+"You mean that Colonel Menendez is dead?"
+
+"Yes," replied Dr. Rolleston. "I understood that no one had told her?"
+
+"No one has done so to my knowledge," said Harley.
+
+"Then the sympathy between them must have been very acute," murmured the
+physician, "for she certainly knows!"
+
+"Do you really think she knows?" I asked.
+
+"I am certain of it. She must have had knowledge of a danger to be
+apprehended, and being awakened by the sound of the rifle shot, have
+realized by a sort of intuition that the expected tragedy had happened.
+I should say, from the presence of a small bruise which I found upon her
+forehead, that she had actually walked out into the corridor."
+
+"Walked?" I cried.
+
+"Yes," said the physician. "She is a shell-shock case, of course, and we
+sometimes find that a second shock counteracts the effect of the first.
+This, temporarily at any rate, seems to have happened to-night. She
+is now in a very curious state: a form of hysteria, no doubt, but very
+curious all the same."
+
+"Miss Beverley is with her?" I asked.
+
+Dr. Rolleston nodded affirmatively.
+
+"Yes, a very capable nurse. I am glad to know that Madame de Staemer is
+in such good hands. I am calling again early in the morning, and I have
+told Mrs. Fisher to see that nothing is said within hearing of the room
+which could enable Madame de Staemer to obtain confirmation of the idea,
+which she evidently entertains, that Colonel Menendez is dead."
+
+"Does she actually assert that he is dead?" asked Harley.
+
+"My dear sir," replied Dr. Rolleston, "she asserts nothing. She sits
+there like Niobe changed to stone, staring straight before her. She
+seems to be unaware of the presence of everyone except Miss Beverley.
+The only words she has spoken since recovering consciousness have been,
+'Don't leave me!'"
+
+"Hm," muttered Harley. "You have not attended Madame de Staemer before,
+doctor?"
+
+"No," was the reply, "this is the first time I have entered Cray's Folly
+since it was occupied by Sir James Appleton."
+
+He was about to take his departure when the door opened and Inspector
+Aylesbury walked in.
+
+"Ah," said he, "I have two more witnesses to interview: Madame de Staemer
+and Miss Beverley. From these witnesses I hope to get particulars of
+the dead man's life which may throw some light upon the identity of his
+murderer."
+
+"It is impossible to see either of them at present," replied Dr.
+Rolleston briskly.
+
+"What's that, doctor?" asked the Inspector. "Are they hysterical, or
+something?"
+
+"As a result of the shock, Madame de Staemer is dangerously ill," replied
+the physician, "and Miss Beverley is remaining with her."
+
+"Oh, I see. But Miss Beverley could come out for a few minutes?"
+
+"She could," admitted the physician, sharply, "but I don't wish her to
+do so."
+
+"Oh, but the law must be served, doctor."
+
+"Quite so, but not at the expense of my patient's reason."
+
+He was a resolute man, this country practitioner, and I saw Harley
+smiling in grim approval.
+
+"I have expressed my opinion," he said, finally, walking out of the
+room; "I shall leave the responsibility to you, Inspector Aylesbury.
+Good morning, gentlemen."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+
+"That's awkward," he muttered. "The evidence of this woman is highly
+important."
+
+He turned toward us, doubtingly, whereupon Harley stood up, yawning.
+
+"If I can be of any further assistance to you, Inspector," said my
+friend, "command me. Otherwise, I feel sure you will appreciate the
+fact that both Mr. Knox and myself are extremely tired, and have passed
+through a very trying ordeal."
+
+"Yes," replied Inspector Aylesbury, "that's all very well, but I find
+myself at a deadlock."
+
+"You surprise me," declared Harley.
+
+"I can see nothing to be surprised about," cried the Inspector. "When I
+was called in it was already too late."
+
+"Most unfortunate," murmured Harley, disagreeably. "Come along, Knox,
+you look tired to death."
+
+"One moment, gentlemen," the Inspector insisted, as I stood up. "One
+moment. There is a little point which you may be able to clear up."
+
+Harley paused, his hand on the door knob, and turned.
+
+"The point is this," continued the Inspector, frowning portentously and
+lowering his chin so that it almost disappeared into the folds of his
+neck, "I have now interviewed all the inmates of Cray's Folly except the
+ladies. It appears to me that four people had not gone to bed. There are
+you two gentlemen, who have explained why I found you in evening dress,
+Colonel Menendez, who can never explain, and there is one other."
+
+He paused, looking from Harley to myself.
+
+It had come, the question which I had dreaded, the question which I had
+been asking myself ever since I had seen Val Beverley kneeling in the
+corridor, dressed as she had been when we had parted for the night.
+
+"I refer to Miss Val Beverley," the police-court voice proceeded. "This
+lady had evidently not retired, and neither, it would appear, had the
+Colonel."
+
+"Neither had I," murmured Harley, "and neither had Mr. Knox."
+
+"Your reason I understand," said the Inspector, "or at least your
+explanation is a possible one. But if the party broke up, as you say it
+did, somewhere about half-past ten o'clock, and if Madame de Staemer
+had gone to bed, why should Miss Beverley have remained up?" He paused
+significantly. "As well as Colonel Menendez?" he added.
+
+"Look here, Inspector Aylesbury," I interrupted, I speaking in a very
+quiet tone, I remember, "your insinuations annoy me."
+
+"Oh," said he, turning his prominent eyes in my direction, "I see. They
+annoy you? If they annoy you, sir, perhaps you can explain this point
+which is puzzling me?"
+
+"I cannot explain it, but doubtless Miss Beverley can do so when you ask
+her."
+
+"I should like to have asked her now, and I can't make out why she
+refuses to see me."
+
+"She has not refused to see you," replied Harley, smoothly. "She is
+probably unaware of the fact that you wish to see her."
+
+"I don't know so much," muttered the Inspector. "In my opinion I am
+being deliberately baffled on all sides. You can throw no light on this
+matter, then?"
+
+"None," I answered, shortly, and Paul Harley shook his head.
+
+"But you must remember, Inspector," he explained, "that the entire
+household was in a state of unrest."
+
+"In other words, everybody was waiting for this very thing to happen?"
+
+"Consciously, or subconsciously, everybody was."
+
+"What do you mean by consciously or subconsciously?"
+
+ "I mean that those of us who were aware of the previous attempts on
+the life of the Colonel apprehended this danger. And I believe that
+something of this apprehension had extended even to the servants."
+
+ "Oh, to the servants? Now, I have seen all the servants, except the
+chef, who lives at a house on the outskirts of Mid-Hatton, as you may
+know. Can you give me any information about this man?"
+
+"I have seen him," replied Harley, "and have congratulated him upon his
+culinary art. His name, I believe, is Deronne. He is a Spaniard, and a
+little fat man. Quite an amiable creature," he added.
+
+"Hm." The Inspector cleared his throat noisily.
+
+"If that is all," said Harley, "I should welcome an opportunity of a few
+hours' sleep."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector. "Well, I suppose that is quite natural, but I
+shall probably have a lot more questions to ask you later."
+
+"Quite," muttered Harley, "quite. Come on, Knox. Good-night, Inspector
+Aylesbury."
+
+"Good-night."
+
+Harley walked out of the dining room and across the deserted hall. He
+slowly mounted the stairs and I followed him into his room. It was now
+quite light, and as my friend dropped down upon the bed I thought that
+he looked very tired and haggard.
+
+"Knox," he said, "shut the door."
+
+I closed the door and turned to him.
+
+"You heard that question about Miss Beverley?" I began.
+
+"I heard it, and I am wondering what her answer will be when the
+Inspector puts it to her personally."
+
+"Surely it is obvious?" I cried. "A cloud of apprehension had settled on
+the house last night, Harley, which was like the darkness of Egypt. The
+poor girl was afraid to go to bed. She was probably sitting up reading."
+
+"Hm," said Harley, drumming his feet upon the carpet. "Of course you
+realize that there is one person in Cray's Folly who holds the clue to
+the heart of the mystery?"
+
+"Madame de Staemer?"
+
+He nodded grimly.
+
+"When the rifle cracked out, Knox, she knew! Remember, no one had told
+her the truth. Yet can you doubt that she knows?"
+
+"I don't doubt it."
+
+"Neither do I." He clenched his teeth tightly and beat his fists upon
+the coverlet. "I was dreading that our friend the Inspector would ask a
+question which to my mind was very obvious."
+
+"You mean?--"
+
+"Well, what investigator whose skull contained anything more useful than
+bubbles would have failed to ask if Colonel Menendez had an enemy in the
+neighbourhood?"
+
+"No one," I admitted; "but I fear the poor man is sadly out of his
+depth."
+
+"He is wading hopelessly, Knox, but even he cannot fail to learn about
+Camber to-morrow."
+
+He stared at me in a curiously significant manner.
+
+"Do you mean, Harley," I began, "that you really think----"
+
+"My dear Knox," he interrupted, "forgetting, if you like, all that
+preceded the tragedy, with what facts are we left? That Colonel
+Menendez, at the moment when the bullet entered his brain, must have
+been standing facing directly toward the Guest House. Now, you have seen
+the direction of the wound?"
+
+"He was shot squarely between the eyes. A piece of wonderful
+marksmanship."
+
+"Quite," Harley nodded his head. "But the bullet came out just at the
+vertex of the spine."
+
+He paused, as if waiting for some comment, and:
+
+"You mean that the shot came from above?" I said, slowly.
+
+"Obviously it came from above, Knox. Keep these two points in your mind,
+and then consider the fact that someone lighted a lamp in the Guest
+House only a few moments after the shot had been fired."
+
+"I remember. I saw it."
+
+"So did I," said Harley, grimly, "and I saw something else."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"When you went off to summon assistance I ran across the lawn, scrambled
+through the bushes, and succeeded in climbing down into the little gully
+in which the stream runs, and up on the other side. I had proceeded
+practically in a straight line from the sun-dial, and do you know where
+I found myself?"
+
+"I can guess," I replied.
+
+"Of course you can. You have visited the place. I came out immediately
+beside a little hut, Knox, which stands at the end of the garden of
+the Guest House. Ahead of me, visible through a tangle of bushes in the
+neglected garden, a lamp was burning. I crept cautiously forward,
+and presently obtained a view of the interior of a kitchen. Just as
+I arrived at this point of vantage the lamp was extinguished, but not
+before I had had a glimpse of the only occupant of the room--the man who
+had extinguished the lamp."
+
+"Who was it?" I asked, in a low voice.
+
+"It was a Chinaman."
+
+"Ah Tsong!" I cried.
+
+"Doubtless."
+
+"Good heavens, Harley, do you think--"
+
+"I don't know what to think, Knox. A possible explanation is that the
+household had been aroused by the sound of the shot, and that Ah Tsong
+had been directed to go out and see if he could learn what had happened.
+At any rate, I waited no longer, but returned by the same route. If our
+portly friend from Market Hilton had possessed the eyes of an Auguste
+Dupin, he could not have failed to note that my dress boots were caked
+with light yellow clay; which also, by the way, besmears my trousers."
+
+He stooped and examined the garments as he spoke.
+
+"A number of thorns are also present," he continued. "In short, from the
+point of view of an investigation, I am a most provoking object."
+
+He sighed wearily, and stared out of the window in the direction of
+the Tudor garden. There was a slight chilliness in the air, which, or
+perhaps a sudden memory of that which lay in the billiard room beneath
+us, may have accounted for the fact that I shivered violently.
+
+Harley glanced up with a rather sad smile.
+
+"The morning after Waterloo," he said. "Sleep well, Knox."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A SPANISH CIGARETTE
+
+
+
+Sleep was not for me, despite Harley's injunction, and although I was
+early afoot, the big house was already astir with significant movements
+which set the imagination on fire, to conjure up again the moonlight
+scene in the garden, making mock of the song of the birds and of the
+glory of the morning.
+
+Manoel replied to my ring, and prepared my bath, but it was easy to see
+that he had not slept.
+
+No sound came from Harley's room, therefore I did not disturb him, but
+proceeded downstairs in the hope of finding Miss Beverley about. Pedro
+was in the hall, talking to Mrs. Fisher, and:
+
+"Is Inspector Aylesbury here?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir, but he will be returning at about half-past eight, so he
+said."
+
+"How is Madame de Staemer, Mrs. Fisher?" I enquired.
+
+"Oh, poor, poor Madame," said the old lady, "she is asleep, thank God.
+But I am dreading her awakening."
+
+"The blow is a dreadful one," I admitted; "and Miss Beverley?"
+
+"She didn't go to her room until after four o'clock, sir, but Nita tells
+me that she will be down any moment now."
+
+"Ah," said I, and lighting a cigarette, I walked out of the open doors
+into the courtyard.
+
+I dreaded all the ghastly official formalities which the day would
+bring, since I realized that the brunt of the trouble must fall upon the
+shoulders of Miss Beverley in the absence of Madame de Staemer.
+
+I wandered about restlessly, awaiting the girl's appearance. A little
+two seater was drawn up in the courtyard, but I had not paid much
+attention to it, until, wandering through the opening in the box hedge
+and on along the gravel path, I saw unfamiliar figures moving in the
+billiard room, and turned, hastily retracing my steps. Officialdom was
+at work already, and I knew that there would be no rest for any of us
+from that hour onward.
+
+As I reentered the hall I saw Val Beverley coming down the staircase.
+She looked pale, but seemed to be in better spirits than I could have
+hoped for, although there were dark shadows under her eyes.
+
+"Good morning, Miss Beverley," I said.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Knox. It was good of you to come down so early."
+
+"I had hoped for a chat with you before Inspector Aylesbury returned," I
+explained.
+
+She looked at me pathetically.
+
+"I suppose he will want me to give evidence?"
+
+"He will. We had great difficulty in persuading him not to demand your
+presence last night."
+
+"It was impossible," she protested. "It would have been cruel to make me
+leave Madame in the circumstances."
+
+"We realized this, Miss Beverley, but you will have to face the ordeal
+this morning."
+
+We walked through into the library, where a maid white-faced and
+frightened looking, was dusting in a desultory fashion. She went out as
+we entered, and Val Beverley stood looking from the open window out into
+the rose garden bathed in the morning sunlight.
+
+"Oh, Heavens," she said, clenching her hands desperately, "even now I
+cannot realize that the horrible thing is true." She turned to me. "Who
+can possibly have committed this cold-blooded crime?" she said in a low
+voice. "What does Mr. Harley think? Has he any idea, any idea whatever?"
+
+"Not that he has confided to me," I said, watching her intently. "But
+tell me, does Madame de Staemer know yet?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean has she been told the truth?"
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"No," she replied; "I am positive that no one has told her. I was with
+her all the time, up to the very moment that she fell asleep. Yet--"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"She knows! Oh, Mr. Knox! to me that is the most horrible thing of all:
+that she knows, that she must have known all along--that the mere sound
+of the shot told her everything!"
+
+"You realize, now," I said, quietly, "that she had anticipated the end?"
+
+"Yes, yes. This was the meaning of the sorrow which I had seen so often
+in her eyes, the meaning of so much that puzzled me in her words, the
+explanation of lots of little things which have made me wonder in the
+past."
+
+I was silent for a while, then:
+
+"If she was so certain that no one could save him," I said, "she must
+have had information which neither he nor she ever imparted to us."
+
+"I am sure she had," declared Val Beverley.
+
+"But can you think of any reason why she should not have confided in
+Paul Harley?"
+
+"I cannot, I cannot--unless--"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Unless, Mr. Knox," she looked at me strangely, "they were both under
+some vow of silence. Oh! it sounds ridiculous, wildly ridiculous, but
+what other explanation can there be?"
+
+"What other, indeed? And now, Miss Beverley, I know one of the questions
+Inspector Aylesbury will ask you."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"He has learned, from one of the servants I presume, as he did not see
+you, that you had not retired last night at the time of the tragedy."
+
+"I had not," said Val Beverley, quietly. "Is that so singular?"
+
+"To me it is no more than natural."
+
+"I have never been so frightened in all my life as I was last night.
+Sleep was utterly out of the question. There was mystery in the very
+air. I knew, oh, Mr. Knox, in some way I knew that a tragedy was going
+to happen."
+
+"I believe I knew, too," I said. "Good God, to think that we might have
+saved him!"
+
+"Do you think--" began Val Beverley, and then paused.
+
+"Yes?" I prompted.
+
+"Oh, I was going to say a strange thing that suddenly occurred to me,
+but it is utterly foolish, I suppose. Inspector Aylesbury is coming back
+at nine o'clock, is he not?"
+
+"At half-past eight, so I understand."
+
+"I am afraid I have very little to tell him. I was sitting in my room
+in an appalling state of nerves when the shot was fired. I was not even
+reading; I was just waiting, waiting, for something to happen."
+
+"I understand. My own experience was nearly identical."
+
+"Then," continued the girl, "as I unlocked my door and peeped out,
+feeling too frightened to venture farther in the darkness, I heard
+Madame's voice in the hall below."
+
+"Crying for help?"
+
+"No," replied the girl, a puzzled frown appearing between her brows.
+"She cried out something in French. The intonation told me that it was
+French, although I could not detect a single word. Then I thought I
+heard a moan."
+
+"And you ran down?"
+
+"Yes. I summoned up enough courage to turn on the light in the corridor
+and to run down to the hall. And there she was lying just outside the
+door of her room."
+
+"Was her room in darkness?"
+
+"Yes. I turned on the light and succeeded in partly raising her, but
+she was too heavy for me to lift. I was still trying to revive her when
+Pedro opened the door of the servants' quarters. Oh," she closed her
+eyes wearily, "I shall never forget it."
+
+I took her hand and pressed it reassuringly.
+
+"Your courage has been wonderful throughout," I declared, "and I hope it
+will remain so to the end."
+
+She smiled, and flushed slightly, as I released her hand again.
+
+"I must go and take a peep at Madame now," she said, "but of course I
+shall not disturb her if she is still sleeping."
+
+We turned and walked slowly back to the hall, and there just entering
+from the courtyard was Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed, "good morning, Mr. Knox. This is Miss Beverley, I
+presume?"
+
+"Yes, Inspector," replied the girl. "I understand that you wish to speak
+to me?"
+
+"I do, Miss, but I shall not detain you for many minutes."
+
+"Very well," she said, and as she turned and retraced her steps, he
+followed her back into the library.
+
+I walked out to the courtyard, and avoiding the Tudor garden and the
+billiard room, turned in the other direction, passing the stables where
+Jim, the negro groom, saluted me very sadly, and proceeded round to the
+south side of the house.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury, I perceived, had wasted no time. I counted no
+fewer than four men, two of them in uniform, searching the lawns and the
+slopes beyond, although what they were looking for I could not imagine.
+
+Giving the library a wide berth, I walked along the second terrace,
+and presently came in sight of the east wing and the tower. There,
+apparently engaged in studying the rhododendrons, I saw Paul Harley.
+
+He signalled to me, and, crossing the lawn, I joined him where he stood.
+
+Without any word of greeting:
+
+"You see, Knox," he said, speaking in the eager manner which betokened
+a rapidly working brain, "this is the path which the Colonel must have
+followed last night. Yonder is the door by which, according to his own
+account, he came out on a previous occasion, walking in his sleep. Do
+you remember?"
+
+"I remember," I replied.
+
+"Well, Pedro found it unlocked this morning. You see it faces
+practically due south, and the Colonel's bedroom is immediately above us
+where we stand." He stared at me queerly. "I must have passed this door
+last night only a few moments before the Colonel came out, for I was
+just crossing the courtyard and could see you at my window at the moment
+when you saw poor Menendez enter the Tudor garden. He must have actually
+been walking around the east wing at the same time that I was walking
+around the west. Now, I am going to show you something, Knox, something
+which I have just discovered."
+
+From his waistcoat pocket he took out a half-smoked cigarette. I stared
+at it uncomprehendingly.
+
+"Of course," he continued, "the weather has been bone dry for more than
+a week now, and it may have lain there for a long time, but to me, Knox,
+to me it looks suspiciously fresh."
+
+"What is the point?" I asked, perplexedly.
+
+"The point is that it is a hand-made cigarette, one of the Colonel's.
+Don't you recognize it?"
+
+"Good heavens!" I said; "yes, of course it is."
+
+He returned it to his pocket without another word.
+
+"It may mean nothing," he murmured, "or it may mean everything. And now,
+Knox, we are going to escape."
+
+"To escape?" I cried.
+
+"Precisely. We are going to anticipate the probable movements of our
+blundering Aylesbury. In short, I wish you to present me to Mr. Colin
+Camber."
+
+"What?" I exclaimed, staring at him incredulously.
+
+"I am going to ask you," he began, and then, breaking off: "Quick, Knox,
+run!" he said.
+
+And thereupon, to my amazement, he set off through the rhododendron
+bushes in the direction of the tower!
+
+Utterly unable to grasp the meaning of his behaviour, I followed,
+nevertheless, and as we rounded the corner of the tower Harley pulled up
+short, and:
+
+"I am not mad," he explained rather breathlessly, "but I wanted to avoid
+being seen by that constable who is prowling about at the bottom of the
+lawn making signals in the direction of the library. Presumably he is
+replying to Inspector Aylesbury who wants to talk to us. I am determined
+to interview Camber before submitting to further official interrogation.
+It must be a cross-country journey, Knox. I am afraid we shall be a
+very muddy pair, but great issues may hang upon the success of our
+expedition."
+
+He set off briskly toward a belt of shrubbery which marked the edge of
+the little stream. Appreciating something of his intentions, I followed
+his lead unquestioningly; and, scrambling through the bushes:
+
+"This was the point at which I descended last night," he said. "You will
+have to wade, Knox, but the water is hardly above one's ankles."
+
+He dropped into the brook, waded across, and began to climb up the
+opposite bank. I imitated his movements, and presently, having scrambled
+up on the farther side, we found ourselves standing on a narrow bank
+immediately under that summer house which Colin Camber had told me he
+had formerly used as a study.
+
+"We can scarcely present ourselves at the kitchen door," murmured
+Harley; "therefore we must try to find a way round to the front. There
+is barbed wire here. Be careful."
+
+I had now entered with zest into the business, and so the pair of us
+waded through rank grass which in places was waist high, and on through
+a perfect wilderness of weeds in which nettles dominated. Presently we
+came to a dry ditch, which we negotiated successfully, to find ourselves
+upon the high road some hundred yards to the west of the Guest House.
+
+"I predict an unfriendly reception," I said, panting from my exertions,
+and surveying my friend, who was a mockery of his ordinarily spruce
+self.
+
+"We must face it," he replied, grimly. "He has everything to gain by
+being civil to us."
+
+We proceeded along the dusty high road, almost overarched by trees.
+
+"Harley," I said, "this is going to be a highly unpleasant ordeal for
+me."
+
+Harley stopped short, staring at me sternly.
+
+"I know, Knox," he replied; "but I suppose you realize that a man's life
+is at stake."
+
+"You mean--?"
+
+"I mean that when we are both compelled to tell all we know, I doubt if
+there is a counsel in the land who would undertake the defence of Mr.
+Colin Camber."
+
+"Good God! then you think he is guilty?"
+
+"Did I say so?" asked Harley, continuing on his way. "I don't recollect
+saying so, Knox; but I do say that it will be a giant's task to prove
+him innocent."
+
+"Then you believe him to be innocent?" I cried, eagerly.
+
+"My dear fellow," he replied, somewhat irritably, "I have not yet met
+Mr. Colin Camber. I will answer your question at the conclusion of the
+interview."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE WING OF A BAT
+
+
+
+For a long time our knocking and ringing elicited no response. The
+brilliant state of the door-brass afforded evidence of the fact that Ah
+Tsong had arisen, even if the other members of the household were still
+sleeping, and Harley, growing irritable, executed a loud tattoo upon the
+knocker. This had its effect. The door opened and Ah Tsong looked out.
+
+"Tell your master that Mr. Paul Harley has called to see him upon urgent
+business."
+
+"Master no got," replied Ah Tsong, and proceeded to close the door.
+
+Paul Harley thrust his hand against it and addressed the man rapidly
+in Chinese. I could not have supposed the face of Ah Tsong capable of
+expressing so much animation. At the sound of his native tongue his eyes
+lighted up, and:
+
+"_Tchee, tchee,_" he said, turned, and disappeared.
+
+Although he had studiously avoided looking at me, that Ah Tsong would
+inform his master of the identity of his second visitor I did not doubt.
+If I had doubted I should promptly have been disillusioned, for:
+
+"Tell them to go away!" came a muffled cry from somewhere within. "No
+spy of Devil Menendez shall ever pass my doors again!"
+
+The Chinaman, on retiring, had left the door wide open, and I could see
+right to the end of the gloomy hall. Ah Tsong presently re-appeared,
+shuffling along in our direction. Unemotionally:
+
+"Master no got," he repeated.
+
+Paul Harley stamped his foot irritably.
+
+"Good God, Knox," he said, "this unreasonable fool almost exhausts my
+patience."
+
+Again he addressed Ah Tsong in Chinese, and although the man's wrinkled
+ivory face exhibited no trace of emotion, a deep understanding was to
+be read in those oblique eyes; and a second time Ah Tsong turned and
+trotted back to the study. I could hear a muttered colloquy in progress,
+and suddenly the gaunt figure of Colin Camber burst into view.
+
+He was shaved this morning, but arrayed as I had last seen him. Whilst
+he was not in that state of incoherent anger which I remembered and
+still resented, he was nevertheless in an evil temper.
+
+He strode along the hallway, his large eyes widely opened, and fixing a
+cold stare upon the face of Harley.
+
+"I learn that your name is Mr. Paul Harley," he said, entirely ignoring
+my presence, "and you send me a very strange message. I am used to the
+ways of Senor Menendez, therefore your message does not deceive me. The
+gateway, sir, is directly behind you."
+
+Harley clenched his teeth, then:
+
+"The scaffold, Mr. Camber," he replied, "is directly in front of you."
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" demanded the other, and despite my resentment
+of the treatment which I had received at his hands, I could only admire
+the lofty disdain of his manner.
+
+"I mean, Mr. Camber, that the police are close upon my heels."
+
+"The police? Of what interest can this be to me?"
+
+Harley's keen eyes were searching the pale face of the man before him.
+
+"Mr. Camber," he said, "the shot was a good one."
+
+Not a muscle of Colin Camber's face moved, but slowly he looked Paul
+Harley up and down, then:
+
+"I have been called a hasty man," he replied, coldly, "but I can
+scarcely be accused of leaping to a conclusion when I say that I believe
+you to be mad. You have interrupted me, sir. Good morning."
+
+He stepped back, and would have closed the door, but:
+
+"Mr. Camber," said Paul Harley, and the tone of his voice was arresting.
+
+Colin Camber paused.
+
+"My name is evidently unfamiliar to you," Harley continued. "You regard
+myself and Mr. Knox as friends of the late Colonel Menendez--"
+
+At that Colin Camber started forward.
+
+"The _late_ Colonel Menendez?" he echoed, speaking almost in a whisper.
+
+But as if he had not heard him Harley continued:
+
+"As a matter of fact, I am a criminal investigator, and Mr. Knox is
+assisting me in my present case."
+
+Colin Camber clenched his hands and seemed to be fighting with some
+emotion which possessed him, then:
+
+"Do you mean," he said, hoarsely--"do you mean that Menendez is--dead?"
+
+"I do," replied Harley. "May I request the privilege of ten minutes'
+private conversation with you?"
+
+Colin Camber stood aside, holding the door open, and inclining his head
+in that grave salutation which I knew, but on this occasion, I think,
+principally with intent to hide his emotion.
+
+Not another word did he speak until the three of us stood in the strange
+study where East grimaced at West, and emblems of remote devil-worship
+jostled the cross of the Holy Rose. The place was laden with tobacco
+smoke, and scattered on the carpet about the feet of the writing table
+lay twenty or more pages of closely written manuscript. Although this
+was a brilliant summer's morning, an old-fashioned reading lamp, called,
+I believe, a Victoria, having a nickel receptacle for oil at one side of
+the standard and a burner with a green glass shade upon the other, still
+shed its light upon the desk. It was only reasonable to suppose that
+Colin Camber had been at work all night.
+
+He placed chairs for us, clearing them of the open volumes which they
+bore, and, seating himself at the desk:
+
+"Mr. Knox," he began, slowly, paused, and then stood up, "I accused you
+of something when you last visited my house, something of which I would
+not lightly accuse any man. If I was wrong, I wish to apologize."
+
+"Only a matter of the utmost urgency could have induced me to cross
+your threshold again," I replied, coldly. "Your behaviour, sir, was
+inexcusable."
+
+He rested his long white hands upon the desk, looking across at me.
+
+"Whatever I did and whatever I said," he continued, "one insult I laid
+upon you more deadly than the rest: I accused you of friendship with
+Juan Menendez. Was I unjust?"
+
+He paused for a moment.
+
+"I had been retained professionally by Colonel Menendez," replied Harley
+without hesitation, "and Mr. Knox kindly consented to accompany me."
+
+Colin Camber looked very hard at the speaker, and then equally hard at
+me.
+
+"Was it at behest of Colonel Menendez that you called upon me, Mr.
+Knox?"
+
+"It was not," said Harley, tersely; "it was at mine. And he is here now
+at my request. Come, sir, we are wasting time. At any moment--"
+
+Colin Camber held up his hand, interrupting him.
+
+"By your leave, Mr. Harley," he said, and there was something compelling
+in voice and gesture, "I must first perform my duty as a gentleman."
+
+He stepped forward in my direction.
+
+"Mr. Knox, I have grossly insulted you. Yet if you knew what had
+inspired my behaviour I believe you could find it in your heart to
+forgive me. I do not ask you to do so, however; I accept the humiliation
+of knowing that I have mortally offended a guest."
+
+He bowed to me formally, and would have returned to his seat, but:
+
+"Pray say no more," I said, standing up and extending my hand. Indeed,
+so impressive was the man's strange personality that I felt rather as
+one receiving a royal pardon than as an offended party being offered an
+apology. "It was a misunderstanding. Let us forget it."
+
+His eyes gleamed, and he seized my hand in a warm grip.
+
+"You are generous, Mr. Knox, you are generous. And now, sir," he
+inclined his head in Paul Harley's direction, and resumed his seat.
+
+Harley had suffered this odd little interlude in silence but now:
+
+"Mr. Camber," he said, rapidly, "I sent you a message by your Chinese
+servant to the effect that the police would be here within ten minutes
+to arrest you."
+
+"You did, sir," replied Colin Camber, drawing toward him a piece of
+newspaper upon which rested a dwindling mound of shag. "This is most
+disturbing, of course. But since I have not rendered myself amenable to
+the law, it leaves me moderately unmoved. Upon your second point, Mr.
+Harley, I shall beg you, to enlarge. You tell me that Don Juan Menendez
+is dead?"
+
+He had begun to fill his corn-cob as he spoke the words, but from where
+I sat I could just see his face, so that although his voice was well
+controlled, the gleam in his eyes was unmistakable.
+
+"He was shot through the head shortly after midnight."
+
+"What?"
+
+Colin Camber dropped the corn-cob and stood up again, the light of a
+dawning comprehension in his eyes.
+
+"Do you mean that he was murdered?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Good God," whispered Camber, "at last I understand."
+
+"That is why we are here, Mr. Camber, and that is why the police will be
+here at any moment."
+
+Colin Camber stood erect, one hand resting upon the desk.
+
+"So this was the meaning of the shot which we heard in the night," he
+said, slowly.
+
+Crossing the room, he closed and locked the study door, then, returning,
+he sat down once more, entirely, master of himself. Frowning slightly he
+looked from Harley in my direction, and then back again at Harley.
+
+"Gentlemen," he resumed, "I appreciate the urgency of my danger.
+Preposterous though I know it to be, nevertheless it is perhaps no more
+than natural that suspicion should fall upon me."
+
+He was evidently thinking rapidly. His manner had grown quite cool, and
+I could see that he had focussed his keen brain upon the abyss which he
+perceived to lie in his path.
+
+"Before I commit myself to any statements which might be used as
+evidence," he said, "doubtless, Mr. Harley, you will inform me of your
+exact standpoint in this matter. Do you represent the late Colonel
+Menendez, do you represent the law, or may I regard you as a perfectly
+impartial enquirer?"
+
+"You may regard me, Mr. Camber, as one to whom nothing but the truth is
+of the slightest interest. I was requested by the late Colonel Menendez
+to visit Cray's Folly."
+
+"Professionally?"
+
+"To endeavour to trace the origin of certain occurrences which had led
+him to believe his life to be in danger."
+
+Harley paused, staring hard at Colin Camber.
+
+"Since I recognize myself to be standing in the position of a suspect,"
+said the latter, "it is perhaps unfair to request you to acquaint me
+with the nature of these occurrences?"
+
+"The one, sir," replied Paul Harley, "which most intimately concerns
+yourself is this: Almost exactly a month ago the wing of a bat was
+nailed to the door of Cray's Folly."
+
+"What?" exclaimed Colin Camber, leaning forward eagerly--"the wing of a
+bat? What kind of bat?"
+
+"Of a South American Vampire Bat."
+
+The effect of those words was curious. If any doubt respecting Camber's
+innocence had remained with me at this time I think his expression as he
+leaned forward across the desk must certainly have removed it. That the
+man was intellectually unusual, and intensely difficult to understand,
+must have been apparent to the most superficial observer, but I found it
+hard to believe that these moods of his were simulated. At the words "A
+South American Vampire Bat" the enthusiasm of the specialist leapt into
+his eyes. Personal danger was forgotten. Harley had trenched upon his
+particular territory, and I knew that if Colin Camber had actually
+killed Colonel Menendez, then it had been the act of a maniac. No man
+newly come from so bloody a deed could have acted as Camber acted now.
+
+"It is the death-sign of Voodoo!" he exclaimed, excitedly.
+
+Yet again he arose, and crossing to one of the many cabinets which were
+in the room, he pulled open a drawer and took out a shallow tray.
+
+My friend was watching him intently, and from the expression upon his
+bronzed face I could deduce the fact that in Colin Camber he had met
+the supreme puzzle of his career. As Camber stood there, holding up an
+object which he had taken from the tray, whilst Paul Harley sat staring
+at him, I thought the scene was one transcending the grotesque. Here was
+the suspected man triumphantly producing evidence to hang himself.
+
+Between his finger and thumb Camber held the wing of a bat!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+COLIN CAMBER'S SECRET
+
+
+
+"I brought this bat wing from Haiti," he explained, replacing it in the
+tray. "It was found beneath the pillow of a negro missionary who had
+died mysteriously during the night."
+
+He returned the tray to the drawer, closed the latter, and, standing
+erect, raised clenched hands above his head.
+
+"With no thought of blasphemy," he said, "but with reverence, I thank
+God from the bottom of my heart that Juan Menendez is dead."
+
+He reseated himself, whilst Harley regarded him silently, then:
+
+"'The evil that men do lives after them,'" he murmured. He rested his
+chin upon his hand. "A bat wing," he continued, musingly, "a bat wing
+was nailed to Menendez's door." He stared across at Harley. "Am I to
+believe, sir, that this was the clue which led you to the Guest House?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"It was."
+
+"I understand. I must therefore take no more excursions into my special
+subject, but must endeavour to regard the matter from the point of view
+of the enquiry. Am I to assume that Menendez was acquainted with the
+significance of this token?"
+
+"He had seen it employed in the West Indies."
+
+"Ah, the black-hearted devil! But I fear I am involving myself more
+deeply in suspicion. Perhaps, Mr. Harley, the ends of justice would be
+better served if you were to question me, and I to confine myself to
+answering you."
+
+"Very well," Harley agreed: "when and where did you meet the late
+Colonel Menendez?"
+
+"I never met him in my life."
+
+"Do you mean that you had never spoken to him?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Hm. Tell me, Mr. Camber, where were you at twelve o'clock last night?"
+
+"Here, writing."
+
+"And where was Ah Tsong?"
+
+"Ah Tsong?" Colin Camber stared uncomprehendingly. "Ah Tsong was in
+bed."
+
+"Oh. Did anything disturb you?"
+
+"Yes, the sound of a rifle shot."
+
+"You knew it for a rifle shot?"
+
+"It was unmistakable."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I was in the midst of a most important passage, and I should probably
+have taken no steps in the matter but that Ah Tsong knocked upon the
+study door, to inform me that my wife had been awakened by the sound of
+the shot. She is somewhat nervous and had rung for Ah Tsong, asking him
+to see if all were well with me."
+
+"Do I understand that she imagined the sound to have come from this
+room?"
+
+"When we are newly awakened from sleep, Mr. Harley, we retain only an
+imperfect impression of that which awakened us."
+
+"True," replied Paul Harley; "and did Ah Tsong return to his room?"
+
+"Not immediately. Permit me to say, Mr. Harley, that the nature of your
+questions surprises me. At the moment I fail to see their bearing upon
+the main issue. He returned and reported to my wife that I was writing,
+and she then requested him to bring her a glass of milk. Accordingly, he
+came down again, and going out into the kitchen, executed this order."
+
+"Ah. He would have to light a candle for that purpose, I suppose?"
+
+"A candle, or a lamp," replied Colin Camber, staring at Paul Harley.
+Then, his expression altering: "Of course!" he cried. "You saw the light
+from Cray's Folly? I understand at last."
+
+We were silent for a while, until:
+
+"How long a time elapsed between the firing of the shot and Ah Tsong's
+knocking at the study door?" asked Harley.
+
+"I could not answer definitely. I was absorbed in my work. But probably
+only a minute or two."
+
+"Was the sound a loud one?"
+
+"Fairly loud. And very startling, of course, in the silence of the
+night."
+
+"The shot, then, was fired from somewhere quite near the house?"
+
+"I presume so."
+
+"But you thought no more about the matter?"
+
+"Frankly, I had forgotten it. You see, the neighbourhood is rich with
+game; it might have been a poacher."
+
+"Quite," murmured Harley, but his face was very stern. "I wonder if you
+fully realize the danger of your position, Mr. Camber?"
+
+"Believe me," was the reply, "I can anticipate almost every question
+which I shall be called upon to answer."
+
+Paul Harley stared at him in a way which told me that he was comparing
+his features line for line with the etching of Edgar Allen Poe which
+hung in his office in Chancery Lane, and:
+
+"I do believe you," he replied, "and I am wondering if you are in a
+position to clear yourself?"
+
+"On the contrary," Camber assured him, "I am only waiting to hear that
+Juan Menendez was shot in the grounds of Cray's Folly, and not
+within the house, to propose to you that unless the real assassin be
+discovered, I shall quite possibly pay the penalty of his crime."
+
+"He was shot in the Tudor garden," replied Harley, "within sight of your
+windows."
+
+"Ah!" Colin Camber resumed the task of stuffing shag into his corn-cob.
+"Then if it would interest you, Mr. Harley, I will briefly outline the
+case against myself. I had never troubled to disguise the fact that I
+hated Menendez. Many witnesses can be called to testify to this. He was
+in Cuba when I was in Cuba, and evidence is doubtless obtainable to show
+that we stayed at the same hotels in various cities of the United States
+prior to my coming to England and leasing the Guest House. Finally, he
+became my neighbour in Surrey."
+
+He carefully lighted his pipe, whilst Harley and I watched him silently,
+then:
+
+"Menendez had the bat wing nailed to the door of his house," he
+continued. "He believed himself to be in danger, and associated this
+sign with the source of his danger. Excepting himself and possibly
+certain other members of his household it is improbable that any one
+else in Surrey understands the significance of the token save myself.
+The unholy rites of Voodoo are a closed book to the Western nations.
+I have opened that book, Mr. Harley. The powers of the Obeah man, and
+especially of the arch-magician known and dreaded by every negro as 'Bat
+Wing,' are familiar to me. Since I was alone at the time that the shot
+was fired, and for some few minutes afterward, and since the Tudor
+garden of Cray's Folly is within easy range of the Guest House, to fail
+to place me under arrest would be an act of sheer stupidity."
+
+He spoke the words with a sort of triumph. Like the fakir, he possessed
+the art of spiritual detachment, which is an attribute of genius. From
+an intellectual eminence he was surveying his own peril. Colin Camber
+in the flesh had ceased to exist; he was merely a pawn in a fascinating
+game.
+
+Paul Harley glanced at his watch.
+
+"Mr. Camber," he said, "I have just sustained the most crushing defeat
+of my career. The man who had summoned me to his aid was killed almost
+before my eyes. One thing I must do or accept professional oblivion."
+
+"I understand." Colin Camber nodded. "Apprehend his murderer?"
+
+"Ultimately, yes. But, firstly, I must see that to the assassination of
+Colonel Menendez a judicial murder is not added."
+
+"You mean--?" asked Camber, eagerly.
+
+"I mean that if you killed Menendez, you are a madman, and I have formed
+the opinion during our brief conversation that you are brilliantly
+sane."
+
+Colin Camber rose and bowed in that old-world fashion which was his.
+
+"I am obliged to you, Mr. Harley," he replied. "But has Mr. Knox
+informed you of my bibulous habits?"
+
+Paul Harley nodded.
+
+"They will, of course, be ascribed," continued Camber, "and there are
+many suitable analogies, to deliberate contemplation of a murderous
+deed. I would remind you that chronic alcoholism is a recognized form,
+of insanity."
+
+His mood changed again, and sighing wearily, he lay back in the chair.
+Over his pale face crept an expression which I knew, instinctively, to
+mean that he was thinking of his wife.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he said, speaking in a very low tone which scorned to
+accentuate the beauty of his voice, "I have suffered much in the quest
+of truth. Suffering is the gate beyond which we find compassion. Perhaps
+you have thought my foregoing remarks frivolous, in view of the fact
+that last night a soul was sent to its reckoning almost at my doors.
+I revere the truth, however, above all lesser laws and above all
+expediency. I do not, and I cannot, regret the end of the man Menendez.
+But for three reasons I should regret to pay the penalty of a crime
+which I did not commit, These reasons are--one," he ticked them off upon
+his delicate fingers--"It would be bitter to know that Devil Menendez
+even in death had injured me; two--My work in the world, which is
+unfinished; and, three--My wife."
+
+I watched and listened, almost awed by the strangeness of the man who
+sat before me. His three reasons were illuminating. A casual observer
+might have regarded Colin Camber as a monument of selfishness. But it
+was evident to me, and I knew it must be evident to Paul Harley, that
+his egotism was quite selfless. To a natural human resentment and a
+pathetic love for his wife he had added, as an equal clause, the claim
+of the world upon his genius.
+
+"I have heard you," said Paul Harley, quietly, "and you have led me to
+the most important point of all."
+
+"What point is that, Mr. Harley?"
+
+"You have referred to your recent lapse from abstemiousness. Excuse me
+if I discuss personal matters. This you ascribed to domestic troubles,
+or so Mr. Knox has informed me. You have also referred to your
+undisguised hatred of the late Colonel Juan Menendez. I am going to ask
+you, Mr. Camber, to tell me quite frankly what was the nature of those
+domestic troubles, and what had caused this hatred which survives even
+the death of its object?"
+
+Colin Camber stood up, angular, untidy, but a figure of great dignity.
+
+"Mr. Harley," he replied, "I cannot answer your questions."
+
+Paul Harley inclined his head gravely.
+
+"May I suggest," he said, "that you will be called upon to do so under
+circumstances which will brook no denial."
+
+Colin Camber watched him unflinchingly.
+
+"'The fate of every man is hung around his neck,'" he replied.
+
+"Yet, in this secret history which you refuse to divulge, and which
+therefore must count against you, the truth may lie which exculpates
+you."
+
+"It may be so. But my determination remains unaltered."
+
+"Very well," answered Paul Harley, quietly, but I could see that he
+was exercising a tremendous restraint upon himself. "I respect your
+decision, but you have given me a giant's task, and for this I cannot
+thank you, Mr. Camber."
+
+I heard a car pulled up in the road outside the Guest House. Colin
+Camber clenched his hands and sat down again in the carved chair.
+
+"The opportunity has passed," said Harley. "The police are here."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+
+
+
+"Oh, I see," said Inspector Aylesbury, "a little private confab, eh?"
+
+He sank his chin into its enveloping folds, treating Harley and myself
+each to a stare of disapproval.
+
+"These gentlemen very kindly called to advise me of the tragic
+occurrence at Cray's Folly," explained Colin Camber. "Won't you be
+seated, Inspector?"
+
+"Thanks, but I can conduct my examination better standing."
+
+He turned to Paul Harley.
+
+"Might I ask, Mr. Harley," he said, "what concern this is of yours?"
+
+"I am naturally interested in anything appertaining to the death of a
+client, Inspector Aylesbury."
+
+"Oh, so you slip in ahead of me, having deliberately withheld
+information from the police, and think you are going to get all the
+credit. Is that it?"
+
+"That is it, Inspector," replied Harley, smiling. "An instance of
+professional jealousy."
+
+"Professional jealousy?" cried the Inspector. "Allow me to remind you
+that you have no official standing in this case whatever. You are merely
+a member of the public, nothing more, nothing less."
+
+"I am happy to be recognized as a member of that much-misunderstood
+body."
+
+"Ah, well, we shall see. Now, Mr. Camber, your attention, please."
+
+He raised his finger impressively.
+
+"I am informed by Miss Beverley that the late Colonel Menendez looked
+upon you as a dangerous enemy."
+
+"Were those her exact words?" I murmured.
+
+"Mr. Knox!"
+
+The inspector turned rapidly, confronting me. "I have already warned
+your friend. But if I have any interruptions from you, I will have you
+removed."
+
+He continued to glare at me for some moments, and then, turning again to
+Colin Camber:
+
+"I say, I have information that Colonel Menendez looked upon you as a
+dangerous neighbour."
+
+"In that event," replied Colin Camber, "why did he lease an adjoining
+property?"
+
+"That's an evasion, sir. Answer my first question, if you please."
+
+"You have asked me no question, Inspector."
+
+"Oh, I see. That's your attitude, is it? Very well, then. Were you, or
+were you not, an enemy of the late Colonel Menendez?"
+
+"I was."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"I say I was. I hated him, and I hate him no less in death than I hated
+him living."
+
+I think that I had never seen a man so taken aback, Inspector
+Aylesbury, drawing out a large handkerchief blew his nose. Replacing the
+handkerchief, he produced a note-book.
+
+"I am placing that statement on record, sir," he said.
+
+He made an entry in the book, and then:
+
+"Where did you first meet Colonel Menendez?" he asked.
+
+"I never met him in my life."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+Colin Camber merely shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I will repeat my question," said the Inspector, pompously. "Where did
+you first meet Colonel Juan Menendez?"
+
+"I have answered you, Inspector."
+
+"Oh, I see. You decline to answer that question. Very well, I will make
+a note of this." He did so. "And now," said he, "what were you doing at
+midnight last night?"
+
+"I was writing."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Here."
+
+"What happened?"
+
+Very succinctly Colin Camber repeated the statement which he had already
+made to Paul Harley, and, at its conclusion:
+
+"Send for the man, Ah Tsong," directed Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head, clapped his bands, and silently Ah Tsong
+entered.
+
+The Inspector stared at him for several moments as a visitor to the Zoo
+might stare at some rare animal; then:
+
+"Your name is Ah Tsong?" he began.
+
+"Ah Tsong," murmured the Chinaman.
+
+"I am going to ask you to give an exact account of your movements last
+night."
+
+"No sabby."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat.
+
+"I say I wish to know exactly what you did last night. Answer me."
+
+Ah Tseng's face remained quite expressionless, and:
+
+"No sabby," he repeated.
+
+"Oh, I see," said the Inspector, "This witness refuses to answer at
+all."
+
+"You are wrong," explained Colin Camber, quietly. "Ah Tsong is a
+Chinaman, and his knowledge of English is very limited. He does not
+understand you."
+
+"He understood my first question. You can't draw wool over my eyes. He
+knows well enough. Are you going to answer me?" he demanded, angrily, of
+the Chinaman.
+
+"No sabby, master," he said, glancing aside at Colin Camber. "Number-one
+p'licee-man gotchee no pidgin."
+
+Paul Harley was leisurely filling his pipe, and:
+
+"If you think the evidence of Ah Tsong important, Inspector," he said,
+"I will interpret if you wish."
+
+"You will do what?"
+
+"I will act as interpreter."
+
+"Do you want me to believe that you speak Chinese?"
+
+"Your beliefs do not concern me, Inspector; I am merely offering my
+services."
+
+"Thanks," said the Inspector, dryly, "but I won't trouble you. I should
+like a few words with Mrs. Camber."
+
+"Very good."
+
+Colin Camber bent his head gravely, and gave an order to Ah Tsong, who
+turned and went out.
+
+"And what firearms have you in the house?" asked Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"An early Dutch arquebus, which you see in the corner," was the reply.
+
+"That doesn't interest me. I mean up-to-date weapons."
+
+"And a Colt revolver which I have in a drawer here."
+
+As he spoke, Colin Camber opened a drawer in his desk and took out a
+heavy revolver of the American Army Service pattern.
+
+"I should like to examine it, if you please."
+
+Camber passed it to the Inspector, and the latter, having satisfied
+himself that none of the chambers were loaded, peered down the barrel,
+and smelled at the weapon suspiciously.
+
+"If it has been recently used it has been well cleaned," he said, and
+placed it on a cabinet beside him. "Anything else?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"No sporting rifles?"
+
+"None. I never shoot."
+
+"Oh, I see."
+
+The door opened and Mrs. Camber came in. She was very simply dressed,
+and looked even more child-like than she had seemed before. I think
+Ah Tsong had warned her of the nature of the ordeal which she was to
+expect, but her wide-eyed timidity was nevertheless pathetic to witness.
+
+She glanced at me with a ghost of a smile, and:
+
+"Ysola," said Colin Camber, inclining his head toward me in a grave
+gesture of courtesy, "Mr. Knox has generously forgiven me a breach of
+good manners for which I shall never forgive myself. I beg you to thank
+him, as I have done."
+
+"It is so good of you," she said, sweetly, and held out her hand. "But I
+knew you would understand that it was just a great mistake."
+
+"Mr. Paul Harley," Camber continued, "my wife welcomes you; and this,
+Ysola, is Inspector Aylesbury, who desires a few moments' conversation
+upon a rather painful matter."
+
+"I have heard, I have heard," she whispered. "Ah Tsong has told me."
+
+The pupils of her eyes dilated, as she fixed an appealing glance upon
+the Inspector.
+
+In justice to the latter he was palpably abashed by the delicate
+beauty of the girl who stood before him, by her naivete, and by that
+childishness of appearance and manner which must have awakened the
+latent chivalry in almost any man's heart.
+
+"I am sorry to have to trouble you with this disagreeable business, Mrs.
+Camber," he began; "but I believe you were awakened last night by the
+sound of a shot."
+
+"Yes," she replied, watching him intently, "that is so."
+
+"May I ask at what time this was heard?"
+
+"Ah Tsong told me it was after twelve o'clock."
+
+"Was the sound a loud one?"
+
+"Yes. It must have been to have awakened me."
+
+"I see. Did you think it was in the house?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"In the garden?"
+
+"I really could not say, but I think that it was farther away than
+that."
+
+"And what did you do?"
+
+"I rang the bell for Ah Tsong."
+
+"Did he come immediately?"
+
+"Almost immediately."
+
+"He was dressed, then?"
+
+"No, I don't think he was. He had quickly put on an overcoat. He usually
+answers at once, when I ring for him, you see."
+
+"I see. What did you do then?"
+
+"Well, I was frightened, you understand, and I told him to find out if
+all was well with my husband. He came back and told me that Colin was
+writing. But the sound had alarmed me very much."
+
+"Oh, and now perhaps _you_ will tell me, Mrs. Camber, when and where
+your husband first met Colonel Menendez?"
+
+Every vestige of colour fled from the girl's face.
+
+"So far as I know--they never met," she replied, haltingly.
+
+"Could you swear to that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+I think that hitherto she had not fully realized the nature of the
+situation; but now something in the Inspector's voice, or perhaps in
+our glances, told her the truth. She moved to where Colin Camber was
+sitting, looking down at him questioningly, pitifully. He put his arm
+about her and drew her close.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and returned his note-book to his
+pocket.
+
+"I am going to take a look around the garden," he announced.
+
+My respect for him increased slightly, and Harley and I followed him out
+of the study. A police sergeant was sitting in the hall, and Ah Tsong
+was standing just outside the door.
+
+"Show me the way to the garden," directed the Inspector.
+
+Ah Tsong stared stupidly, whereupon Paul Harley addressed him in his
+native language, rapidly and in a low voice, in order, as I divined,
+that the Inspector should not hear him.
+
+"I feel dreadfully guilty, Knox," he confessed, in a murmured aside.
+"For any Englishman, fictitious characters excepted, to possess a
+knowledge of Chinese is almost indecent."
+
+Presently, then, I found myself once more in that unkempt garden of
+which I retained such unpleasant memories.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stared all about and up at the back of the house,
+humming to himself and generally behaving as though he were alone.
+Before the little summer study he stood still, and:
+
+"Oh, I see," he muttered.
+
+What he had seen was painfully evident. The right-hand window, beneath
+which there was a permanent wooden seat, commanded an unobstructed view
+of the Tudor garden in the grounds of Cray's Folly. Clearly I could
+detect the speck of high-light upon the top of the sun-dial.
+
+The Inspector stepped into the hut. It contained a bookshelf upon which
+a number of books remained, a table and a chair, with some few other
+dilapidated appointments. I glanced at Harley and saw that he was
+staring as if hypnotized at the prospect in the valley below. I observed
+a constable on duty at the top of the steps which led down into the
+Tudor garden, but I could see nothing to account for Harley's fixed
+regard, until:
+
+"Pardon me one moment, Inspector," he muttered, brusquely.
+
+Brushing past the indignant Aylesbury, who was examining the contents
+of the shelves in the hut, he knelt upon the wooden seat and stared
+intently through the open window.
+
+"One-two-three-four-five-six-_seven_," he chanted. "Good! That will
+settle it."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Inspector Aylesbury, standing strictly upright, his
+prominent eyes turned in the direction of the kneeling Harley. "One,
+two, three, four, and so on will settle it, eh? If you don't mind me
+saying so, it was settled already."
+
+"Yes?" replied Harley, standing up, and I saw that his eyes were very
+bright and that his face was slightly flushed. "You think the case is so
+simple as that?"
+
+"Simple?" exclaimed the Inspector. "It's the most cunning thing that was
+ever planned, but I flatter myself that I have a good straight eye which
+can see a fairly long way."
+
+"Excellent," murmured Harley. "I congratulate you. Myopia is so common
+in the present generation. You have decided, of course, that the murder
+was committed by Ah Tsong?"
+
+Inspector Aylesbury's eyes seemed to protrude extraordinarily.
+
+"Ah Tsong!" he exclaimed. "Ah Tsong!"
+
+"Surely it is palpable," continued Harley, "that of the three people
+residing in the Guest House, Ah Tsong is the only one who could possibly
+have done the deed."
+
+"Who could possibly--who could possibly----" stuttered the Inspector,
+then paused because of sheer lack of words.
+
+"Review the evidence," continued Harley, coolly. "Mrs. Camber was
+awakened by the sound of a shot. She immediately rang for Ah Tsong.
+There was a short interval before Ah Tsong appeared--and when he did
+appear he was wearing an overcoat. Note this point, Inspector: wearing
+an overcoat. He descended to the study and found Mr. Camber writing.
+Now, Ah Tsong sleeps in a room adjoining the kitchen on the ground
+floor. We passed his quarters on our way to the garden a moment ago. Of
+course, you had noted this? Mr. Camber is therefore eliminated from our
+list of suspects."
+
+The Inspector was growing very red, but ere he had time to speak Harley
+continued:
+
+"The first of these three persons to have heard a shot fired at the end
+of the garden would have been Ah Tsong, and not Mrs. Camber, whose room
+is upstairs and in the front of the house. If it had been fired by Mr.
+Camber from the spot upon which we now stand, he would still have been
+in the garden at the moment when Mrs. Camber was ringing the bell for
+Ah Tsong. Mr. Camber must therefore have returned from the end of the
+garden to the study, and have passed Ah Tsong's room--unheard by the
+occupant--between the time that the bell rang and the time that Ah Tsong
+went upstairs. This I submit to be impossible. There is an alternative:
+it is that he slipped in whilst Ah Tsong, standing on the landing above,
+was receiving his mistress's orders. I submit that the alternative is
+also impossible. We thus eliminate Mr. Camber from the case, as I have
+already mentioned."
+
+"Eliminate--eliminate!" cried the Inspector, beginning to recover power
+of speech. "Do you think you can fuddle me with a mass of words, Mr.
+Harley? Allow me to point out to you, sir, that you are in no way
+officially associated with this matter."
+
+"You have already drawn my attention to the fact, Inspector, but it can
+do no harm to jog my memory."
+
+Harley spoke entirely without bitterness, and I, who knew his every
+mood, realized that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Therefore I knew
+that at last he had found a clue.
+
+"I may add, Inspector," said he, "that upon further reflection I have
+also eliminated Ah Tsong from the case. I forgot to mention that he
+lacks the first and second fingers of his right hand; and I have yet
+to meet the marksman who can shoot a man squarely between the eyes,
+by moonlight, at a hundred yards, employing his third finger as
+trigger-finger. There are other points, but these will be sufficient to
+show you that this case is more complicated than you had assumed it to
+be."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury did not deign to reply, or could not trust himself
+to do so. He turned and made his way back to the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+AN OFFICIAL MOVE
+
+
+
+We reentered the study to find Mrs. Camber sitting in a chair very close
+to her husband. Inspector Aylesbury stood in the open doorway for a
+moment, and then, stepping back into the hall:
+
+"Sergeant Butler," he said, addressing the man who waited there.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Go out to the gate and get Edson to relieve you. I shall want you to go
+back to headquarters in a few minutes."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+I scented what was coming, and as Inspector Aylesbury reentered the
+room:
+
+"I should like to make a statement," announced Paul Harley, quietly.
+
+The Inspector frowned, and lowering his chin, regarded him with little
+favour.
+
+"I have not invited any statement from you, Mr. Harley," said he.
+
+"Quite," returned Harley. "I am volunteering it. It is this: I gather
+that you are about to take an important step officially. Having in view
+certain steps which I, also, am about to take, I would ask you to defer
+action, purely in your own interests, for at least twenty-four hours."
+
+"I hear you," said the Inspector, sarcastically.
+
+"Very well, Inspector. You have come newly into this case, and I assure
+you that its apparent simplicity is illusive. As new facts come into
+your possession you will realize that what I say is perfectly true, and
+if you act now you will be acting hastily. All that I have learned I am
+prepared to place at your disposal. But I predict that the interference
+of Scotland Yard will be necessary before this enquiry is concluded.
+Therefore I suggest, since you have rejected my cooperation, that you
+obtain that of Detective Inspector Wessex, of the Criminal Investigation
+Department. In short, this is no one-man job. You will do yourself harm
+by jumping to conclusions, and cause unnecessary trouble to perfectly
+innocent people."
+
+"Is your statement concluded?" asked the Inspector.
+
+"For the moment I have nothing to add."
+
+"Oh, I see. Very good. Then we can now get to business. Always with your
+permission, Mr. Harley."
+
+He took his stand before the fireplace, very erect, and invested with
+his most official manner. Mrs. Camber watched him in a way that was
+pathetic. Camber seemed to be quite composed, although his face was
+unusually pale.
+
+"Now, Mr. Camber," said the Inspector, "I find your answers to the
+questions which I have put to you very unsatisfactory."
+
+"I am sorry," said Colin Camber, quietly.
+
+"One moment, Inspector," interrupted Paul Harley, "you have not warned
+Mr. Camber."
+
+Thereupon the long-repressed wrath of Inspector Aylesbury burst forth.
+
+"Then I will warn _you_, sir!" he shouted. "One more word and you leave
+this house."
+
+"Yet I am going to venture on one more word," continued Harley,
+unperturbed. He turned to Colin Camber. "I happen to be a member of the
+Bar, Mr. Camber," he said, "although I rarely accept a brief. Have I
+your authority to act for you?"
+
+"I am grateful, Mr. Harley, and I leave this unpleasant affair in your
+hands with every confidence."
+
+Camber stood up, bowing formally.
+
+The expression upon the inflamed face of Inspector Aylesbury was really
+indescribable, and recognizing his mental limitations, I was almost
+tempted to feel sorry for him. However, he did not lack self-confidence,
+and:
+
+"I suppose you have scored, Mr. Harley," he said, a certain hoarseness
+perceptible in his voice, "but I know my duty and I am not afraid to
+perform it. Now, Mr. Camber, did you, or did you not, at about twelve
+o'clock last night----"
+
+"Warn the accused," murmured Harley.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury uttered a choking sound, but:
+
+"I have to warn you," he said, "that your answers may be used as
+evidence. I will repeat: Did you, or did you not, at about twelve
+o'clock last night, shoot, with intent to murder, Colonel Juan
+Menendez?"
+
+Ysola Camber leapt up, clutching at her husband's arm as if to hold him
+back.
+
+"I did not," he replied, quietly.
+
+"Nevertheless," continued the Inspector, looking aggressively at Paul
+Harley whilst he spoke, "I am going to detain you pending further
+enquiries."
+
+Colin Camber inclined his head.
+
+"Very well," he said; "you only do your duty."
+
+The little fingers clutching his sleeve slowly relaxed, and Mrs. Camber,
+uttering a long sigh, sank in a swoon at his feet.
+
+"Ysola! Ysola!" he muttered. Stooping he raised the child-like figure.
+"If you will kindly open the door, Mr. Knox," he said, "I will carry my
+wife to her room."
+
+I sprang to the door and held it widely open.
+
+Colin Camber, deadly pale, but holding his head very erect, walked in
+the direction of the hallway with his pathetic burden. Mis-reading the
+purpose written upon the stern white face, Inspector Aylesbury stepped
+forward.
+
+"Let someone else attend to Mrs. Camber," he cried, sharply. "I wish you
+to remain here."
+
+His detaining hand was already upon Camber's shoulder when Harley's arm
+shot out like a barrier across the Inspector's chest, and Colin Camber
+proceeded on his way. Momentarily, he glanced aside, and I saw that his
+eyes were unnaturally bright.
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Harley," he said, and carried his wife from the room.
+
+Harley dropped his arm, and crossing, stood staring out of the window.
+Inspector Aylesbury ran heavily to the door.
+
+"Sergeant!" he called, "Sergeant! keep that man in sight. He must return
+here immediately."
+
+I heard the sound of heavy footsteps following Camber's up the stairs,
+then Inspector Aylesbury turned, a bulky figure in the open doorway,
+and:
+
+"Now, Mr. Harley," said he, entering and reclosing the door, "you are a
+barrister, I understand. Very well, then, I suppose you are aware that
+you have resisted and obstructed an officer of the law in the execution
+of his duty."
+
+Paul Harley spun round upon his heel.
+
+"Is that a charge," he inquired, "or merely a warning?"
+
+The two glared at one another for a moment, then:
+
+"From now onward," continued the Inspector, "I am going to have no more
+trouble with you, Mr. Harley. In the first place, I'll have you looked
+up in the Law List; in the second place, I shall ask you to stick to
+your proper duties, and leave me to look after mine."
+
+"I have endeavoured from the outset," replied Harley, his good humour
+quite restored, "to assist you in every way in my power. You have
+declined all my offers, and finally, upon the most flimsy evidence, you
+have detained a perfectly innocent man."
+
+"Oh, I see. A perfectly innocent man, eh?"
+
+"Perfectly innocent, Inspector. There are so many points that you have
+overlooked. For instance, do you seriously suppose that Mr. Camber had
+been waiting up here night after night on the off-chance that Colonel
+Menendez would appear in the grounds of Cray's Folly?"
+
+"No, I don't. I have got that worked out."
+
+"Indeed? You interest me."
+
+"Mr. Camber has an accomplice at Cray's Folly."
+
+"What?" exclaimed Harley, and into his keen grey eyes crept a look of
+real interest.
+
+"He has an accomplice," repeated the Inspector. "A certain witness was
+strangely reluctant to mention Mr. Camber's name. It was only after very
+keen examination that I got it at last. Now, Colonel Menendez had not
+retired last night, neither had a certain other party. That other
+party, sir, knows why Colonel Menendez was wandering about the garden at
+midnight."
+
+At first, I think, this astonishing innuendo did not fully penetrate
+to my mind, but when it did so, it seemed to galvanize me. Springing up
+from the chair in which I had been seated:
+
+"You preposterous fool!" I exclaimed, hotly.
+
+It was the last straw. Inspector Aylesbury strode to the door and
+throwing it open once more, turned to me:
+
+"Be good enough to leave the house, Mr. Knox," he said. "I am about to
+have it officially searched, and I will have no strangers present."
+
+I think I could have strangled him with pleasure, but even in my rage
+I was not foolhardy enough to lay myself open to that of which the
+Inspector was quite capable at this moment.
+
+Without another word I walked out of the study, took my hat and stick,
+and opening the front door, quitted the Guest House, from which I had
+thus a second time been dismissed ignominiously.
+
+Appreciation of this fact, which came to me as I stepped into the porch,
+awakened my sense of humour--a gift truly divine which has saved many
+a man from desperation or worse. I felt like a schoolboy who had been
+turned out of a class-room, and I was glad that I could laugh at myself.
+
+A constable was standing in the porch, and he looked at me suspiciously.
+No doubt he perceived something very sardonic in my merriment.
+
+I walked out of the gate, before which a car was standing, and as I
+paused to light a cigarette I heard the door of the Guest House open and
+close. I glanced back, and there was Paul Harley coming to join me.
+
+"Now, Knox," he said, briskly, "we have got our hands full."
+
+"My dear Harley, I am both angry and bewildered. Too angry and too
+bewildered to think clearly."
+
+"I can quite understand it. I should become homicidal if I were forced
+to submit for long to the company of Inspector Aylesbury. Of course, I
+had anticipated the arrest of Colin Camber, and I fear there is worse to
+come."
+
+"What do you mean, Harley?"
+
+"I mean that failing the apprehension of the real murderer, I cannot
+see, at the moment, upon what the case for the defence is to rest."
+
+"But surely you demonstrated out there in the garden that he could not
+possibly have fired the shot?"
+
+"Words, Knox, words. I could pick a dozen loopholes in my own argument.
+I had only hoped to defer the inevitable. I tell you, there is worse to
+come. Two things we must do at once."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"We must persuade the man on duty to allow us to examine the Tudor
+garden, and we must see the Chief Constable, whoever he may be, and
+prevail upon him to requisition the assistance of Scotland Yard.
+With Wessex in charge of the case I might have a chance. Whilst this
+disastrous man Aylesbury holds the keys there is none."
+
+"You heard what he said about Miss Beverley?"
+
+We were now walking rapidly along the high road, and Harley nodded.
+
+"I did," he said. "I had expected it. He was inspired with this
+brilliant idea last night, and his ideas are too few to be lightly
+scrapped. If the Chief Constable is anything like the Inspector, what we
+are going to do heaven only knows."
+
+"I take it, Harley, that you are convinced of Colin Camber's innocence?"
+
+Harley did not answer for a moment, whereupon I glanced at him
+anxiously, then:
+
+"Colin Camber," he replied, "is of so peculiar a type that I could
+not presume to say of what he is capable or is not capable. The
+most significant point in his favour is this: He is a man of unusual
+intellect. The planning of this cunning crime to such a man would have
+been child's play--child's play, Knox. But is it possible to believe
+that his genius would have failed him upon the most essential detail of
+all, namely, an alibi?"
+
+"It is not."
+
+"Of course it is not. Which, continuing to regard Camber as an assassin,
+reduces us to the theory that the crime was committed in a moment
+of passion. This I maintain to be also impossible. It was no deed of
+impulse."
+
+"I agree with you."
+
+"Now, I believe that the enquiry is going to turn upon a very delicate
+point. If I am wrong in this, then perhaps I am wrong in my whole
+conception of the case. But have you considered the mass of evidence
+against Colin Camber?"
+
+"I have, Harley," I replied, sadly, "I have."
+
+"Think of all that we know, and which the Inspector does not know. Every
+single datum points in the same direction. No prosecution could ask for
+a more perfect case. Upon this fact I pin my hopes. Where an Aylesbury
+rushes in I fear to tread. The analogy with an angel was accidental,
+Knox!" he added, smilingly. "In other words, it is all too obvious. Yet
+I have failed once, Knox, failed disastrously, and it may be that in my
+anxiety to justify myself I am seeking for subtlety where no subtlety
+exists."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+AYLESBURY'S THEORY
+
+
+
+There were strangers about Cray's Folly and a sort of furtive activity,
+horribly suggestive. We had not pursued the circular route by the high
+road which would have brought us to the lodge, but had turned aside
+where the swing-gate opened upon a footpath into the meadows. It was the
+path which I had pursued upon the day of my visit to the Lavender
+Arms. A second private gate here gave access to the grounds at a point
+directly opposite the lake; and as we crossed the valley, making for the
+terraced lawns, I saw unfamiliar figures upon the veranda, and knew that
+the cumbersome processes of the law were already in motion.
+
+I was longing to speak to Val Beverley and to learn what had taken place
+during her interview with Inspector Aylesbury, but Harley led the way
+toward the tower wing, and by a tortuous path through the rhododendrons
+we finally came out on the northeast front and in sight of the Tudor
+garden.
+
+Harley crossed to the entrance, and was about to descend the steps, when
+the constable on duty there held out his arm.
+
+"Excuse me, sir," he said, "but I have orders to admit no one to this
+part of the garden."
+
+"Oh," said Harley, pulling up short, "but I am acting in this case. My
+name is Paul Harley."
+
+"Sorry, sir," replied the constable, "but you will have to see Inspector
+Aylesbury."
+
+My friend uttered an impatient exclamation, but, turning aside:
+
+"Very well, constable," he muttered; "I suppose I must submit. Our
+friend, Aylesbury," he added to me, as we walked away, "would appear
+to be a martinet as well as a walrus. At every step, Knox, he proves
+himself a tragic nuisance. This means waste of priceless time."
+
+"What had you hoped to do, Harley?"
+
+"Prove my theory," he returned; "but since every moment is precious, I
+must move in another direction."
+
+He hurried on through the opening in the box hedge and into the
+courtyard. Manoel had just opened the doors to a sepulchral-looking
+person who proved to be the coroner's officer, and:
+
+"Manoel!" cried Harley, "tell Carter to bring a car round at once."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I haven't time to fetch my own," he explained.
+
+"Where are you off to?"
+
+"I am off to see the Chief Constable, Knox. Aylesbury must be superseded
+at whatever cost. If the Chief Constable fails I shall not hesitate to
+go higher. I will get along to the garage. I don't expect to be more
+than an hour. Meanwhile, do your best to act as a buffer between
+Aylesbury and the women. You understand me?"
+
+"Quite," I returned, shortly. "But the task may prove no light one,
+Harley."
+
+"It won't," he assured me, smiling grimly. "How you must regret, Knox,
+that we didn't go fishing!"
+
+With that he was off, eager-eyed and alert, the mood of dreamy
+abstraction dropped like a cloak discarded. He fully realized, as I did,
+that his unique reputation was at stake. I wondered, as I had wondered
+at the Guest House, whether, in undertaking to clear Colin Camber, he
+had acted upon sheer conviction, or, embittered by the death of his
+client, had taken a gambler's chance. It was unlike him to do so. But
+now beyond reach of that charm of manner which Colin Camber possessed,
+and discounting the pathetic sweetness of his girl-wife, I realized how
+black was the evidence against him.
+
+Occupied with these, and even more troubled thoughts, I was making my
+way toward the library, undetermined how to act, when I saw Val Beverley
+coming along the corridor which communicated with Madame de Staemer's
+room.
+
+I read a welcome in her eyes which made my heart beat the faster.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox," she cried, "I am so glad you have returned. Tell me all
+that has happened, for I feel in some way that I am responsible for it."
+
+I nodded gravely.
+
+"You know, then, where Inspector Aylesbury went when he left here, after
+his interview with you?"
+
+She looked at me pathetically.
+
+"He went to the Guest House, of course."
+
+"Yes," I said; "he was close behind us."
+
+"And"--she hesitated--"Mr. Camber?"
+
+"He has been detained."
+
+"Oh!" she moaned. "I could hate myself! Yet what could I say, what could
+I do?"
+
+"Just tell me all about it," I urged. "What were the Inspector's
+questions?"
+
+"Well," explained the girl, "he had evidently learned from someone,
+presumably one of the servants, that there was enmity between Mr. Camber
+and Colonel Menendez. He asked me if I knew of this, and of course I
+had to admit that I did. But when I told him that I had no idea of its
+cause, he did not seem to believe me."
+
+"No," I murmured. "Any evidence which fails to dove-tail with his
+preconceived theories he puts down as a lie."
+
+"He seemed to have made up his mind for some reason," she continued,
+"that I was intimately acquainted with Mr. Camber. Whereas, of course, I
+have never spoken to him in my life, although whenever he has passed me
+in the road he has always saluted me with quite delightful courtesy.
+Oh, Mr. Knox, it is horrible to think of this great misfortune coming to
+those poor people." She looked at me pleadingly. "How did his wife take
+it?"
+
+"Poor little girl," I replied, "it was an awful blow."
+
+"I feel that I want to set out this very minute," declared Val Beverley,
+"and go to her, and try to comfort her. Because I feel in my very soul
+that her husband is innocent. She is such a sweet little thing. I have
+wanted to speak to her since the very first time I ever saw her, but on
+the rare occasions when we have met in the village she has hurried
+past as though she were afraid of me. Mr. Harley surely knows that her
+husband is not guilty?"
+
+"I think he does," I replied, "but he may have great difficulty in
+proving it. And what else did Inspector Aylesbury wish to know?"
+
+"How can I tell you?" she said in a low voice; and biting her lip
+agitatedly she turned her head aside.
+
+"Perhaps I can guess."
+
+"Can you?" she asked, looking at me quickly. "Well, then, he seemed to
+attach a ridiculous importance to the fact that I had not retired last
+night at the time of the tragedy."
+
+"I know," said I, grimly. "Another preconceived idea of his."
+
+"I told him the truth of the matter, which is surely quite simple, and
+at first I was unable to understand the nature of his suspicions. Then,
+after a time, his questions enlightened me. He finally suggested, quite
+openly, that I had not come down from my room to the corridor in which
+Madame de Staemer was lying, but had actually been there at the time!"
+
+"In the corridor outside her room?"
+
+"Yes. He seemed to think that I had just come in from the door near
+the end of the east wing and beside the tower, which opens into the
+shrubbery."
+
+"That you had just come in?" I exclaimed. "He thinks, then, that you had
+been out in the grounds?"
+
+Val Beverley's face had been very pale, but now she flushed indignantly,
+and glanced away from me as she replied:
+
+"He dared to suggest that I had been to keep an assignation."
+
+"The fool!" I cried. "The ignorant, impudent fool!"
+
+"Oh," she declared, "I felt quite ill with indignation. I am afraid I
+may regard Inspector Aylesbury as an enemy from now onward, for when
+I had recovered from the shock I told him very plainly what I thought
+about his intellect, or lack of it."
+
+"I am glad you did," I said, warmly. "Before Inspector Aylesbury
+is through with this business I fancy he will know more about his
+limitations than he knows at present. The fact of the matter is that he
+is badly out of his depth, but is not man enough to acknowledge the fact
+even to himself."
+
+She smiled at me pathetically.
+
+"Whatever should I have done if I had been alone?" she said.
+
+I was tempted to direct the conversation into a purely personal channel,
+but common sense prevailed, and:
+
+"Is Madame de Staemer awake?" I asked.
+
+"Yes." The girl nodded. "Dr. Rolleston is with her now."
+
+"And does she know?"
+
+"Yes. She sent for me directly she awoke, and asked me."
+
+"And you told her?"
+
+"How could I do otherwise? She was quite composed, wonderfully composed;
+and the way she heard the news was simply heroic. But here is Dr.
+Rolleston, coming now."
+
+I glanced along the corridor, and there was the physician approaching
+briskly.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Knox," he said.
+
+"Good morning, doctor. I hear that your patient is much improved?"
+
+"Wonderfully so," he answered. "She has enough courage for ten men. She
+wishes to see you, Mr. Knox, and to hear your account of the tragedy."
+
+"Do you think it would be wise?"
+
+"I think it would be best."
+
+"Do you hold any hope of her permanently recovering the use of her
+limbs?"
+
+Dr. Rolleston shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"It may have only been temporary," he replied. "These obscure nervous
+affections are very fickle. It is unsafe to make predictions. But
+mentally, at least, she is quite restored from the effects of last
+night's shock. You need apprehend no hysteria or anything of that
+nature, Mr. Knox."
+
+"Oh, I see," exclaimed a loud voice behind us.
+
+We all three turned, and there was Inspector Aylesbury crossing the hall
+in our direction.
+
+"Good morning, Dr. Rolleston," he said, deliberately ignoring my
+presence. "I hear that your patient is quite well again this morning?"
+
+"She is much improved," returned the physician, dryly.
+
+"Then I can get her testimony, which is most important to my case?"
+
+"She is somewhat better. If she cares to see you I do not forbid the
+interview."
+
+"Oh, that's good of you, doctor." He bowed to Miss Beverley. "Perhaps,
+Miss, you would ask Madame de Staemer to see me for a few minutes."
+
+Val Beverley looked at me appealingly then shrugged her shoulders,
+turned aside, and walked in the direction of Madame de Staemer's door.
+
+"Well," said Dr. Rolleston, in his brisk way, shaking me by the hand, "I
+must be getting along. Good morning, Mr. Knox. Good morning, Inspector
+Aylesbury."
+
+He walked rapidly out to his waiting car. The presence of Inspector
+Aylesbury exercised upon Dr. Rolleston a similar effect to that which
+a red rag has upon a bull. As he took his departure, the Inspector drew
+out his pocket-book, and, humming gently to himself, began to consult
+certain entries therein, with a portentous air of reflection which would
+have been funny if it had not been so irritating.
+
+Thus we stood when Val Beverley returned, and:
+
+"Madame de Staemer will see you, Inspector Aylesbury," she said, "but
+wishes Mr. Knox to be present at the interview."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, lowering his chin, "I see. Oh, very well."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+IN MADAME'S ROOM
+
+
+
+Madame de Staemer's apartment was a large and elegant one. From the
+window-drapings, which were of some light, figured satiny material, to
+the bed-cover, the lampshades and the carpet, it was French. Faintly
+perfumed, and decorated with many bowls of roses, it reflected, in its
+ornaments, its pictures, its slender-legged furniture, the personality
+of the occupant. In a large, high bed, reclining amidst a number of
+silken pillows, lay Madame de Staemer. The theme of the room was violet
+and silver, and to this everything conformed. The toilet service was of
+dull silver and violet enamel. The mirrors and some of the pictures
+had dull silver frames, There was nothing tawdry or glittering. The bed
+itself, which I thought resembled a bed of state, was of the same dull
+silver, with a coverlet of delicate violet I hue. But Madame's decollete
+robe was trimmed with white fur, so that her hair, dressed high upon her
+head, seemed to be of silver, too.
+
+Reclining there upon her pillows, she looked like some grande dame of
+that France which was swept away by the Revolution. Immediately above
+the dressing-table I observed a large portrait of Colonel Menendez
+dressed as I had imagined he should be dressed when I had first set eyes
+on him, in tropical riding kit, and holding a broad-brimmed hat in his
+hand. A strikingly handsome, arrogant figure he made, uncannily like the
+Velasquez in the library.
+
+At the face of Madame de Staemer I looked long and searchingly. She had
+not neglected the art of the toilette. Blinds tempered the sunlight
+which flooded her room; but that, failing the service of rouge, Madame
+had been pale this morning, I perceived immediately. In some subtle
+way the night had changed her. Something was gone out of her face, and
+something come into it. I thought, and lived to remember the thought,
+that it was thus Marie Antoinette might have looked when they told her
+how the drums had rolled in the Place de la Revolution on that morning
+of the twenty-first of January.
+
+"Oh, M. Knox," she said, sadly, "you are there, I see. Come and sit here
+beside me, my friend. Val, dear, remain. Is this Inspector Aylesbury who
+wishes to speak to me?"
+
+The Inspector, who had entered with all the confidence in the world,
+seemed to lose some of it in the presence of this grand lady, who was so
+little impressed by the dignity of his office.
+
+She waved one slender hand in the direction of a violet brocaded chair.
+
+"Sit down, Monsieur l'inspecteur," she commanded, for it was rather a
+command than an invitation.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and sat down.
+
+"Ah, M. Knox!" exclaimed Madame, turning to me with one of her rapid
+movements, "is your friend afraid to face me, then? Does he think that
+he has failed? Does he think that I condemn him?"
+
+"He knows that he has failed, Madame de Staemer," I replied, "but his
+absence is due to the fact that at this hour he is hot upon the trail of
+the assassin."
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, "what!"--and bending forward touched my arm.
+"Tell me again! Tell me again!"
+
+"He is following a clue, Madame de Staemer, which he hopes will lead to
+the truth."
+
+"Ah! if I could believe it would lead to the truth," she said. "If I
+dared to believe this."
+
+"Why should it not?"
+
+She shook her head, smiling with such a resigned sadness that I averted
+my gaze and glanced across at Val Beverley who was seated on the
+opposite side of the bed.
+
+"If you knew--if you knew."
+
+I looked again into the tragic face, and realized that this was an older
+woman than the brilliant hostess I had known. She sighed, shrugged, and:
+
+"Tell me, M. Knox," she continued, "it was swift and merciful, eh?"
+
+"Instantaneous," I replied, in a low voice.
+
+"A good shot?" she asked, strangely.
+
+"A wonderful shot," I answered, thinking that she imposed unnecessary
+torture upon herself.
+
+"They say he must be taken away, M. Knox, but I reply: not until I have
+seen him."
+
+"Madame," began Val Beverley, gently.
+
+"Ah, my dear!" Madame de Staemer, without looking at the speaker,
+extended one hand in her direction, the fingers characteristically
+curled. "You do not know me. Perhaps it is a good job. You are a man,
+Mr. Knox, and men, especially men who write, know more of women than
+they know of themselves, is it not so? You will understand that I must
+see him again?"
+
+"Madame de Staemer," I said, "your courage is almost terrible."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I am not proud to be brave, my friend. The animals are brave, but many
+cowards are proud. Listen again. He suffered no pain, you think?"
+
+"None, Madame de Staemer."
+
+"So Dr. Rolleston assures me. He died in his sleep? You do not think he
+was awake, eh?"
+
+"Most certainly he was not awake."
+
+"It is the best way to die," she said, simply. "Yet he, who was brave
+and had faced death many times, would have counted it"----she snapped
+her white fingers, glancing across the room to where Inspector
+Aylesbury, very subdued, sat upon the brocaded chair twirling his cap
+between his hands. "And now, Inspector Aylesbury," she asked, "what is
+it you wish me to tell you?"
+
+"Well, Madame," began the Inspector, and stood up, evidently in an
+endeavour to recover his dignity, but:
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Inspector! I beg of you be seated," cried Madame. "I will
+not be questioned by one who stands. And if you were to walk about I
+should shriek."
+
+He resumed his seat, clearing his throat nervously.
+
+"Very well, Madame," he continued, "I have come to you particularly for
+information respecting a certain Mr. Camber."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Madame.
+
+Her vibrant voice was very low.
+
+"You know him, no doubt?"
+
+"I have never met him."
+
+"What?" exclaimed the Inspector.
+
+Madame shrugged and glanced at me eloquently.
+
+"Well," he continued, "this gets more and more funny. I am told by
+Pedro, the butler, that Colonel Menendez looked upon Mr. Camber as an
+enemy, and Miss Beverley, here, admitted that it was true. Yet although
+he was an enemy, nobody ever seems to have spoken to him, and he swears
+that he had never spoken to Colonel Menendez."
+
+"Yes?" said Madame, listlessly, "is that so?"
+
+"It is so, Madame, and now you tell me that you have never met him."
+
+"I did tell you so, yes."
+
+"His wife, then?"
+
+"I never met his wife," said Madame, rapidly.
+
+"But it is a fact that Colonel Menendez regarded him as an enemy?"
+
+"It is a fact-yes."
+
+"Ah, now we are coming to it. What was the cause of this?"
+
+"I cannot tell you."
+
+"Do you mean that you don't know?"
+
+"I mean that I cannot tell you."
+
+"Oh," said the Inspector, blankly, "I see. That's not helping me very
+much, is it?"
+
+"No, it is no help," said Madame, twirling a ring upon her finger.
+
+The Inspector cleared his throat again, then:
+
+"There had been other attempts, I believe, at assassination?" he asked.
+
+Madame nodded.
+
+"Several."
+
+"Did you witness any of these?"
+
+"None of them."
+
+"But you know that they took place?"
+
+"Juan--Colonel Menendez--had told me so."
+
+"And he suspected that there was someone lurking about this house?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Also, someone broke in?"
+
+"There were doors unfastened, and a great disturbance, so I suppose
+someone must have done so."
+
+I wondered if he would refer to the bat wing nailed to the door, but he
+had evidently decided that this clue was without importance, nor did
+he once refer to the aspect of the case which concerned Voodoo. He
+possessed a sort of mulish obstinacy, and was evidently determined to
+use no scrap of information which he had obtained from Paul Harley.
+
+"Now, Madame," said he, "you heard the shot fired last night?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"It woke you up?"
+
+"I was already awake."
+
+"Oh, I see: you were awake?"
+
+"I was awake."
+
+"Where did you think the sound came from?"
+
+"From back yonder, beyond the east wing."
+
+"Beyond the east wing?" muttered Inspector Aylesbury. "Now, let me see."
+He turned ponderously in his chair, gazing out of the windows. "We
+look out on the south here? You say the sound of the shot came from the
+east?"
+
+"So it seemed to me."
+
+"Oh." This piece of information seemed badly to puzzle him. "And what
+then?"
+
+"I was so startled that I ran to the door before I remembered that I
+could not walk."
+
+She glanced aside at me with a tired smile, and laid her hand upon my
+arm in an oddly caressing way, as if to say, "He is so stupid; I should
+not have expressed myself in that way."
+
+Truly enough the Inspector misunderstood, for:
+
+"I don't follow what you mean, Madame," he declared. "You say you forgot
+that you could not walk?"
+
+"No, no, I expressed myself wrongly," Madame replied in a weary voice.
+"The fright, the terror, gave me strength to stagger to the door, and
+there I fell and swooned."
+
+"Oh, I see. You speak of fright and terror. Were these caused by the
+sound of the shot?"
+
+"For some reason my cousin believed himself to be in peril," explained
+Madame. "He went in dread of assassination, you understand? Very well,
+he caused me to feel this dread, also. When I heard the shot, something
+told me, something told me that--" she paused, and suddenly placing her
+hands before her face, added in a whisper--"that it had come."
+
+Val Beverley was watching Madame de Staemer anxiously, and the fact that
+she was unfit to undergo further examination was so obvious that any
+other than an Inspector Aylesbury would have withdrawn. The latter,
+however, seemed now to be glued to his chair, and:
+
+"Oh, I see," he said; "and now there's another point: Have you any idea
+what took Colonel Menendez out into the grounds last night?"
+
+Madame de Staemer lowered her hands and gazed across at the speaker.
+
+"What is that, Monsieur l'inspecteur?"
+
+"Well, you don't think he might have gone out to talk to someone?"
+
+"To someone? To what one?" demanded Madame, scornfully.
+
+"Well, it isn't natural for a man to go walking about the garden at
+midnight, when he's unwell, is it? Not alone. But if there was a lady in
+the case he might go."
+
+"A lady?" said Madame, softly. "Yes--continue."
+
+"Well," resumed the Inspector, deceived by the soft voice, "the young
+lady sitting beside you was still wearing her evening dress when I
+arrived here last night. I found that out, although she didn't give me a
+chance to see her."
+
+His words had an effect more dramatic than he could have foreseen.
+
+Madame de Staemer threw her arm around Val Beverley, and hugged her so
+closely to her side that the girl's curly brown head was pressed against
+Madame's shoulder. Thus holding her, she sat rigidly upright, her
+strange, still eyes glaring across the room at Inspector Aylesbury.
+Her whole pose was instinct with challenge, with defiance, and in that
+moment I identified the illusive memory which the eyes of Madame so
+often had conjured up in my mind.
+
+Once, years before, I had seen a wounded tigress standing over her cubs,
+a beautiful, fearless creature, blazing defiance with dying eyes upon
+those who had destroyed her, the mother-instinct supreme to the last;
+for as she fell to rise no more she had thrown her paw around the
+cowering cubs. It was not in shape, nor in colour, but in expression and
+in their stillness, that the eyes of Madame de Staemer resembled the eyes
+of the tigress.
+
+"Oh, Madame, Madame," moaned the girl, "how dare he!"
+
+"Ah!" Madame de Staemer raised her head yet higher, a royal gesture, that
+unmoving stare set upon the face of the discomfited Inspector Aylesbury.
+"Leave my apartment." Her left hand shot out dramatically in the
+direction of the door, but even yet the fingers remained curled.
+"Stupid, gross fool!"
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stood up, his face very flushed.
+
+"I am only doing my duty, Madame," he said.
+
+"Go, go!" commanded Madame, "I insist that you go!"
+
+Convulsively she held Val Beverley to her side, and although I could not
+see the girl's face, I knew that she was weeping.
+
+Those implacable flaming eyes followed with their stare the figure of
+the Inspector right to the doorway, for he essayed no further speech,
+but retired.
+
+I, also, rose, and:
+
+"Madame de Staemer," I said, speaking, I fear, very unnaturally, "I love
+your spirit."
+
+She threw back her head, smiling up at me. I shall never forget that
+look, nor shall I attempt to portray all which it conveyed--for I know I
+should fail.
+
+"My friend!" she said, and extended her hand to be kissed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+AN INSPIRATION
+
+
+
+Inspector Aylesbury had disappeared when I came out of the hall,
+but Pedro was standing there to remind me of the fact that I had not
+breakfasted. I realized that despite all tragic happenings, I was
+ravenously hungry, and accordingly I agreed to his proposal that I
+should take breakfast on the south veranda, as on the previous morning.
+
+To the south veranda accordingly I made my way, rather despising myself
+because I was capable of hunger at such a time and amidst such horrors.
+The daily papers were on my table, for Carter drove into Market Hilton
+every morning to meet the London train which brought them down; but I
+did not open any of them.
+
+Pedro waited upon me in person. I could see that the man was
+pathetically anxious to talk. Accordingly, when he presently brought me
+a fresh supply of hot rolls:
+
+"This has been a dreadful blow to you, Pedro?" I said.
+
+"Dreadful, sir," he returned; "fearful. I lose a splendid master, I lose
+my place, and I am far, far from home."
+
+"You are from Cuba?"
+
+"Yes, yes. I was with Senor the Colonel Don Juan in Cuba."
+
+"And do you know anything of the previous attempts which had been made
+upon his life, Pedro?"
+
+"Nothing, sir. Nothing at all."
+
+"But the bat wing, Pedro?"
+
+He looked at me in a startled way.
+
+"Yes, sir," he replied. "I found it pinned to the door here."
+
+"And what did you think it meant?"
+
+"I thought it was a joke, sir--not a nice joke--by someone who knew
+Cuba."
+
+"You know the meaning of Bat Wing, then?"
+
+"It is Obeah. I have never seen it before, but I have heard of it."
+
+"And what did you think?" said I, proceeding with my breakfast.
+
+"I thought it was meant to frighten."
+
+"But who did you think had done it?"
+
+"I had heard Senor Don Juan say that Mr. Camber hated him, so I thought
+perhaps he had sent someone to do it."
+
+"But why should Mr. Camber have hated the Colonel?"
+
+"I cannot say, sir. I wish I could tell."
+
+"Was your master popular in the West Indies?" I asked.
+
+"Well, sir--" Pedro hesitated--"perhaps not so well liked."
+
+"No," I said. "I had gathered as much."
+
+The man withdrew, and I continued my solitary meal, listening to the
+song of the skylarks, and thinking how complex was human existence,
+compared with any other form of life beneath the sun.
+
+How to employ my time until Harley should return I knew not. Common
+delicacy dictated an avoidance of Val Beverley until she should have
+recovered from the effect of Inspector Aylesbury's gross insinuations,
+and I was curiously disinclined to become involved in the gloomy
+formalities which ensue upon a crime of violence. Nevertheless, I
+felt compelled to remain within call, realizing that there might
+be unpleasant duties which Pedro could not perform, and which must
+therefore devolve upon Val Beverley.
+
+I lighted my pipe and walked out on to the sloping lawn. A gardener
+was at work with a big syringe, destroying a patch of weeds which had
+appeared in one corner of the velvet turf. He looked up in a sort of
+startled way as I passed, bidding me good morning, and then resuming his
+task. I thought that this man's activities were symbolic of the way of
+the world, in whose eternal progression one poor human life counts as
+nothing.
+
+Presently I came in sight of that door which opened into the
+rhododendron shrubbery, the door by which Colonel Menendez had come out
+to meet his death. His bedroom was directly above, and as I picked my
+way through the closely growing bushes, which at an earlier time I had
+thought to be impassable, I paused in the very shadow of the tower
+and glanced back and upward. I could see the windows of the little
+smoke-room in which we had held our last interview with Menendez; and I
+thought of the shadow which Harley had seen upon the blind. I was unable
+to disguise from myself the fact that when Inspector Aylesbury should
+learn of this occurrence, as presently he must do, it would give new
+vigour to his ridiculous and unpleasant suspicions.
+
+I passed on, and considering the matter impartially, found myself faced
+by the questions--Whose was the shadow which Harley had seen upon the
+blind? And with what purpose did Colonel Menendez leave the house at
+midnight?
+
+Somnambulism might solve the second riddle, but to the first I could
+find no answer acceptable to my reason. And now, pursuing my aimless
+way, I presently came in sight of a gable of the Guest House. I could
+obtain a glimpse of the hut which had once been Colin Camber's workroom.
+The window, through which Paul Harley had stared so intently, possessed
+sliding panes. These were closed, and a ray of sunlight, striking upon
+the glass, produced, because of an over-leaning branch which crossed the
+top of the window, an effect like that of a giant eye glittering evilly
+through the trees. I could see a constable moving about in the garden.
+Ever and anon the sun shone upon the buttons of his tunic.
+
+By such steps my thoughts led me on to the pathetic figure of Ysola
+Camber. Save for the faithful Ah Tsong she was alone in that house to
+which tragedy had come unbidden, unforeseen. I doubted if she had a
+woman friend in all the countryside. Doubtless, I reflected, the old
+housekeeper, to whom she had referred, would return as speedily as
+possible, but pending the arrival of someone to whom she could confide
+all her sorrows, I found it almost impossible to contemplate the
+loneliness of the tragic little figure.
+
+Such was my mental state, and my thoughts were all of compassion, when
+suddenly, like a lurid light, an inspiration came to me.
+
+I had passed out from the shadow of the tower and was walking in the
+direction of the sentinel yews when this idea, dreadfully complete,
+leapt to my mind. I pulled up short, as though hindered by a palpable
+barrier. Vague musings, evanescent theories, vanished like smoke, and a
+ghastly, consistent theory of the crime unrolled itself before me, with
+all the cold logic of truth.
+
+"My God!" I groaned aloud, "I see it all. I see it all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+MY THEORY OF THE CRIME
+
+
+
+The afternoon was well advanced before Paul Harley returned.
+
+So deep was my conviction that I had hit upon the truth, and so well
+did my theory stand every test which I could apply to it, that I felt
+disinclined for conversation with any one concerned in the tragedy until
+I should have submitted the matter to the keen analysis of Harley. Upon
+the sorrow of Madame de Staemer I naturally did not intrude, nor did I
+seek to learn if she had carried out her project of looking upon the
+dead man.
+
+About mid-day the body was removed, after which an oppressive and
+awesome stillness seemed to descend upon Cray's Folly.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury had not returned from his investigations at the
+Guest House, and learning that Miss Beverley was remaining with Madame
+de Staemer, I declined to face the ordeal of a solitary luncheon in
+the dining room, and merely ate a few sandwiches, walking over to the
+Lavender Arms for a glass of Mrs. Wootton's excellent ale.
+
+Here I found the bar-parlour full of local customers, and although a
+heated discussion was in progress as I opened the door, silence fell
+upon my appearance. Mrs. Wootton greeted me sadly.
+
+"Ah, sir," she said, as she placed a mug before me; "of course you've
+heard?"
+
+"I have, madam," I replied, perceiving that she did not know me to be a
+guest at Cray's Folly.
+
+"Well, well!" She shook her head. "It had to come, with all these
+foreign folk about."
+
+She retired to some sanctum at the rear of the bar, and I drank my beer
+amid one of those silences which sometimes descend upon such a gathering
+when a stranger appears in its midst. Not until I moved to depart was
+this silence broken, then:
+
+"Ah, well," said an old fellow, evidently a farm-hand, "we know now why
+he was priming of hisself with the drink, we do."
+
+"Aye!" came a growling chorus.
+
+I came out of the Lavender Arms full of a knowledge that so far as
+Mid-Hatton was concerned, Colin Camber was already found guilty.
+
+I had hoped to see something of Val Beverley on my return, but she
+remained closeted with Madame de Staemer, and I was left in loneliness
+to pursue my own reflections, and to perfect that theory which had
+presented itself to my mind.
+
+In Harley's absence I had taken it upon myself to give an order to Pedro
+to the effect that no reporters were to be admitted; and in this I had
+done well. So quickly does evil news fly that, between mid-day and
+the hour of Harley's return, no fewer than five reporters, I believe,
+presented themselves at Cray's Folly. Some of the more persistent
+continued to haunt the neighbourhood, and I had withdrawn to the
+deserted library, in order to avoid observation, when I heard a car draw
+up in the courtyard, and a moment later heard Harley asking for me.
+
+I hurried out to meet him, and as I appeared at the door of the library:
+
+"Hullo, Knox," he called, running up the steps. "Any developments?"
+
+"No actual development?" I replied, "except that several members of the
+Press have been here."
+
+"You told them nothing?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+"No; they were not admitted."
+
+"Good, good," he muttered.
+
+"I had expected you long before this, Harley."
+
+"Naturally," he said, with a sort of irritation. "I have been all the
+way to Whitehall and back."
+
+"To Whitehall! What, you have been to London?"
+
+"I had half anticipated it, Knox. The Chief Constable, although quite a
+decent fellow, is a stickler for routine. On the strength of those
+facts which I thought fit to place before him he could see no reason
+for superseding Aylesbury. Accordingly, without further waste of time,
+I headed straight for Whitehall. You may remember a somewhat elaborate
+report which I completed upon the eve of our departure from Chancery
+Lane?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"A very thankless job for the Home Office, Knox. But I received my
+reward to-day. Inspector Wessex has been placed in charge of the case
+and I hope he will be down here within the hour. Pending his arrival I
+am tied hand and foot."
+
+We had walked into the library, and, stopping, suddenly, Harley stared
+me very hard in the face.
+
+"You are bottling something up, Knox," he declared. "Out with it. Has
+Aylesbury distinguished himself again?"
+
+"No," I replied; "on the contrary. He interviewed Madame de Staemer, and
+came out with a flea in his ear."
+
+"Good," said Harley, smiling. "A clever woman, and a woman of spirit,
+Knox."
+
+"You are right," I replied, "and you are also right in supposing that I
+have a communication to make to you."
+
+"Ah, I thought so. What is it?"
+
+"It is a theory, Harley, which appears to me to cover the facts of the
+case."
+
+"Indeed?" said he, continuing to stare at me. "And what inspired it?"
+
+"I was staring up at the window of the smoke-room to-day, and I
+remembered the shadow which you had seen upon the blind."
+
+"Yes?" he cried, eagerly; "and does your theory explain that, too?"
+
+"It does, Harley."
+
+"Then I am all anxiety to hear it."
+
+"Very well, then, I will endeavour to be brief. Do you recollect Miss
+Beverley's story of the unfamiliar footsteps which passed her door on
+several occasions?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"You recollect that you, yourself, heard someone crossing the hall, and
+that both of us heard a door close?"
+
+"We did."
+
+"And finally you saw the shadow of a woman upon the blind of the
+Colonel's private study. Very well. Excluding the preposterous theory of
+Inspector Aylesbury, there is no woman in Cray's Folly whose footsteps
+could possibly have been heard in that corridor, and whose shadow could
+possibly have been seen upon the blind of Colonel Menendez's room."
+
+"I agree," said Harley, quietly. "I have definitely eliminated all the
+servants from the case. Therefore, proceed, Knox, I am all attention."
+
+"I will do so. There is a door on the south side of the house, close to
+the tower and opening into the rhododendron shrubbery. This was the door
+used by Colonel Menendez in his somnambulistic rambles, according to
+his own account. Now, assuming his statement to have been untrue in one
+particular, that is, assuming he was not walking in his sleep, but was
+fully awake--"
+
+"Eh?" exclaimed Harley, his expression undergoing a subtle change. "Do
+you think his statement was untrue?"
+
+"According to my theory, Harley, his statement was untrue, in this
+particular, at least. But to proceed: Might he not have employed this
+door to admit a nocturnal visitor?"
+
+"It is feasible," muttered Harley, watching me closely.
+
+"For the Colonel to descend to this side door when the household was
+sleeping," I continued, "and to admit a woman secretly to Cray's Folly,
+would have been a simple matter. Indeed, on the occasions of these
+visits he might even have unbolted the door himself after Pedro had
+bolted it, in order to enable her to enter without his descending for
+the purpose of admitting her."
+
+"By heavens! Knox," said Harley, "I believe you have it!"
+
+His eyes were gleaming excitedly, and I proceeded:
+
+"Hence the footsteps which passed Miss Beverley's door, hence the shadow
+which you saw upon the blind; and the sounds which you detected in the
+hall were caused, of course, by this woman retiring. It was the door
+leading into the shrubbery which we heard being closed!"
+
+"Continue," said Harley; "although I can plainly see to what this is
+leading."
+
+"You can see, Harley?" I cried; "of course you can see! The enmity
+between Camber and Menendez is understandable at last."
+
+"You mean that Menendez was Mrs. Camber's lover?"
+
+"Don't you agree with me?"
+
+"It is feasible, Knox, dreadfully feasible. But go on."
+
+"My theory also explains Colin Camber's lapse from sobriety. It is
+legitimate to suppose that his wife, who was a Cuban, had been intimate
+with Menendez before her meeting with Camber. Perhaps she had broken the
+tie at the time of her marriage, but this is mere supposition. Then,
+her old lover, his infatuation by no means abated, leases the property
+adjoining that of his successful rival."
+
+"Knox!" exclaimed Paul Harley, "this is brilliant. I am all impatience
+for the _denouement_."
+
+"It is coming," I said, triumphantly. "Relations are reestablished,
+clandestinely. Colin Camber learns of these. A passionate quarrel
+ensues, resulting in a long drinking bout designed to drown his
+sorrows. His love for his wife is so great that he has forgiven her this
+infidelity. Accordingly, she has promised to see her lover no more. Hers
+was the figure which you saw outlined upon the blind on the night before
+the tragedy, Harley! The gestures, which you described as those of
+despair, furnish evidence to confirm my theory. It was a final meeting!"
+
+"Hm," muttered Harley. "It would be taking big chances, because we have
+to suppose, Knox, that these visits to Cray's Folly were made whilst her
+husband was at work in the study. If he had suddenly decided to turn in,
+all would have been discovered."
+
+"True," I agreed, "but is it impossible?"
+
+"No, not a bit. Women are dreadful gamblers. But continue, Knox."
+
+"Very well. Colonel Menendez has refused to accept his dismissal, and
+Mrs. Camber had been compelled to promise, without necessarily intending
+to carry out the promise, that she would see him again on the following
+night. She failed to come; whereupon he, growing impatient, walked out
+into the grounds of Cray's Folly to look for her. She may even have
+intended to come and have been intercepted by her husband. But in any
+event, the latter, seeing the man who had wronged him, standing out
+there in the moonlight, found temptation to be too strong. On the whole,
+I favour the idea that he had intercepted his wife, and snatching up
+a rifle, had actually gone out into the garden with the intention of
+shooting Menendez."
+
+"I see," murmured Harley in a low voice. "This hypothesis, Knox, does
+not embrace the Bat Wing episodes."
+
+"If Menendez has lied upon one point," I returned, "it is permissible to
+suppose that his entire story was merely a tissue of falsehood."
+
+"I see. But why did he bring me to Cray's Folly?"
+
+"Don't you understand, Harley?" I cried, excitedly. "He really feared
+for his life, since he knew that Camber had discovered the intrigue."
+
+Paul Harley heaved a long sigh.
+
+"I must congratulate you, Knox," he said, gravely, "upon a really
+splendid contribution to my case. In several particulars I find myself
+nearer to the truth. But the definite establishment or shattering of
+your theory rests upon one thing."
+
+"What's that?" I asked. "You are surely not thinking of the bat wing
+nailed upon the door?"
+
+"Not at all," he replied. "I am thinking of the seventh yew tree from
+the northeast corner of the Tudor garden."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE
+
+
+
+What reply I should have offered to this astonishing remark I cannot
+say, but at that moment the library door burst open unceremoniously, and
+outlined against the warmly illuminated hall, where sunlight poured down
+through the dome, I beheld the figure of Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"Ah!" he cried, loudly, "so you have come back, Mr. Harley? I thought
+you had thrown up the case."
+
+"Did you?" said Harley, smilingly. "No, I am still persevering in my
+ineffectual way."
+
+"Oh, I see. And have you quite convinced yourself that Colin Camber is
+innocent?"
+
+"In one or two particulars my evidence remains incomplete."
+
+"Oh, in one or two particulars, eh? But generally speaking you don't
+doubt his innocence?"
+
+"I don't doubt it for a moment."
+
+Harley's words surprised me. I recognized, of course, that he might
+merely be bluffing the Inspector, but it was totally alien to his
+character to score a rhetorical success at the expense of what he knew
+to be the truth; and so sure was I of the accuracy of my deductions that
+I no longer doubted Colin Camber to be the guilty man.
+
+"At any rate," continued the Inspector, "he is in detention, and likely
+to remain there. If you are going to defend him at the Assizes, I don't
+envy you your job, Mr. Harley."
+
+He was blatantly triumphant, so that the fact was evident enough that
+he had obtained some further piece of evidence which he regarded as
+conclusive.
+
+"I have detained the man Ah Tsong as well," he went on. "He was an
+accomplice of your innocent friend, Mr. Harley."
+
+"Was he really?" murmured Harley.
+
+"Finally," continued the Inspector, "I have only to satisfy myself
+regarding the person who lured Colonel Menendez out into the grounds
+last night, to have my case complete."
+
+I turned aside, unable to trust myself, but Harley remarked quite
+coolly:
+
+"Your industry is admirable, Inspector Aylesbury, but I seem to perceive
+that you have made a very important discovery of some kind."
+
+"Ah, you have got wind of it, have you?"
+
+"I have no information on the point," replied Harley, "but your manner
+urges me to suggest that perhaps success has crowned your efforts?"
+
+"It has," replied the Inspector. "I am a man that doesn't do things by
+halves. I didn't content myself with just staring out of the window of
+that little hut in the grounds of the Guest House, like you did, Mr.
+Harley, and saying 'twice one are two'--I looked at every book on the
+shelves, and at every page of those books."
+
+"You must have materially added to your information?"
+
+"Ah, very likely, but my enquiries didn't stop there. I had the floor
+up."
+
+"The floor of the hut?"
+
+"The floor of the hut, sir. The planks were quite loose. I had satisfied
+myself that it was a likely hiding place."
+
+"What did you find there, a dead rat?"
+
+Inspector Aylesbury turned, and:
+
+"Sergeant Butler," he called.
+
+The sergeant came forward from the hall, carrying a cricket bag. This
+Inspector Aylesbury took from him, placing it upon the floor of the
+library at his feet.
+
+"New, sir," said he, "I borrowed this bag in which to bring the evidence
+away--the hanging evidence which I discovered beneath the floor of the
+hut."
+
+I had turned again, when the man had referred to his discovery; and now,
+glancing at Harley, I saw that his face had grown suddenly very stern.
+
+"Show me your evidence, Inspector?" he asked, shortly.
+
+"There can be no objection," returned the Inspector.
+
+Opening the bag, he took out a rifle!
+
+Paul Harley's hands were thrust in his coat pockets, By the movement
+of the cloth I could see that he had clenched his fists. Here was
+confirmation of my theory!
+
+"A Service rifle," said the Inspector, triumphantly, holding up the
+weapon. "A Lee-Enfield charger-loader. It contains four cartridges,
+three undischarged, and one discharged. He had not even troubled to
+eject it."
+
+The Inspector dropped the weapon into the bag with a dramatic movement.
+
+"Fancy theories about bat wings and Voodoos," he said, scornfully,
+"may satisfy you, Mr. Harley, but I think this rifle will prove more
+satisfactory to the Coroner."
+
+He picked up the bag and walked out of the library.
+
+Harley stood posed in a curiously rigid way, looking after him. Even
+when the door had closed he did not change his position at once. Then,
+turning slowly, he walked to an armchair and sat down.
+
+"Harley," I said, hesitatingly, "has this discovery surprised you?"
+
+"Surprised me?" he returned in a low voice. "It has appalled me."
+
+"Then, although you seemed to regard my theory as sound," I continued
+rather resentfully, "all the time you continued to believe Colin Camber
+to be innocent?"
+
+"I believe so still."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I thought we had determined, Knox," he said, wearily, "that a man of
+Camber's genius, having decided upon murder, must have arranged for an
+unassailable alibi. Very well. Are we now to leap to the other end
+of the scale, and to credit him with such utter stupidity as to place
+hanging evidence where it could not fail to be discovered by the most
+idiotic policeman? Preserve your balance, Knox. Theories are wild
+horses. They run away with us. I know that of old, for which very reason
+I always avoid speculation until I have a solid foundation of fact upon
+which to erect it."
+
+"But, my dear fellow," I cried, "was Camber to foresee that the floor of
+the hut would be taken up?"
+
+Harley sighed, and leaned back in his chair.
+
+"Do you recollect your first meeting with this man, Knox?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"What occurred?"
+
+"He was slightly drunk."
+
+"Yes, but what was the nature of his conversation?"
+
+"He suggested that I had recognized his resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe."
+
+"Quite. What had led him to make this suggestion?"
+
+"The manner in which I had looked at him, I suppose."
+
+"Exactly. Although not quite sober, from a mere glance he was able to
+detect what you were thinking. Do you wish me to believe, Knox, that
+this same man had not foreseen what the police would think when Colonel
+Menendez was found shot within a hundred yards of the garden of the
+Guest House?"
+
+I was somewhat taken aback, for Harley's argument was strictly logical,
+and:
+
+"It is certainly very puzzling," I admitted.
+
+"Puzzling!" he exclaimed; "it is maddening. This case is like a Syrian
+village-mound. Stratum lies under stratum, and in each we meet with
+evidence of more refined activity than in the last. It seems we have yet
+to go deeper."
+
+He took out his pipe and began to fill it.
+
+"Tell me about the interview with Madame de Staemer," he directed.
+
+I took a seat facing him, and he did not once interrupt me throughout my
+account of Inspector Aylesbury's examination of Madame.
+
+"Good," he commented, when I had told how the Inspector was dismissed.
+"But at least, Knox, he has a working theory, to which he sticks like an
+express to the main line, whereas I find myself constantly called upon
+to readjust my perspective. Directly I can enjoy freedom of movement,
+however, I shall know whether my hypothesis is a house of cards or a
+serviceable structure."
+
+"Your hypothesis?" I said. "Then you really have a theory which is
+entirely different from mine?"
+
+"Not entirely different, Knox, merely not so comprehensive. I have
+contented myself thus far with a negative theory, if I may so express
+it."
+
+"Negative theory?"
+
+"Exactly. We are dealing, my dear fellow, with a case of bewildering
+intricacies. For the moment I have focussed upon one feature only."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Upon proving that Colin Camber did not do the murder."
+
+"Did _not_ do it?"
+
+"Precisely, Knox. Respecting the person or persons who did do it, I
+had preserved a moderately open mind, up to the moment that Inspector
+Aylesbury entered the library with the Lee-Enfield."
+
+"And then?" I said, eagerly.
+
+"Then," he replied, "I began to think hard. However, since I practise
+what I preach, or endeavour to do so, I must not permit myself to
+speculate upon this aspect of the matter until I have tested my theory
+of Camber's innocence."
+
+"In other words," I said, bitterly, "although you encouraged me to
+unfold my ideas regarding Mrs. Camber, you were merely laughing at me
+all the time!"
+
+"My dear Knox!" exclaimed Harley, jumping up impulsively, "please don't
+be unjust. Is it like me? On the contrary, Knox"--he looked me squarely
+in the eyes--"you have given me a platform on which already I have begun
+to erect one corner of a theory of the crime. Without new facts I can go
+no further. But this much at least you have done."
+
+"Thanks, Harley," I murmured, and indeed I was gratified; "but where do
+your other corners rest?"
+
+"They rest," he said, slowly, "they rest, respectively, upon a bat wing,
+a yew tree, and a Lee-Enfield charger-loader."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE SEVENTH YEW TREE
+
+
+
+Detective-Inspector Wessex arrived at about five o'clock; a quiet,
+resourceful man, highly competent, and having the appearance of an
+ex-soldier. His respect for the attainments of Paul Harley alone marked
+him a student of character. I knew Wessex well, and was delighted when
+Pedro showed him into the library.
+
+"Thank God you are here, Wessex," said Harley, when we had exchanged
+greetings. "At last I can move. Have you seen the local officer in
+charge?"
+
+"No," replied the Inspector, "but I gather that I have been
+requisitioned over his head."
+
+"You have," said Harley, grimly, "and over the head of the Chief
+Constable, too. But I suppose it is unfair to condemn a man for the
+shortcoming with which nature endowed him, therefore we must endeavour
+to let Inspector Aylesbury down as lightly as possible. I have an idea
+that I heard him return a while ago."
+
+He walked out into the hall to make enquiries, and a few moments later I
+heard Inspector Aylesbury's voice.
+
+"Ah, there you are, Inspector Aylesbury," said Harley, cheerily. "Will
+you please step into the library for a moment?"
+
+The Inspector entered, frowning heavily, followed by my friend.
+
+"There is no earthly reason why we should get at loggerheads over this
+business," Harley continued; "but the fact of the matter is, Inspector
+Aylesbury, that there are depths in this case to which neither you nor
+I have yet succeeded in penetrating. You have a reputation to consider,
+and so have I. Therefore I am sure you will welcome the cooperation of
+Detective-Inspector Wessex of Scotland Yard, as I do."
+
+"What's this, what's this?" said Aylesbury. "I have made no application
+to London."
+
+"Nevertheless, Inspector, it is quite in order," declared Wessex. "I
+have my instructions here, and I have reported to Market Hilton already.
+You see, the man you have detained is an American citizen."
+
+"What of that?"
+
+"Well, he seems to have communicated with his Embassy." Wessex glanced
+significantly at Paul Harley. "And the Embassy communicated with the
+Home Office. You mustn't regard my arrival as any reflection on your
+ability, Inspector Aylesbury. I am sure we can work together quite
+agreeably."
+
+"Oh," muttered the other, in evident bewilderment, "I see. Well, if
+that's the way of it, I suppose we must make the best of things."
+
+"Good," cried Wessex, heartily. "Now perhaps you would like to state
+your case against the detained man?"
+
+"A sound idea, Wessex," said Paul Harley. "But perhaps, Inspector
+Aylesbury, before you begin, you would be good enough to speak to the
+constable on duty at the entrance to the Tudor garden. I am anxious to
+take another look at the spot where the body was found."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury took out his handkerchief and blew his nose loudly,
+continuing throughout the operation to glare at Paul Harley, and
+finally:
+
+"You are wasting your time, Mr. Harley," he declared, "as
+Detective-Inspector Wessex will be the first to admit when I have given
+him the facts of my case. Nevertheless, if you want to examine the
+garden, do so by all means."
+
+He turned without another word and stamped out of the library across the
+hall and into the courtyard.
+
+"I will join you again in a few minutes, Wessex," said Paul Harley,
+following.
+
+"Very good, Mr. Harley," Wessex answered. "I know you wouldn't have had
+me down if the case had been as simple as he seems to think it is."
+
+I joined Harley, and we walked together up the gravelled path, meeting
+Inspector Aylesbury and the constable returning.
+
+"Go ahead, Mr. Harley!" cried the Inspector. "If you can find any
+stronger evidence than the rifle, I shall be glad to take a look at it."
+
+Harley nodded good-humouredly, and together we descended the steps to
+the sunken garden. I was intensely curious respecting the investigation
+which Harley had been so anxious to make here, for I recognized that
+it was associated with something which he had seen from the window of
+Camber's hut.
+
+He walked along the moss-grown path to the sun-dial, and stood for a
+moment looking down at the spot where Menendez had lain. Then he stared
+up the hill toward the Guest House; and finally, directing his attention
+to the yews which lined the sloping bank:
+
+"One, two, three, four," he counted, checking them with his
+fingers--"five, six, seven."
+
+He mounted the bank and began to examine the trunk of one of the trees,
+whilst I watched him in growing astonishment.
+
+Presently he turned and looked down at me.
+
+"Not a trace, Knox," he murmured; "not a trace. Let us try again."
+
+He moved along to the yew adjoining that which he had already inspected,
+but presently shook his head and passed to the next. Then:
+
+"Ah!" he cried. "Come here, Knox!"
+
+I joined him where he was kneeling, staring at what I took to be a large
+nail, or bolt, protruding from the bark of the tree.
+
+"You see!" he exclaimed, "you see!"
+
+I stooped, in order to examine the thing more closely, and as I did
+so, I realized what it was. It was the bullet which had killed Colonel
+Menendez!
+
+Harley stood upright, his face slightly flushed and his eyes very
+bright.
+
+"We shall not attempt to remove it, Knox," he said. "The depth of
+penetration may have a tale to tell. The wood of the yew tree is one of
+the toughest British varieties."
+
+"But, Harley," I said, blankly, as we descended to the path, "this is
+merely another point for the prosecution of Camber. Unless"--I turned to
+him in sudden excitement, "the bullet was of different--"
+
+"No, no," he murmured, "nothing so easy as that, Knox. The bullet was
+fired from a Lee-Enfield beyond doubt."
+
+I stared at him uncomprehendingly.
+
+"Then I am utterly out of my depth, Harley. It, appears to me that the
+case against Camber is finally and fatally complete. Only the motive
+remains to be discovered, and I flatter myself that I have already
+detected this."
+
+"I am certainly inclined to think," admitted Harley, "that there is a
+good deal in your theory."
+
+"Then, Harley," I said in bewilderment, "you do believe that Camber
+committed the murder?"
+
+"On the contrary," he replied, "I am certain that he did not."
+
+I stood quite still.
+
+"You are certain?" I began.
+
+"I told you that the test of my theory, Knox, was to be looked for in
+the seventh yew from the northeast corner of the Tudor garden, did I
+not?"
+
+"You did. And it is there. A bullet fired from a Lee-Enfield rifle;
+beyond any possible shadow of doubt the bullet which killed Colonel
+Menendez."
+
+"Beyond any possible shadow of doubt, as you say, Knox, the bullet which
+killed Colonel Menendez."
+
+"Therefore Camber is guilty?"
+
+"On the contrary, therefore Camber is innocent!"
+
+"What!"
+
+"You are persistently overlooking one little point, Knox," said Harley,
+mounting the steps on to the gravel path. "I spoke of the seventh yew
+tree from the northeast corner of the garden."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, my dear fellow, surely you observed that the bullet was embedded
+in the ninth?"
+
+I was still groping for the significance of this point when, re-crossing
+the hall, we entered the library again, to find Inspector Aylesbury
+posed squarely before the mantelpiece stating his case to Wessex.
+
+"You see," he was saying, in his most oratorical manner, as we entered,
+"every little detail fits perfectly into place. For instance, I find
+that a woman, called Mrs. Powis, who for the past two years had acted as
+housekeeper at the Guest House and never taken a holiday, was sent away
+recently to her married daughter in London. See what that means? Her
+room is at the back of the house, and her evidence would have been
+fatal. Ah Tsong, of course, is a liar. I made up my mind about that the
+moment I clapped eyes on him. Mrs. Camber is the only innocent party.
+She was asleep in the front of the house when the shot was fired, and
+I believe her when she says that she cannot swear to the matter of
+distance."
+
+"A very interesting case, Inspector," said Wessex, glancing at Harley.
+"I have not examined the body yet, but I understand that it was a clean
+wound through the head."
+
+"The bullet entered at the juncture of the nasal and frontal bones,"
+explained Harley, rapidly, "and it came out between the base of the
+occipital and first cervical. Without going into unpleasant surgical
+details, the wound was a perfectly _straight_ one. There was no
+ricochet."
+
+"I understand that a regulation rifle was used?"
+
+"Yes," said Inspector Aylesbury; "we have it."
+
+"And at what range did you say, Inspector?"
+
+"Roughly, a hundred yards."
+
+"Possibly less," murmured Harley.
+
+"Hundred yards or less," said Wessex, musingly; "and the obstruction met
+with in the case of a man shot in that way would be--" He looked towards
+Paul Harley.
+
+"Less than if the bullet had struck the skull higher up," was the reply.
+"It passed clean through."
+
+"Therefore," continued Wessex, "I am waiting to hear, Inspector, where
+you found the bullet lodged?"
+
+"Eh?" said the Inspector, and he slowly turned his prominent eyes in
+Harley's direction. "Oh, I see. That's why you wanted to examine the
+Tudor garden, is it?"
+
+"Exactly," replied Harley.
+
+The face of Inspector Aylesbury grew very red.
+
+"I had deferred looking for the bullet," he explained, "as the case was
+already as clear as daylight. Probably Mr. Harley has discovered it."
+
+"I have," said Harley, shortly.
+
+"Is it the regulation bullet?" asked Wessex.
+
+"It is. I found it embedded in one of the yew trees."
+
+"There you are!" exclaimed Aylesbury. "There isn't the ghost of a
+doubt."
+
+Wessex looked at Harley in undisguised perplexity.
+
+"I must say, Mr. Harley," he admitted, "that I have never met with a
+clearer case."
+
+"Neither have I," agreed Harley, cheerfully. "I am going to ask
+Inspector Aylesbury to return here after nightfall. There is a little
+experiment which I should like to make, and which would definitely
+establish my case."
+
+"_Your_ case?" said Aylesbury.
+
+"My case, yes."
+
+"You are not going to tell me that you still persist in believing Camber
+to be innocent?"
+
+"Not at all. I am merely going to ask you to return at nightfall to
+assist me in this minor investigation."
+
+"If you ask my opinion," said the Inspector, "no further evidence is
+needed."
+
+"I don't agree with you," replied Harley, quietly. "Whatever your own
+ideas upon the subject may be, I, personally, have not yet discovered
+one single piece of convincing evidence for the prosecution of Camber."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Aylesbury, and even Detective-Inspector Wessex stared
+at the speaker incredulously.
+
+"My dear Inspector Aylesbury," concluded Harley, "when you have
+witnessed the experiment which I propose to make this evening you will
+realize, as I have already realized that we are faced by a tremendous
+task."
+
+"What tremendous task?"
+
+"The task of discovering who shot Colonel Menendez."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+YSOLA CAMBER'S CONFESSION
+
+
+
+Paul Harley, with Wessex and Inspector Aylesbury, presently set out for
+Market Hilton, where Colin Camber and Ah Tsong were detained and where
+the body of Colonel Menendez had been conveyed for the purpose of the
+post-mortem. I had volunteered to remain at Cray's Folly, my motive
+being not wholly an unselfish one.
+
+"Refer reporters to me, Mr. Knox," said Inspector Wessex. "Don't let
+them trouble the ladies. And tell them as little as possible, yourself."
+
+The drone of the engine having died away down the avenue, I presently
+found myself alone, but as I crossed the hall in the direction of
+the library, intending to walk out upon the southern lawns, I saw Val
+Beverley coming toward me from Madame de Staemer's room.
+
+She remained rather pale, but smiled at me courageously.
+
+"Have they all gone, Mr. Knox?" she asked. "I have really been hiding. I
+suppose you knew?"
+
+"I suspected it," I said, smiling. "Yes, they are all gone. How is
+Madame de Staemer, now?"
+
+"She is quite calm. Curiously, almost uncannily calm. She is writing.
+Tell me, please, what does Mr. Harley think of Inspector Aylesbury's
+preposterous ideas?"
+
+"He thinks he is a fool," I replied, hotly, "as I do."
+
+"But whatever will happen if he persists in dragging me into this
+horrible case?"
+
+"He will not drag you into it," I said, quietly. "He has been superseded
+by a cleverer man, and the case is practically under Harley's direction
+now."
+
+"Thank Heaven for that," she murmured. "I wonder----" She looked at me
+hesitatingly.
+
+"Yes?" I prompted.
+
+"I have been thinking about poor Mrs. Camber all alone in that gloomy
+house, and wondering----"
+
+"Perhaps I know. You are going to visit her?"
+
+Val Beverley nodded, watching me.
+
+"Can you leave Madame de Staemer with safety?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I think so. Nita can attend to her."
+
+"And may I accompany you, Miss Beverley? For more reasons than one, I,
+too, should like to call upon Mrs. Camber."
+
+"We might try," she said, hesitatingly. "I really only wanted to be
+kind. You won't begin to cross-examine her, will you?"
+
+"Certainly not," I answered; "although there are many things I should
+like her to tell us."
+
+"Well, suppose we go," said the girl, "and let events take their own
+course."
+
+As a result, I presently found myself, Val Beverley by my side, walking
+across the meadow path. With the unpleasant hush of Cray's Folly left
+behind, the day seemed to grow brighter. I thought that the skylarks had
+never sung more sweetly. Yet in this same instant of sheerly physical
+enjoyment I experienced a pang of remorse, remembering the tragic woman
+we had left behind, and the poor little sorrowful girl we were going to
+visit. My emotions were very mingled, then, and I retain no recollection
+of our conversation up to the time that we came to the Guest House.
+
+We were admitted by a really charming old lady, who informed us that her
+name was Mrs. Powis and that she was but an hour returned from London,
+whither she had been summoned by telegram.
+
+She showed us into a quaint, small drawing room which owed its
+atmosphere quite clearly to Mrs. Camber, for whereas the study was
+indescribably untidy, this was a model of neatness without being formal
+or unhomely. Here, in a few moments, Mrs. Camber joined us, an appealing
+little figure of wistful, almost elfin, beauty. I was surprised and
+delighted to find that an instant bond of sympathy sprang up between the
+two girls. I diplomatically left them together for a while, going into
+Camber's room to smoke my pipe. And when I returned:
+
+"Oh, Mr. Knox," said Val Beverley, "Mrs. Camber has something to tell
+you which she thinks you ought to know."
+
+"Concerning Colonel Menendez?" I asked, eagerly.
+
+Mrs. Camber nodded her golden head.
+
+"Yes," she replied, but glancing at Val Beverley as if to gather
+confidence. "The truth can never hurt Colin. He has nothing to conceal.
+May I tell you?"
+
+"I am all anxiety to hear," I assured her.
+
+"Would you rather I went, Mrs. Camber?" asked Val Beverley.
+
+Mrs. Camber reached across and took her hand.
+
+"Please, no," she replied. "Stay here with me. I am afraid it is rather
+a long story."
+
+"Never mind," I said. "It will be time well spent if it leads us any
+nearer to the truth."
+
+"Yes?" she questioned, watching me anxiously, "you think so? I think so,
+too."
+
+She became silent, sitting looking straight before her, the pupils of
+her blue eyes widely dilated. Then, at first in a queer, far-away voice,
+she began to speak again.
+
+"I must tell you," she commenced "that before--my marriage, my name was
+Isabella de Valera."
+
+I started.
+
+"Ysola was my baby way of saying it, and so I came to be called Ysola.
+My father was manager of one of Senor Don Juan's estates, in a small
+island near the coast of Cuba. My mother"--she raised her little hands
+eloquently--"was half-caste. Do you know? And she and my father--"
+
+She looked pleadingly at Val Beverley.
+
+"I understand," whispered the latter with deep sympathy; "but you don't
+think it makes any difference, do you?"
+
+"No?" said Mrs. Camber with a quaint little gesture. "To you, perhaps
+not, but there, where I was born, oh! so much. Well, then, my mother
+died when I was very little. Ah Tsong was her servant. There are many
+Chinese in the West Indies, you see, and I can just remember he carried
+me in to see her. Of course I didn't understand. My father quarrelled
+bitterly with the priests because they would not bury her in holy
+ground. I think he no longer believed afterward. I loved him very much.
+He was good to me; and I was a queen in that little island. All
+the negroes loved me, because of my mother, I think, who was partly
+descended from slaves, as they were. But I had not begun to understand
+how hard it was all going to be when my father sent me to a convent in
+Cuba.
+
+"I hated to go, but while I was there I learned all about myself. I knew
+that I was outcast. It was"--she raised her hand--"not possible to stay.
+I was only fifteen when I came home, but all the same I was a woman. I
+was no more a child, and happy no longer. After a while, perhaps, when
+I forgot what I had suffered at the convent, I became less miserable.
+My father did all in his power to make me happy, and I was glad the
+work-people loved me. But I was very lonely. Ah Tsong understood."
+
+Her eyes filled with tears.
+
+"Can you imagine," she asked, "that when my father was away in distant
+parts of the island at night, Ah Tsong slept outside my door? Some of
+them say, 'Do not trust the Chinese' I say, except my husband and my
+father, I have never known another one to trust but Ah Tsong. Now they
+have taken him away from me."
+
+Tears glittered on her lashes, but she brushed them aside angrily, and
+continued:
+
+"I was still less than twenty, and looked, they told me, only fourteen,
+when Senor Menendez came to inspect his estate. I had never seen him
+before. There had been a rising in the island, in the year after I was
+born, and he had only just escaped with his life. He was hated. People
+called him Devil Menendez. Especially, no woman was safe from him,
+and in the old days, when his power had been great, he had used it for
+wickedness.
+
+"My father was afraid when he heard he was coming. He would have sent me
+away, but before it could be arranged Senor the Colonel arrived. He had
+in his company a French lady. I thought her very beautiful and elegant.
+It was Madame de Staemer. It is only four years ago, a little more, but
+her hair was dark brown. She was splendidly dressed and such a wonderful
+horsewoman. The first time I saw her I felt as they had made me feel at
+the convent. I wanted to hide from her. She was so grand a lady, and I
+came from slaves."
+
+She paused hesitatingly and stared down at her own tiny feet.
+
+"Pardon me interrupting you, Mrs. Camber," I said, "but can you tell me
+in what way these two are related?"
+
+She looked up with her naive smile.
+
+"I can tell you, yes. A cousin of Senor Menendez married a sister of
+Madame de Staemer."
+
+"Good heavens!" I exclaimed, "a very remote kinship."
+
+"It was in this way they met, in Paris, I think, and"--she raised her
+hands expressively--"she came with him to the West Indies, although it
+was during the great war. I think she loved him more than her soul, and
+me--me she hated. As Senor Menendez dismounted from his horse in front
+of the house he saw me."
+
+She sighed and ceased speaking again. Then:
+
+"That very night," she continued, "he began. Do you know? I was trying
+to escape from him when Madame de Staemer found us. She called me a
+shameful name, and my father, who heard it, ordered her out of the
+house. Senor Menendez spoke sharply, and my father struck him."
+
+She paused once more, biting her lip agitatedly, but presently
+proceeded:
+
+"Do you know what they are like, the Spanish, when their blood is hot?
+Senor Menendez had a revolver, but my father knocked it from his grasp.
+Then they fought with their bare hands. I was too frightened even to cry
+out. It was all a horrible dream. What Madame de Staemer did, I do not
+know. I could see nothing but two figures twined together on the floor.
+At last one of them arose. I saw it was my father, and I remember no
+more."
+
+She was almost overcome by her tragic recollections, but presently, with
+a wonderful courage, which, together with her daintiness of form, spoke
+eloquently of good blood on one side at any rate, continued to speak:
+
+"My father found he must go to Cuba to make arrangements for the future.
+Of course, our life there was finished. Ah Tsong stayed with me. You
+have heard how it used to be in those islands in the old days, but now
+you think it is so different? I used to think it was different, too. On
+the first night my father was away, Ah Tsong, who had gone out, was so
+long returning I became afraid. Then a strange negro came with news that
+he had been taken ill with cholera, and was lying at a place not far
+from the house. I forgot my fears and hurried off with this man. Ah!"
+
+She laughed wildly.
+
+"I did not know I should never return, and I did not know I should never
+see my father again. To you this must seem all wild and strange, because
+there is a law in England. There is a law in Cuba, too, but in some of
+those little islands the only law is the law of the strongest."
+
+She raised her hands to her face and there was silence for a while.
+
+"Of course it was a trap," she presently continued. "I was taken to an
+island called El Manas which belonged to Senor Menendez, and where
+he had a house. This he could do, but"--she threw back her head
+proudly--"my spirit he could not break. Lots and lots of money would
+be mine, and estates of my own; but one thing about him I must tell: he
+never showed me violence. For one, two, three weeks I stayed a prisoner
+in his house. All the servants were faithful to him and I could not
+find a friend among them. Although quite innocent, I was ruined. Do you
+know?"
+
+She raised her eyes pathetically to Val Beverley.
+
+"I thought my heart was broken, for something told me my father was
+dead. This was true."
+
+"What!" I exclaimed. "You don't mean--"
+
+"I don't know, I don't know," she answered, brokenly. "He died on
+his way to Havana. They said it was an accident. Well--at last, Senor
+Menendez offered me marriage. I thought if I agreed it would give me my
+freedom, and I could run away and find Ah Tsong."
+
+She paused, and a flush coloured her delicate face and faded again,
+leaving it very pale.
+
+"We were married in the house, by a Spanish priest. Oh"--she raised her
+hands pathetically--"do you know what a woman is like? My spirit was not
+broken still, but crushed. I had now nothing but kindness and gifts.
+I might never have known, but Senor Menendez, who thought"--she smiled
+sadly--"I was beautiful, took me to Cuba, where he had a great house.
+Please remember, please," she pleaded, "before you judge of me, that I
+was so young and had never known love, except the love of my father. I
+did not even dream, then, his death was not an accident.
+
+"I was proud of my jewels and fine dresses. But I began to notice that
+Juan did not present any of his friends to me. We went about, but to
+strange places, never to visit people of his own kind, and none came to
+visit us. Then one night I heard someone on the balcony of my room. I
+was so frightened I could not cry out. It was good I was like that, for
+the curtain was pulled open and Ah Tsong came in."
+
+She clutched convulsively at the arms of her chair.
+
+"He told me!" she said in a very low voice.
+
+Then, looking up pitifully:
+
+"Do you know?" she asked in her quaint way. "It was a mock marriage. He
+had done it and thought no shame, because it was so with my mother. Oh!"
+
+Her beautiful eyes flashed, and for the first time since I had met Ysola
+Camber I saw the real Spanish spirit of the woman leap to life.
+
+"He did not know me. Perhaps I did not know myself. That night, with
+no money, without a ring, a piece of lace, a peseta, anything that had
+belonged to him, I went with Ah Tsong. We made our way to a half-sister
+of my father's who lived in Puerto Principe, and at first--she would not
+have me. I was talked about, she said, in all the islands. She told me
+of my poor father. She told me I had dragged the name of de Valera in
+the dirt. At last I made her understand--that what everyone else had
+known, I had never even dreamed of."
+
+She looked up wistfully, as if thinking that we might doubt her.
+
+"Do you know?" she whispered.
+
+"I know--oh! I know!" said Val Beverley. I loved her for the sympathy
+in her voice and in her eyes. "It is very, very brave of you to tell us
+this, Mrs. Camber."
+
+"Yes? Do you think so?" asked the girl, simply. "What does it matter if
+it can help Colin?
+
+"This aunt of mine," she presently continued, "was a poor woman, and
+it was while I was hiding in her house--because spies of Senor Menendez
+were searching for me--that I met--my husband. He was studying in Cuba
+the strange things he writes about, you see. And before I knew what had
+happened--I found I loved him more than all else in the world. It is so
+wonderful, that feeling," she said, looking across at Val Beverley. "Do
+you know?"
+
+The girl flushed deeply, and lowered her eyes, but made no reply.
+
+"Because you are a woman, too, you will perhaps understand," she
+resumed. "I did not tell him. I did not dare to tell him at first. I
+was so madly happy I had no courage to speak. But when"--her voice sank
+lower and lower--"he asked me to marry him, I told him. Nothing he could
+ever do would change my love for him now, because he forgave me and made
+me his wife."
+
+I feared that at last she was going to break down, for her voice became
+very tremulous and tears leapt again into her eyes. She conquered her
+emotion, however, and went on:
+
+"We crossed over to the States, and Colin's family who had heard of his
+marriage--some friend of Senor Menendez had told them--would not know
+us. It meant that Colin, who would have been a rich man, was very poor.
+It made no difference. He was splendid. And I was so happy it was all
+like a dream. He made me forget I was to blame for his troubles. Then we
+were in Washington--and I saw Senor Menendez in the hotel!
+
+"Oh, my heart stopped beating. For me it seemed like the end of
+everything. I knew, I knew, he was following me. But he had not seen me,
+and without telling Colin the reason, I made him leave Washington, He
+was glad to go. Wherever we went, in America, they seemed to find out
+about my mother. I got to hate them, hate them all. We came to England,
+and Colin heard about this house, and we took it.
+
+"At last we were really happy. No one knew us. Because we were strange,
+and because of Ah Tsong, they looked at us very funny and kept away, but
+we did not care. Then Sir James Appleton sold Cray's Folly."
+
+She looked up quickly.
+
+"How can I tell you? It must have been by Ah Tsong that he traced me to
+Surrey. Some spy had told him there was a Chinaman living here. Oh, I
+don't know how he found out, but when I heard who was coming to Cray's
+Folly I thought I should die.
+
+"Something I must tell you now. When I had told my story to Colin, one
+thing I had not told him, because I was afraid what he might do. I had
+not told him the name of the man who had caused me to suffer so much. On
+the day I first saw Senor Menendez walking in the garden of Cray's Folly
+I knew I must tell my husband what he had so often asked me to tell
+him--the name of the man. I told him--and at first I thought he would go
+mad. He began to drink--do you know? It is a failing in his family. But
+because I knew--because I knew--I forgave him, and hoped, always hoped,
+that he would stop. He promised to do so. He had given up going out each
+day to drink, and was working again like he used to work--too hard, too
+hard, but it was better than the other way."
+
+She stopped speaking, and suddenly, before I could divine her intention,
+dropped upon her knees, and raised her clasped hands to me.
+
+"He did not, he did not kill him!" she cried, passionately. "He did not!
+O God! I who love him tell you he did not! You think he did. You do--you
+do! I can see it in your eyes!"
+
+"Believe me, Mrs. Camber," I answered, deeply moved, "I don't doubt your
+word for a moment."
+
+She continued to look at me for a while, and then turned to Val
+Beverley.
+
+"_You_ don't think he did," she sobbed, "do you?"
+
+She looked such a child, such a pretty, helpless child, as she knelt
+there on the carpet, that I felt a lump rising in my throat.
+
+Val Beverley dropped down impulsively beside her and put her arms around
+the slender shoulders.
+
+"Of course I don't," she exclaimed, indignantly. "Of course I don't.
+It's quite unthinkable."
+
+"I know it is," moaned the other, raising her tearful face. "I love him
+and know his great soul. But what do these others know, and they will
+never believe _me_."
+
+"Have courage," I said. "It has never failed you yet. Mr. Paul Harley
+has promised to clear him by to-night."
+
+"He has promised?" she whispered, still kneeling and clutching Val
+Beverley tightly. She looked up at me with hope reborn in her beautiful
+eyes. "He has promised? Oh, I thank him. May God bless him. I know he
+will succeed."
+
+I turned aside, and walked out across the hall and into the empty study.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+PAUL HARLEY'S EXPERIMENT
+
+
+
+I recognize that whosoever may have taken the trouble to follow my
+chronicle thus far will be little disposed to suffer any intrusion of
+my personal affairs at such a point. Therefore I shall pass lightly over
+the walk back to Cray's Folly, during which I contrived to learn
+much about Val Beverley's personal history but little to advance the
+investigation which I was there to assist.
+
+As I had surmised, Miss Beverley had been amply provided for by her
+father, and was bound to Madame de Staemer by no other ties than those of
+friendship and esteem. Very reluctantly I released her, on our returning
+to the house; for she, perforce, hurried off to Madame's room, leaving
+me looking after her in a state of delightful bewilderment, the
+significance of which I could not disguise from myself. The absurd
+suspicions of Inspector Aylesbury were forgotten; so was the shadow upon
+the blind of Colonel Menendez's study. I only knew that love had come to
+me, an unbidden guest, to stay for ever.
+
+Manoel informed me that a number of pressmen, not to be denied, had
+taken photographs of the Tudor garden and of the spot where Colonel
+Menendez had been found, but Pedro, following my instructions, had
+referred them all to Market Hilton.
+
+I was standing in the doorway talking to the man when I heard the
+drone of Harley's motor in the avenue, and a moment later he and Wessex
+stepped out in front of the porch and joined me. I thought that Wessex
+looked stern and rather confused, but Harley was quite his old self, his
+keen eyes gleaming humorously, and an expression of geniality upon his
+tanned features.
+
+"Hullo, Knox!" he cried, "any developments?"
+
+"Yes," I said. "Suppose we go up to your room and talk."
+
+"Good enough."
+
+Inspector Wessex nodded without speaking, and the three of us mounted
+the staircase and entered Paul Harley's room. Harley seated himself
+upon the bed and began to load his pipe, whilst Wessex, who seemed very
+restless, stood staring out of the window. I sat down in the armchair,
+and:
+
+"I have had an interesting interview with Mrs. Camber," I said.
+
+"What?" exclaimed Harley. "Good. Tell us all about it."
+
+Wessex turned, hands clasped behind him, and listened in silence to
+an account which I gave of my visit to the Guest House. When I had
+finished:
+
+"It seems to me," said the Inspector, slowly, "that the only doubtful
+point in the case against Camber is cleared up; namely, his motive."
+
+"It certainly looks like it," agreed Harley. "But how strangely Mrs.
+Camber's story differs from that of Menendez although there are points
+of contact. I regret, however, that you were unable to settle the most
+important matter of all."
+
+"You mean whether or not she had visited Cray's Folly?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Then you still consider my theory to be correct?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"Up to a point it has been proved to be," he returned. "I must
+congratulate you upon a piece of really brilliant reasoning, Knox.
+But respecting the most crucial moment of all, we are still without
+information, unfortunately. However, whilst the presence or otherwise,
+of Mrs. Camber in Cray's Folly on the night preceding the tragedy may
+prove to bear intimately upon the case, an experiment which I propose to
+make presently will give the matter an entirely different significance."
+
+"Hm," said Wessex, doubtfully, "I am looking forward to this experiment
+of yours, Mr. Harley, with great interest. To be perfectly honest,
+I have no more idea than the man in the moon how you hope to clear
+Camber."
+
+"No," replied Harley, musingly, "the weight of evidence against him is
+crushing. But you are a man of great experience, Wessex, in criminal
+investigations. Tell me honestly, have you ever known a murder case in
+which there was such conclusive material for the prosecution?"
+
+"Never," replied the Inspector, promptly. "In this respect, as in
+others, the case is unique."
+
+"You have seen Camber," continued Harley, "and have been enabled to form
+some sort of judgment respecting his character. You will admit that he
+is a clever man, brilliantly clever. Keep this fact in mind. Remember
+his studies, and he does not deny that they have included Voodoo.
+Remember his enquiries into the significance of Bat Wing. Remember, as
+we now learn definitely from Mrs. Camber's evidence, that he was in
+Cuba at the same time as the late Colonel Menendez, and once, at least,
+actually in the same hotel in the United States. Consider the rifle
+found under the floor of the hut; and, having weighed all these points
+judicially, Wessex, tell me frankly, if in the whole course of your
+experience, you have ever met with a more perfect frame-up?"
+
+"What!" shouted Wessex, in sudden excitement. "What!"
+
+"I said a frame-up," repeated Harley, quietly. "An American term, but
+one which will be familiar to you."
+
+"Good God!" muttered the detective, "you have turned all my ideas upside
+down."
+
+"What may be termed the _physical_ evidence," continued Harley, "is
+complete, I admit: too complete. There lies the weak spot. But what
+I will call the psychological evidence points in a totally different
+direction. A man clever enough to have planned this crime, and Camber
+undoubtedly is such a man, could not--it is humanly impossible--have
+been fool enough, deliberately to lay such a train of damning facts.
+It's a frame-up, Wessex! I had begun to suspect this even before I
+met Camber. Having met him, I knew that I was right. Then came an
+inspiration. I saw where there must be a flaw in the plan. It was
+geographically impossible that this could be otherwise."
+
+"Geographically impossible?" I said, in a hushed voice, for Harley had
+truly astounded me.
+
+"Geographical is the term, Knox. I admit that the discovery of the rifle
+beneath the floor of the hut appalled me."
+
+"I could see that it did."
+
+"It was the crowning piece of evidence, Knox, evidence of such fiendish
+cleverness on the part of those who had plotted Menendez's death that I
+began to wonder whether after all it would be possible to defeat them. I
+realized that Camber's life hung upon a hair. For the production of that
+rifle before a jury of twelve moderately stupid men and true could not
+fail to carry enormous weight. Whereas the delicate point upon which
+my counter case rested might be more difficult to demonstrate in court.
+To-night, however, we shall put it to the test, and there are means, no
+doubt, which will occur to me later, of making its significance evident
+to one not acquainted with the locality. The press photographs, which I
+understand have been taken, may possibly help us in this."
+
+Bewildered by my friend's revolutionary ideas, which explained the
+hitherto mysterious nature of his enquiries, I scarcely knew what to
+say; but:
+
+"If it's a frame-up, Mr. Harley," said Wessex, "and the more I think
+about it the more it has that look to me, practically speaking, we have
+not yet started on the search for the murderer."
+
+"We have not," replied Harley, grimly. "But I have a dawning idea of a
+method by which we shall be enabled to narrow down this enquiry."
+
+It must be unnecessary for me to speak of the state of suppressed
+excitement in which we passed the remainder of that afternoon and
+evening. Dr. Rolleston called again to see Madame de Staemer, and
+reported that she was quite calm. In fact, he almost echoed Val
+Beverley's words spoken earlier in the day.
+
+"She is unnaturally calm, Mr. Knox," he said in confidence. "I
+understand that the dead man was a cousin, but I almost suspect that she
+was madly in love with him."
+
+I nodded shortly, admiring his acute intelligence.
+
+"I think you are right, doctor," I replied, "and if it is so, her
+amazing fortitude is all the more admirable."
+
+"Admirable?" he echoed. "As I said before, she has the courage of ten
+men."
+
+A formal dinner was out of the question, of course; indeed, no one
+attempted to dress. Val Beverley excused herself, saying that she would
+dine in Madame's room, and Harley, Wessex, and I, partook of wine and
+sandwiches in the library.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury arrived about eight o'clock in a mood of repressed
+irritation. Pedro showed him in to where the three of us were seated,
+and:
+
+"Good evening, gentlemen," said he, "here I am, as arranged, but as I am
+up to my eyes in work on the case, I will ask you, Mr. Harley, to carry
+out this experiment of yours as quickly as possible."
+
+"No time shall be lost," replied my friend, quietly. "May I request you
+to accompany Detective-Inspector Wessex and Mr. Knox to the Guest House
+by the high road? Do not needlessly alarm Mrs. Camber. Indeed, I
+think you might confine your attention to Mrs. Powis. Merely request
+permission to walk down the garden to the hut, and be good enough to
+wait there until I join you, which will be in a few minutes after your
+arrival."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury uttered an inarticulate, grunting sound, but I, who
+knew Harley so well, could see that he felt himself to be upon the eve
+of a signal triumph. What he proposed to do, I had no idea, save that
+it was designed to clear Colin Camber. I prayed that it might also clear
+his pathetic girl-wife; and in a sort of gloomy silence I set out with
+Wessex and Aylesbury, down the drive, past the lodge, which seemed to be
+deserted to-night, and along the tree-lined high road, cool and sweet in
+the dusk of evening.
+
+Aylesbury was very morose, and Wessex, who had lighted his pipe, did not
+seem to be in a talkative mood either. He had the utmost faith in Paul
+Harley, but it was evident enough that he was oppressed by the weight of
+evidence against Camber. I divined the fact that he was turning over
+in his mind the idea of the frame-up, and endeavouring to re-adjust the
+established facts in accordance with this new point of view.
+
+We were admitted to the Guest House by Mrs. Powis, a cheery old soul;
+one of those born optimists whose special task in life seems to be that
+of a friend in need.
+
+As she opened the door, she smiled, shook her head, and raised her
+finger to her lips.
+
+"Be as quiet as you can, sir," she said. "I have got her to sleep."
+
+She spoke of Mrs. Camber as one refers to a child, and, quite
+understanding her anxiety:
+
+"There will be no occasion to disturb her, Mrs. Powis," I replied.
+"We merely wish to walk down to the bottom of the garden to make a few
+enquiries."
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," she whispered, quietly closing the door as we all
+entered the hall.
+
+She led us through the rear portion of the house, and past the quarters
+of Ah Tsong into that neglected garden which I remembered so well.
+
+"There you are, sir, and may Heaven help you to find the truth."
+
+"Rest assured that the truth will be found, Mrs. Powis," I answered.
+
+Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat, but Wessex, puffing at his pipe,
+made no remark whatever until we were all come to the hut overhanging
+the little ravine.
+
+"This is where I found the rifle, Detective-Inspector," explained
+Aylesbury.
+
+Wessex nodded absently.
+
+It was another perfect night, with only a faint tracery of cloud to be
+seen like lingering smoke over on the western horizon. Everything seemed
+very still, so that although we were several miles from the railway
+line, when presently a train sped on its way one might have supposed,
+from the apparent nearness of the sound, that the track was no farther
+off than the grounds of Cray's Folly.
+
+Toward those grounds, automatically, our glances were drawn; and we
+stood there staring down at the ghostly map of the gardens, and all
+wondering, no doubt, what Harley was doing and when he would be joining
+us.
+
+Very faintly I could hear the water of the little stream bubbling
+beneath us. Then, just as this awkward silence was becoming intolerable,
+there came a scraping and scratching from the shadows of the gully, and:
+
+"Give me a hand, Knox!" cried the voice of Harley from below. "I want to
+avoid the barbed wire if possible."
+
+He had come across country, and as I scrambled down the slope to meet
+him I could not help wondering with what object he had sent us ahead by
+the high road. Presently, when he came clambering up into the garden,
+this in a measure was explained, for:
+
+"You are all wondering," he began, rapidly, "what I am up to, no doubt.
+Let me endeavour to make it clear. In order that my test should be
+conclusive, and in no way influenced by pre-knowledge of certain
+arrangements which I had made, I sent you on ahead of me. Not wishing to
+waste time, I followed by the shorter route. And now, gentlemen, let us
+begin."
+
+"Good," muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"But first of all," continued Harley, "I wish each one of you in turn
+to look out of the window of the hut, and down into the Tudor garden of
+Cray's Folly. Will you begin, Wessex?"
+
+Wessex, taking his pipe out of his mouth, and staring hard at the
+speaker, nodded, entered the hut, and kneeling on the wooden seat,
+looked out of the window.
+
+"Open the panes," said Harley, "so that you have a perfectly clear
+view."
+
+Wessex slid the panes open and stared intently down into the valley.
+
+"Do you see anything unusual in the garden?"
+
+"Nothing," he reported.
+
+"And now, Inspector Aylesbury."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury stamped noisily across the little hut, and peered
+out, briefly.
+
+"I can see the garden," he said.
+
+"Can you see the sun-dial?"
+
+"Quite clearly."
+
+"Good. And now you, Knox."
+
+I followed, filled with astonishment.
+
+"Do you see the sun-dial?" asked Harley, again.
+
+"Quite clearly."
+
+"And beyond it?"
+
+"Yes, I can see beyond it. I can even see its shadow lying like a black
+band on the path."
+
+"And you can see the yew trees?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"But nothing else? Nothing unusual?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Very well," said Harley, tersely. "And now, gentlemen, we take to the
+rough ground, proceeding due east. Will you be good enough to follow?"
+
+Walking around the hut he found an opening in the hedge, and scrambled
+down into the place where rank grass grew and through which he and I
+on a previous occasion had made our way to the high road. To-night,
+however, he did not turn toward the high road, but proceeded along the
+crest of the hill.
+
+I followed him, excited by the novelty of the proceedings. Wessex, very
+silent, came behind me, and Inspector Aylesbury, swearing under his
+breath, waded through the long grass at the rear.
+
+"Will you all turn your attention to the garden again, please?" cried
+Harley.
+
+We all paused, looking to the right.
+
+"Anything unusual?"
+
+We were agreed that there was not.
+
+"Very well," said my friend. "You will kindly note that from this point
+onward the formation of the ground prevents our obtaining any other view
+of Cray's Folly or its gardens until we reach the path to the valley,
+or turn on to the high road. From a point on the latter the tower may
+be seen but that is all. The first part of my experiment is concluded,
+gentlemen. We will now return."
+
+Giving us no opportunity for comment, he plunged on in the direction of
+the stream, and at a point which I regarded as unnecessarily difficult,
+crossed it, to the great discomfiture of the heavy Inspector Aylesbury.
+A few minutes later we found ourselves once more in the grounds of
+Cray's Folly.
+
+Harley, evidently with a definite objective in view, led the way up the
+terraces, through the rhododendrons, and round the base of the tower. He
+crossed to the sunken garden, and at the top of the steps paused.
+
+"Be good enough to regard the sun-dial from this point," he directed.
+
+Even as he spoke, I caught my breath, and I heard Aylesbury utter a sort
+of gasping sound.
+
+Beyond the sun-dial and slightly to the left of it, viewed from where we
+stood, a faint, elfin light flickered, at a point apparently some four
+or five feet above the ground!
+
+"What's this?" muttered Wessex.
+
+"Follow again, gentlemen," said Harley quietly.
+
+He led the way down to the garden and along the path to the sun-dial.
+This he passed, pausing immediately in front of the yew tree in which I
+knew the bullet to be embedded.
+
+He did not speak, but, extending his finger, pointed.
+
+A piece of candle, some four inches long, was attached by means of a
+nail to the bark of the tree, so that its flame burned immediately in
+front of the bullet embedded there!
+
+For perhaps ten seconds no one spoke; indeed I think no one moved. Then:
+
+"Good God!" murmured Wessex. "You have done some clever things to my
+knowledge, Mr. Harley, but this crowns them all."
+
+"Clever things!" said Inspector Aylesbury. "I think it's a lot of damned
+tomfoolery."
+
+"Do you, Inspector?" asked the Scotland Yard man, quietly. "I don't. I
+think it has saved the life of an innocent man."
+
+"What's that? What's that?" cried Aylesbury.
+
+"This candle was burning here on the yew tree," explained Harley, "at
+the time that you looked out of the window of the hut. You could not see
+it. You could not see it from the crest adjoining the Guest House--the
+only other spot in the neighbourhood from which this garden is visible.
+Now, since the course of a bullet is more or less straight, and since
+the nature of the murdered man's wound proves that it was not deflected
+in any way, I submit that the one embedded in the yew tree before you
+could not possibly have been fired from the Guest House! The second part
+of my experiment, gentlemen, will be designed to prove from whence it
+_was_ fired."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+PAUL HARLEY'S EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED
+
+
+
+Up to the very moment that Paul Harley, who had withdrawn, rejoined us
+in the garden, Inspector Aylesbury had not grasped the significance of
+that candle burning upon the yew tree. He continued to stare at it as
+if hypnotized, and when my friend re-appeared, carrying a long ash staff
+and a sheet of cardboard, I could have laughed to witness the expression
+upon the Inspector's face, had I not been too deeply impressed with that
+which underlay this strange business.
+
+Wessex, on the other hand, was watching my friend eagerly, as an earnest
+student in the class-room might watch a demonstration by some celebrated
+lecturer.
+
+"You will notice," said Paul Harley, "that I have had a number of boards
+laid down upon the ground yonder, near the sun-dial. They cover a spot
+where the turf has worn very thin. Now, this garden, because of its
+sunken position, is naturally damp. Perhaps, Wessex, you would take up
+these planks for me."
+
+Inspector Wessex obeyed, and Harley, laying the ash stick and cardboard
+upon the ground, directed the ray of an electric torch upon the spot
+uncovered.
+
+"The footprints of Colonel Menendez!" he explained. "Here he turned
+from the tiled path. He advanced three paces in the direction of the
+sun-dial, you observe, then stood still, facing we may suppose, since
+this is the indication of the prints, in a southerly direction."
+
+"Straight toward the Guest House," muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+
+"Roughly," corrected Harley. "He was fronting in that direction,
+certainly, but his head may have been turned either to the right or to
+the left. You observe from the great depth of the toe-marks that on
+this spot he actually fell. Then, here"--he moved the light--"is the
+impression of his knee, and here again--"
+
+He shone the white ray upon a discoloured patch of grass, and then
+returned the lamp to his pocket.
+
+"I am going to make a hole in the turf," he continued, "directly between
+these two footprints, which seem to indicate that the Colonel was
+standing in the military position of attention at the moment that he met
+his death."
+
+With the end of the ash stick, which was pointed, he proceeded to do
+this.
+
+"Colonel Menendez," he went on, "stood rather over six feet in his
+shoes. The stick which now stands upright in the turf measures six feet,
+from the chalk mark up to which I have buried it to the slot which I
+have cut in the top. Into this slot I now wedge my sheet of cardboard."
+
+As he placed the sheet of cardboard in the slot which he had indicated,
+I saw that a round hole was cut in it some six inches in diameter. We
+watched these proceedings in silence, then:
+
+"If you will allow me to adjust the candle, gentlemen," said Harley,
+"which has burned a little too low for my purpose, I shall proceed to
+the second part of this experiment."
+
+He walked up to the yew tree, and by means of bending the nail upward
+he raised the flame of the candle level with the base of the embedded
+bullet.
+
+"By heavens!" cried Wessex, suddenly divining the object of these
+proceedings, "Mr. Harley, this is genius!"
+
+"Thank you, Wessex," Harley replied, quietly, but nevertheless he was
+unable to hide his gratification. "You see my point?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"In ten minutes we shall know the truth."
+
+"Oh, I see," muttered Inspector Aylesbury; "we shall know the truth, eh?
+If you ask me the truth, it's this, that we are a set of lunatics."
+
+"My dear Inspector Aylesbury," said Harley, good humouredly, "surely you
+have grasped the lesson of experiment number one?"
+
+"Well," admitted the other, "it's funny, certainly. I mean, it wants a
+lot of explaining, but I can't say I'm convinced."
+
+"That's a pity," murmured Wessex, "because I am."
+
+"You see, Inspector," Harley continued, patiently, "the body of Colonel
+Menendez as it lay formed a straight line between the sun-dial and the
+hut in the garden of the Guest House. That is to say: a line drawn from
+the window of the hut to the sun-dial must have passed through the body.
+Very well. Such an imaginary line, if continued _beyond_ the sun-dial,
+would have terminated near the base of the _seventh yew_ tree.
+Accordingly, I naturally looked for the _bullet_ there. It was not
+there. But I found it, as you know, in the ninth tree. Therefore, the
+shot could not possibly have been fired from the Guest House, because
+the spot in the ninth yew where the bullet had lodged is not visible
+from the Guest House."
+
+Inspector Aylesbury removed his cap and scratched his head vigorously.
+
+"In order that we may avoid waste of valuable time," said Harley,
+finally, "let us take a hasty observation from here. As a matter
+of fact, I have done so already, as nearly as was possible, without
+employing this rough apparatus."
+
+He knelt down beside the yew tree, lowering his head so that the
+candlelight shone upon the brown, eager face, and looked upward, over
+the top of the sun-dial and through the hole in the cardboard.
+
+"Yes," he muttered, a note of rising excitement in his voice. "As I
+thought, as I thought. Come, gentlemen, let us hurry."
+
+He walked rapidly out of the garden, and up the steps, whilst we
+followed dumb with wonder--or such at any rate was the cause of my own
+silence.
+
+In the hall Pedro was standing, a bunch of keys in his hand, and
+evidently expecting Harley.
+
+"Will you take us by the shortest way to the tower stairs?" my friend
+directed.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Doubting, wondering, scarcely knowing whether to be fearful or jubilant,
+I followed, along a carpeted corridor, and thence, a heavy, oaken
+door being unlocked, across a dusty and deserted apartment apparently
+intended for a drawing room. From this, through a second doorway we
+were led into a small, square, unfurnished room, which I knew must be
+situated in the base of the tower. Yet a third door was unlocked, and:
+
+"Here is the stair, sir," said Pedro.
+
+In Indian file we mounted to the first floor, to find ourselves in a
+second, identical room, also stripped of furniture and decorations.
+Harley barely glanced out of the northern window, shook his head, and:
+
+"Next floor, Pedro," he directed.
+
+Up we went, our footsteps arousing a cloud of dust from the uncarpeted
+stairs, and the sound of our movements echoing in hollow fashion around
+the deserted rooms.
+
+Gaining the next floor, Harley, unable any longer to conceal his
+excitement, ran to the north window, looked out, and:
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "my experiment is complete!"
+
+He turned, his back to the window, and faced us in the dusk of the room.
+
+"Assuming the ash stick to represent the upright body of Colonel
+Menendez," he continued, "and the sheet of cardboard to represent his
+head, the hole which I have cut in it corresponds fairly nearly to
+the position of his forehead. Further assuming the bullet to have
+illustrated Euclid's definition of a straight line, such a line,
+_followed back_ from the yew tree to the spot where the rifle rested,
+would pass through the hole in the cardboard! In other words, there is
+only one place from which it is possible to see the flame of the candle
+_through the hole in the cardboard_: the place where the rifle rested!
+Stand here in the left-hand angle of the window and stoop down! Will you
+come first, Knox?"
+
+I stepped across the room, bent down, and stared out of the window,
+across the Tudor garden. Plainly I could see the sun-dial with the
+ash stick planted before it. I could see the piece of cardboard which
+surmounted it--and, through the hole cut in the cardboard, I could see
+the feeble flame of the candle nailed to the ninth yew tree!
+
+I stood upright, knowing that I had grown pale, and conscious of a moist
+sensation upon my forehead.
+
+"Merciful God!" I said in a hollow voice. "It was from _this window_
+that the shot was fired which killed him!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE CREEPING SICKNESS
+
+
+
+From the ensuing consultation in the library we did not rise until close
+upon midnight. To the turbid intelligence of Inspector Aylesbury the
+fact by this time had penetrated that Colin Camber was innocent, that
+he was the victim of a frame-up, and that Colonel Juan Menendez had been
+shot from a window of his own house.
+
+By a process of lucid reasoning which must have convinced a junior
+schoolboy, Paul Harley, there in the big library, with its garish
+bookcases and its Moorish ornaments, had eliminated every member of the
+household from the list of suspects. His concluding words, I remember,
+were as follows:
+
+"Of the known occupants of Cray's Folly on the night of the tragedy we
+now find ourselves reduced to four, any one of whom, from the point
+of view of an impartial critic uninfluenced by personal character,
+question, or motive, or any consideration other than that of physical
+possibility, might have shot Colonel Menendez. They are, firstly:
+Myself.
+
+"In order to believe me guilty, it would be necessary to discount the
+evidence of Knox, who saw me on the gravel path below at the time that
+the shot was fired from the tower window.
+
+"Secondly: Knox; whose guilt, equally, could only be assumed by means of
+eliminating _my_ evidence, since I saw him at the window of my room at
+the time that the shot was fired.
+
+"Thirdly: Madame de Staemer. Regarding this suspect, in the first place
+she could not have gained access to the tower room without assistance,
+and in the second place she was so passionately devoted to the late
+Colonel Menendez that Dr. Rolleston is of opinion that her reason may
+remain permanently impaired by the shock of his death. Fourthly and
+lastly: Miss Val Beverley."
+
+Over my own feelings, as he had uttered the girl's name, I must pass in
+silence.
+
+"Miss Val Beverley is the only one of the four suspects who is not in a
+position to establish a sound alibi so far as I can see at the moment;
+but in this case entire absence of motive renders the suspicion absurd.
+Having dealt with the _known_ occupants, I shall not touch upon the
+possibility that some stranger had gained access to the house. This
+opens up a province of speculation which we must explore at greater
+leisure, for it would be profitless to attempt such an exploration now."
+
+Thus the gathering had broken up, Inspector Aylesbury returning to
+Market Hilton to make his report and to release Colin Camber and Ah
+Tsong, and Wessex to seek his quarters at the Lavender Arms.
+
+I remember that having seen them off, Harley and I stood in the hall,
+staring at one another in a very odd way, and so we stood when Val
+Beverley came quietly from Madame de Staemer's room and spoke to us.
+
+"Pedro has told me what you have done, Mr. Harley," she said in a low
+voice. "Oh, thank God you have cleared him. But what, in Heaven's name,
+does your new discovery mean?"
+
+"You may well ask," Harley answered, grimly. "If my first task was a
+hard one, that which remains before me looks more nearly hopeless than
+anything I have ever been called upon to attempt."
+
+"It is horrible, it is horrible," said the girl, shudderingly. "Oh,
+Mr. Knox," she turned to me, "I have felt all along that there was some
+stranger in the house----"
+
+"You have told me so."
+
+"Conundrums! Conundrums!" muttered Harley, irritably. "Where am I to
+begin, upon what am I to erect any feasible theory?" He turned abruptly
+to Val Beverley. "Does Madame de Staemer know?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, nodding her head; "and hearing the others depart,
+she asked me to tell you that sleep is impossible until you have
+personally given her the details of your discovery."
+
+"She wishes to see me?" asked Harley, eagerly.
+
+"She insists upon seeing you," replied the girl, "and also requests
+Mr. Knox to visit her." She paused, biting her lip. "Madame's manner is
+very, very odd. Dr. Rolleston cannot understand her at all. I expect he
+has told you? She has been sitting there for hours and hours, writing."
+
+"Writing?" exclaimed Harley. "Letters?"
+
+"I don't know what she has been writing," confessed Val Beverley. "She
+declines to tell me, or to show me what she has written. But there is
+quite a little stack of manuscript upon the table beside her bed. Won't
+you come in?"
+
+I could see that she was more troubled than she cared to confess, and
+I wondered if Dr. Rolleston's unpleasant suspicions might have solid
+foundation, and if the loss of her cousin had affected Madame de
+Staemer's brain.
+
+Presently, then, ushered by Val Beverley, I found myself once more in
+the violet and silver room in which on that great bed of state Madame
+reclined amid silken pillows. Her art never deserted her, not even in
+moments of ultimate stress, and that she had prepared herself for this
+interview was evident enough.
+
+I had thought previously that one night of horror had added five years
+to her apparent age. I thought now that she looked radiantly beautiful.
+That expression in her eyes, which I knew I must forevermore associate
+with the memory of the dying tigress, had faded entirely. They remained
+still, as of old, but to-night they were velvety soft. The lips were
+relaxed in a smile of tenderness. I observed, with surprise, that she
+wore much jewelery, and upon her white bosom gleamed the famous rope
+of pearls which I knew her to treasure above almost anything in her
+possession.
+
+Again the fear touched me coldly that much sorrow had made her mad. But
+at her very first word of greeting I was immediately reassured.
+
+"Ah, my friend," she said, as I entered, a caressing note in her deep,
+vibrant voice, "you have great news, they tell me? Mr. Harley, I was
+afraid that you had deserted me, sir. If you had done so I should have
+been very angry with you. Set the two armchairs here on my right, Val,
+dear, and sit close beside me."
+
+Then, as we seated ourselves:
+
+"You are not smoking, my friends," she continued, "and I know that you
+are both so fond of a smoke."
+
+Paul Harley excused himself but I accepted a cigarette which Val
+Beverley offered me from a silver box on the table, and presently:
+
+"I am here, like a prisoner of the Bastille," declared Madame, shrugging
+her shoulders, "where only echoes reach me. Now, Mr. Harley, tell me of
+this wonderful discovery of yours."
+
+Harley inclined his head gravely, and in that succinct fashion which he
+had at command acquainted Madame with the result of his two experiments.
+As he completed the account:
+
+"Ah," she sighed, and lay back upon her pillows, "so to-night he is
+again a free man, the poor Colin Camber. And his wife is happy once
+more?"
+
+"Thank God," I murmured. "Her sorrow was pathetic."
+
+"Only the pure in heart can thank God," said Madame, strangely, "but
+I, too, am glad. I have written, here"--she pointed to a little heap
+of violet note-paper upon a table placed at the opposite side of the
+bed--"how glad I am."
+
+Harley and I stared vaguely across at the table. I saw Val Beverley
+glancing uneasily in the same direction. Save for the writing materials
+and little heap of manuscript, it held only a cup and saucer, a few
+sandwiches, and a medicine bottle containing the prescription which Dr.
+Rolleston had made up for the invalid.
+
+"I am curious to know what you have written, Madame," declared Harley.
+
+"Yes, you are curious?" she said. "Very well, then, I will tell you, and
+afterward you may read if you wish." She turned to me. "You, my friend,"
+she whispered, and reaching over she laid her jewelled hand upon my arm,
+"you have spoken with Ysola de Valera this afternoon, they tell me?"
+
+"With Mrs. Camber?" I asked, startled. "Yes, that is true."
+
+"Ah, Mrs. Camber," murmured Madame. "I knew her as Ysola de Valera. She
+is beautiful, in her golden doll way. You think so?" Then, ere I had
+time to reply: "She told you, I suppose, eh?"
+
+"She told me," I replied with a certain embarrassment, "that she had met
+you some years ago in Cuba."
+
+"Ah, yes, although _I_ told the fat Inspector it was not so. How we lie,
+we women! And of course she told you in what relation I stood to Juan
+Menendez?"
+
+"She did not, Madame de Staemer."
+
+"No-no? Well, it was nice of her. No matter. _I_ will tell you. I was
+his mistress."
+
+She spoke without bravado, but quite without shame, seeming to glory in
+the statement.
+
+"I met him in Paris," she continued, half closing her eyes. "I was
+staying at the house of my sister, and my sister, you understand, was
+married to Juan's cousin. That is how we met. I was married. Yes, it is
+true. But in France our parents find our husbands and our lovers find
+our hearts. Yet sometimes these marriages are happy. To me this good
+thing had not happened, and in the moment when Juan's hand touched mine
+a living fire entered into my heart and it has been burning ever since;
+burning-burning, always till I die.
+
+"Very well, I am a shameless woman, yes. But I have lived, and I have
+loved, and I am content. I went with him to Cuba, and from Cuba to
+another island where he had estates, and the name of which I shall not
+pronounce, because it hurts me so, even yet. There he set eyes upon
+Ysola de Valera, the daughter of his manager, and, pouf!"
+
+She shrugged and snapped her fingers.
+
+"He was like that, you understand? I knew it well. They did not call
+him Devil Menendez for nothing. There was a scene, a dreadful scene, and
+after that another, and yet a third. I have pride. If I had seemed to
+forget it, still it was there. I left him, and went back to France. I
+tried to forget. I entered upon works of charity for the soldiers at a
+time when others were becoming tired. I spent a great part of my fortune
+upon establishing a hospital, and this child"--she threw her arm around
+Val Beverley--"worked with me night and day. I think I wanted to die.
+Often I tried to die. Did I not, dear?"
+
+"You did, Madame," said the girl in a very low voice.
+
+"Twice I was arrested in the French lines, where I had crept dressed
+like a _poilu_, from where I shot down many a Prussian. Is it not so?"
+
+"It is true," answered the girl, nodding her head.
+
+"They caught me and arrested me," said Madame, with a sort of triumph.
+"If it had been the British"--she raised her hand in that Bernhardt
+gesture--"with me it would have gone hard. But in France a woman's smile
+goes farther than in England. I had had my fun. They called me 'good
+comrade!' Perhaps I paid with a kiss. What does it matter? But they
+heard of me, those Prussian dogs. They knew and could not forgive. How
+often did they come over to bomb us, Val, dear?"
+
+"Oh, many, many times," said the girl, shudderingly.
+
+"And at last they succeeded," added Madame, bitterly. "God! the black
+villains! Let me not think of it."
+
+She clenched her hands and closed her eyes entirely, but presently
+resumed again:
+
+"If they had killed me I should have been glad, but they only made of
+me a cripple. M. de Staemer had been killed a few weeks before this. I
+am sorry I forgot to mention it. I was a widow. And when after this
+catastrophe I could be moved, I went to a little villa belonging to my
+husband at Nice, to gain strength, and this child came with me, like a
+ray of sunshine.
+
+"Here, to wake the fire in my heart, came Juan, deserted, broken,
+wounded in soul, but most of all in pride, in that evil pride which
+belongs to his race, which is so different from the pride of France, but
+for which all the same I could never hate him.
+
+"Ysola de Valera had run away from his great house in Cuba. Yes! A woman
+had dared to leave him, the man who had left so many women. To me it was
+pathetic. I was sorry for him. He had been searching the world for her.
+He loved this little golden-haired girl as he had never loved me. But
+to me he came with his broken heart, and I"--her voice trembled--"I took
+him back. He still cared for me, you understand. Ah!" She laughed. "I am
+not a woman who is lightly forgotten. But the great passion that burned
+in his Spanish soul was revenge.
+
+"He was a broken man not only in mind, but in body. Let me tell you. In
+that island which I have not named there is a horrible disease called
+by the natives the Creeping Sickness. It is supposed to come from a
+poisonous place named the Black Belt, and a part of this Black Belt is
+near, too near, to the hacienda in which Juan sometimes lived."
+
+Paul Harley started and glanced at me significantly.
+
+"They think, those simple negroes, that it is witchcraft, Voodoo, the
+work of the Obeah man. It is of two kinds, rapid and slow. Those who
+suffer from the first kind just decline and decline and die in great
+agony. Others recover, or seem to do so. It is, I suppose, a matter of
+constitution. Juan had had this sickness and had recovered, or so the
+doctors said, but, ah!"
+
+She lay back, shaking her finger characteristically.
+
+"In one year, in two, three, a swift pain comes, like a needle,
+you understand? Perhaps in the foot, in the hand, in the arm. It is
+exquisite, deathly, while it lasts, but it only lasts for a few moments.
+It is agony. And then it goes, leaving nothing to show what has caused
+it. But, my friends, it is a death warning!
+
+"If it comes here"--she raised one delicate white hand--"you may have
+five years to live; if in the foot, ten, or more. But"--she sank her
+voice dramatically--"the nearer it is to the heart, the less are the
+days that remain to you of life."
+
+"You mean that it recurs?" asked Harley.
+
+"Perhaps in a week, perhaps not for another year, it comes again, that
+quick agony. This time in the shoulder, in the knee. It is the second
+warning. Three times it may come, four times, but at last"--she laid
+her hand upon her breast--"it comes here, in the heart, and all is
+finished."
+
+She paused as if exhausted, closing her eyes again, whilst we three
+who listened looked at one another in an awestricken silence, until the
+vibrant voice resumed:
+
+"There is only one man in Europe who understands this thing, this
+Creeping Sickness. He is a Frenchman who lives in Paris. To him Juan had
+been, and he had told him, this clever man, 'If you are very quiet and
+do not exert yourself, and only take as much exercise as is necessary
+for your general health, you have one year to live--'"
+
+"My God!" groaned Harley.
+
+"Yes, such was the verdict. And there is no cure. The poor sufferer must
+wait and wait, always wait, for that sudden pang, not knowing if it will
+come in his heart and be the finish. Yes. This living death, then, and
+revenge, were the things ruling Juan's life at the time of which I tell
+you. He had traced Ysola de Valera to England. A chance remark in a
+London hotel had told him that a Chinaman had been seen in a Surrey
+village and of course had caused much silly chatter. He enquired at
+once, and he found out that Colin Camber, the man who had taken Ysola
+from him, was living with her at the Guest House, here, on the hill. How
+shall I tell you the rest?"
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Harley, his glance set upon her, with a
+sort of horror in his gray eyes, "I think I can guess."
+
+She turned to him rapidly.
+
+"M. Harley," she said, "you are a clever man. I believe you are a
+genius. And I have the strength to tell you because I am happy to-night.
+Because of his great wealth Juan succeeded in buying Cray's Folly from
+Sir James Appleton to whom it belonged. He told everybody he leased it,
+but really he bought it. He paid him more than twice its value, and so
+obtained possession.
+
+"But the plan was not yet complete, although it had taken form in
+that clever, wicked brain of his. Oh! I could tell you stories of the
+Menendez, and of the things they have done for love and revenge, which
+even you, who know much of life, would doubt, I think. Yes, you would
+not believe. But to continue. Shall I tell you upon what terms he had
+returned to me, eh? I will. Once more he would suffer that pang of death
+in life, for he had courage, ah! such great courage, and then, when the
+waiting for the next grew more than even his fearless heart could bear,
+I, who also had courage, and who loved him, should----" She paused, "Do
+you understand?"
+
+Harley nodded dumbly, and suddenly I found Val Beverley's little fingers
+twined about mine.
+
+"I agreed," continued the deep voice. "It was a boon which I, too, would
+have asked from one who loved me. But to die, knowing another cherished
+the woman who had been torn from him, was an impossibility for
+Juan Menendez. What he had schemed to do at first I never knew. But
+presently, because of our situation here, and because of that which he
+had asked of me, it came, the great plan.
+
+"On the night he told me, a night I shall never forget, I drew back in
+horror from him--I, Marie de Staemer, who thought I knew the blackest
+that was in him. I shrank. And because of that scene it came to him
+again in the early morning--the moment of agony, the needle pain, here,
+low down in his left breast.
+
+"He pleaded with me to do the wicked thing that he had planned,
+and because I dared not refuse, knowing he might die at my feet, I
+consented. But, my friends, I had my own plan, too, of which he knew
+nothing. On the next day he went to Paris, and was told he had two
+months to live, with great, such great care, but perhaps only a week,
+a day, if he should permit his hot passions to inflame that threatened
+heart. Very well.
+
+"I said yes, yes, to all that he suggested, and he began to lay the
+trail--the trail to lead to his enemy. It was his hobby, this vengeance.
+He was like a big, cruel boy. It was he, himself, Juan Menendez, who
+broke into Cray's Folly. It was he who nailed the bat wing to the door.
+It was he who bought two rifles of a kind of which so many millions were
+made during the war that anybody might possess one. And it was he who
+concealed the first of these, one cartridge discharged, under the floor
+of the hut in the garden of the Guest House. The other, which was to be
+used, he placed--"
+
+"In the shutter-case of one of the tower rooms," continued Paul Harley.
+"I know! I found it there to-night."
+
+"What?" I asked, "you found it, Harley?"
+
+"I returned to look for it," he said. "At the present moment it is
+upstairs in my room."
+
+"Ah, M. Harley," exclaimed Madame, smiling at him radiantly, "I love
+your genius. Then it was," she continued, "that he thought himself
+ready, ready for revenge and ready for death. He summoned you, M.
+Harley, to be an expert witness. He placed with you evidence which could
+not fail to lead to the arrest of M. Camber. Very well. I allowed him to
+do all this. His courage, _mon Dieu_, how I worshipped his courage!
+
+"At night, when everyone slept, and he could drop the mask, I have seen
+what he suffered. I have begged him, begged him upon my knees, to allow
+me to end it then and there; to forget his dream of revenge, to die
+without this last stain upon his soul. But he, expecting at any hour, at
+any minute, to know again the agony which cannot be described, which is
+unlike any other suffered by the flesh--refused, refused! And I"--she
+raised her eyes ecstatically--"I have worshipped this courage of his,
+although it was evil--bad.
+
+"The full moon gives the best light, and so he planned it for the night
+of the full moon. But on the night before, because of some scene which
+he had with you, M. Harley, nearly I thought his plans would come to
+nothing. Nearly I thought the last act of love which he asked of me
+would never be performed. He sat there, up in the little room which he
+liked best, the coldness upon him which always came before the pang,
+waiting, waiting, a deathly dew on his forehead, for the end; and I, I
+who loved him better than life, watched him. And, so Fate willed it, the
+pang never came."
+
+"You watched him?" I whispered.
+
+Harley turned to me slowly.
+
+"Don't you understand, Knox?" he said, in a voice curiously unlike his
+own.
+
+"Ah, my friend," Madame de Staemer laid her hand upon my arm with that
+caressing gesture which I knew, "you do understand, don't you? The power
+to use my limbs returned to me during the last week that I lived in
+Nice."
+
+She bent forward and raised her face, in an almost agonized appeal to
+Val Beverley.
+
+"My dear, my dear," she said, "forgive me, forgive me! But I loved him
+so. One day, I think"--her glance sought my face--"you will know. Then
+you will forgive."
+
+"Oh, Madame, Madame," whispered the girl, and began to sob silently.
+
+"Is it enough?" asked Madame de Staemer, raising her head, and looking
+defiantly at Paul Harley. "Last night, you, M. Harley, who have genius,
+nearly brought it all to nothing. You passed the door in the shrubbery
+just when Juan was preparing to go out. I was watching from the window
+above. Then, when you had gone, he came out--smoking his last cigarette.
+
+"I went to my place, entering the tower room by the door from that
+corridor. I opened the window. It had been carefully oiled. It was
+soundless. I was cold as one already dead, but love made me strong. I
+had seen him suffer. I took the rifle from its hiding-place, the heavy
+rifle which so few women could use. It was no heavier than some which I
+had used before, and to good purpose."
+
+Again she paused, and I saw her lips trembling. Before my mind's eye
+the picture arose which I had seen from Harley's window, the picture
+of Colonel Juan Menendez walking in the moonlight along the path to
+the sun-dial, with halting steps, with clenched fists, but upright as a
+soldier on parade. Walking on, dauntlessly, to his execution. Out of a
+sort of haze, which seemed to obscure both sight and hearing, I heard
+Madame speaking again.
+
+"He turned his head toward me. He threw me a kiss--and I fired. Did you
+think a woman lived who could perform such a deed, eh? If you did not
+think so, it is because you have never looked into the eyes of one who
+loved with her body, her mind, and with her soul. I think, yes, I think
+I went mad. The rifle I remember I replaced. But I remember no more.
+Ah!"
+
+She sighed in a resigned, weary way, untwining her arm from about Val
+Beverley, and falling back upon her pillows.
+
+"It is all written here," she said; "every word of it, my friends, and
+signed at the bottom. I am a murderess, but it was a merciful deed. You
+see, I had a plan of which Juan knew nothing. This was my plan." She
+pointed to the heap of manuscript. "I would give him relief from his
+agonies, yes. For although he was an evil man, I loved him better than
+life. I would let him die happy, thinking his revenge complete. But
+others to suffer? No, no! a thousand times no! Ah, I am so tired."
+
+She took up the little medicine bottle, poured its contents into the
+glass, and emptied it at a draught.
+
+Paul Harley, as though galvanized, sprang to his feet. "My God!" he
+cried, huskily, "Stop her, stop her!" Val Beverley, now desperately
+white, clutched at me with quivering fingers, her agonized glance set
+upon the smiling face of Madame de Staemer.
+
+"No fuss, dear friends," said Madame, gently, "no trouble, no nasty
+stomach-pumps; for it is useless. I shall just fall asleep in a few
+moments now, and when I wake Juan will be with me."
+
+Her face was radiant. It became lighted up magically. I knew in that
+grim hour what a beautiful woman Madame de Staemer must have been. She
+rested her hand upon Val Beverley's head, and looked at me with her
+strange, still eyes.
+
+"Be good to her, my friend," she whispered. "She is English, but not
+cold like some. She, too, can love."
+
+She closed her eyes and dropped back upon her pillows for the last time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+AN AFTERWORD
+
+
+
+This shall be a brief afterword, for I have little else to say. As
+Madame had predicted, all antidotes and restoratives were of no avail.
+She had taken enough of some drug which she had evidently had in her
+possession for this very purpose to ensure that there should be no
+awakening, and although Dr. Rolleston was on the spot within half an
+hour, Madame de Staemer was already past human aid.
+
+There are perhaps one or two details which may be of interest. For
+instance, as a result of the post-mortem examination of Colonel
+Menendez, no trace of disease was discovered in any of the organs, but
+from information supplied by his solicitors, Harley succeeded in tracing
+the Paris specialist to whom Madame de Staemer had referred; and he
+confirmed her statement in every particular. The disease, to which he
+gave some name which I have forgotten, was untraceable, he declared, by
+any means thus far known to science.
+
+As we had anticipated, the bulk of Colonel Don Juan's wealth he had
+bequeathed to Madame de Staemer, and she in turn had provided that all
+of which she might die possessed should be divided between certain
+charities and Val Beverley.
+
+I thus found myself at the time when all these legal processes
+terminated engaged to marry a girl as wealthy as she was beautiful.
+Therefore, except for the many grim memories which it had left with me,
+nothing but personal good fortune resulted from my sojourn at Cray's
+Folly, beneath the shadow of that Bat Wing which had had no existence
+outside the cunning imagination of Colonel Juan Menendez.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
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diff --git a/6382.zip b/6382.zip
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #6382 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6382)
diff --git a/old/6382-h.htm.2021-01-27 b/old/6382-h.htm.2021-01-27
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bat Wing
+
+Author: Sax Rohmer
+
+
+Release Date: August, 2004  [EBook #6382]
+This file was first posted on December 4, 2002
+Last Updated: October 12, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAT WING ***
+
+
+
+
+Text file produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+HTML file produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      BAT WING
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Sax Rohmer
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <b>CONTENTS</b>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. THE VOODOO SWAMP </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. THE VAMPIRE BAT </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. CRAY&rsquo;S FOLLY </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. VAL BEVERLEY </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. THE BARRIER </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. AT THE LAVENDER ARMS </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. THE CALL OF M&rsquo;KOMBO </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. OBEAH </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. THE NIGHT WALKER </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. MORNING MISTS </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. AT THE GUEST HOUSE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. YSOLA CAMBER </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. UNREST </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. RED EVE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET
+      HILTON </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. COMPLICATIONS </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. A SPANISH CIGARETTE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. THE WING OF A BAT </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. COLIN CAMBER&rsquo;S SECRET </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+      </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV. AN OFFICIAL MOVE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV. AYLESBURY&rsquo;S THEORY </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI. IN MADAME&rsquo;S ROOM </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII. AN INSPIRATION </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER XXVIII. MY THEORY OF THE CRIME </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER XXIX. A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER XXX. THE SEVENTH YEW TREE </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0031"> CHAPTER XXXI. YSOLA CAMBER&rsquo;S CONFESSION </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0032"> CHAPTER XXXII. PAUL HARLEY&rsquo;S EXPERIMENT </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0033"> CHAPTER XXXIII. PAUL HARLEY&rsquo;S EXPERIMENT
+      CONCLUDED </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0034"> CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CREEPING SICKNESS </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0035"> CHAPTER XXXV. AN AFTERWORD </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. PAUL HARLEY OF CHANCERY LANE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Toward the hour of six on a hot summer&rsquo;s evening Mr. Paul Harley was
+      seated in his private office in Chancery Lane reading through a number of
+      letters which Innes, his secretary, had placed before him for signature.
+      Only one more remained to be passed, but it was a long, confidential
+      report upon a certain matter, which Harley had prepared for His Majesty&rsquo;s
+      Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department. He glanced with a
+      sigh of weariness at the little clock upon his table before commencing to
+      read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall detain you only a few minutes, now, Knox,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded, smiling. I was quite content to sit and watch my friend at work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley occupied a unique place in the maelstrom of vice and ambition
+      which is sometimes called London life. Whilst at present he held no
+      official post, some of the most momentous problems of British policy
+      during the past five years, problems imperilling inter-state relationships
+      and not infrequently threatening a renewal of the world war, had owed
+      their solution to the peculiar genius of this man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No clue to his profession appeared upon the plain brass plate attached to
+      his door, and little did those who regarded Paul Harley merely as a
+      successful private detective suspect that he was in the confidence of some
+      who guided the destinies of the Empire. Paul Harley&rsquo;s work in
+      Constantinople during the feverish months preceding hostilities with
+      Turkey, although unknown to the general public, had been of a most
+      extraordinary nature. His recommendations were never adopted,
+      unfortunately. Otherwise, the tragedy of the Dardanelles might have been
+      averted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His surroundings as he sat there, gaze bent upon the typewritten pages,
+      were those of any other professional man. So it would have seemed to the
+      casual observer. But perhaps there was a quality in the atmosphere of the
+      office which would have told a more sensitive visitor that it was the
+      apartment of no ordinary man of business. Whilst there were filing
+      cabinets and bookshelves laden with works of reference, many of them
+      legal, a large and handsome Burmese cabinet struck an unexpected note.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On closer inspection, other splashes of significant colour must have been
+      detected in the scheme, notably a very fine engraving of Edgar Allan Poe,
+      from the daguerreotype of 1848; and upon the man himself lay the indelible
+      mark of the tropics. His clean-cut features had that hint of underlying
+      bronze which tells of years spent beneath a merciless sun, and the touch
+      of gray at his temples only added to the eager, almost fierce vitality of
+      the dark face. Paul Harley was notable because of that intellectual
+      strength which does not strike one immediately, since it is purely
+      temperamental, but which, nevertheless, invests its possessor with an aura
+      of distinction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Writing his name at the bottom of the report, Paul Harley enclosed the
+      pages in a long envelope and dropped the envelope into a basket which
+      contained a number of other letters. His work for the day was ended, and
+      glancing at me with a triumphant smile, he stood up. His office was a part
+      of a residential suite, but although, like some old-time burgher of the
+      city, he lived on the premises, the shutting of a door which led to his
+      private rooms marked the close of the business day. Pressing a bell which
+      connected with the public office occupied by his secretary, Paul Harley
+      stood up as Innes entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing further, is there, Innes?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, Mr. Harley, if you have passed the Home Office report?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley laughed shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There it is,&rdquo; he replied, pointing to the basket; &ldquo;a tedious and
+      thankless job, Innes. It is the fifth draft you have prepared and it will
+      have to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took up a letter which lay unsealed upon the table. &ldquo;This is the Rokeby
+      affair,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have decided to hold it over, after all, until my
+      return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Innes, quietly glancing at each envelope as he took it from the
+      basket. &ldquo;I see you have turned down the little job offered by the
+      Marquis.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have,&rdquo; replied Harley, smiling grimly, &ldquo;and a fee of five hundred
+      guineas with it. I have also intimated to that distressed nobleman that
+      this is a business office and that a laundry is the proper place to take
+      his dirty linen. No, there&rsquo;s nothing further to-night, Innes. You can get
+      along now. Has Miss Smith gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But as if in answer to his enquiry the typist, who with Innes made up the
+      entire staff of the office, came in at that moment, a card in her hand.
+      Harley glanced across in my direction and then at the card, with a wry
+      expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Juan Menendez,&rdquo; he read aloud, &ldquo;Cavendish Club,&rdquo; and glanced
+      reflectively at Innes. &ldquo;Do we know the Colonel?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not,&rdquo; answered Innes; &ldquo;the name is unfamiliar to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; murmured Harley. He glanced across at me. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an awful
+      nuisance, Knox, but just as I thought the decks were clear. Is it
+      something really interesting, or does he want a woman watched? However,
+      his name sounds piquant, so perhaps I had better see him. Ask him to come
+      in, Miss Smith.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Innes and Miss Smith retiring, there presently entered a man of most
+      striking and unusual presence. In the first place, Colonel Menendez must
+      have stood fully six feet in his boots, and he carried himself like a
+      grandee of the golden days of Spain. His complexion was extraordinarily
+      dusky, whilst his hair, which was close cropped, was iron gray. His heavy
+      eyebrows and curling moustache with its little points were equally black,
+      so that his large teeth gleamed very fiercely when he smiled. His eyes
+      were large, dark, and brilliant, and although he wore an admirably cut
+      tweed suit, for some reason I pictured him as habitually wearing riding
+      kit. Indeed I almost seemed to hear the jingle of his spurs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He carried an ebony cane for which I mentally substituted a crop, and his
+      black derby hat I thought hardly as suitable as a sombrero. His age might
+      have been anything between fifty and fifty-five.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Standing in the doorway he bowed, and if his smile was Mephistophelean,
+      there was much about Colonel Juan Menendez which commanded respect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he began, and his high, thin voice afforded yet another
+      surprise, &ldquo;I feel somewhat ill at ease to&mdash;how do you say it?&mdash;appropriate
+      your time, as I am by no means sure that what I have to say justifies my
+      doing so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke most fluent, indeed florid, English. But his sentences at times
+      were oddly constructed; yet, save for a faint accent, and his frequent
+      interpolation of such expressions as &ldquo;how do you say?&rdquo;&mdash;a sort of
+      nervous mannerism&mdash;one might have supposed him to be a Britisher who
+      had lived much abroad. I formed the opinion that he had read extensively,
+      and this, as I learned later, was indeed the case.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; said Harley with quiet geniality.
+      &ldquo;Officially, my working day is ended, I admit, but if you have no
+      objection to the presence of my friend, Mr. Knox, I shall be most happy to
+      chat with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled in a way all his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If your business is of a painfully professional nature,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;I
+      must beg you to excuse me for fourteen days, as I am taking a badly needed
+      holiday with my friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, is it so?&rdquo; replied the Colonel, placing his hat and cane upon the
+      table, and sitting down rather wearily in a big leathern armchair which
+      Harley had pushed forward. &ldquo;If I intrude I am sorry, but indeed my
+      business is urgent, and I come to you on the recommendation of my friend,
+      Senor Don Merry del Val, the Spanish Ambassador.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his eyes to Harley&rsquo;s face with an expression of peculiar appeal.
+      I rose to depart, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley, and turned again to the visitor. &ldquo;Please
+      proceed,&rdquo; he requested. &ldquo;Mr. Knox has been with me in some of the most
+      delicate cases which I have ever handled, and you may rely upon his
+      discretion as you may rely upon mine.&rdquo; He pushed forward a box of cigars.
+      &ldquo;Will you smoke?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, no,&rdquo; was the answer; &ldquo;you see, I rarely smoke anything but my
+      cigarettes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez extracted a slip of rice paper from a little packet which
+      he carried, next, dipping two long, yellow fingers into his coat pocket,
+      he brought out a portion of tobacco, laid it in the paper, and almost in
+      the twinkling of an eye had made, rolled, and lighted a very creditable
+      cigarette. His dexterity was astonishing, and seeing my surprise he raised
+      his heavy eyebrows, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Practice makes perfect, is it not said?&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders and dropped the extinguished match in an ash
+      tray, whilst I studied him with increasing interest. Some dread, real or
+      imaginary, was oppressing the man&rsquo;s mind, I mused. I felt my presence to
+      be unwelcome, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; he began, suddenly. &ldquo;I expect, Mr. Harley, that you will be
+      disposed to regard what I have to tell you rather as a symptom of what you
+      call nerves than as evidence of any agency directed against me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stared curiously at the speaker. &ldquo;Do I understand you to
+      suspect that someone is desirous of harming you?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez slowly nodded his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such is my meaning,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You refer to bodily harm?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But yes, emphatically.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; said Harley; and taking out a tin of tobacco from a cabinet beside
+      him he began in leisurely manner to load a briar. &ldquo;No doubt you have good
+      reasons for this suspicion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I had not good reasons, Mr. Harley, nothing could have induced me to
+      trouble you. Yet, even now that I have compelled myself to come here, I
+      find it difficult, almost impossible, to explain those reasons to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An expression of embarrassment appeared upon the brown face, and now
+      Colonel Menendez paused and was plainly at a loss for words with which to
+      continue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley replaced the tin in the cupboard and struck a match. Lighting his
+      pipe he nodded good humouredly as if to say, &ldquo;I quite understand.&rdquo; As a
+      matter of fact, he probably thought, as I did, that this was a familiar
+      case of a man of possibly blameless life who had become subject to that
+      delusion which leads people to believe themselves threatened by mysterious
+      and unnameable danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our visitor inhaled deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, of course, are waiting for the facts,&rdquo; he presently resumed,
+      speaking with a slowness which told of a mind labouring for the right mode
+      of expression. &ldquo;These are so scanty, I fear, of so, shall I say, phantom a
+      kind, that even when they are in your possession you will consider me to
+      be merely the victim of a delusion. In the first place, then, I have
+      reason to believe that someone followed me from my home to your office.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Paul Harley, sympathetically, for this I perceived was
+      exactly what he had anticipated, and merely tended to confirm his
+      suspicion. &ldquo;Some member of your household?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you actually see this follower?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear sir,&rdquo; cried Colonel Menendez, excitement emphasizing his accent,
+      &ldquo;if I had seen him, so much would have been made clear, so much! I have
+      never seen him, but I have heard him and felt him&mdash;felt his presence,
+      I mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what way?&rdquo; asked Harley, leaning back in his chair and studying the
+      fierce face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On several occasions on turning out the light in my bedroom and looking
+      across the lawn from my window I have observed the shadow of someone&mdash;how
+      do you say?&mdash;lurking in the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shadow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely. The person himself was concealed beneath a tree. When he moved
+      his shadow was visible on the ground.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were not deceived by a waving branch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not. I speak of a still, moonlight night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly, then, it was the shadow of a tramp,&rdquo; suggested Harley. &ldquo;I
+      gather that you refer to a house in the country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not,&rdquo; declared Colonel Menendez, emphatically; &ldquo;it was not. I wish
+      to God I could believe it had been. Then there was, a month ago, an
+      attempt to enter my house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley exhibited evidence of a quickening curiosity. He had
+      perceived, as I had perceived, that the manner of the speaker differed
+      from that of the ordinary victim of delusion, with whom he had become
+      professionally familiar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had actual evidence of this?&rdquo; he suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was due to insomnia, sleeplessness, brought about, yes, I will admit
+      it, by apprehension, that I heard the footsteps of this intruder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you did not see him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only his shadow&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can obtain the evidence of all my household that someone had actually
+      entered,&rdquo; declared Colonel Menendez, eagerly. &ldquo;Of this, at least, I can
+      give you the certain facts. Whoever it was had obtained access through a
+      kitchen window, had forced two locks, and was coming stealthily along the
+      hallway when the sound of his footsteps attracted my attention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I came out on to the landing and looked down the stairs. But even the
+      slight sound which I made had been sufficient to alarm the midnight
+      visitor, for I had never a glimpse of him. Only, as he went swiftly back
+      in the direction from which he had come, the moonlight shining in through
+      a window in the hall cast his shadow on the carpet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Strange,&rdquo; murmured Harley. &ldquo;Very strange, indeed. The shadow told you
+      nothing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez hesitated momentarily, and glanced swiftly across at
+      Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was just a vague&mdash;do you say blur?&mdash;and then it was gone.
+      But&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Harley. &ldquo;But?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; Colonel Menendez blew a cloud of smoke into the air, &ldquo;I come now to
+      the matter which I find so hard to explain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He inhaled again deeply and was silent for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing was stolen?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing whatever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And no clue was left behind?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No clue except the filed fastening of a window and two open doors which
+      had been locked as usual when the household retired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; mused Harley again; &ldquo;this incident, of course, may have been an
+      isolated one and in no way connected with the surveillance of which you
+      complain. I mean that this person who undoubtedly entered your house might
+      prove to be an ordinary burglar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On a table in the hallway of Cray&rsquo;s Folly,&rdquo; replied Colonel Menendez,
+      impressively&mdash;&ldquo;so my house is named&mdash;stands a case containing
+      presentation gold plate. The moonlight of which I have spoken was shining
+      fully upon this case, and does the burglar live who will pass such a prize
+      and leave it untouched?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite agree,&rdquo; said Harley, quietly, &ldquo;that this is a very big point.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are beginning at last,&rdquo; suggested the Colonel, &ldquo;to believe that my
+      suspicions are not quite groundless?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a distinct possibility that they are more than suspicions,&rdquo;
+       agreed Harley; &ldquo;but may I suggest that there is something else? Have you
+      an enemy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who that has ever held public office is without enemies?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, quite so. Then I suggest again that there is something else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He gazed keenly at his visitor, and the latter, whilst meeting the look
+      unflinchingly with his large dark eyes, was unable to conceal the fact
+      that he had received a home thrust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are two points, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he finally confessed, &ldquo;almost
+      certainly associated one with the other, if you understand, but both these
+      so&mdash;shall I say remote?&mdash;from my life, that I hesitate to
+      mention them. It seems fantastic to suppose that they contain a clue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg of you,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;to keep nothing back, however remote it may
+      appear to be. It is sometimes the seemingly remote things which prove upon
+      investigation to be the most intimate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; resumed Colonel Menendez, beginning to roll a second
+      cigarette whilst continuing to smoke the first, &ldquo;I know that you are
+      right, of course, but it is nevertheless very difficult for me to explain.
+      I mentioned the attempted burglary, if so I may term it, in order to clear
+      your mind of the idea that my fears were a myth. The next point which I
+      have concerns a man, a neighbour of mine in Surrey. Before I proceed I
+      should like to make it clear that I do not believe for a moment that he is
+      responsible for this unpleasant business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stared at him curiously. &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;there must be
+      some data in your possession which suggest to your mind that he has some
+      connection with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are, Mr. Harley, but they belong to things so mystic and far away
+      from ordinary crime that I fear you will think me,&rdquo; he shrugged his great
+      shoulders, &ldquo;a man haunted by strange superstitions. Do you say &lsquo;haunted?&rsquo; 
+      Good. You understand. I should tell you, then, that although of pure
+      Spanish blood, I was born in Cuba. The greater part of my life has been
+      spent in the West Indies, where prior to &lsquo;98 I held an appointment under
+      the Spanish Government. I have property, not only in Cuba, but in some of
+      the smaller islands which formerly were Spanish, and I shall not conceal
+      from you that during the latter years of my administration I incurred the
+      enmity of a section of the population. Do I make myself clear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded and exchanged a swift glance with me. I formed a rapid
+      mental picture of native life under the governorship of Colonel Juan
+      Menendez and I began to consider his story from a new viewpoint. Seemingly
+      rendered restless by his reflections, he stood up and began to pace the
+      floor, a tall but curiously graceful figure. I noticed the bulldog
+      tenacity of his chin, the intense pride in his bearing, and I wondered
+      what kind of menace had induced him to seek the aid of Paul Harley; for
+      whatever his failings might be, and I could guess at the nature of several
+      of them, that this thin-lipped Spanish soldier knew the meaning of fear I
+      was not prepared to believe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before you proceed further, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;might I ask
+      when you left Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some three years ago,&rdquo; was his reply. &ldquo;Because&mdash;&rdquo; he hesitated
+      curiously&mdash;&ldquo;of health motives, I leased a property in England,
+      believing that here I should find peace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In other words, you were afraid of something or someone in Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez turned in a flash, glaring down at the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never feared any man in my life, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why are you here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel placed the stump of his first cigarette in an ash tray and
+      lighted that which he had newly made.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;Forgive me. Yet what I said was that I never
+      feared any man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood squarely in front of the Burmese cabinet, resting one hand upon
+      his hip. Then he added a remark which surprised me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know anything of Voodoo?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley took his pipe from between his teeth and stared at the speaker
+      silently for a moment. &ldquo;Voodoo?&rdquo; he echoed. &ldquo;You mean negro magic?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My studies have certainly not embraced it,&rdquo; replied Harley, quietly, &ldquo;nor
+      has it hitherto come within my experience. But since I have lived much in
+      the East, I am prepared to learn that Voodoo may not be a negligible
+      quantity. There are forces at work in India which we in England improperly
+      understand. The same may be true of Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The same <i>is</i> true of Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez glared almost fiercely across the room at Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And do I understand,&rdquo; asked the latter, &ldquo;that the danger which you
+      believe to threaten you is associated with Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, Mr. Harley, is for you to decide when all the facts shall be in
+      your possession. Do you wish that I proceed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By all means. I must confess that I am intensely interested.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Mr. Harley. I have something to show you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From an inside breast pocket Colonel Menendez drew out a gold-mounted
+      case, and from the case took some flat, irregularly shaped object wrapped
+      in a piece of tissue paper. Unfolding the paper, he strode across and laid
+      the object which it had contained upon the blotting pad in front of my
+      friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Impelled by curiosity I stood up and advanced to inspect it. It was of a
+      dirty brown colour, some five or six inches long, and appeared to consist
+      of a kind of membrane. Harley, his elbow on the table, was staring down at
+      it questioningly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;some kind of leaf?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Harley, looking up into the dark face of the Spanish
+      colonel; &ldquo;I think I know what it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I, also, know what it is.&rdquo; declared Colonel Menendez, grimly. &ldquo;But tell
+      me what to you it seems like, Mr. Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s expression was compounded of incredulity, wonder, and
+      something else, as, continuing to stare at the speaker, he replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the wing of a bat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. THE VOODOO SWAMP
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Often enough my memory has recaptured that moment in Paul Harley&rsquo;s office,
+      when Harley, myself, and the tall Spaniard stood looking down at the bat
+      wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My brilliant friend at times displayed a sort of prescience, of which I
+      may have occasion to speak later, but I, together with the rest of
+      pur-blind humanity, am commonly immune from the prophetic instinct.
+      Therefore I chronicle the fact for what it may be worth, that as I gazed
+      with a sort of disgust at the exhibit lying upon the table I became
+      possessed of a conviction, which had no logical basis, that a door had
+      been opened through which I should step into a new avenue of being; I felt
+      myself to stand upon the threshold of things strange and terrible, but
+      withal alluring. Perhaps it is true that in the great crises of life the
+      inner eye becomes momentarily opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With intense curiosity I awaited the Colonel&rsquo;s next words, but, a
+      cigarette held nervously between his fingers, he stood staring at Harley,
+      and it was the latter who broke that peculiar silence which had fallen
+      upon us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wing of a bat,&rdquo; he murmured, then touched it gingerly. &ldquo;Of what kind
+      of bat, Colonel Menendez? Surely not a British species?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But emphatically not a British species,&rdquo; replied the Spaniard. &ldquo;Yet even
+      so the matter would be strange.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all anxiety to learn the remainder of your story, Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good. Your interest comforts me very greatly, Mr. Harley. But when first
+      I came, you led me to suppose that you were departing from London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such, at the time, was my intention, sir.&rdquo; Paul Harley smiled slightly.
+      &ldquo;Accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, I had proposed to indulge in a
+      fortnight&rsquo;s fishing upon the Norfolk Broads.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fishing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A peaceful occupation, Mr. Harley, and a great rest-cure for one who like
+      yourself moves much amid the fiercer passions of life. You were about to
+      make holiday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is cruel of me to intrude upon such plans,&rdquo; continued Colonel
+      Menendez, dexterously rolling his cigarette around between his fingers.
+      &ldquo;Yet because of my urgent need I dare to do so. Would yourself and your
+      friend honour me with your company at Cray&rsquo;s Folly for a few days? I can
+      promise you good entertainment, although I regret that there is no
+      fishing; but it may chance that there will be other and more exciting
+      sport.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley glanced at me significantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do I understand you to mean, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;that you have
+      reason to believe that this conspiracy directed against you is about to
+      come to a head?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez nodded, at the same time bringing his hand down sharply
+      upon the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, his high, thin voice sunken almost to a whisper,
+      &ldquo;Wednesday night is the night of the full moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The full moon?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is at the full moon that the danger comes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stood up, and watched by the Spanish colonel paced slowly
+      across the office. At the outer door he paused and turned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that you would willingly waste the time of a
+      busy man I do not for a moment believe, therefore I shall ask you as
+      briefly as possible to state your case in detail. When I have heard it, if
+      it appears to me that any good purpose can be served by my friend and
+      myself coming to Cray&rsquo;s Folly I feel sure that he will be happy to accept
+      your proffered hospitality.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I am likely to be of the slightest use I shall be delighted,&rdquo; said I,
+      which indeed was perfectly true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whilst I had willingly agreed to accompany Harley to Norfolk I had none of
+      his passion for the piscatorial art, and the promise of novel excitement
+      held out by Colonel Menendez appealed to me more keenly than the lazy days
+      upon the roads which Harley loved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen&rdquo;&mdash;the Colonel bowed profoundly&mdash;&ldquo;I am honoured and
+      delighted. When you shall have heard my story I know what your decision
+      will be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He resumed his seat, and began, it seemed almost automatically, to roll a
+      fresh cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all attention,&rdquo; declared Harley, and his glance strayed again in a
+      wondering fashion to the bat wing lying on his table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will speak briefly,&rdquo; resumed our visitor, &ldquo;and any details which may
+      seem to you to be important can be discussed later when you are my guests.
+      You must know then that I first became acquainted with the significance
+      belonging to the term &lsquo;Bat Wing&rsquo; and to the object itself some twenty
+      years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely,&rdquo; interrupted Harley, incredulously, &ldquo;you are not going to
+      tell me that the menace of which you complain is of twenty years&rsquo; 
+      standing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At your express request, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; returned the Colonel a trifle
+      brusquely, &ldquo;I am dealing with possibilities which are remote, because in
+      your own words it is sometimes the remote which proves to be the intimate.
+      It was then rather more than twenty years ago, at a time when great
+      political changes were taking place in the West Indies, that my business
+      interests, which are mainly concerned with sugar, carried me to one of the
+      smaller islands which had formerly been under&mdash;my jurisdiction, do
+      you say? Here I had a house and estate, and here in the past I had
+      experienced much trouble with the natives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not disguise from you that I was unpopular, and on my return I met
+      with unmistakable signs of hostility. My native workmen were
+      insubordinate. In fact, it was the reports from my overseers which had led
+      me to visit the island. I made a tour of the place, believing it to be
+      necessary to my interests that I should get once more in touch with negro
+      feeling, since I had returned to my home in Cuba after the upheavals in
+      &lsquo;98. Very well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The manager of my estate, a capable man, was of opinion that there
+      existed a secret organization amongst the native labourers operating&mdash;you
+      understand?&mdash;against my interests. He produced certain evidences of
+      this. They were not convincing; and all my enquiries and examinations of
+      certain inhabitants led to no definite results. Yet I grew more and more
+      to feel that enemies surrounded me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused to light his third cigarette, and whilst he did so I conjured up
+      a mental picture of his &ldquo;examinations of certain inhabitants.&rdquo; I recalled
+      hazily those stories of Spanish mismanagement and cruelty which had
+      directly led to United States interferences in the islands. But whilst I
+      could well believe that this man&rsquo;s life had not been safe in those bad old
+      days in the West Indies, I found it difficult to suppose that a native
+      plot against his safety could have survived for more than twenty years and
+      have come to a climax in England. However, I realized that there was more
+      to follow, and presently, having lighted his cigarette, the Colonel
+      resumed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the neighbourhood of the hacienda which had once been my official
+      residence there was a belt of low-lying pest country&mdash;you understand
+      pest country?&mdash;which was a hot-bed of poisonous diseases. It followed
+      the winding course of a nearly stagnant creek. From the earliest times the
+      Black Belt&mdash;it was so called&mdash;had been avoided by European
+      inhabitants, and indeed by the coloured population as well. Apart from the
+      malaria of the swampy ground it was infested with reptiles and with
+      poisonous insects of a greater variety and of a more venomous character
+      than I have ever known in any part of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must explain that what I regarded as a weak point in my manager&rsquo;s
+      theory was this: Whilst he held that the native labourers to a man were
+      linked together under some head, or guiding influence, he had never
+      succeeded in surprising anything in the nature of a negro meeting. Indeed,
+      he had prohibited all gatherings of this kind. His answer to my criticism
+      was a curious one. He declared that the members of this mysterious society
+      met and received their instructions at some place within the poison area
+      to which I have referred, believing themselves there to be safe from
+      European interference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For a long time I disputed this with poor Valera&mdash;for such was my
+      manager&rsquo;s name; when one night as I was dismounting from my horse before
+      the veranda, having returned from a long ride around the estate, a shot
+      was fired from the border of the Black Belt which at one point crept up
+      dangerously close to the hacienda.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shot was a good one. I had caught my spur in the stirrup in
+      dismounting, and stumbled. Otherwise I must have been a dead man. The
+      bullet pierced the crown of my hat, only missing my skull by an inch or
+      less. The alarm was given. But no search-party could be mustered, do you
+      say?&mdash;which was prepared to explore the poison swamp&mdash;or so
+      declared my native servants. Valera, however, seized upon this incident to
+      illustrate his theory that there were those in the island who did not
+      hesitate to enter the Black Belt popularly supposed to cast up noxious
+      vapours at dusk of a sort fatal to any traveller.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That night over our wine we discussed the situation, and he pointed out
+      to me that now was the hour to test his theory. Orders had evidently been
+      given for my assassination and the attempt had failed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;There will be a meeting,&rsquo; said Valera, &lsquo;to discuss the next move. And it
+      will take place to-morrow night!&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I challenged him with a glance and I replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;To-morrow night is a full moon, and if you are agreeable we will make a
+      secret expedition into the swamp, and endeavour to find the clearing which
+      you say is there, and which you believe to be the rendezvous of the
+      conspirators.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even in the light of the lamp I saw Valera turn pale, but he was a
+      Spaniard and a man of courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;I agree, señor,&rsquo; he replied. &lsquo;If my information is correct we shall find
+      the way.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must explain that the information to which he referred had been
+      supplied by a native girl who loved him. That this clearing was a
+      meeting-place she had denied. But she had admitted that it was possible to
+      obtain access to it, and had even described the path.&rdquo; He paused. &ldquo;She
+      died of a lingering sickness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez spoke these last words with great deliberation and
+      treated each of us to a long and significant stare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Presently,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;I will tell you what was nailed to the wall of her
+      hut on the night that she fell ill. But to continue my narrative. On the
+      following evening, suitably equipped, Valera and myself set out, leaving
+      by a side door and striking into the woods at a point east of the
+      hacienda, where, according to his information, a footpath existed, which
+      would lead us to the clearing we desired to visit. Of that journey,
+      gentlemen, I have most terrible memories.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Imagine a dense and poisonous jungle, carpeted by rotten vegetation in
+      which one&rsquo;s feet sank deeply and from which arose a visible and stenching
+      vapour. Imagine living things, slimy things, moving beneath the tread,
+      sometimes coiling about our riding boots, sometimes making hissing sounds.
+      Imagine places where the path was overgrown, and we must thrust our way
+      through bushes where great bloated spiders weaved their webs, where clammy
+      night things touched us as we passed, where unfamiliar and venomous
+      insects clung to our garments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We proceeded onward for more than half an hour guided by the moonlight,
+      but this, although tropically brilliant, at some places scarcely
+      penetrated the thick vapour which arose from the jungle. In those days I
+      was a young and vigorous man; my companion was several years my senior;
+      and his sufferings were far greater than my own. But if the jungle was
+      horrible, worse was yet to come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Presently we stumbled upon an open space almost quite bare of vegetation,
+      a poisonous green carpet spread in the heart of the woods. Here the vapour
+      was more dense than ever, but I welcomed the sight of open ground after
+      the reptile-infested thicket. Alas! it was a snare, a death-trap, a sort
+      of morass, in which we sank up to our knees. Pah! it was filthy&mdash;vile!
+      And I became aware of great&mdash;lassitude, do you say?&mdash;whilst
+      Valera&rsquo;s panting breath told that he had almost reached the end of his
+      resources.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A faint breeze moved through the clearing and for a few moments we were
+      enabled to perceive one another more distinctly. I uttered an exclamation
+      of horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My companion&rsquo;s garments were a mass of strange-looking patches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even as I noticed them I glanced rapidly down&mdash;and found myself in
+      similar condition. As I did so one of these patches upon the sleeve of my
+      tunic intruded coldly upon my bare wrist. At that I cried out aloud in
+      fear. Valera and I commenced what was literally a fight for life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, we were attacked by some kind of blood-red leeches, which came
+      out of the slime! In detaching them one detached patches of skin, and they
+      swarmed over our bodies like ants upon carrion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They penetrated beneath our garments, these swollen, lustful, unclean
+      things; and it was whilst we staggered on through the swamp in agony of
+      mind and body that we saw the light of many torches amid the trees ahead
+      of us, and in their smoky glare witnessed the flight of hundreds of bats.
+      The moonlight creeping dimly through the mist, and the torchlight&mdash;how
+      do you say?&mdash;enflaming the vegetation, created a scene like that of
+      Inferno, in which naked figures danced wildly, uttering animal cries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Above the shrieking and howling, which rose and fell in a sort of unholy
+      chorus, I heard one long, wailing sound, repeated and repeated. It was an
+      African word. But I knew its meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was &lsquo;<i>Bat Wing</i>!&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My doubts were dispersed. This was a meeting-place of Devil-worshippers,
+      or devotees of the cult of Voodoo! One man only could I see clearly so as
+      to remember him, a big negro employed upon one of my estates. He seemed to
+      be a sort of high priest or president of the orgies. Attached to his arms
+      were giant imitations of bat wings which he moved grotesquely as if in
+      flight. There were many women in the throng, which numbered fully I should
+      think a hundred people. But the final collapse of my brave, unhappy Valera
+      at this point brought home to me the nature of the peril in which I stood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He lay at my feet, moving convulsively, and sinking ever deeper in the
+      swamp, red leeches moving slowly, slowly over his fast-disappearing body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez paused in his appalling narrative and wiped his moist
+      forehead with a silk handkerchief. Neither Harley nor I spoke. I knew not
+      if my friend believed the Spaniard&rsquo;s story. For my own part I found it
+      difficult to do so. But that the narrator was deeply moved was a fact
+      beyond dispute.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He suddenly commenced again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My next recollection is of awakening in my own bed at the hacienda. I had
+      staggered back as far as the veranda, in raving delirium, and in the grip
+      of a strange fever which prostrated me for many months, and which defied
+      the knowledge of all the specialists who could be procured from Cuba and
+      the United States. My survival was due to an iron constitution; but I have
+      never been the same man. I was ordered to leave the West Indies directly
+      it became possible for me to be moved. I arranged my affairs accordingly,
+      and did not return for many years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Finally, however, I again took up my residence in Cuba, and for a time
+      all went well, and might have continued to do so, but for the following
+      incident. One night, being troubled by insomnia&mdash;sleeplessness&mdash;and
+      the heat, I walked out on to the balcony in front of my bedroom window. As
+      I did so, a figure which had been&mdash;you say lurking?&mdash;somewhere
+      under the veranda ran swiftly off; but not so swiftly that I failed to
+      obtain a glimpse of the uplifted face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the big negro! Although many years had elapsed since I had seen
+      him wearing the bat wings at those unholy rites, I knew him instantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On a little table close behind me where I stood lay a loaded revolver. I
+      snatched it in a flash and fired shot after shot at the retreating
+      figure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders and selected a fresh cigarette
+      paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;from that moment until this I have gone in
+      hourly peril of my life. Whether I hit my man or missed him, I have never
+      known to this day. If he lives or is dead I cannot say. But&mdash;&rdquo; he
+      paused impressively&mdash;&ldquo;I have told you of something that was nailed to
+      the hut of a certain native girl? Before she died I knew that it was a
+      death-token.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the morning after the episode which I have just related attached to
+      the main door of the hacienda was found that same token.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And it was??&rdquo; said Harley, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the wing of a bat!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am perhaps a hasty man. It is in my blood. I tore the unclean thing
+      from the panel and stamped it under my feet. No one of the servants who
+      had drawn my attention to its presence would consent to touch it. Indeed,
+      they all shrank from me as though I, too, were unclean. I endeavoured to
+      forget it. Who was I to be influenced by the threats of natives?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That night, just at the hour of sunset, a shot was fired at me from a
+      neighbouring clump of trees, only missing me I think by the fraction of an
+      inch. I realized that the peril was real, and was one against which I
+      could not fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Permit me to be brief, gentlemen. Six attempts of various kinds were made
+      upon my life in Cuba. I crossed to the United States. In Washington, the
+      political capital of the country, an assassin gained access to my hotel
+      apartment and but for the fact that a friend chanced to call me up on the
+      telephone at that late hour of the night, thereby awakening me, I should
+      have received a knife in my heart. I saw the knife in the dim light; I saw
+      the shadowy figure. I leapt out on the opposite side of the bed, seized a
+      table-lamp which stood there, and hurled it at my assailant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was a crash, a stifled exclamation, shuffling, the door opened, and
+      my would-be assassin was gone. But I had learned something, and to my old
+      fears a new one was added.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What had you learned?&rdquo; asked Harley, whose interest in the narrative was
+      displayed by the fact that his pipe had long since gone out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Vaguely, vaguely, you understand, for there was little light, I had seen
+      the face of the man. He wore some kind of black cloak doubtless to conceal
+      his movements. His silhouette resembled that of a bat. But, gentlemen, he
+      was neither a negro nor even a half-caste; he was of the white races, to
+      that I could swear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez lighted the cigarette which he had been busily rolling,
+      and fixed his dark eyes upon Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You puzzle me, sir,&rdquo; said the latter. &ldquo;Do you wish me to believe that
+      this cult of Voodoo claims European or American devotees?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you to believe,&rdquo; returned the Colonel, &ldquo;that although as the
+      result of the alarm which I gave the hotel was searched and the Washington
+      police exerted themselves to the utmost, no trace was ever found of the
+      man who had tried to murder me, except&rdquo;&mdash;he extended a long, yellow
+      forefinger, and pointed to the wing of the bat lying upon Harley&rsquo;s table&mdash;&ldquo;a
+      bat wing was found pinned to my bedroom door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Silence fell for a while; an impressive silence. Truly this was the
+      strangest story to which I had ever listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long ago was that?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only two years ago. At about the time that the great war terminated. I
+      came to Europe and believed that at last I had found security. I lived for
+      a time in London amidst a refreshing peace that was new to me. Then,
+      chancing to hear of a property in Surrey which was available, I leased it
+      for a period of years, installing&mdash;is it correct?&mdash;my cousin,
+      Madame de Stämer, as housekeeper. Madame, alas, is an invalid, but&rdquo;&mdash;he
+      kissed his fingers&mdash;&ldquo;a genius. She has with her, as companion, a very
+      charming English girl, Miss Val Beverley, the orphaned daughter of a
+      distinguished surgeon of Edinburg. Miss Beverley was with my cousin in the
+      hospital which she established in France during the war. If you will
+      honour me with your presence at Cray&rsquo;s Folly to-morrow, gentlemen, you
+      will not lack congenial company, I can assure you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his heavy eyebrows, looking interrogatively from Harley to
+      myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For my own part,&rdquo; said my friend, slowly, &ldquo;I shall be delighted. What do
+      you say, Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I also.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;your presence here today, Colonel Menendez,
+      suggests to my mind that England has not proved so safe a haven as you had
+      anticipated?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez crossed the room and stood once more before the Burmese
+      cabinet, one hand resting upon his hip; a massive yet graceful figure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;four days ago my butler, who is a Spaniard,
+      brought me&mdash;&rdquo; He pointed to the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
+      &ldquo;He had found it pinned to an oaken panel of the main entrance door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it prior to this discovery, or after it,&rdquo; asked Harley, &ldquo;that you
+      detected the presence of someone lurking in the neighbourhood of the
+      house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the burglarious entrance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That took place rather less than a month ago. On the eve of the full
+      moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stood up and relighted his pipe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are quite a number of other details, Colonel,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which I
+      shall require you to place in my possession. Since I have determined to
+      visit Cray&rsquo;s Folly, these can wait until my arrival. I particularly refer
+      to a remark concerning a neighbour of yours in Surrey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez nodded, twirling his cigarette between his long, yellow
+      fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a delicate matter, gentlemen,&rdquo; he confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must take time to consider how I shall place it before you. But I may
+      count upon your arrival tomorrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly. I am looking forward to the visit with keen interest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is important,&rdquo; declared our visitor; &ldquo;for on Wednesday is the full
+      moon, and the full moon is in some way associated with the sacrificial
+      rites of Voodoo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. THE VAMPIRE BAT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      An hour had elapsed since the departure of our visitor, and Paul Harley
+      and I sat in the cosy, book-lined study discussing the strange story which
+      had been related to us. Harley, who had a friend attached to the Spanish
+      Embassy, had succeeded in getting in touch with him at his chambers, and
+      had obtained some few particulars of interest concerning Colonel Don Juan
+      Sarmiento Menendez, for such were the full names and titles of our late
+      caller.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was apparently the last representative of a once great Spanish family,
+      established for many generations in Cuba. His wealth was incalculable,
+      although the value of his numerous estates had depreciated in recent
+      years. His family had produced many men of subtle intellect and powerful
+      administrative qualities; but allied to this they had all possessed traits
+      of cruelty and debauchery which at one time had made the name of Menendez
+      a by-word in the West Indies. That there were many people in that part of
+      the world who would gladly have assassinated the Colonel, Paul Harley&rsquo;s
+      informant did not deny. But although this information somewhat enlarged
+      our knowledge of my friend&rsquo;s newest client, it threw no fresh light upon
+      that side of his story which related to Voodoo and the extraordinary bat
+      wing episodes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said Harley, after a long silence, &ldquo;there is one possibility
+      of which we must not lose sight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What possibility is that?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That Menendez may be mad. Remorse for crimes of cruelty committed in his
+      youth, and beyond doubt he has been guilty of many, may have led to a sort
+      of obsession. I have known such cases.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was my first impression,&rdquo; I confessed, &ldquo;but it faded somewhat as the
+      Colonel&rsquo;s story proceeded. I don&rsquo;t think any such explanation would cover
+      the facts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither do I,&rdquo; agreed my friend; &ldquo;but it is distinctly possible that such
+      an obsession exists, and that someone is deliberately playing upon it for
+      his own ends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that someone who knows of these episodes in the earlier life of
+      Menendez is employing them now for a secret purpose of his own?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It renders the case none the less interesting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite agree, Knox. With you, I believe, that even if the Colonel is not
+      quite sane, at the same time his fears are by no means imaginary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He gingerly took up the bat wing from the arm of his chair where he had
+      placed it after a detailed examination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to be pretty certain,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that this thing is the wing of
+      a Desmodus or Vampire Bat. Now, according to our authority&rdquo;&mdash;he
+      touched a work which lay open on the other arm of his chair&mdash;&ldquo;these
+      are natives of tropical America, therefore the presence of a living
+      vampire bat in Surrey is not to be anticipated. I am personally satisfied,
+      however, that this unpleasant fragment has been preserved in some way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that it is part of a specimen from someone&rsquo;s collection?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite possibly. But even a collection of such bats would be quite a
+      novelty. I don&rsquo;t know that I can recollect one outside the Museums. To
+      follow this bat wing business further: there was one very curious point in
+      the Colonel&rsquo;s narrative. You recollect his reference to a native girl who
+      had betrayed certain information to the manager of the estate?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A bat wing was affixed to the wall of her hut and she died, according to
+      our informant, of a lingering sickness. Now this lingering sickness might
+      have been anæmia, and anæmia may be induced, either in man or beast, by
+      frequent but unsuspected visits of a Vampire Bat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens, Harley!&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;what a horrible idea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It <i>is</i> a horrible idea, but in countries infested by these
+      creatures such things happen occasionally. I distinctly recollect a story
+      which I once heard, of a little girl in some district of tropical America
+      falling into such a decline, from which she was only rescued in the nick
+      of time by the discovery that one of these Vampire Bats, a particularly
+      large one, had formed the habit of flying into her room at night and
+      attaching itself to her bare arm which lay outside the coverlet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did it penetrate the mosquito curtains?&rdquo; I enquired, incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The very point, Knox, which led to the discovery of the truth. The thing,
+      exhibiting a sort of uncanny intelligence, used to work its way up under
+      the edge of the netting. This disturbance of the curtains was noticed on
+      several occasions by the nurse who occupied an adjoining room, and finally
+      led to the detection of the bat!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;such a visitation would awaken any sleeper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, it induces deeper sleep. But I have not yet come to my
+      point, Knox. The vengeance of the High Priest of Voodoo, who figured in
+      the Colonel&rsquo;s narrative, was characteristic in the case of the native
+      woman, since her symptoms at least simulated those which would result from
+      the visits of a Vampire Bat, although of course they may have been due to
+      a slow poison. But you will not have failed to note that the several
+      attacks upon the Colonel personally were made with more ordinary weapons.
+      On two occasions at least a rifle was employed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I replied, slowly. &ldquo;You are wondering why the lingering sickness
+      did not visit him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am, Knox. I can only suppose that he proved to be immune. You recall
+      his statement that he made an almost miraculous recovery from the fever
+      which attacked him after his visit to the Black Belt? This would seem to
+      point to the fact that he possesses that rare type of constitution which
+      almost defies organisms deadly to ordinary men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. Hence the dagger and the rifle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it would appear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Harley,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;what appalling crime can the man have committed
+      to call down upon his head a vengeance which has survived for so many
+      years?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley shrugged his shoulders in a whimsical imitation of the
+      Spaniard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I doubt if the feud dates any earlier,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;than the time of
+      Menendez&rsquo;s last return to Cuba. On that occasion he evidently killed the
+      High Priest of Voodoo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I uttered an exclamation of scorn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;the whole thing is too utterly fantastic. I
+      begin to believe again that we are dealing with a madman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley glanced down at the wing of the bat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; he murmured. &ldquo;Even if the only result of our visit is to
+      make the acquaintance of the Colonel&rsquo;s household our time will not have
+      been wasted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that is true enough. I am looking forward to meeting Madame
+      de Stämer&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Colonel&rsquo;s invalid cousin,&rdquo; added Harley, tonelessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And her companion, Miss Beverley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so. Nor must we forget the Spanish butler, and the Colonel himself,
+      whose acquaintance I am extremely anxious to renew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole thing is wildly bizarre, Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox,&rdquo; he replied, stretching himself luxuriously in the long
+      lounge chair, &ldquo;the most commonplace life hovers on the edge of the
+      bizarre. But those of us who overstep the border become preposterous in
+      the eyes of those who have never done so. This is not because the unusual
+      is necessarily the untrue, but because writers of fiction have claimed the
+      unusual as their particular province, and in doing so have divorced it
+      from fact in the public eye. Thus I, myself, am a myth, and so are you,
+      Knox!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his hand and pointed to the doorway communicating with the
+      office.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We owe our mythological existence to that American genius whose portrait
+      hangs beside the Burmese cabinet and who indiscreetly created the
+      character of C. Auguste Dupin. The doings of this amateur investigator
+      were chronicled by an admirer, you may remember, since when no private
+      detective has been allowed to exist outside the pages of fiction. My most
+      trivial habits confirm my unreality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For instance, I have a friend who is good enough sometimes to record my
+      movements. So had Dupin. I smoke a pipe. So did Dupin. I investigate
+      crime, and I am sometimes successful. Here I differ from Dupin. Dupin was
+      always successful. But my argument is this&mdash;you complain that the
+      life of Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, on his own showing, has been
+      at least as romantic as his name. It would not be accounted romantic by
+      the adventurous, Knox; it is only romantic to the prosaic mind. In the
+      same way his name is only unusual to our English ears. In Spain it would
+      pass unnoticed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see your point,&rdquo; I said, grudgingly; &ldquo;but think of I Voodoo in the
+      Surrey Hills.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am thinking of it, Knox, and it affords me much delight to think of it.
+      You have placed your finger I upon the very point I was endeavouring to
+      make. Voodoo in the Surrey Hills! Quite so. Voodoo in some island of the
+      Caribbean Seas, yes, but Voodoo in the Surrey Hills, no. Yet, my dear
+      fellow, there is a regular steamer service between South America and
+      England. Or one may embark at Liverpool and disembark in the Spanish Main.
+      Why, then, may not one embark in the West Indies and disembark at
+      Liverpool? This granted, you will also grant that from Liverpool to Surrey
+      is a feasible journey. Why, then, should you exclaim, &lsquo;but Voodoo in the
+      Surrey Hills!&rsquo; You would be surprised to meet an Esquimaux in the Strand,
+      but there is no reason why an Esquimaux should not visit the Strand. In
+      short, the most annoying thing about fact is its resemblance to fiction. I
+      am looking forward to the day, Knox, when I can retire from my present
+      fictitious profession and become a recognized member of the community;
+      such as a press agent, a theatrical manager, or some other dealer in
+      Fact!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He burst out laughing, and reaching over to a side-table refilled my glass
+      and his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There lies the wing of a Vampire Bat,&rdquo; he said, pointing, &ldquo;in Chancery
+      Lane. It is impossible. Yet,&rdquo; he raised his glass, &ldquo;&lsquo;Pussyfoot&rsquo; Johnson
+      has visited Scotland, the home of Whisky!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were silent for a while, whilst I considered his remarks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The conclusion to which I have come,&rdquo; declared Harley, &ldquo;is that nothing
+      is so strange as the commonplace. A rod and line, a boat, a luncheon
+      hamper, a jar of good ale, and the peculiar peace of a Norfolk river&mdash;these
+      joys I willingly curtail in favour of the unknown things which await us at
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Remember, Knox,&rdquo; he stared at me queerly, &ldquo;Wednesday is the
+      night of the full moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. CRAY&rsquo;S FOLLY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley lay back upon the cushions and glanced at me with a quizzical
+      smile. The big, up-to-date car which Colonel Menendez had placed at our
+      disposal was surmounting a steep Surrey lane as though no gradient had
+      existed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some engine!&rdquo; he said, approvingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded in agreement, but felt disinclined for conversation, being
+      absorbed in watching the characteristically English scenery. This, indeed,
+      was very beautiful. The lane along which we were speeding was narrow,
+      winding, and over-arched by trees. Here and there sunlight penetrated to
+      spread a golden carpet before us, but for the most part the way lay in
+      cool and grateful shadow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On one side a wooded slope hemmed us in blackly, on the other lay dell
+      after dell down into the cradle of the valley. It was a poetic corner of
+      England, and I thought it almost unbelievable that London was only some
+      twenty miles behind. A fit place this for elves and fairies to survive, a
+      spot in which the presence of a modern automobile seemed a desecration.
+      Higher we mounted and higher, the engine running strongly and smoothly;
+      then, presently, we were out upon a narrow open road with the crescent of
+      the hills sweeping away on the right and dense woods dipping valleyward to
+      the left and behind us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chauffeur turned, and, meeting my glance:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cray&rsquo;s Folly, sir,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He jerked his hand in the direction of a square, gray-stone tower somewhat
+      resembling a campanile, which uprose from a distant clump of woods
+      cresting a greater eminence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; murmured Harley, &ldquo;the famous tower.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Following the departure of the Colonel on the previous evening, he had
+      looked up Cray&rsquo;s Folly and had found it to be one of a series of houses
+      erected by the eccentric and wealthy man whose name it bore. He had had a
+      mania for building houses with towers, in which his rival&mdash;and
+      contemporary&mdash;had been William Beckford, the author of &ldquo;Vathek,&rdquo; a
+      work which for some obscure reason has survived as well as two of the
+      three towers erected by its writer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I became conscious of a keen sense of anticipation. In this, I think, the
+      figure of Miss Val Beverley played a leading part. There was something
+      pathetic in the presence of this lonely English girl in so singular a
+      household; for if the menage at Cray&rsquo;s Folly should prove half so strange
+      as Colonel Menendez had led us to believe, then truly we were about to
+      find ourselves amid unusual people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the road inclined southward somewhat and we entered the fringe
+      of the trees. I noticed one or two very ancient cottages, but no trace of
+      the modern builder. This was a fragment of real Old England, and I was not
+      sorry when presently we lost sight of the square tower; for amidst such
+      scenery it was an anomaly and a rebuke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What Paul Harley&rsquo;s thoughts may have been I cannot say, but he preserved
+      an unbroken silence up to the very moment that we came to the gate lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gates were monstrosities of elaborate iron scrollwork, craftsmanship
+      clever enough in its way, but of an ornate kind more in keeping with the
+      orange trees of the South than with this wooded Surrey countryside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A very surly-looking girl, quite obviously un-English (a daughter of
+      Pedro, the butler, I learned later), opened the gates, and we entered upon
+      a winding drive literally tunnelled through the trees. Of the house we had
+      never a glimpse until we were right under its walls, nor should I have
+      known that we were come to the main entrance if the car had not stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Looks like a monastery,&rdquo; muttered Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed that part of the building&mdash;the north front&mdash;which was
+      visible from this point had a strangely monastic appearance, being built
+      of solid gray blocks and boasting only a few small, heavily barred
+      windows. The eccentricity of the Victorian gentleman who had expended
+      thousands of pounds upon erecting this house was only equalled, I thought,
+      by that of Colonel Menendez, who had chosen it for a home. An out-jutting
+      wing shut us in on the west, and to the east the prospect was closed by
+      the tallest and most densely grown box hedge I had ever seen, trimmed most
+      perfectly and having an arched opening in the centre. Thus, the entrance
+      to Cray&rsquo;s Folly lay in a sort of bay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But even as we stepped from the car, the great church-like oaken doors
+      were thrown open, and there, framed in the monkish porch, stood the tall,
+      elegant figure of the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;welcome to Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He advanced smiling, and in the bright sunlight seemed even more
+      Mephistophelean than he had seemed in Harley&rsquo;s office.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pedro,&rdquo; he called, and a strange-looking Spanish butler who wore his
+      side-whiskers like a bull fighter appeared behind his master; a sallow,
+      furtive fellow with whom I determined I should never feel at ease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the Colonel greeted us heartily enough, and conducted us through
+      a kind of paved, covered courtyard into a great lofty hall. Indeed it more
+      closely resembled a studio, being partly lighted by a most curious dome.
+      It was furnished in a manner quite un-English, but very luxuriously. A
+      magnificent oaken staircase communicated with a gallery on the left, and
+      at the foot of this staircase, in a mechanical chair which she managed
+      with astonishing dexterity, sat Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had snow-white hair crowning the face of a comparatively young woman,
+      and large, dark-brown eyes which reminded me strangely of the eyes of some
+      animal although in the first moment of meeting I could not identify the
+      resemblance. Her hands were very slender and beautiful, and when, as the
+      Colonel presented us, she extended her fingers, I was not surprised to see
+      Harley stoop and kiss them in Continental fashion; for this Madame
+      evidently expected. I followed suit; but truth to tell, after that first
+      glance at the masterful figure in the invalid chair I had had no eyes for
+      Madame de Stämer, being fully employed in gazing at someone who stood
+      beside her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was an evasively pretty girl, or such was my first impression. That
+      is to say, that whilst her attractiveness was beyond dispute, analysis of
+      her small features failed to detect from which particular quality this
+      charm was derived. The contour of her face certainly formed a delightful
+      oval, and there was a wistful look in her eyes which was half appealing
+      and half impish. Her demure expression was not convincing, and there
+      rested a vague smile, or promise of a smile, upon lips which were
+      perfectly moulded, and indeed the only strictly regular feature of a
+      nevertheless bewitching face. She had slightly curling hair and the line
+      of her neck and shoulder was most graceful and charming. Of one thing I
+      was sure: She was glad to see visitors at Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Colonel Menendez, &ldquo;having presented you to
+      Madame, my cousin, permit me to present you to Miss Val Beverley, my
+      cousin&rsquo;s companion, and our very dear friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl bowed in a formal English fashion, which contrasted sharply with
+      the Continental manner of Madame. Her face flushed slightly, and as I met
+      her glance she lowered her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now M. Harley and M. Knox,&rdquo; said Madame, vivaciously, &ldquo;you are quite at
+      home. Pedro will show you to your rooms and lunch will be ready in half an
+      hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waved her white hand coquettishly, and ignoring the proffered aid of
+      Miss Beverley, wheeled her chair away at a great rate under a sort of arch
+      on the right of the hall, which communicated with the domestic offices of
+      the establishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is she not wonderful?&rdquo; exclaimed Colonel Menendez, taking Harley&rsquo;s left
+      arm and my right and guiding us upstairs followed by Pedro and the
+      chauffeur, the latter carrying our grips. &ldquo;Many women would be prostrated
+      by such an affliction, but she&mdash;&rdquo; he shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I had been placed in adjoining rooms. I had never seen such
+      rooms as those in Cray&rsquo;s Folly. The place contained enough oak to have
+      driven a modern builder crazy. Oak had simply been lavished upon it. My
+      own room, which was almost directly above the box hedge to which I have
+      referred, had a beautiful carved ceiling and a floor as highly polished as
+      that of a ballroom. It was tastefully furnished, but the foreign note was
+      perceptible everywhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have here some grand prospects,&rdquo; said the Colonel, and truly enough
+      the view from the great, high, wide window was a very fine one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I perceived that the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly were extensive and carefully
+      cultivated. I had a glimpse of a Tudor sunken garden, but the best view of
+      this was from the window of Harley&rsquo;s room, which because it was the end
+      room on the north front overlooked another part of the grounds, and
+      offered a prospect of the east lawns and distant park land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When presently Colonel Menendez and I accompanied my friend there I was
+      charmed by the picturesque scene below. Here was a real old herbal garden,
+      gay with flowers and intersected by tiled moss-grown paths. There were
+      bushes exhibiting fantastic examples of the topiary art, and here, too,
+      was a sun-dial. My first impression of this beautiful spot was one of
+      delight. Later I was to regard that enchanted demesne with something akin
+      to horror; but as we stood there watching a gardener clipping the bushes I
+      thought that although Cray&rsquo;s Folly might be adjudged ugly, its grounds
+      were delightful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly Harley turned to our host. &ldquo;Where is the famous tower?&rdquo; he
+      enquired. &ldquo;It is not visible from the front of the house, nor from the
+      drive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; replied the Colonel, &ldquo;it is right out at the end of the east
+      wing, which is disused. I keep it locked up. There are four rooms in the
+      tower and a staircase, of course, but it is inconvenient. I cannot imagine
+      why it was built.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The architect may have had some definite object in view,&rdquo; said Harley,
+      &ldquo;or it may have been merely a freak of his client. Is there anything
+      characteristic about the topmost room, for instance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez shrugged his massive shoulders. &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; he replied.
+      &ldquo;It is the same as the others below, except that there is a stair leading
+      to a gallery on the roof. Presently I will take you up, if you wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be interested,&rdquo; murmured Harley, and tactfully changed the
+      subject, which evidently was not altogether pleasing to our host. I
+      concluded that he had found the east wing of the house something of a
+      white elephant, and was accordingly sensitive upon the point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, then, he left us and I returned to my own room, but before long
+      I rejoined Harley. I did not knock but entered unceremoniously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Halloa!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;What have you seen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was standing staring out of the window, nor did he turn as I entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; I said, joining him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced at me oddly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An impression,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but it has gone now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; I said, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Familiarity with crime in many guises and under many skies had developed
+      in Paul Harley a sort of sixth sense. It was a fugitive, fickle thing, as
+      are all the powers which belong to the realm of genius or inspiration.
+      Often enough it failed him entirely, he had assured me, that odd, sudden
+      chill as of an abrupt lowering of the temperature, which, I understood,
+      often advised him of the nearness of enmity actively malignant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, standing at the window, looking down into that old-world garden, he
+      was &ldquo;sensing&rdquo; the atmosphere keenly, seeking for the note of danger. It
+      was sheer intuition, perhaps, but whilst he could never rely upon its
+      answering his summons, once active it never misled him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think some real menace overhangs Colonel Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure of it.&rdquo; He stared into my face. &ldquo;There is something very, very
+      strange about this bat wing business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you still incline to the idea that he has been followed to England?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley reflected for a moment, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That explanation would be almost too simple,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There is
+      something bizarre, something unclean&mdash;I had almost said unholy&mdash;at
+      work in this house, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has foreign servants.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall make it my business to become acquainted with all of them,&rdquo; he
+      replied, &ldquo;but the danger does not come from there. Let us go down to
+      lunch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. VAL BEVERLEY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The luncheon was so good as to be almost ostentatious. One could not have
+      lunched better at the Carlton. Yet, since this luxurious living was
+      evidently customary in the colonel&rsquo;s household, a charge of ostentation
+      would not have been deserved. The sinister-looking Pedro proved to be an
+      excellent servant; and because of the excitement of feeling myself to
+      stand upon the edge of unusual things, the enjoyment of a perfectly served
+      repast, and the sheer delight which I experienced in watching the play of
+      expression upon the face of Miss Beverley, I count that luncheon at Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly a memorable hour of my life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Frankly, Val Beverley puzzled me. It may or may not have been curious,
+      that amidst such singular company I selected for my especial study a girl
+      so freshly and typically English. I had thought at the moment of meeting
+      her that she was provokingly pretty; I determined, as the lunch proceeded,
+      that she was beautiful. Once I caught Harley smiling at me in his
+      quizzical fashion, and I wondered guiltily if I were displaying an undue
+      interest in the companion of Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many topics were discussed, I remember, and beyond doubt the colonel&rsquo;s
+      cousin-housekeeper dominated the debate. She possessed extraordinary force
+      of personality. Her English was not nearly so fluent as that spoken by the
+      colonel, but this handicap only served to emphasize the masculine strength
+      of her intellect. Truly she was a remarkable woman. With her blanched hair
+      and her young face, and those fine, velvety eyes which possessed a quality
+      almost hypnotic, she might have posed for the figure of a sorceress. She
+      had unfamiliar gestures and employed her long white hands in a manner that
+      was new to me and utterly strange.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I could detect no family resemblance between the cousins, and I wondered
+      if their kinship were very distant. One thing was evident enough: Madame
+      de Stämer was devoted to the Colonel. Her expression when she looked at
+      him changed entirely. For a woman of such intense vitality her eyes were
+      uncannily still; that is to say that whilst she frequently moved her head
+      she rarely moved her eyes. Again and again I found myself wondering where
+      I had seen such eyes before. I lived to identify that memory, as I shall
+      presently relate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In vain I endeavoured to define the relationship between these three
+      people, so incongruously set beneath one roof. Of the fact that Miss
+      Beverly was not happy I became assured. But respecting her exact position
+      in the household I was reduced to surmises.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel improved on acquaintance. I decided that he belonged to an
+      order of Spanish grandees now almost extinct. I believed he would have
+      made a very staunch friend; I felt sure he would have proved a most
+      implacable enemy. Altogether, it was a memorable meal, and one notable
+      result of that brief companionship was a kind of link of understanding
+      between myself and Miss Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, when I had been studying Madame de Stämer, and again, as I removed
+      my glance from the dark face of Colonel Menendez, I detected the girl
+      watching me; and her eyes said, &ldquo;You understand; so do I.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some things perhaps I did understand, but how few the near future was to
+      show.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The signal for our departure from table was given by Madame de Stämer. She
+      whisked her chair back with extraordinary rapidity, the contrast between
+      her swift, nervous movements and those still, basilisk eyes being almost
+      uncanny.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Off you go, Juan,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;your visitors would like to see the garden,
+      no doubt. I must be away for my afternoon siesta. Come, my dear&rdquo;&mdash;to
+      the girl&mdash;&ldquo;smoke one little cigarette with me, then I will let you
+      go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She retired, wheeling herself rapidly out of the room, and my glance
+      lingered upon the graceful figure of Val Beverley until both she and
+      Madame were out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, gentlemen,&rdquo; said the Colonel, resuming his seat and pushing the
+      decanter toward Paul Harley, &ldquo;I am at your service either for business or
+      amusement. I think&rdquo;&mdash;to Harley&mdash;&ldquo;you expressed a desire to see
+      the tower?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; my friend replied, lighting his cigar, &ldquo;but only if it would
+      amuse you to show me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Decidedly. Mr. Knox will join us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley, unseen by the Colonel, glanced at me in a way which I knew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks all the same,&rdquo; I said, smiling, &ldquo;but following a perfect luncheon
+      I should much prefer to loll upon the lawn, if you don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But certainly I do not mind,&rdquo; cried the Colonel. &ldquo;I wish you to be
+      happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Join you in a few minutes, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley as he went out with our
+      host.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;I should like to take a stroll around the
+      gardens. You will join me there later, no doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I walked out into the bright sunshine I wondered why Paul Harley had
+      wished to be left alone with Colonel Menendez, but knowing that I should
+      learn his motive later, I strolled on through the gardens, my mind filled
+      with speculations respecting these unusual people with whom Fate had
+      brought me in contact. I felt that Miss Beverley needed protection of some
+      kind, and I was conscious of a keen desire to afford her that protection.
+      In her glance I had read, or thought I had read, an appeal for sympathy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not the least mystery of Cray&rsquo;s Folly was the presence of this girl. Only
+      toward the end of luncheon had I made up my mind upon a point which had
+      been puzzling me. Val Beverley&rsquo;s gaiety was a cloak. Once I had detected
+      her watching Madame de Stämer with a look strangely like that of fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Puffing contentedly at my cigar I proceeded to make a tour of the house.
+      It was constructed irregularly. Practically the entire building was of
+      gray stone, which created a depressing effect even in the blazing
+      sunlight, lending Cray&rsquo;s Folly something of an austere aspect. There were
+      fine lofty windows, however, to most of the ground-floor rooms overlooking
+      the lawns, and some of those above had balconies of the same gray stone.
+      Quite an extensive kitchen garden and a line of glasshouses adjoined the
+      west wing, and here were outbuildings, coach-houses and a garage, all
+      connected by a covered passage with the servants&rsquo; quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pursuing my enquiries, I proceeded to the north front of the building,
+      which was closely hemmed in by trees, and which as we had observed on our
+      arrival resembled the entrance to a monastery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Passing the massive oaken door by which we had entered and which was now
+      closed again, I walked on through the opening in the box hedge into a part
+      of the grounds which was not so sprucely groomed as the rest. On one side
+      were the yews flanking the Tudor garden and before me uprose the famous
+      tower. As I stared up at the square structure, with its uncurtained
+      windows, I wondered, as others had wondered before me, what could have
+      ever possessed any man to build it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Visible at points for many miles around, it undoubtedly disfigured an
+      otherwise beautiful landscape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I pressed on, noting that the windows of the rooms in the east wing were
+      shuttered and the apartments evidently disused. I came to the base of the
+      tower, To the south, the country rose up to the highest point in the
+      crescent of hills, and peeping above the trees at no great distance away,
+      I detected the red brick chimneys of some old house in the woods. North
+      and east, velvet sward swept down to the park.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I stood there admiring the prospect and telling myself that no Voodoo
+      devilry could find a home in this peaceful English countryside, I detected
+      a faint sound of voices far above. Someone had evidently come out upon the
+      gallery of the tower. I looked upward, but I could not see the speakers. I
+      pursued my stroll, until, near the eastern base of the tower, I
+      encountered a perfect thicket of rhododendrons. Finding no path through
+      this shrubbery, I retraced my steps, presently entering the Tudor garden;
+      and there strolling toward me, a book in her hand, was Miss Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Holloa, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she called; &ldquo;I thought you had gone up the tower?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, laughing, &ldquo;I lack the energy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you?&rdquo; she said, softly, &ldquo;then sit down and talk to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She dropped down upon a grassy bank, looking up at me invitingly, and I
+      accepted the invitation without demur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I love this old garden,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;although of course it is really
+      no older than the rest of the place. I always think there should be
+      peacocks, though.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I agreed, &ldquo;peacocks would be appropriate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And little pages dressed in yellow velvet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She met my glance soberly for a moment and then burst into a peal of merry
+      laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know, Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said, watching her, &ldquo;I find it hard to
+      place you in the household of the Colonel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; she said simply; &ldquo;you must.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, then you realize that you are&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Out of place here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled, shook her head, and changed the subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am so glad Mr. Paul Harley has come down,&rdquo; she confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know my friend by name, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;someone I met in Nice spoke of him, and I know he is
+      very clever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In Nice? Did you live in Nice before you came here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley nodded slowly, and her glance grew oddly retrospective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I lived for over a year with Madame de Stämer in a little villa on the
+      Promenade des Anglaise,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;That was after Madame was injured.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She sustained her injuries during the war, I understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. Poor Madame. The hospital of which she was in charge was bombed and
+      the shock left her as you see her. I was there, too, but I luckily escaped
+      without injury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, you were there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. That was where I first met Madame de Stämer. She used to be very
+      wealthy, you see, and she established this hospital in France at her own
+      expense, and I was one of her assistants for a time. She lost both her
+      husband and her fortune in the war, and as if that were not bad enough,
+      lost the use of her limbs, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor woman,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I had no idea her life had been so tragic. She has
+      wonderful courage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Courage!&rdquo; exclaimed the girl, &ldquo;if you knew all that I know about her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her face grew sweetly animated as she bent toward me excitedly and
+      confidentially.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, she is simply wonderful. I learned to respect her in those days
+      as I have never respected any other woman in the world; and when, after
+      all her splendid work, she, so vital and active, was stricken down like
+      that, I felt that I simply could not leave her, especially as she asked me
+      to stay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you went with her to Nice?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. Then the Colonel took this house, and we came here, but&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated, and glanced at me curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are not quite happy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I am not. You see it was different in France. I knew so
+      many people. But here at Cray&rsquo;s Folly it is so lonely, and Madame is&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again she hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she laughed in an embarrassed fashion, &ldquo;I am afraid of her at
+      times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, in a silly, womanish sort of way. Of course she is a wonderful
+      manager; she rules the house with a rod of iron. But really I haven&rsquo;t
+      anything to do here, and I feel frightfully out of place sometimes. Then
+      the Colonel&mdash;Oh, but what am I talking about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you tell me what it is that the Colonel fears?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know that he fears something, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course. That is why Paul Harley is here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A change came over the girl&rsquo;s face; a look almost of dread.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish I knew what it all meant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are aware, then, that there is something wrong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally I am. Sometimes I have been so frightened that I have made up
+      my mind to leave the very next day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that you have been frightened at night?&rdquo; I asked with curiosity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreadfully frightened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you tell me in what way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up at me swiftly, then turned her head aside, and bit her lip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not now,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then at least tell me why you stayed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she smiled rather pathetically, &ldquo;for one thing, I haven&rsquo;t anywhere
+      else to go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you no friends in England?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. There was only poor daddy, and he died over two years ago. That was
+      when I went to Nice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor little girl,&rdquo; I said; and the words were spoken before I realized
+      their undue familiarity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An apology was on the tip of my tongue, but Miss Beverley did not seem to
+      have noticed the indiscretion. Indeed my sympathy was sincere, and I think
+      she had appreciated the fact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up again with a bright smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why are we talking about such depressing things on this simply heavenly
+      day?&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Goodness knows,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Will you show me round these lovely gardens?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Delighted, sir!&rdquo; replied the girl, rising and sweeping me a mocking
+      curtsey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereupon we set out, and at every step I found a new delight in some
+      wayward curl, in a gesture, in the sweet voice of my companion. Her merry
+      laugh was music, but in wistful mood I think she was even more alluring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The menace, if menace there were, which overhung Cray&rsquo;s Folly, ceased to
+      exist&mdash;for me, at least, and I blessed the lucky chance which had led
+      to my presence there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were presently rejoined by Colonel Menendez and Paul Harley, and I
+      gathered that my surmise that it had been their voices which I had heard
+      proceeding from the top of the tower to have been only partly accurate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you will excuse me, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said the Colonel, &ldquo;for detailing
+      the duty to Pedro, but my wind is not good enough for the stairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He used idiomatic English at times with that facility which some
+      foreigners acquire, but always smiled in a self-satisfied way when he had
+      employed a slang term.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite understand, Colonel,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;The view from the top was
+      very fine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, gentlemen,&rdquo; continued the Colonel, &ldquo;if Miss Beverley will excuse
+      us, we will retire to the library and discuss business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As you wish,&rdquo; said Harley; &ldquo;but I have an idea that it is your custom to
+      rest in the afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;It used to be,&rdquo; he admitted,
+      &ldquo;but I have too much to think about in these days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see that you have much to tell me,&rdquo; admitted Harley; &ldquo;and therefore
+      I am entirely at your service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley smiled and walked away swinging her book, at the same time
+      treating me to a glance which puzzled me considerably. I wondered if I had
+      mistaken its significance, for it had seemed to imply that she had
+      accepted me as an ally. Certainly it served to awaken me to the fact that
+      I had discovered a keen personal interest in the mystery which hung over
+      this queerly assorted household.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I glanced at my friend as the Colonel led the way into the house. I saw
+      him staring upward with a peculiar expression upon his face, and following
+      the direction of his glance I could see an awning spread over one of the
+      gray-stone balconies. Beneath it, reclining in a long cane chair, lay
+      Madame de Stämer. I think she was asleep; at any rate, she gave no sign,
+      but lay there motionless, as Harley and I walked in through the open
+      French window followed by Colonel Menendez.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Odd and unimportant details sometimes linger long in the memory. And I
+      remember noticing that a needle of sunlight, piercing a crack in the
+      gaily-striped awning rested upon a ring which Madame wore, so that the
+      diamonds glittered like sparks of white-hot fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE BARRIER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez conducted us to a long, lofty library in which might be
+      detected the same note of un-English luxury manifested in the other
+      appointments of the house. The room, in common with every other which I
+      had visited in Cray&rsquo;s Folly, was carried out in oak: doors, window frames,
+      mantelpiece, and ceiling representing fine examples of this massive
+      woodwork. Indeed, if the eccentricity of the designer of Cray&rsquo;s Folly were
+      not sufficiently demonstrated by the peculiar plan of the building, its
+      construction wholly of granite and oak must have remarked him a man of
+      unusual if substantial ideas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were four long windows opening on to a veranda which commanded a
+      view of part of the rose garden and of three terraced lawns descending to
+      a lake upon which I perceived a number of swans. Beyond, in the valley,
+      lay verdant pastures, where cattle grazed. A lark hung carolling blithely
+      far above, and the sky was almost cloudless. I could hear a steam reaper
+      at work somewhere in the distance. This, with the more intimate rattle of
+      a lawn-mower wielded by a gardener who was not visible from where I stood,
+      alone disturbed the serene silence, except that presently I detected the
+      droning of many bees among the roses. Sunlight flooded the prospect; but
+      the veranda lay in shadow, and that long, oaken room was refreshingly cool
+      and laden with the heavy perfume of the flowers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the windows, then, one beheld a typical English summer-scape, but the
+      library itself struck an altogether more exotic note. There were many
+      glazed bookcases of a garish design in ebony and gilt, and these were
+      laden with a vast collection of works in almost every European language,
+      reflecting perhaps the cosmopolitan character of the colonel&rsquo;s household.
+      There was strange Spanish furniture upholstered in perforated leather and
+      again displaying much gilt. There were suits of black armour and a great
+      number of Moorish ornaments. The pictures were fine but sombre, and all of
+      the Spanish school.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One Velasquez in particular I noted with surprise, reflecting that,
+      assuming it to be an authentic work of the master, my entire worldly
+      possessions could not have enabled me to buy it. It was the portrait of a
+      typical Spanish cavalier and beyond doubt a Menendez. In fact, the
+      resemblance between the haughty Spanish grandee, who seemed about to step
+      out of the canvas and pick a quarrel with the spectator, and Colonel Don
+      Juan himself was almost startling. Evidently, our host had imported most
+      of his belongings from Cuba.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, as we entered, &ldquo;make yourselves quite at home, I
+      beg. All my poor establishment contains is for your entertainment and
+      service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He drew up two long, low lounge chairs, the arms provided with receptacles
+      to contain cooling drinks; and the mere sight of these chairs mentally
+      translated me to the Spanish Main, where I pictured them set upon the
+      veranda of that hacienda which had formerly been our host&rsquo;s residence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I became seated and Colonel Menendez disposed himself upon a
+      leather-covered couch, nodding apologetically as he did so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My health requires that I should recline for a certain number of hours
+      every day,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;So you will please forgive me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;I feel sure that you are
+      interrupting your siesta in order to discuss the unpleasant business which
+      finds us in such pleasant surroundings. Allow me once again to suggest
+      that we postpone this matter until, shall we say, after dinner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no! No, no,&rdquo; protested the Colonel, waving his hand deprecatingly.
+      &ldquo;Here is Pedro with coffee and some curaçao of a kind which I can really
+      recommend, although you may be unfamiliar with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was certainly unfamiliar with the liqueur which he insisted we must
+      taste, and which was contained in a sort of square, opaque bottle unknown,
+      I think, to English wine merchants. Beyond doubt it was potent stuff; and
+      some cigars which the Spaniard produced on this occasion and which were
+      enclosed in little glass cylinders resembling test-tubes and elaborately
+      sealed, I recognized to be priceless. They convinced me, if conviction had
+      not visited me already, that Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez belonged
+      to that old school of West Indian planters by whom the tradition of the
+      Golden Americas had been for long preserved in the Spanish Main.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We discussed indifferent matters for a while, sipping this wonderful
+      curaçao of our host&rsquo;s. The effect created by the Colonel&rsquo;s story faded
+      entirely, and when, the latter being unable to conceal his drowsiness,
+      Harley stood up, I took the hint with gratitude; for at that moment I did
+      not feel in the mood to discuss serious business or indeed business of any
+      kind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; said the Colonel, also rising, in spite of our protests, &ldquo;I
+      will observe your wishes. My guests&rsquo; wishes are mine. We will meet the
+      ladies for tea on the terrace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I walked out into the garden together, our courteous host
+      standing in the open window, and bowing in that exaggerated fashion which
+      in another might have been ridiculous but which was possible in Colonel
+      Menendez, because of the peculiar grace of deportment which was his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we descended the steps I turned and glanced back, I know not why. But
+      the impression which I derived of the Colonel&rsquo;s face as he stood there in
+      the shadow of the veranda was one I can never forget.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His expression had changed utterly, or so it seemed to me. He no longer
+      resembled Velasquez&rsquo; haughty cavalier; gone, too, was the debonnaire
+      bearing, I turned my head aside swiftly, hoping that he had not detected
+      my backward glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I felt that I had violated hospitality. I felt that I had seen what I
+      should not have seen. And the result was to bring about that which no
+      story of West Indian magic could ever have wrought in my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A dreadful, cold premonition claimed me, a premonition that this was a
+      doomed man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The look which I had detected upon his face was an indefinable, an
+      indescribable look; but I had seen it in the eyes of one who had been
+      bitten by a poisonous reptile and who knew his hours to be numbered. It
+      was uncanny, unnerving; and whereas at first the atmosphere of Colonel
+      Menendez&rsquo;s home had seemed to be laden with prosperous security, now that
+      sense of ease and restfulness was gone&mdash;and gone for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, speaking almost at random, &ldquo;this promises to be the
+      strangest case you have ever handled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Promises?&rdquo; Paul Harley laughed shortly. &ldquo;It <i>is</i> the strangest case,
+      Knox. It is a case of wheels within wheels, of mystery crowning mystery.
+      Have you studied our host?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Closely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what conclusion have you formed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None at the moment; but I think one is slowly crystalizing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; muttered Harley, as we paced slowly on amid the rose trees. &ldquo;Of one
+      thing I am satisfied.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That Colonel Menendez is not afraid of Bat Wing, whoever or whatever Bat
+      Wing may be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not afraid?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly he is not afraid, Knox. He has possibly been afraid in the
+      past, but now he is resigned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Resigned to what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Resigned to death!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God, Harley, you are right!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;You are right! I saw it in
+      his eyes as we left the library.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stopped and turned to me sharply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You saw this in the Colonel&rsquo;s eyes?&rdquo; he challenged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which corroborates my theory,&rdquo; he said, softly; &ldquo;for <i>I</i> had seen it
+      elsewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where do you mean, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the face of Madame de Stämer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Knox&rdquo;&mdash;Harley rested his hand upon my arm and looked about him
+      cautiously&mdash;&ldquo;<i>she knows.</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But knows what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is the question which we are here to answer, but I am as sure as it
+      is humanly possible to be sure of anything that whatever Colonel Menendez
+      may tell us to-night, one point at least he will withhold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you expect him to withhold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The meaning of the sign of the Bat Wing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you think he knows its meaning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has told us that it is the death-token of Voodoo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stared at Harley in perplexity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you believe his explanation to be false?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not necessarily, Knox. It may be what he claims for it. But he is keeping
+      something back. He speaks all the time from behind a barrier which he,
+      himself, has deliberately erected against me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot understand why he should do so,&rdquo; I declared, as he looked at me
+      steadily. &ldquo;Within the last few moments I have become definitely convinced
+      that his appeal to you was no idle one. Therefore, why should he not offer
+      you every aid in his power?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, indeed?&rdquo; muttered Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The same thing,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;applies to Madame de Stämer. If ever I
+      have seen love-light in a woman&rsquo;s eyes I have seen it in hers, to-day,
+      whenever her glance has rested upon Colonel Menendez. Harley, I believe
+      she literally worships the ground he walks upon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She does, she does!&rdquo; cried my companion, and emphasized the words with
+      beats of his clenched fist. &ldquo;It is utterly, damnably mystifying. But I
+      tell you, she knows, Knox, she knows!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean she knows that he is a doomed man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley nodded rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They both know,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but there is something which they dare not
+      divulge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced at me swiftly, and his bronzed face wore a peculiar expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you had an opportunity of any private conversation with Miss Val
+      Beverley?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Surely you remember that you found me chatting with her
+      when you returned from your inspection of the tower.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember perfectly well, but I thought you might have just met. Now it
+      appears to me, Knox, that you have quickly established yourself in the
+      good books of a very charming girl. My only reason for visiting the tower
+      was to afford you just this opportunity! Don&rsquo;t frown. Beyond reminding you
+      of the fact that she has been on intimate terms with Madame de Stämer for
+      some years, I will not intrude in any way upon your private plans in that
+      direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stared at him, and I suppose my expression was an angry one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely you don&rsquo;t misunderstand me?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A cultured English girl of
+      that type cannot possibly have lived with these people without learning
+      something of the matters which are puzzling us so badly. Am I asking too
+      much?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see what you mean,&rdquo; I said, slowly. &ldquo;No, I suppose you are right,
+      Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; he muttered. &ldquo;I will leave that side of the enquiry in your very
+      capable hands, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, and began to stare about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From this point,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we have an unobstructed view of the tower.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We turned and stood looking up at the unsightly gray structure, with its
+      geometrical rows of windows and the minaret-like gallery at the top.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course&rdquo;&mdash;I broke a silence of some moments duration&mdash;&ldquo;the
+      entire scheme of Cray&rsquo;s Folly is peculiar, but the rooms, except for a
+      uniformity which is monotonous, and an unimaginative scheme of decoration
+      which makes them all seem alike, are airy and well lighted, eminently sane
+      and substantial. The tower, however, is quite inexcusable, unless the idea
+      was to enable the occupant to look over the tops of the trees in all
+      directions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; agreed Harley, &ldquo;it is an ugly landmark. But yonder up the slope I
+      can see the corner of what seems to be a very picturesque house of some
+      kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I caught a glimpse of it earlier to-day,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Yes, from this
+      point a little more of it is visible. Apparently quite an old place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I paused, staring up the hillside, but Harley, hands locked behind him and
+      chin lowered reflectively, was pacing on. I joined him, and we proceeded
+      for some little distance in silence, passing a gardener who touched his
+      cap respectfully and to whom I thought at first my companion was about to
+      address some remark. Harley passed on, however, still occupied, it seemed,
+      with his reflections, and coming to a gravel path which, bordering one
+      side of the lawns, led down from terrace to terrace into the valley,
+      turned, and began to descend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us go and interview the swans,&rdquo; he murmured absently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. AT THE LAVENDER ARMS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In certain moods Paul Harley was impossible as a companion, and I, who
+      knew him well, had learned to leave him to his own devices at such times.
+      These moods invariably corresponded with his meeting some problem to the
+      heart of which the lance of his keen wit failed to penetrate. His humour
+      might not display itself in the spoken word, he merely became oblivious of
+      everything and everybody around him. People might talk to him and he
+      scarce noted their presence, familiar faces appear and he would see them
+      not. Outwardly he remained the observant Harley who could see further into
+      a mystery than any other in England, but his observation was entirely
+      introspective; although he moved amid the hustle of life he was
+      spiritually alone, communing with the solitude which dwells in every man&rsquo;s
+      heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, then, as we came to the lake at the foot of the sloping lawns,
+      where water lilies were growing and quite a number of swans had their
+      habitation, I detected the fact that I had ceased to exist so far as
+      Harley was concerned. Knowing this mood of old, I pursued my way alone,
+      pressing on across the valley and making for a swing gate which seemed to
+      open upon a public footpath. Coming to this gate I turned and looked back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley was standing where I had left him by the edge of the lake,
+      staring as if hypnotized at the slowly moving swans. But I would have been
+      prepared to wager that he saw neither swans nor lake, but mentally was far
+      from the spot, deep in some complex maze of reflection through which no
+      ordinary mind could hope to follow him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I glanced at my watch and found that it was but little after two o&rsquo;clock.
+      Luncheon at Cray&rsquo;s Folly was early. I therefore had some time upon my
+      hands and I determined to employ it in exploring part of the
+      neighbourhood. Accordingly I filled and lighted my pipe and strolled
+      leisurely along the footpath, enjoying the beauty of the afternoon, and
+      admiring the magnificent timber which grew upon the southerly slopes of
+      the valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Larks sang high above me and the air was fragrant with those wonderful
+      earthy scents which belong to an English countryside. A herd of very fine
+      Jersey cattle presently claimed inspection, and a little farther on I
+      found myself upon a high road where a brown-faced fellow seated aloft upon
+      a hay-cart cheerily gave me good-day as I passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quite at random I turned to the left and followed the road, so that
+      presently I found myself in a very small village, the principal building
+      of which was a very small inn called the &ldquo;Lavender Arms.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s curaçao, combined with the heat of the day, had made me
+      thirsty; for which reason I stepped into the bar-parlour determined to
+      sample the local ale. I wars served by the landlady, a neat, round, red
+      little person, and as she retired, having placed a foam-capped mug upon
+      the counter, her glance rested for a moment upon the only other occupant
+      of the room, a man seated in an armchair immediately to the right of the
+      door. A glass of whisky stood on the window ledge at his elbow, and that
+      it was by no means the first which he had imbibed, his appearance seemed
+      to indicate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having tasted the cool contents of my mug, I leaned back against the
+      counter and looked at this person curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was apparently of about medium height, but of a somewhat fragile
+      appearance. He was dressed like a country gentleman, and a stick and soft
+      hat lay upon the ledge near his glass. But the thing about him which had
+      immediately arrested my attention was his really extraordinary resemblance
+      to Paul Harley&rsquo;s engraving of Edgar Allan Poe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I wondered at first if Harley&rsquo;s frequent references to the eccentric
+      American genius, to whom he accorded a sort of hero-worship, were
+      responsible for my imagining a close resemblance where only a slight one
+      existed. But inspection of that strange, dark face convinced me of the
+      fact that my first impression had been a true one. Perhaps, in my
+      curiosity, I stared rather rudely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will pardon me, sir,&rdquo; said the stranger, and I was startled to note
+      that he spoke with a faint American accent, &ldquo;but are you a literary man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I had judged to be the case, he was slightly bemused, but by no means
+      drunk, and although his question was abrupt it was spoken civilly enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Journalism is one of the several occupations in which I have failed,&rdquo; I
+      replied, lightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not a fiction writer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I lack the imagination necessary for that craft, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The other wagged his head slowly and took a drink of whisky.
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; he said, and raised his finger solemnly, &ldquo;you were
+      thinking that I resembled Edgar Allan Poe!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I exclaimed, for the man had really amazed me. &ldquo;You
+      clearly resemble him in more ways than one. I must really ask you to
+      inform me how you deduced such a fact from a mere glance of mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you, sir,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;But, first, I must replenish my
+      glass, and I should be honoured if you would permit me to replenish
+      yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks very much,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;but I would rather you excused me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As you wish, sir,&rdquo; replied the American with grave courtesy, &ldquo;as you
+      wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stepped up to the counter and rapped upon it with half a crown, until
+      the landlady appeared. She treated me to a pathetic glance, but refilled
+      the empty glass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My American acquaintance having returned to his seat and having added a
+      very little water to the whisky went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;my name is Colin Camber, formerly of Richmond,
+      Virginia, United States of America, but now of the Guest House, Surrey,
+      England, at your service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking my cue from Mr. Camber&rsquo;s gloomy but lofty manner, I bowed formally
+      and mentioned my name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he assured me; &ldquo;and
+      now, sir, to answer your question. When you came in a few moments ago you
+      glanced at me. Your eyes did not open widely as is the case when one
+      recognizes, or thinks one recognizes, an acquaintance, they narrowed. This
+      indicated retrospection. For a moment they turned aside. You were
+      focussing a fugitive idea, a memory. You captured it. You looked at me
+      again, and your successive glances read as follows: The hair worn
+      uncommonly long, the mathematical brow, the eyes of a poet, the slight
+      moustache, small mouth, weak chin; the glass at his elbow. The resemblance
+      is complete. Knowing how complete it is myself, sir, I ventured to test my
+      theory, and it proved to be sound.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, as Mr. Colin Camber had thus spoken in the serious manner of a
+      slightly drunken man, I had formed the opinion that I stood in the
+      presence of a very singular character. Here was that seeming mésalliance
+      which not infrequently begets genius: a powerful and original mind allied
+      to a weak will. I wondered what Mr. Colin Camber&rsquo;s occupation might be,
+      and somewhat, too, I wondered why his name was unfamiliar to me. For that
+      the possessor of that brow and those eyes could fail to make his mark in
+      any profession which he might take up I was unwilling to believe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your exposition has been very interesting, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You are
+      a singularly close observer, I perceive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I have passed my life in observing the ways of my
+      fellowmen, a study which I have pursued in various parts of the world
+      without appreciable benefit to myself. I refer to financial benefit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He contemplated me with a look which had grown suddenly pathetic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would not have you think, sir,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;that I am an habitual toper.
+      I have latterly been much upset by&mdash;domestic worries, and&mdash;er&mdash;&rdquo;
+       He emptied his glass at a draught. &ldquo;Surely, Mr. Knox, you are going to
+      replenish? Whilst you are doing so, would you kindly request Mrs. Wootton
+      to extend the same favour to myself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But at that moment Mrs. Wootton in person appeared behind the counter.
+      &ldquo;Time, please, gentlemen,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it is gone half-past two.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; exclaimed Mr. Camber, rising. &ldquo;What is that? You decline to serve
+      me, Mrs. Wootton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, not at all, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; answered the landlady, &ldquo;but I can serve no
+      one now; it&rsquo;s after time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You decline to serve me,&rdquo; he muttered, his speech becoming slurred. &ldquo;Am
+      I, then, to be insulted?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I caught a glance of entreaty from the landlady. &ldquo;My dear sir,&rdquo; I said,
+      genially, &ldquo;we must bow to the law, I suppose. At least we are better off
+      here than in America.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that is true,&rdquo; agreed Mr. Camber, throwing his head back and speaking
+      the words as though they possessed some deep dramatic significance. &ldquo;Yes,
+      but such laws are an insult to every intelligent man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+He sat down again rather heavily, and I stood looking from him to the
+landlady, and wondering what I should do. The matter was decided for
+me, however, in a way which I could never have foreseen. For, hearing
+a light footfall upon the step which led up to the bar-parlour, I
+turned&mdash;and there almost beside me stood a wrinkled little Chinaman!
+
+ He wore a blue suit and a tweed cap, he wore queer, thick-soled
+slippers, and his face was like a smiling mask hewn out of very old
+ivory. I could scarcely credit the evidence of my senses, since the
+Lavender Arms was one of the last places in which I should have looked
+for a native of China.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Colin Camber rose again, and fixing his melancholy eyes upon the
+      newcomer:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong,&rdquo; he said in a tone of cold anger, &ldquo;what are you doing here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Quite unmoved the Chinaman replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Blingee you chit, sir, vellee soon go back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; demanded Mr. Camber. &ldquo;Answer me, Ah Tsong: who sent
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lilly missee,&rdquo; crooned the Chinaman, smiling up into the other&rsquo;s face
+      with a sort of childish entreaty. &ldquo;Lilly missee.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Mr. Camber in a changed voice. &ldquo;Oh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood very upright for a moment, his gaze set upon the wrinkled Chinese
+      face. Then he looked at Mrs. Wootton and bowed, and looked at me and
+      bowed, very stiffly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must excuse myself, sir,&rdquo; he announced. &ldquo;My wife desires my presence at
+      home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I returned his bow, and as he walked quite steadily toward the door,
+      followed by Ah Tsong, he paused, turned, and said: &ldquo;Mr. Knox, I should
+      esteem it a friendly action if you would spare me an hour of your company
+      before you leave Surrey. My visitors are few. Any one, any one, will
+      direct you to the Guest House. I am persuaded that we have much in common.
+      Good-day, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He went down the steps, disappearing in company with the Chinaman, and
+      having watched them go, I turned to Mrs. Wootton, the landlady, in silent
+      astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded her head and sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The same every day and every evening for months past,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I am
+      afraid it&rsquo;s going to be the death of him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that Mr. Camber comes here every day and is always fetched by
+      the Chinaman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twice every day,&rdquo; corrected the landlady, &ldquo;and his poor wife sends here
+      regularly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a tragedy,&rdquo; I muttered, &ldquo;and such a brilliant man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said she, busily removing jugs and glasses from the counter, &ldquo;it
+      does seem a terrible thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has Mr. Camber lived for long in this neighbourhood?&rdquo; I ventured to
+      inquire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was about three years ago, sir, that he took the old Guest House at
+      Mid-Hatton. I remember the time well enough because of all the trouble
+      there was about him bringing a Chinaman down here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can imagine it must have created something of a sensation,&rdquo; I murmured.
+      &ldquo;Is the Guest House a large property?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no, sir, only ten rooms and a garden, and it had been vacant for a
+      long time. It belongs to what is called the Crayland Park Estate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber, I take it, is a literary man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I believe, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Wootton, having cleared the counter, glanced up at the clock and then
+      at me with a cheery but significant smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that it is after time,&rdquo; I said, returning the smile, &ldquo;but the queer
+      people who seem to live hereabouts interest me very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t wonder at that, sir!&rdquo; said the landlady, laughing outright.
+      &ldquo;Chinamen and Spanish men and what-not. If some of the old gentry that
+      lived here before the war could see it, they wouldn&rsquo;t recognize the place,
+      of that I am sure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well,&rdquo; said I, pausing at the step, &ldquo;I shall hope to see more of Mr.
+      Camber, and of yourself too, madam, for your ale is excellent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, sir, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; said the landlady much gratified, &ldquo;but as to
+      Mr. Camber, I really doubt if he would know you if you met him again. Not
+      if he was sober, I mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s a fact, believe me. Just in the last six months or so he has
+      started on the rampage like, but some of the people he has met in here and
+      asked to call upon him have done it, thinking he meant it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And they have not been well received?&rdquo; said I, lingering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have had the door shut in their faces!&rdquo; declared Mrs. Wootton with a
+      certain indignation. &ldquo;He either does not remember what he says or does
+      when he is in drink, or he pretends he doesn&rsquo;t. Oh, dear, it&rsquo;s a funny
+      world. Well, good-day, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-day,&rdquo; said I, and came out of the Lavender Arms full of sympathy
+      with the views of the &ldquo;old gentry,&rdquo; as outlined by Mrs. Wootton; for
+      certainly it would seem that this quiet spot in the Surrey Hills had
+      become a rallying ground for peculiar people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. THE CALL OF M&rsquo;KOMBO
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Of tea upon the veranda of Cray&rsquo;s Folly that afternoon I retain several
+      notable memories. I got into closer touch with my host and hostess,
+      without achieving anything like a proper understanding of either of them,
+      and I procured a new viewpoint of Miss Val Beverley. Her repose was
+      misleading. She deliberately subjugated her own vital personality to that
+      of Madame de Stämer, why, I knew not, unless she felt herself under an
+      obligation to do so. That her blue-gray eyes could be wistful was true
+      enough, they could also be gay; and once I detected in them a look of
+      sadness which dispelled the butterfly illusion belonging to her dainty
+      slenderness, to her mobile lips, to the vagabond curling hair of russet
+      brown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s manner remained absent, but I who knew his moods so well
+      recognized that this abstraction was no longer real. It was a pose which
+      he often adopted when in reality he was keenly interested in his
+      surroundings. It baffled me, however, as effectively as it baffled others,
+      and whilst at one moment I decided that he was studying Colonel Menendez,
+      in the next I became convinced that Madame de Stämer was the subject upon
+      his mental dissecting table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That he should find in Madame a fascinating problem did not surprise me.
+      She must have afforded tempting study for any psychologist. I could not
+      fathom the nature of the kinship existing between herself and the Spanish
+      colonel, for Madame de Stämer was French to her fingertips. Her
+      expressions, her gestures, her whole outlook on life proclaimed the
+      fashionable Parisienne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She possessed a vigorous masculine intelligence and was the most
+      entertaining companion imaginable. She was daringly outspoken, and it was
+      hard to believe that her gaiety was forced. Yet, as the afternoon wore on,
+      I became more and more convinced that such was the case.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought that before affliction visited her Madame de Stämer must have
+      been a vivacious and a beautiful woman. Her vivacity remained and much of
+      her beauty, so that it was difficult to believe her snow-white hair to be
+      a product of nature. Again and again I found myself regarding it as a
+      powdered coiffure of the Pompadour period and wondering why Madame wore no
+      patches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That a deep and sympathetic understanding existed between herself and
+      Colonel Menendez was unmistakable. More than once I intercepted glances
+      from the dark eyes of Madame which were lover-like, yet laden with a
+      profound sorrow. She was playing a rôle, and I was convinced that Harley
+      knew this. It was not merely a courageous fight against affliction on the
+      part of a woman of the world, versed in masking her real self from the
+      prying eyes of society, it was a studied performance prompted by some
+      deeper motive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She dressed with exquisite taste, and to see her seated there amid her
+      cushions, gesticulating vivaciously, one would never have supposed that
+      she was crippled. My admiration for her momentarily increased, the more so
+      since I could see that she was sincerely fond of Val Beverley, whose every
+      movement she followed with looks of almost motherly affection. This was
+      all the more strange as Madame de Stämer whose age, I supposed, lay
+      somewhere on the sunny side of forty, was of a type which expects, and
+      wins, admiration, long after the average woman has ceased to be
+      attractive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One endowed with such a temperament is as a rule unreasonably jealous of
+      youth and good looks in another. I could not determine if Madame&rsquo;s
+      attitude were to be ascribed to complacent self-satisfaction or to a
+      nobler motive. It sufficed for me that she took an unfeigned joy in the
+      youthful sweetness of her companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Val, dear,&rdquo; she said, presently, addressing the girl, &ldquo;you should make
+      those sleeves shorter, my dear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had a rapid way of speaking, and possessed a slightly husky but
+      fascinatingly vibrant voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your arms are very pretty. You should not hide them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley blushed, and laughed to conceal her embarrassment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my dear,&rdquo; exclaimed Madame, &ldquo;why be ashamed of arms? All women have
+      arms, but some do well to hide them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right, Marie,&rdquo; agreed the Colonel, his thin voice affording an odd
+      contrast to the deeper tones of his cousin. &ldquo;But it is the scraggy ones
+      who seem to delight in displaying their angles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The English, yes,&rdquo; Madame admitted, &ldquo;but the French, no. They are too
+      clever, Juan.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frenchwomen think too much about their looks,&rdquo; said Val Beverley,
+      quietly. &ldquo;Oh, you know they do, Madame. They would rather die than be
+      without admiration.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So would I, my dear,&rdquo; she confessed, &ldquo;although I cannot walk. Without
+      admiration there is&rdquo;&mdash;she snapped her fingers&mdash;&ldquo;nothing. And who
+      would notice a linnet when a bird of paradise was about, however sweet her
+      voice? Tell me that, my dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley aroused himself and laughed heartily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I think with Miss Beverley, that this love of elegance
+      does not always make for happiness. Surely it is the cause of half the
+      domestic tragedies in France?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, the French love elegance,&rdquo; cried Madame, shrugging, &ldquo;they cannot help
+      it. To secure what is elegant a Frenchwoman will sometimes forget her
+      husband, yes, but never forget herself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Marie,&rdquo; protested the Colonel, &ldquo;you say most strange things!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that so, Juan?&rdquo; she replied, casting one of her queer glances in his
+      direction; &ldquo;but how would you like to be surrounded by a lot of drabs, eh?
+      That man, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she extended one white hand in the direction of
+      Colonel Menendez, the fingers half closed, in a gesture which curiously
+      reminded me of Sarah Bernhardt, &ldquo;that man would notice if a parlourmaid
+      came into the room with a shoe unbuttoned. Poof! if we love elegance it is
+      because without it the men would never love <i>us</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez bent across the table and kissed the white fingers in his
+      courtier-like fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My sweet cousin,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I should love you in rags.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame smiled and flushed like a girl, but withdrawing her hand she
+      shrugged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They would have to be <i>pretty</i> rags!&rdquo; she added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this little scene I detected Val Beverley looking at me in a
+      vaguely troubled way, and it was easy to guess that she was wondering what
+      construction I should place upon it. However:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going into the town,&rdquo; declared Madame de Stämer, energetically.
+      &ldquo;Half the things ordered from Hartley&rsquo;s have never been sent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame, please let <i>me</i> go,&rdquo; cried Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; pronounced Madame, &ldquo;I will not let you go, but I will let you
+      come with me if you wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She rang a little bell which stood upon the tea-table beside the urn, and
+      Pedro came out through the drawing room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pedro,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;is the car ready?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spanish butler bowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell Carter to bring it round. Hurry, dear,&rdquo; to the girl, &ldquo;if you are
+      coming with me. I shall not be a minute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereupon she whisked her mechanical chair about, waved her hand to
+      dismiss Pedro, and went steering through the drawing room at a great rate,
+      with Val Beverley walking beside her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we resumed our seats Colonel Menendez lay back with half-closed eyes,
+      his glance following the chair and its occupant until both were swallowed
+      up in the shadows of the big drawing room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer is a very remarkable woman,&rdquo; said Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remarkable?&rdquo; replied the Colonel. &ldquo;The spirit of all the old chivalry of
+      France is imprisoned within her, I think.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He passed cigarettes around, of a long kind resembling cheroots and
+      wrapped in tobacco leaf. I thought it strange that having thus emphasized
+      Madame&rsquo;s nationality he did not feel it incumbent upon him to explain the
+      mystery of their kinship. However, he made no attempt to do so, and almost
+      before we had lighted up, a racy little two-seater was driven around the
+      gravel path by Carter, the chauffeur who had brought us to Cray&rsquo;s Folly
+      from London.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man descended and began to arrange wraps and cushions, and a few
+      moments later back came Madame again, dressed for driving. Carter was
+      about to lift her into the car when Colonel Menendez stood up and
+      advanced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Juan, sit down!&rdquo; said Madame, sharply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A look of keen anxiety, I had almost said of pain, leapt into her eyes,
+      and the Colonel hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How often must I tell you,&rdquo; continued the throbbing voice, &ldquo;that you must
+      not exert yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez accepted the rebuke humbly, but the incident struck me as
+      grotesque; for it was difficult to associate delicacy with such a fine
+      specimen of well-preserved manhood as the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, Carter performed the duty of assisting Madame into her little
+      car, and when for a moment he supported her upright, before placing her
+      among the cushions, I noted that she was a tall woman, slender and
+      elegant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All smiles and light, sparkling conversation, she settled herself
+      comfortably at the wheel and Val Beverley got in beside her. Madame nodded
+      to Carter in dismissal, waved her hand to Colonel Menendez, cried &ldquo;Au
+      revoir!&rdquo; and then away went the little car, swinging around the angle of
+      the house and out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our host stood bare-headed upon the veranda listening to the sound of the
+      engine dying away among the trees. He seemed to be lost in reflection from
+      which he only aroused himself when the purr of the motor became inaudible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, and suppressed a sigh, &ldquo;we have much to
+      talk about. This spot is cool, but is it sufficiently private? Perhaps,
+      Mr. Harley, you would prefer to talk in the library?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley flicked ash from the end of his cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Better still in your own study, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, do you suspect eavesdroppers?&rdquo; asked the Colonel, his manner
+      becoming momentarily agitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at Harley as though he suspected the latter of possessing
+      private information.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We should neglect no possible precaution,&rdquo; answered my friend. &ldquo;That
+      agencies inimical to your safety are focussed upon the house your own
+      statement amply demonstrates.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez seemed to be on the point of speaking again, but he
+      checked himself and in silence led the way through the ornate library to a
+      smaller room which opened out of it, and which was furnished as a study.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the motif was distinctly one of officialdom. Although the Southern
+      element was not lacking, it was not so marked as in the library or in the
+      hall. The place was appointed for utility rather than ornament. Everything
+      was in perfect order. In the library, with the blinds drawn, one might
+      have supposed oneself in Trinidad; in the study, under similar conditions,
+      one might equally well have imagined Downing Street to lie outside the
+      windows. Essentially, this was the workroom of a man of affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having settled ourselves comfortably, Paul Harley opened the conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In several particulars,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I find my information to be
+      incomplete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He consulted the back of an envelope, upon which, I presumed during the
+      afternoon, he had made a number of pencilled notes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For instance,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;your detection of someone watching the
+      house, and subsequently of someone forcing an entrance, had no visible
+      association with the presence of the bat wing attached to your front
+      door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the Colonel, slowly, &ldquo;these episodes took place a month
+      ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly a month ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They took place immediately before the last full moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, before the full moon. And because you associate the activities of
+      Voodoo with the full moon, you believe that the old menace has again
+      become active?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel nodded emphatically. He was busily engaged in rolling one of
+      his eternal cigarettes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This belief of yours was recently confirmed by the discovery of the bat
+      wing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I no longer doubted,&rdquo; said Colonel Menendez, shrugging his shoulders.
+      &ldquo;How could I?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so,&rdquo; murmured Harley, absently, and evidently pursuing some private
+      train of thought. &ldquo;And now, I take it that your suspicions, if expressed
+      in words would amount to this: During your last visit to Cuba you (<i>a</i>)
+      either killed some high priest of Voodoo, or (<i>b</i>) seriously injured
+      him? Assuming the first theory to be the correct one, your death was
+      determined upon by the sect over which he had formerly presided. Assuming
+      the second to be accurate, however, it is presumably the man himself for
+      whom we must look. Now, Colonel Menendez, kindly inform me if you recall
+      the name of this man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I recall it very well,&rdquo; replied the Colonel. &ldquo;His name was M&rsquo;kombo, and
+      he was a Benin negro.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Assuming that he is still alive, what, roughly, would his age be to-day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel seemed to meditate, pushing a box of long Martinique cigars
+      across the table in my direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He would be an old man,&rdquo; he pronounced. &ldquo;I, myself, am fifty-two, and I
+      should say that M&rsquo;kombo if alive to-day would be nearer to seventy than
+      sixty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; murmured Harley, &ldquo;and did he speak English?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A few words, I believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley fixed his gaze upon the dark, aquiline face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In short,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;do you really suspect that it was M&rsquo;kombo whose
+      shadow you saw upon the lawn, who a month ago made a midnight entrance
+      into Cray&rsquo;s Folly, and who recently pinned a bat wing to the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez seemed somewhat taken aback by this direct question. &ldquo;I
+      cannot believe it,&rdquo; he confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you believe that this order or religion of Voodooism has any existence
+      outside those places where African negroes or descendents of negroes are
+      settled?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should not have been prepared to believe it, Mr. Harley, prior to my
+      experiences in Washington and elsewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you do believe that there are representatives of this cult to be met
+      with in Europe and America?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should have been prepared to believe it possible in America, for in
+      America there are many negroes, but in England&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would remind you,&rdquo; said Harley, quietly, &ldquo;that there are also quite a
+      number of negroes in England. If you seriously believe Voodoo to follow
+      negro migration, I can see no objection to assuming it to be a universal
+      cult.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such an idea is incredible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet by what other hypothesis,&rdquo; asked Harley, &ldquo;are we to cover the facts
+      of your own case as stated by yourself? Now,&rdquo; he consulted his pencilled
+      notes, &ldquo;there is another point. I gather that these African sorcerers rely
+      largely upon what I may term intimidation. In other words, they claim the
+      power of wishing an enemy to death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his eyes and stared grimly at the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should not like to suppose that a man of your courage and culture could
+      subscribe to such a belief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not, sir,&rdquo; declared the Colonel, warmly. &ldquo;No Obeah man could ever
+      exercise his will upon <i>me!</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet, if I may say so,&rdquo; murmured Harley, &ldquo;your will to live seems to have
+      become somewhat weakened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez stood up, his delicate nostrils dilated. He glared
+      angrily at Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that I perceive a certain resignation in your manner of which I do
+      not approve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not <i>approve?</i>&rdquo; said Colonel Menendez, softly; and I thought
+      as he stood looking down upon my friend that I had rarely seen a more
+      formidable figure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley had roused him unaccountably, and knowing my friend for a
+      master of tact I knew also that this had been deliberate, although I could
+      not even dimly perceive his object.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I occupy the position of a specialist,&rdquo; Harley continued, &ldquo;and you occupy
+      that of my patient. Now, you cannot disguise from me that your mental
+      opposition to this danger which threatens has become slackened. Allow me
+      to remind you that the strongest defence is counter-attack. You are angry,
+      Colonel Menendez, but I would rather see you angry than apathetic. To come
+      to my last point. You spoke of a neighbour in terms which led me to
+      suppose that you suspected him of some association with your enemies. May
+      I ask for the name of this person?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez sat down again, puffing furiously at his cigarette,
+      whilst beginning to roll another. He was much disturbed, was fighting to
+      regain mastery of himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I apologize from the bottom of my heart,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;for a breach of good
+      behaviour which really was unforgivable. I was angry when I should have
+      been grateful. Much that you have said is true. Because it is true, I
+      despise myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He flashed a glance at Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Awake,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;I care for no man breathing, black or white; but
+      <i>asleep</i>&rdquo;&mdash;he shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;It is in sleep that these
+      dealers in unclean things obtain their advantage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You excite my curiosity,&rdquo; declared Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; Colonel Menendez bent forward, resting his elbows upon his
+      knees. Between the yellow fingers of his left hand he held the newly
+      completed cigarette whilst he continued to puff vigorously at the old one.
+      &ldquo;You recollect my speaking of the death of a certain native girl?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The real cause of her death was never known, but I obtained evidence to
+      show that on the night after the wing of a bat had been attached to her
+      hut, she wandered out in her sleep and visited the Black Belt. Can you
+      doubt that someone was calling her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Calling her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley, she was obeying the call of M&rsquo;kombo!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The <i>call</i> of M&rsquo;kombo? You refer to some kind of hypnotic
+      suggestions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I illustrate,&rdquo; replied the Colonel, &ldquo;to help to make clear something
+      which I have to tell you. On the night when last the moon was full&mdash;on
+      the night after someone had entered the house&mdash;I had retired early to
+      bed. Suddenly I awoke, feeling very cold. I awoke, I say, and where do you
+      suppose I found myself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all anxiety to hear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the point of entering the Tudor garden&mdash;you call it Tudor garden?&mdash;which
+      is visible from the window of your room!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most extraordinary,&rdquo; murmured Harley; &ldquo;and you were in your night
+      attire?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what had awakened you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An accident. I believe a lucky accident. I had cut my bare foot upon the
+      gravel and the pain awakened me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had no recollection of any dream which had prompted you to go down
+      into the garden?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None whatever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does your room face in that direction?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It does not. It faces the lake on the south of the house. I had descended
+      to a side door, unbarred it, and walked entirely around the east wing
+      before I awakened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your room faces the lake,&rdquo; murmured Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Their glances met, and in Paul Harley&rsquo;s expression there seemed to be a
+      challenge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have not yet told me,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;the name of your neighbour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez lighted his new cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he confessed, &ldquo;I regret that I ever referred to this
+      suspicion of mine. Indeed it is hardly a suspicion, it is what I may call
+      a desperate doubt. Do you say that, a desperate doubt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I follow you,&rdquo; said Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fact is this, I only know of one person within ten miles of Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly who has ever visited Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no other scrap of evidence to associate him I with my shadowy
+      enemy. This being so, you will pardon me if I ask you to forget that I
+      ever referred to his existence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke the words with a sort of lofty finality, and accompanied them
+      with a gesture of the hands which really left Harley no alternative but to
+      drop the subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again their glances met, and it was patent to me that underlying all this
+      conversation was something beyond my ken. What it was that Harley
+      suspected I could not imagine, nor what it was that Colonel Menendez
+      desired to conceal; but tension was in the very air. The Spaniard was on
+      the defensive, and Paul Harley was puzzled, irritated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a strange interview, and one which in the light of after events I
+      recognized to possess extraordinary significance. That sixth sense of
+      Harley&rsquo;s was awake, was prompting him, but to what extent he understood
+      its promptings at that hour I did not know, and have never known to this
+      day. Intuitively, I believe, as he sat there staring at Colonel Menendez,
+      he began to perceive the shadow within a shadow which was the secret of
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly, which was the thing called Bat Wing, which was the devilish
+      force at that very hour alive and potent in our midst.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. OBEAH
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This conversation in Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s study produced a very unpleasant
+      impression upon my mind. The atmosphere of Cray&rsquo;s Folly seemed to become
+      charged with unrest. Of Madame de Stämer and Miss Beverley I saw nothing
+      up to the time that I retired to dress. Having dressed I walked into
+      Harley&rsquo;s room, anxious to learn if he had formed any theory to account for
+      the singular business which had brought us to Surrey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley had excused himself directly we had left the study, stating that he
+      wished to get to the village post-office in time to send a telegram to
+      London. Our host had suggested a messenger, but this, as well as the offer
+      of a car, Harley had declined, saying that the exercise would aid
+      reflection. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find his room empty, for I
+      could not imagine why the sending of a telegram should have detained him
+      so long.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dusk was falling, and viewed from the open window the Tudor garden below
+      looked very beautiful, part of it lying in a sort of purplish shadow and
+      the rest being mystically lighted as though viewed through a golden veil.
+      To the whole picture a sort of magic quality was added by a speck of
+      high-light which rested upon the face of the old sun-dial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought that here was a fit illustration for a fairy tale; then I
+      remembered the Colonel&rsquo;s account of how he had awakened in the act of
+      entering this romantic plaisance, and I was touched anew by an
+      unrestfulness, by a sense of the uncanny.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I observed a book lying upon the dressing table, and concluding that it
+      was one which Harley had brought with him, I took it up, glancing at the
+      title. It was &ldquo;Negro Magic,&rdquo; and switching on the light, for there was a
+      private electric plant in Cray&rsquo;s Folly, I opened the book at random and
+      began to read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The religion of the negro,&rdquo; said this authority, &ldquo;is emotional, and more
+      often than not associated with beliefs in witchcraft and in the rites
+      known as Voodoo or Obi Mysteries. It has been endeavoured by some students
+      to show that these are relics of the Fetish worship of equatorial Africa,
+      but such a genealogy has never been satisfactorily demonstrated. The
+      cannibalistic rituals, human sacrifices, and obscene ceremonies resembling
+      those of the Black Sabbath of the Middle Ages, reported to prevail in
+      Haiti and other of the islands, and by some among the negroes of the
+      Southern States of America, may be said to rest on doubtful authority.
+      Nevertheless, it is a fact beyond doubt that among the negroes both of the
+      West Indies and the United States there is a widespread belief in the
+      powers of the Obeah man. A native who believes himself to have come under
+      the spell of such a sorcerer will sink into a kind of decline and
+      sometimes die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this point I discovered several paragraphs underlined in pencil, and
+      concluding that the underlining had been done by Paul Harley, I read them
+      with particular care. They were as follows: &ldquo;According to Hesketh J. Bell,
+      the term Obeah is most probably derived from the substantive Obi, a word
+      used on the East coast of Africa to denote witchcraft, sorcery, and
+      fetishism in general. The etymology of Obi has been traced to a very
+      antique source, stretching far back into Egyptian mythology. A serpent in
+      the Egyptian language was called Ob or Aub. Obion is still the Egyptian
+      name for a serpent. Moses, in the name of God, forbade the Israelites ever
+      to enquire of the demon, Ob, which is translated in our Bible: Charmer or
+      wizard, divinator or sorcerer. The Witch of Endor is called Oub or Ob,
+      translated Pythonissa; and Oubois was the name of the basilisk or royal
+      serpent, emblem of the Sun and an ancient oracular deity of Africa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A paragraph followed which was doubly underlined, and pursuing my reading
+      I made a discovery which literally caused me to hold my breath. This is
+      what I read:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a recent contribution to the <i>Occult Review</i>, Mr. Colin Camber,
+      the American authority, offered some very curious particulars in support
+      of a theory to show that whereas snakes and scorpions have always been
+      recognized as sacred by Voodoo worshippers, the real emblem of their
+      unclean religion is the bat, especially <i>the Vampire Bat of South
+      America.</i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He pointed out that the symptoms of one dying beneath the spell of an
+      Obeah man are closely paralleled in the cases of men and animals who have
+      suffered from nocturnal attacks of blood-sucking bats.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I laid the open book down upon the bed. My brain was in a tumult. The
+      several theories, or outlines of theories which hitherto I had
+      entertained, were, by these simple paragraphs, cast into the utmost
+      disorder. I thought of the Colonel&rsquo;s covert references to a neighbour whom
+      he feared, of his guarded statement that the devotees of Voodoo were not
+      confined to the West Indies, of the attack upon him in Washington, of the
+      bat wing pinned to the door of Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Incredulously, I thought of my acquaintance of the Lavender Arms, with his
+      bemused expression and his magnificent brow; and a great doubt and wonder
+      grew up in my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I became increasingly impatient for the return of Paul Harley. I felt that
+      a clue of the first importance had fallen into my possession; so that
+      when, presently, as I walked impatiently up and down the room, the door
+      opened and Harley entered, I greeted him excitedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley!&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;Harley! I have learned a most extraordinary thing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Even as I spoke and looked into the keen, eager face, the expression in
+      Harley&rsquo;s eyes struck me. I recognized that in him, too, intense excitement
+      was pent up. Furthermore, he was in one of his irritable moods. But, full
+      of my own discoveries:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I chanced to glance at this book,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;whilst I was waiting for
+      you. You have underlined certain passages.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared at me queerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I discovered the book in my own library after you had gone last night,
+      Knox, and it was then that I marked the passages which struck me as
+      significant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Harley,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;the man who is quoted here, Colin Camber, lives
+      in this very neighbourhood!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! You know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I learned it from Inspector Aylesbury of the County Police half an hour
+      ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley frowned perplexedly. &ldquo;Then, why, in Heaven&rsquo;s name didn&rsquo;t you tell
+      me?&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;It would have saved me a most disagreeable journey
+      into Market Hilton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Market Hilton! What, have you been into the town?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is exactly where I have been, Knox. I &lsquo;phoned through to Innes from
+      the village post-office after lunch to have the car sent down. There is a
+      convenient garage by the Lavender Arms.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the Colonel has three cars,&rdquo; I exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The horse has four legs,&rdquo; replied Harley, irritably, &ldquo;but although I have
+      only two, there are times when I prefer to use them. I am still wondering
+      why you failed to mention this piece of information when you had obtained
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Harley,&rdquo; said I, patiently, &ldquo;how could I possibly be expected to
+      attach any importance to the matter? You must remember that at the time I
+      had never seen this work on negro sorcery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Harley, dropping down upon the bed, &ldquo;that is perfectly true,
+      Knox. I am afraid I have a liver at times; a distinct Indian liver. Excuse
+      me, old man, but to tell you the truth I feel strangely inclined to pack
+      my bag and leave for London without a moment&rsquo;s delay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I know you would be sorry to go, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley, smiling, &ldquo;and
+      so, for many reasons, should I. But I have the strongest possible
+      objection to being trifled with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid I don&rsquo;t quite understand you, Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, just consider the matter for a moment. Do you suppose that Colonel
+      Menendez is ignorant of the fact that his nearest neighbour is a
+      recognized authority upon Voodoo and allied subjects?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are speaking, of course, of Colin Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of none other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, thoughtfully, &ldquo;the Colonel must know, of course, that
+      Camber resides in the neighbourhood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that he knows something of the nature of Camber&rsquo;s studies his remarks
+      sufficiently indicate,&rdquo; added Harley. &ldquo;The whole theory to account for
+      these attacks upon his life rests on the premise that agents of these
+      Obeah people are established in England and America. Then, in spite of my
+      direct questions, he leaves me to find out for myself that Colin Camber&rsquo;s
+      property practically adjoins his own!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really! Does he reside so near as that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; cried Harley, &ldquo;he lives at a place called the Guest
+      House. You can see it from part of the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly. We were
+      looking at it to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! the house on the hillside?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the Guest House! What do you make of it, Knox? That Menendez
+      suspects this man is beyond doubt. Why should he hesitate to mention his
+      name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; I replied, slowly, &ldquo;probably because to associate practical
+      sorcery and assassination with such a character would be preposterous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the man is admittedly a student of these things, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He may be, and that he is a genius of some kind I am quite prepared to
+      believe. But having had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Colin Camber, I am not
+      prepared to believe him capable of murder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I suppose I spoke with a certain air of triumph, for Paul Harley regarded
+      me silently for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to be taking this case out of my hands, Knox,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whilst
+      I have been systematically at work racing about the county in quest of
+      information you would appear to have blundered further into the labyrinth
+      than all my industry has enabled me to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He remained in a very evil humour, and now the cause of this suddenly came
+      to light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have spent a thoroughly unpleasant afternoon,&rdquo; he continued,
+      &ldquo;interviewing an impossible country policeman who had never heard of my
+      existence!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This display of human resentment honestly delighted me. It was refreshing
+      to know that the omniscient Paul Harley was capable of pique.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; he went on, bitterly, &ldquo;a large person bearing
+      a really interesting resemblance to a walrus, but lacking that creature&rsquo;s
+      intelligence. It was not until Superintendent East had spoken to him from
+      Scotland Yard that he ceased to treat me as a suspect. But his new
+      attitude was almost more provoking than the old one. He adopted the manner
+      of a regimental sergeant-major reluctantly interviewing a private with a
+      grievance. If matters should so develop that we are compelled to deal with
+      that fish-faced idiot, God help us all!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He burst out laughing, his good humour suddenly quite restored, and taking
+      out his pipe began industriously to load it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can smoke while I am changing,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and you can sit there and
+      tell me all about Colin Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I did as he requested, and Harley, who could change quicker than any man I
+      had ever known, had just finished tying his bow as I completed my story of
+      the encounter at the Lavender Arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; he muttered, as I ceased speaking. &ldquo;At every turn I realize that
+      without you I should have been lost, Knox. I am afraid I shall have to
+      change your duties to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Change my duties? What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I warn you that the new ones will be less pleasant than the old! In other
+      words, I must ask you to tear yourself away from Miss Val Beverley for an
+      hour in the morning, and take advantage of Mr. Camber&rsquo;s invitation to call
+      upon him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frankly, I doubt if he would acknowledge me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless, you have a better excuse than I. In the circumstances it is
+      most important that we should get in touch with this man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; I said, ruefully. &ldquo;I will do my best. But you don&rsquo;t seriously
+      think, Harley, that the danger comes from there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley took his dinner jacket from the chair upon which the man had
+      laid it out, and turned to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you may remember that I spoke, recently, of
+      retiring from this profession?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My retirement will not be voluntary, Knox. I shall be kicked out as an
+      incompetent ass; for, respecting the connection, if any, between the
+      narrative of Colonel Menendez, the bat wing nailed to the door of the
+      house, and Mr. Colin Camber, I have not the foggiest notion. In this, at
+      last, I have triumphed over Auguste Dupin. Auguste Dupin never confessed
+      defeat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. THE NIGHT WALKER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      If luncheon had seemed extravagant, dinner at Cray&rsquo;s Folly proved to be a
+      veritable Roman banquet. To associate ideas of selfishness with Miss
+      Beverley was hateful, but the more I learned of the luxurious life of this
+      queer household hidden away in the Surrey Hills the less I wondered at any
+      one&rsquo;s consenting to share such exile. I had hitherto counted an American
+      freak dinner, organized by a lucky plunger and held at the Café de Paris,
+      as the last word in extravagant feasting. But I learned now that what was
+      caviare in Monte Carlo was ordinary fare at Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez was an epicure with an endless purse. The excellence of
+      one of the courses upon which I had commented led to a curious incident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You approve of the efforts of my chef?&rdquo; said the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is worthy of his employer,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez bowed in his cavalierly fashion and Madame de Stämer
+      positively beamed upon me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall speak for him,&rdquo; said the Spaniard. &ldquo;He was with me in Cuba, but
+      has no reputation in London. There are hotels that would snap him up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked at the speaker in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely he is not leaving you?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel exhibited a momentary embarrassment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no. No, no,&rdquo; he replied, waving his hand gracefully, &ldquo;I was only
+      thinking that he&mdash;&rdquo; there was a scarcely perceptible pause&mdash;&ldquo;might
+      wish to better himself. You understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I understood only too well; and recollecting the words spoken by Paul
+      Harley that afternoon, respecting the Colonel&rsquo;s will to live, I became
+      conscious of an uncomfortable sense of chill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If I had doubted that in so speaking he had been contemplating his own
+      death, the behaviour of Madame de Stämer must have convinced me. Her
+      complexion was slightly but cleverly made up, with all the exquisite art
+      of the Parisienne, but even through the artificial bloom I saw her cheeks
+      blanch. Her face grew haggard and her eyes burned unnaturally. She turned
+      quickly aside to address Paul Harley, but I knew that the significance of
+      this slight episode had not escaped him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was by no means at ease. In the first place, he was badly puzzled; in
+      the second place, he was angry. He felt it incumbent upon him to save this
+      man from a menace which he, Paul Harley, evidently recognized to be real,
+      although to me it appeared wildly chimerical, and the very person upon
+      whose active coöperation he naturally counted not only seemed resigned to
+      his fate, but by deliberate omission of important data added to Harley&rsquo;s
+      difficulties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How much of this secret drama proceeding in Cray&rsquo;s Folly was appreciated
+      by Val Beverley I could not determine. On this occasion, I remember, she
+      was simply but perfectly dressed and, in my eyes, seemed the most sweetly
+      desirable woman I had ever known. Realizing that I had already revealed my
+      interest in the girl, I was oddly self-conscious, and a hundred times
+      during the progress of dinner I glanced across at Harley, expecting to
+      detect his quizzical smile. He was very stern, however, and seemed more
+      reserved than usual. He was uncertain of his ground, I could see. He
+      resented the understanding which evidently existed between Colonel
+      Menendez and Madame de Stämer, and to which, although his aid had been
+      sought, he was not admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to me, personally, that an almost palpable shadow lay upon the
+      room. Although, save for this one lapse, our host throughout talked gaily
+      and entertainingly, I was obsessed by a memory of the expression which I
+      had detected upon his face that morning, the expression of a doomed man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What, in Heaven&rsquo;s name, I asked myself, did it all mean? If ever I saw the
+      fighting spirit looking out of any man&rsquo;s eyes, it looked out of the eyes
+      of Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez. Why, then, did he lie down to the menace
+      of this mysterious Bat Wing, and if he counted opposition futile, why had
+      he summoned Paul Harley to Cray&rsquo;s Folly?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the passing of every moment I sympathized more fully with the
+      perplexity of my friend, and no longer wondered that even his highly
+      specialized faculties had failed to detect an explanation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Remembering Colin Camber as I had seen him at the Lavender Arms, it was
+      simply impossible to suppose that such a man as Menendez could fear such a
+      man as Camber. True, I had seen the latter at a disadvantage, and I knew
+      well enough that many a genius has been also a drunkard. But although I
+      was prepared to find that Colin Camber possessed genius, I found it hard
+      to believe that this was of a criminal type. That such a character could
+      be the representative of some remote negro society was an idea too
+      grotesque to be entertained for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was tempted to believe that his presence in the neighbourhood of this
+      haunted Cuban was one of those strange coincidences which in criminal
+      history have sometimes proved so tragic for their victims.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer, avoiding the Colonel&rsquo;s glances, which were pathetically
+      apologetic, gradually recovered herself, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; she said to Val Beverley, &ldquo;you look perfectly sweet to-night.
+      Don&rsquo;t you think she looks perfectly sweet, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ignoring a look of entreaty from the blue-gray eyes:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; cried the girl, &ldquo;why do you encourage her? She says
+      embarrassing things like that every time I put on a new dress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her reference to a new dress set me speculating again upon the apparent
+      anomaly of her presence at Cray&rsquo;s Folly. That she was not a professional
+      &ldquo;companion&rdquo; was clear enough. I assumed that her father had left her
+      suitably provided for, since she wore such expensively simple gowns. She
+      had a delightful trick of blushing when attention was focussed upon her,
+      and said Madame de Stämer:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be able to blush like that I would give my string of pearls&mdash;no,
+      half of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Marie,&rdquo; declared Colonel Menendez, &ldquo;I have seen you blush
+      perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; Madame disclaimed the suggestion with one of those Bernhardt
+      gestures, &ldquo;I blushed my last blush when my second husband introduced me to
+      my first husband&rsquo;s wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame!&rdquo; exclaimed Val Beverley, &ldquo;how can you say such things?&rdquo; She
+      turned to me. &ldquo;Really, Mr. Knox, they are all fables.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In fables we renew our youth,&rdquo; said Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; sighed Colonel Menendez; &ldquo;our youth, our youth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why sigh, Juan, why regret?&rdquo; cried Madame, immediately. &ldquo;Old age is only
+      tragic to those who have never been young.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She directed a glance toward him as she spoke those words, and as I had
+      felt when I had seen his tragic face on the veranda that morning I felt
+      again in detecting this look of Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s. The yearning yet
+      selfless love which it expressed was not for my eyes to witness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God, Marie,&rdquo; replied the Colonel, and gallantly kissed his hand to
+      her, &ldquo;we have both been young, gloriously young.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When, at the termination of this truly historic dinner, the ladies left
+      us:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember, Juan,&rdquo; said Madame, raising her white, jewelled hand, and
+      holding the fingers characteristically curled, &ldquo;no excitement, no
+      billiards, no cards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez bowed deeply, as the invalid wheeled herself from the
+      room, followed by Miss Beverley. My heart was beating delightfully, for in
+      the moment of departure the latter had favoured me with a significant
+      glance, which seemed to say, &ldquo;I am looking forward to a chat with you
+      presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said Colonel Menendez, when we three men found ourselves alone,
+      &ldquo;truly I am blessed in the autumn of my life with such charming
+      companionship. Beauty and wit, youth and discretion. Is he not a happy man
+      who possesses all these?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He should be,&rdquo; said Harley, gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The saturnine Pedro entered with some wonderful crusted port, and Colonel
+      Menendez offered cigars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe you are a pipe-smoker,&rdquo; said our courteous host to Harley, &ldquo;and
+      if this is so, I know that you will prefer your favourite mixture to any
+      cigar that ever was rolled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Many thanks,&rdquo; said Harley, to whom no more delicate compliment could have
+      been paid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was indeed an inveterate pipe-smoker, and only rarely did he truly
+      enjoy a cigar, however choice its pedigree. With a sigh of content he
+      began to fill his briar. His mood was more restful, and covertly I watched
+      him studying our host. The night remained very warm and one of the two
+      windows of the dining room, which was the most homely apartment in Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly, was wide open, offering a prospect of sweeping velvet lawns touched
+      by the magic of the moonlight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A short silence fell, to be broken by the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I trust you do not regret your fishing excursion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could cheerfully pass the rest of my days in such ideal surroundings,&rdquo;
+       replied Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded in agreement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; continued my friend, speaking very deliberately, &ldquo;I have to
+      remember that I am here upon business, and that my professional reputation
+      is perhaps at stake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared very hard at Colonel Menendez.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have spoken with your butler, known as Pedro, and with some of the
+      other servants, and have learned all that there is to be learned about the
+      person unknown who gained admittance to the house a month ago, and
+      concerning the wing of a bat, found attached to the door more recently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And to what conclusion have you come?&rdquo; asked Colonel Menendez, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He bent forward, resting his elbows upon his knees, a pose which he
+      frequently adopted. He was smoking a cigar, but his total absorption in
+      the topic under discussion was revealed by the fact that from a pocket in
+      his dinner jacket he had taken out a portion of tobacco, had laid it in a
+      slip of rice paper, and was busily rolling one of his eternal cigarettes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I might be enabled to come to one,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;if you would answer
+      a very simple question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is this question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is this&mdash;Have you any idea who nailed the bat&rsquo;s wing to your
+      door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s eyes opened very widely, and his face became more
+      aquiline than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have heard my story, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, softly. &ldquo;If I know the
+      explanation, why do I come to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley puffed at his pipe. His expression did not alter in the
+      slightest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I merely wondered if your suspicions tended in the direction of Mr. Colin
+      Camber,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colin Camber!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Colonel spoke the name either I became victim of a strange delusion
+      or his face was momentarily convulsed. If my senses served me aright then
+      his pronouncing of the words &ldquo;Colin Camber&rdquo; occasioned him positive agony.
+      He clutched the arms of his chair, striving, I thought, to retain
+      composure, and in this he succeeded, for when he spoke again his voice was
+      quite normal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any particular reason for your remark, Mr. Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a reason,&rdquo; replied Paul Harley, &ldquo;but don&rsquo;t misunderstand me. I
+      suggest nothing against Mr. Camber. I should be glad, however, to know if
+      you are acquainted with him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have never met.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You possibly know him by repute?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard of him, Mr. Harley. But to be perfectly frank, I have little
+      in common with citizens of the United States.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A note of arrogance, which at times crept into his high, thin voice,
+      became perceptible now, and the aristocratic, aquiline face looked very
+      supercilious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How the conversation would have developed I know not, but at this moment
+      Pedro entered and delivered a message in Spanish to the Colonel, whereupon
+      the latter arose and with very profuse apologies begged permission to
+      leave us for a few moments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he had retired:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going upstairs to write a letter, Knox,&rdquo; said Paul Harley. &ldquo;Carry on
+      with your old duties to-day, your new ones do not commence until
+      to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that he laughed and walked out of the dining room, leaving me
+      wondering whether to be grateful or annoyed. However, it did not take me
+      long to find my way to the drawing room where the two ladies were seated
+      side by side upon a settee, Madame&rsquo;s chair having been wheeled into a
+      corner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; exclaimed Madame as I entered, &ldquo;have the others deserted,
+      then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Scarcely deserted, I think. They are merely straggling.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Absent without leave,&rdquo; murmured Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I laughed, and drew up a chair. Madame de Stämer was smoking, but Miss
+      Beverley was not. Accordingly, I offered her a cigarette, which she
+      accepted, and as I was lighting it with elaborate care, every moment
+      finding a new beauty in her charming face, Pedro again appeared and
+      addressed some remark in Spanish to Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My chair, Pedro,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;I will come at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spanish butler wheeled the chair across to the settee, and lifting her
+      with an ease which spoke of long practice, placed her amidst the cushions
+      where she spent so many hours of her life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you will excuse me, dear,&rdquo; she said to Val Beverley, &ldquo;because I
+      feel sure that Mr. Knox will do his very best to make up for my absence.
+      Presently, I shall be back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pedro holding the door open, she went wheeling out, and I found myself
+      alone with Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time I was much too delighted to question the circumstances which
+      had led to this tête-à-tête, but had I cared to give the matter any
+      consideration, it must have presented rather curious features. The call
+      first of host and then of hostess was inconsistent with the courtesy of
+      the master of Cray&rsquo;s Folly, which, like the appointments of his home and
+      his mode of life, was elaborate. But these ideas did not trouble me at the
+      moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly, however, indeed before I had time to speak, the girl started and
+      laid her hand upon my arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear something?&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;a queer sort of sound?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;what kind of sound?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An odd sort of sound, almost like&mdash;the flapping of wings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw that she had turned pale, I saw the confirmation of something which
+      I had only partly realised before: that her life at Cray&rsquo;s Folly was a
+      constant fight against some haunting shadow. Her gaiety, her lightness,
+      were but a mask. For now, in those wide-open eyes, I read absolute horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said, grasping her hand reassuringly, &ldquo;you alarm me.
+      What has made you so nervous to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-night!&rdquo; she echoed, &ldquo;to-night? It is every night. If you had not come&mdash;&rdquo;
+       she corrected herself&mdash;&ldquo;if someone had not come, I don&rsquo;t think I
+      could have stayed. I am sure I could not have stayed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doubtless the attempted burglary alarmed you?&rdquo; I suggested, intending to
+      sooth her fears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Burglary?&rdquo; She smiled unmirthfully. &ldquo;It was no burglary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you say so, Miss Beverley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think I don&rsquo;t know why Mr. Harley is here?&rdquo; she challenged. &ldquo;Oh,
+      believe me, I know&mdash;I know. I, too, saw the bat&rsquo;s wing nailed to the
+      door, Mr. Knox. You are surely not going to suggest that this was the work
+      of a burglar?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I seated myself beside her on the settee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have great courage,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Believe me, I quite understand all that
+      you have suffered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is my acting so poor?&rdquo; she asked, with a pathetic smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, it is wonderful, but to a sympathetic observer only acting,
+      nevertheless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I noted that my presence reassured her, and was much comforted by this
+      fact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you like to tell me all about it,&rdquo; I continued; &ldquo;or would this
+      merely renew your fears?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to tell you,&rdquo; she replied in a low voice, glancing about
+      her as if to make sure that we were alone. &ldquo;Except for odd people,
+      friends, I suppose, of the Colonel&rsquo;s, we have had so few visitors since we
+      have been at Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Apart from all sorts of queer happenings which
+      really&rdquo;&mdash;she laughed nervously&mdash;&ldquo;may have no significance
+      whatever, the crowning mystery to my mind is why Colonel Menendez should
+      have leased this huge house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He does not entertain very much, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Scarcely at all. The &lsquo;County&rsquo;&mdash;do you know what I mean by the
+      &lsquo;County?&rsquo;&mdash;began by receiving him with open arms and ended by sending
+      him to Coventry. His lavish style of entertainment they labelled &lsquo;swank&rsquo;&mdash;horrible
+      word but very expressive! They concluded that they did not understand him,
+      and of everything they don&rsquo;t understand they disapprove. So after the
+      first month or so it became very lonely at Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Our foreign
+      servants&mdash;there are five of them altogether&mdash;got us a dreadfully
+      bad name. Then, little by little, a sort of cloud seemed to settle on
+      everything. The Colonel made two visits abroad, I don&rsquo;t know exactly where
+      he went, but on his return from the first visit Madame de Stämer changed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Changed?&mdash;in what way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid it would be hopeless to try to make you understand, Mr. Knox,
+      but in some subtle way she changed. Underneath all her vivacity she is a
+      tragic woman, and&mdash;oh, how can I explain?&rdquo; Val Beverley made a little
+      gesture of despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you mean,&rdquo; I suggested, &ldquo;that she seemed to become even less
+      happy than before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, looking at me eagerly. &ldquo;Has Colonel Menendez told you
+      anything to account for it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;He has left us strangely in the dark. But you say he
+      went abroad on a second and more recent occasion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, not much more than a month ago. And after that, somehow or other,
+      matters seemed to come to a head. I confess I became horribly frightened,
+      but to have left would have seemed like desertion, and Madame de Stämer
+      has been so good to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you actually witness any of the episodes which took place about a
+      month ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never saw anything really definite,&rdquo; she replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet, evidently you either saw or heard something which alarmed you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that is true, but it is so difficult to explain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you try to explain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will try if you wish, for really I am longing to talk to someone about
+      it. For instance, on several occasions I have heard footsteps in the
+      corridor outside my room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, at night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Strange footsteps?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is the uncanny part of it. You know how familiar one grows with the
+      footsteps of persons living in the same house? Well, these footsteps were
+      quite unfamiliar to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you say they passed your door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. My rooms are almost directly overhead. And right at the end of the
+      corridor, that is on the southeast corner of the building, is Colonel
+      Menendez&rsquo;s bedroom, and facing it a sort of little smoke-room. It was in
+      this direction that the footsteps went.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. They were light, furtive footsteps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This took place late at night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite late, long after everyone had retired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused, staring at me with a sort of embarrassment, and presently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Were the footsteps those of a man or a woman?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of a woman. Someone, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she bent forward, and that look of fear
+      began to creep into her eyes again, &ldquo;with whose footsteps I was quite
+      unfamiliar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean a stranger to the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. Oh, it was uncanny.&rdquo; She shuddered. &ldquo;The first time I heard it I had
+      been lying awake listening. I was nervous. Madame de Stämer had told me
+      that morning that the Colonel had seen someone lurking about the lawns on
+      the previous night. Then, as I lay awake listening for the slightest
+      sound, I suddenly detected these footsteps; and they paused&mdash;right
+      outside my door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;What did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frankly, I was too frightened to do anything. I just lay still with my
+      heart beating horribly, and presently they passed on, and I heard them no
+      more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was your door locked?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo; She laughed nervously. &ldquo;But it has been locked every night since
+      then!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And these sounds were repeated on other nights?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I have often heard them, Mr. Knox. What makes it so strange is that
+      all the servants sleep out in the west wing, as you know, and Pedro locks
+      the communicating door every night before retiring.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is certainly strange,&rdquo; I muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is horrible,&rdquo; declared the girl, almost in a whisper. &ldquo;For what can it
+      mean except that there is someone in Cray&rsquo;s Folly who is never seen during
+      the daytime?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that is incredible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not so incredible in a big house like this. Besides, what other
+      explanation can there be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There must be one,&rdquo; I said, reassuringly. &ldquo;Have you spoken of this to
+      Madame de Stämer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley&rsquo;s expression grew troubled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had she any explanation to offer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None. Her attitude mystified me very much. Indeed, instead of reassuring
+      me, she frightened me more than ever by her very silence. I grew to dread
+      the coming of each night. Then&mdash;&rdquo; she hesitated again, looking at me
+      pathetically&mdash;&ldquo;twice I have been awakened by a loud cry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What kind of cry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not tell you, Mr. Knox. You see I have always been asleep when it
+      has come, but I have sat up trembling and dimly aware that what had
+      awakened me was a cry of some kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have no idea from whence it proceeded?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None whatever. Of course, all these things may seem trivial to you, and
+      possibly they can be explained in quite a simple way. But this feeling of
+      something pending has grown almost unendurable. Then, I don&rsquo;t understand
+      Madame and the Colonel at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She suddenly stopped speaking and flushed with embarrassment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean that Madame de Stämer is in love with her cousin, I agree
+      with you,&rdquo; I said, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, is it so evident as that?&rdquo; murmured Val Beverley. She laughed to
+      cover her confusion. &ldquo;I wish I could understand what it all means.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this point our tête-à-tête was interrupted by the return of Madame de
+      Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, la la!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;the Colonel must have allowed himself to become
+      too animated this evening. He is threatened with one of his attacks and I
+      have insisted upon his immediate retirement. He makes his apologies, but
+      knows you will understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I expressed my concern, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was unaware that Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s health was impaired,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; Madame shrugged characteristically. &ldquo;Juan has travelled too much of
+      the road of life on top speed, Mr. Knox.&rdquo; She snapped her white fingers
+      and grimaced significantly. &ldquo;Excitement is bad for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She wheeled her chair up beside Val Beverley, and taking the girl&rsquo;s hand
+      patted it affectionately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look pale to-night, my dear,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;All this bogey business is
+      getting on your nerves, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, not at all,&rdquo; declared the girl. &ldquo;It is very mysterious and annoying,
+      of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But M. Paul Harley will presently tell us what it is all about,&rdquo;
+       concluded Madame. &ldquo;Yes, I trust so. We want no Cuban devils here at Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I had hoped that she would speak further of the matter, but having thus
+      apologized for our host&rsquo;s absence, she plunged into an amusing account of
+      Parisian society, and of the changes which five years of war had brought
+      about. Her comments, although brilliant, were superficial, the only point
+      I recollect being her reference to a certain Baron Bergmann, a Swedish
+      diplomat, who, according to Madame, had the longest nose and the shortest
+      memory in Paris, so that in the cold weather, &ldquo;he even sometimes forgot to
+      blow his nose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her brightness I thought was almost feverish. She chattered and laughed
+      and gesticulated, but on this occasion she was overacting. Underneath all
+      her vivacity lay something cold and grim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley rejoined us in half an hour or so, but I could see that he was as
+      conscious of the air of tension as I was. All Madame&rsquo;s high spirits could
+      not enable her to conceal the fact that she was anxious to retire. But
+      Harley&rsquo;s evident desire to do likewise surprised me very greatly; for from
+      the point of view of the investigation the day had been an unsatisfactory
+      one. I knew that there must be a hundred and one things which my friend
+      desired to know, questions which Madame de Stämer could have answered.
+      Nevertheless, at about ten o&rsquo;clock we separated for the night, and
+      although I was intensely anxious to talk to Harley, his reticent mood had
+      descended upon him again, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sleep well, Knox,&rdquo; he said, as he paused at my door. &ldquo;I may be awakening
+      you early.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With which cryptic remark and not another word he passed on and entered
+      his own room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps it was childish on my part, but I accepted this curt dismissal
+      very ill-humouredly. That Harley, for some reason of his own, wished to be
+      alone, was evident enough, but I resented being excluded from his
+      confidence, even temporarily. It would seem that he had formed a theory in
+      the prosecution of which my coöperation was not needed. And what with
+      profitless conjectures concerning its nature, and memories of Val
+      Beverley&rsquo;s pathetic parting glance as we had bade one another good-night,
+      sleep seemed to be out of the question, and I stood for a long time
+      staring out of the open window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The weather remained almost tropically hot, and the moon floated in a
+      cloudless sky. I looked down upon the closely matted leaves of the box
+      hedge, which rose to within a few feet of my window, and to the left I
+      could obtain a view of the close-hemmed courtyard before the doors of
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly. On the right the yews began, obstructing my view of the
+      Tudor garden, but the night air was fragrant, and the outlook one of
+      peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a time, then, as no sound came from the adjoining room, I turned in,
+      and despite all things was soon fast asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Almost immediately, it seemed, I was awakened. In point of fact, nearly
+      four hours had elapsed. A hand grasped my shoulder, and I sprang up in bed
+      with a stifled cry, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right, Knox,&rdquo; came Harley&rsquo;s voice. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t make a noise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley!&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Harley! what has happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, nothing. I am sorry to have to disturb your beauty sleep, but in
+      the absence of Innes I am compelled to use you as a dictaphone, Knox. I
+      like to record impressions while they are fresh, hence my having awakened
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what has happened?&rdquo; I asked again, for my brain was not yet fully
+      alert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, don&rsquo;t light up!&rdquo; said Harley, grasping my wrist as I reached out
+      toward the table-lamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His figure showed as a black silhouette against the dim square of the
+      window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s nearly two o&rsquo;clock. The light might be observed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two o&rsquo;clock?&rdquo; I exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. I think we might smoke, though. Have you any cigarettes? I have left
+      my pipe behind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I managed to find my case, and in the dim light of the match which I
+      presently struck I saw that Paul Harley&rsquo;s face was very fixed and grim. He
+      seated himself on the edge of my bed, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been guilty of a breach of hospitality, Knox,&rdquo; he began. &ldquo;Not only
+      have I secretly had my own car sent down here, but I have had something
+      else sent, as well. I brought it in under my coat this evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To what do you refer, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You remember the silken rope-ladder with bamboo rungs which I brought
+      from Hongkong on one occasion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I have it in my bag now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear fellow, what possible use can it be to you at Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been of great use,&rdquo; he returned, shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It enabled me to descend from my window a couple of hours ago and to
+      return again quite recently without disturbing the household. Don&rsquo;t
+      reproach me, Knox. I know it is a breach of confidence, but so is the
+      behaviour of Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You refer to his reticence on certain points?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do. I have a reputation to lose, Knox, and if an ingenious piece of
+      Chinese workmanship can save it, it shall be saved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear Harley, why should you want to leave the house secretly at
+      night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s cigarette glowed in the dark, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My original object,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;was to endeavour to learn if any one
+      were really watching the place. For instance, I wanted to see if all
+      lights were out at the Guest House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And were they?&rdquo; I asked, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were. Secondly,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;I wanted to convince myself that
+      there were no nocturnal prowlers from within or without.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean by within or without?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen, Knox.&rdquo; He bent toward me in the dark, grasping my shoulder
+      firmly. &ldquo;One window in Cray&rsquo;s Folly was lighted up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At what hour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The light is there yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That he was about to make some strange revelation I divined. I detected
+      the fact, too, that he believed this revelation would be unpleasant to me;
+      and in this I found an explanation of his earlier behaviour. He had seemed
+      distraught and ill at ease when he had joined Madame de Stämer, Miss
+      Beverley, and myself in the drawing room. I could only suppose that this
+      and the abrupt parting with me outside my door had been due to his holding
+      a theory which he had proposed to put to the test before confiding it to
+      me. I remember that I spoke very slowly as I asked him the question:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whose is the lighted window, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has Colonel Menendez taken you into a little snuggery or smoke-room which
+      faces his bedroom in the southeast corner of the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but Miss Beverley has mentioned the room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah. Well, there is a light in that room, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly the Colonel has not retired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;According to Madame de Stämer he went to bed several hours ago, you may
+      remember.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; I murmured, fumbling for the significance of his words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The next point is this,&rdquo; he resumed. &ldquo;You saw Madame retire to her own
+      room, which, as you know, is on the ground floor, and I have satisfied
+      myself that the door communicating with the servants&rsquo; wing is locked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. But to what is all this leading, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To a very curious fact, and the fact is this: The Colonel is not alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sat bolt upright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so loud,&rdquo; warned Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Harley&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow, we must face facts. I repeat, the Colonel is not alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you say so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twice I have seen a shadow on the blind of the smoke-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His own shadow, probably.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again Paul Harley&rsquo;s cigarette glowed in the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am prepared to swear,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that it was the shadow of a woman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get excited, Knox. I am dealing with the strangest case of my
+      career, and I am jumping to no conclusions. But just let us look at the
+      circumstances judicially. The whole of the domestic staff we may dismiss,
+      with the one exception of Mrs. Fisher, who, so far as I can make out,
+      occupies the position of a sort of working housekeeper, and whose rooms
+      are in the corner of the west wing immediately facing the kitchen garden.
+      Possibly you have not met Mrs. Fisher, Knox, but I have made it my
+      business to interview the whole of the staff and I may say that Mrs.
+      Fisher is a short, stout old lady, a native of Kent, I believe, whose
+      outline in no way corresponds to that which I saw upon the blind.
+      Therefore, unless the door which communicates with the servants&rsquo; quarters
+      was unlocked again to-night&mdash;to what are we reduced in seeking to
+      explain the presence of a woman in Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s room? Madame de
+      Stämer, unassisted, could not possibly have mounted the stairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop, Harley!&rdquo; I said, sternly. &ldquo;Stop.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He ceased speaking, and I watched the steady glow of his cigarette in the
+      darkness. It lighted up his bronzed face and showed me the steely gleam of
+      his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are counting too much on the locking of the door by Pedro,&rdquo; I
+      continued, speaking very deliberately. &ldquo;He is a man I would trust no
+      farther than I could see him, and if there is anything dark underlying
+      this matter you depend that he is involved in it. But the most natural
+      explanation, and also the most simple, is this&mdash;Colonel Menendez has
+      been taken seriously ill, and someone is in his room in the capacity of a
+      nurse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Her behaviour was scarcely that of a nurse in a sick-room,&rdquo; murmured
+      Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake tell me the truth,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Tell me all you saw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite prepared to do so, Knox. On three occasions, then, I saw the
+      figure of a woman, who wore some kind of loose robe, quite clearly
+      silhouetted upon the linen blind. Her gestures strongly resembled those of
+      despair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of despair?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. I gathered that she was addressing someone, presumably Colonel
+      Menendez, and I derived a strong impression that she was in a condition of
+      abject despair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;on your word of honour did you recognize anything in
+      the movements, or in the outline of the figure, by which you could
+      identify the woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not,&rdquo; he replied, shortly. &ldquo;It was a woman who wore some kind of
+      loose robe, possibly a kimono. Beyond that I could swear to nothing,
+      except that it was not Mrs. Fisher.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We fell silent for a while. What Paul Harley&rsquo;s thoughts may have been I
+      know not, but my own were strange and troubled. Presently I found my voice
+      again, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;that I should report to you something which
+      Miss Beverley told me this evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said he, eagerly. &ldquo;I am anxious to hear anything which may be of
+      the slightest assistance. You are no doubt wondering why I retired so
+      abruptly to-night. My reason was this: I could see that you were full of
+      some story which you had learned from Miss Beverley, and I was anxious to
+      perform my tour of inspection with a perfectly unprejudiced mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that your suspicions rested upon an inmate of Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not upon any particular inmate, but I had early perceived a distinct
+      possibility that these manifestations of which the Colonel complained
+      might be due to the agency of someone inside the house. That this person
+      might be no more than an accomplice of the prime mover I also recognized,
+      of course. But what did you learn to-night, Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I repeated Val Beverley&rsquo;s story of the mysterious footsteps and of the
+      cries which had twice awakened her in the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; muttered Harley, when I had ceased speaking. &ldquo;Assuming her account
+      to be true&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should you doubt it?&rdquo; I interrupted, hotly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox, it is my business to doubt everything until I have
+      indisputable evidence of its truth. I say, assuming her story to be true,
+      we find ourselves face to face with the fantastic theory that some woman
+      unknown is living secretly in Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps in one of the tower rooms,&rdquo; I suggested, eagerly. &ldquo;Why, Harley,
+      that would account for the Colonel&rsquo;s marked unwillingness to talk about
+      this part of the house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My sight was now becoming used to the dusk, and I saw Harley vigorously
+      shake his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;I have seen all the tower rooms. I can swear that
+      no one inhabits them. Besides, is it feasible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then whose were the footsteps that Miss Beverley heard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Obviously those of the woman who, at this present moment, so far as I
+      know, is in the smoking-room with Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sighed wearily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is a strange business, Harley. I begin to think that the mystery is
+      darker than I ever supposed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We fell silent again. The weird cry of a night hawk came from somewhere in
+      the valley, but otherwise everything within and without the great house
+      seemed strangely still. This stillness presently imposed its influence
+      upon me, for when I spoke again, I spoke in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;my imagination is playing me tricks. I thought I heard
+      the fluttering of wings at that moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fortunately, my imagination remains under control,&rdquo; he replied, grimly;
+      &ldquo;therefore I am in a position to inform you that you did hear the
+      fluttering of wings. An owl has just flown into one of the trees
+      immediately outside the window.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said I, and uttered a sigh of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is extremely fortunate that my imagination is so carefully trained,&rdquo;
+       continued Harley; &ldquo;otherwise, when the woman whose shadow I saw upon the
+      blind to-night raised her arms in a peculiar fashion, I could not well
+      have failed to attach undue importance to the shape of the shadow thus
+      created.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was the shape of the shadow, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remarkably like that of a bat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke the words quietly, but in that still darkness, with dawn yet a
+      long way off, they possessed the power which belongs to certain chords in
+      music, and to certain lines in poetry. I was chilled unaccountably, and I
+      peopled the empty corridors of Cray&rsquo;s Folly with I know not what uncanny
+      creatures; nightmare fancies conjured up from memories of haunted manors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was my mood, then, when suddenly Paul Harley stood up. My eyes were
+      growing more and more used to the darkness, and from something strained in
+      his attitude I detected the fact that he was listening intently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He placed his cigarette on the table beside the bed and quietly crossed
+      the room. I knew from his silent tread that he wore shoes with rubber
+      soles. Very quietly he turned the handle and opened the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Harley?&rdquo; I whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dimly I saw him raise his hand. Inch by inch he opened the door. My nerves
+      in a state of tension, I sat there watching him, when without a sound he
+      slipped out of the room and was gone. Thereupon I arose and followed as
+      far as the doorway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley was standing immediately outside in the corridor. Seeing me, he
+      stepped back, and: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t move, Knox,&rdquo; he said, speaking very close to my
+      ear. &ldquo;There is someone downstairs in the hall. Wait for me here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that he moved stealthily off, and I stood there, my heart beating
+      with unusual rapidity, listening&mdash;listening for a challenge, a cry, a
+      scuffle&mdash;I knew not what to expect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cavernous and dimly lighted, the corridor stretched away to my left. On
+      the right it branched sharply in the direction of the gallery overlooking
+      the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The seconds passed, but no sound rewarded my alert listening&mdash;until,
+      very faintly, but echoing in a muffled, church-like fashion around that
+      peculiar building, came a slight, almost sibilant sound, which I took to
+      be the gentle closing of a distant door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whilst I was still wondering if I had really heard this sound or merely
+      imagined it:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who goes there?&rdquo; came sharply in Harley&rsquo;s voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard a faint click, and knew that he had shone the light of an electric
+      torch down into the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I hesitated no longer, but ran along to join him. As I came to the head of
+      the main staircase, however, I saw him crossing the hall below. He was
+      making in the direction of the door which shut off the servants&rsquo; quarters.
+      Here he paused, and I saw him trying the handle. Evidently the door was
+      locked, for he turned and swept the white ray all about the place. He
+      tried several other doors, but found them all to be locked, for presently
+      he came upstairs again, smiling grimly when he saw me there awaiting him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear it, Knox?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A sound like the closing of a door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It <i>was</i> the closing of a door,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but before that I had
+      distinctly heard a stair creak. Someone crossed the hall then, Knox. Yet,
+      as you perceive for yourself, it affords no hiding-place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His glance met and challenged mine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Colonel&rsquo;s visitor has left him,&rdquo; he murmured. &ldquo;Unless something quite
+      unforeseen occurs, I shall throw up the case to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. MORNING MISTS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The man known as Manoel awakened me in the morning. Although
+      characteristically Spanish, he belonged to a more sanguine type than the
+      butler and spoke much better English than Pedro. He placed upon the table
+      beside me a tray containing a small pot of China tea, an apple, a peach,
+      and three slices of toast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How soon would you like your bath, sir?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In about half an hour,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Breakfast is served at 9.30 if you wish, sir,&rdquo; continued Manoel, &ldquo;but the
+      ladies rarely come down. Would you prefer to breakfast in your room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is Mr. Harley doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He tells me that he does not take breakfast, sir. Colonel Don Juan
+      Menendez will be unable to ride with you this morning, but a groom will
+      accompany you to the heath if you wish, which is the best place for a
+      gallop. Breakfast on the south veranda is very pleasant, sir, if you are
+      riding first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; I replied, for indeed I felt strangely heavy; &ldquo;it shall be the
+      heath, then, and breakfast on the veranda.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Having drunk a cup of tea and dressed I went into Harley&rsquo;s room, to find
+      him propped up in bed reading the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> and smoking a
+      cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am off for a ride,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you join me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He fixed his pillows more comfortably, and slowly shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a bit of it, Knox,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I find exercise to be fatal to
+      concentration.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you have weird theories on the subject, but this is a beautiful
+      morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I grant you the beautiful morning, Knox, but here you will find me when
+      you return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I knew him too well to debate the point, and accordingly I left him to his
+      newspaper and cigarette, and made my way downstairs. A housemaid was busy
+      in the hall, and in the courtyard before the monastic porch a negro groom
+      awaited me with two fine mounts. He touched his hat and grinned
+      expansively as I appeared. A spirited young chestnut was saddled for my
+      use, and the groom, who informed me that his name was Jim, rode a smaller,
+      Spanish horse, a beautiful but rather wicked-looking creature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We proceeded down the drive. Pedro was standing at the door of the lodge,
+      talking to his surly-looking daughter. He saluted me very ceremoniously as
+      I passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pursuing an easterly route for a quarter of a mile or so, we came to a
+      narrow lane which branched off to the left in a tremendous declivity.
+      Indeed it presented the appearance of the dry bed of a mountain torrent,
+      and in wet weather a torrent this lane became, so I was informed by Jim.
+      It was very rugged and dangerous, and here we dismounted, the groom
+      leading the horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we were upon a well-laid main road, and along this we trotted on to a
+      tempting stretch of heath-land. There was a heavy mist, but the scent of
+      the heather in the early morning was delightful, and there was something
+      exhilarating in the dull thud of the hoofs upon the springy turf. The
+      negro was a natural horseman, and he seemed to enjoy the ride every bit as
+      much as I did. For my own part I was sorry to return. But the vapours of
+      the night had been effectively cleared from my mind, and when presently we
+      headed again for the hills, I could think more coolly of those problems
+      which overnight had seemed well-nigh insoluble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We returned by a less direct route, but only at one point was the path so
+      steep as that by which we had descended. This brought us out on a road
+      above and about a mile to the south of Cray&rsquo;s Folly. At one point, through
+      a gap in the trees, I found myself looking down at the gray stone building
+      in its setting of velvet lawns and gaily patterned gardens. A faint mist
+      hovered like smoke over the grass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Five minutes later we passed a queer old Jacobean house, so deeply hidden
+      amidst trees that the early morning sun had not yet penetrated to it,
+      except for one upstanding gable which was bathed in golden light. I should
+      never have recognized the place from that aspect, but because of its
+      situation I knew that this must be the Guest House. It seemed very gloomy
+      and dark, and remembering how I was pledged to call upon Mr. Colin Camber
+      that day, I apprehended that my reception might be a cold one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently we left the road and cantered across the valley meadows, in
+      which I had walked on the previous day, reentering Cray&rsquo;s Folly on the
+      south, although we had left it on the north. We dismounted in the
+      stable-yard, and I noted two other saddle horses in the stalls, a pair of
+      very clean-looking hunters, as well as two perfectly matched ponies,
+      which, Jim informed me, Madame de Stämer sometimes drove in a chaise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Feeling vastly improved by the exercise, I walked around to the veranda,
+      and through the drawing room to the hall. Manoel was standing there, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your bath is ready, sir,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded and went upstairs. It seemed to me that life at Cray&rsquo;s Folly was
+      quite agreeable, and such was my mood that the shadowy Bat Wing menace
+      found no place in it save as the chimera of a sick man&rsquo;s imagination. One
+      thing only troubled me: the identity of the woman who had been with
+      Colonel Menendez on the previous night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, such unconscious sun worshippers are we all that in the glory of
+      that summer morning I realized that life was good, and I resolutely put
+      behind me the dark suspicions of the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked into Harley&rsquo;s room ere descending, and, as he had assured me
+      would be the case, there he was, propped up in bed, the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>
+      upon the floor beside him and the <i>Times</i> now open upon the coverlet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am ravenously hungry,&rdquo; I said, maliciously, &ldquo;and am going down to eat a
+      hearty breakfast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; he returned, treating me to one of his quizzical smiles. &ldquo;It is
+      delightful to know that someone is happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Manoel had removed my unopened newspapers from the bedroom, placing them
+      on the breakfast table on the south veranda; and I had propped the <i>Mail</i>
+      up before me and had commenced to explore a juicy grapefruit when
+      something, perhaps a faint breath of perfume, a slight rustle of
+      draperies, or merely that indefinable aura which belongs to the presence
+      of a woman, drew my glance upward and to the left. And there was Val
+      Beverley smiling down at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Oh, please don&rsquo;t interrupt your
+      breakfast. May I sit down and talk to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be most annoyed if you refused.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was dressed in a simple summery frock which left her round,
+      sun-browned arms bare above the elbow, and she laid a huge bunch of roses
+      upon the table beside my tray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am the florist of the establishment,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;These will
+      delight your eyes at luncheon. Don&rsquo;t you think we are a lot of barbarians
+      here, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if I had not taken pity upon you, here you would have bat over a
+      lonely breakfast just as though you were staying at a hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Delightful,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;now that you are here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said she, and smiled roguishly, &ldquo;that afterthought just saved you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But honestly,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;the hospitality of Colonel Menendez is true
+      hospitality. To expect one&rsquo;s guests to perform their parlour tricks around
+      a breakfast table in the morning is, on the other hand, true barbarism.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite agree with you,&rdquo; she said, quietly. &ldquo;There is a perfectly
+      delightful freedom about the Colonel&rsquo;s way of living. Only some horrid old
+      Victorian prude could possibly take exception to it. Did you enjoy your
+      ride?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Immensely,&rdquo; I replied, watching her delightedly as she arranged the roses
+      in carefully blended groups.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her fingers were very delicate and tactile, and such is the character
+      which resides in the human hand, that whereas the gestures of Madame de
+      Stämer were curiously stimulating, there was something in the movement of
+      Val Beverley&rsquo;s pretty fingers amidst the blooms which I found most
+      soothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I passed the Guest House on my return,&rdquo; I continued. &ldquo;Do you know Mr.
+      Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at me in a startled way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t. Do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I met him by chance yesterday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really? I thought he was quite unapproachable; a sort of ogre.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, he is a man of great charm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Val Beverley, &ldquo;well, since you have said so, I might as well
+      admit that he has always seemed a charming man to me. I have never spoken
+      to him, but he looks as though he could be very fascinating. Have you met
+      his wife?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. Is she also American?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My companion shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;I have seen her several times of course,
+      and she is one of the daintiest creatures imaginable, but I know nothing
+      about her nationality.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is young, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very young, I should say. She looks quite a child.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The reason of my interest,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;is that Mr. Camber asked me to
+      call upon him, and I propose to do so later this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again I detected the startled expression upon Val Beverley&rsquo;s face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is rather curious, since you are staying here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she looked about her nervously, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know the reason, but the
+      name of Mr. Camber is anathema in Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Menendez told me last night that he had never met Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley shrugged her shoulders, a habit which it was easy to see she
+      had acquired from Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps not,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;but I am certain he hates him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hates Mr. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; Her expression grew troubled. &ldquo;It is another of those mysteries
+      which seem to be part of Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s normal existence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is this dislike mutual?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That I cannot say, since I have never met Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Madame de Stämer, does she share it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fully, I think. But don&rsquo;t ask me what it means, because I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She dismissed the subject with a light gesture and poured me out a second
+      cup of coffee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to leave you now,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I have to justify my existence
+      in my own eyes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must you really go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must really.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then tell me something before you go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She gathered up the bunches of roses and looked down at me with a wistful
+      expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, what is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you detect those mysterious footsteps again last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The look of wistfulness changed to another which I hated to see in her
+      eyes, an expression of repressed fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she replied in a very low voice, &ldquo;but why do you ask the question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Doubt of her had been far enough from my mind, but that something in the
+      tone of my voice had put her on her guard I could see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am naturally curious,&rdquo; I replied, gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she repeated, &ldquo;I have not heard the sound for some time now.
+      Perhaps, after all, my fears were imaginary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a constraint in her manner which was all too obvious, and when
+      presently, laden with the spoil of the rose garden, she gave me a parting
+      smile and hurried into the house, I sat there very still for a while, and
+      something of the brightness had faded from the coming, nor did life seem
+      so glad a business as I had thought it quite recently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. AT THE GUEST HOUSE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I presented myself at the Guest House at half-past eleven. My mental state
+      was troubled and indescribably complex. Perhaps my own uneasy, thoughts
+      were responsible for the idea, but it seemed to me that the atmosphere of
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly had changed yet again. Never before had I experienced a sense
+      of foreboding like that which had possessed me throughout the hours of
+      this bright summer&rsquo;s morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez had appeared about nine o&rsquo;clock. He exhibiting no traces
+      of illness that were perceptible to me. But this subtle change which I had
+      detected, or thought I had detected, was more marked in Madame Stämer than
+      in any one. In her strange, still eyes I had read what I can only describe
+      as a stricken look. It had none of the heroic resignation and acceptance
+      of the inevitable which had so startled me in the face of the Colonel on
+      the previous day. There was a bitterness in it, as of one who has made a
+      great but unwilling sacrifice, and again I had found myself questing that
+      faint but fugitive memory, conjured up by the eyes of Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never had the shadow lain so darkly upon the house as it lay this morning
+      with the sun blazing gladly out of a serene sky. The birds, the flowers,
+      and Mother Earth herself bespoke the joy of summer. But beneath the roof
+      of Cray&rsquo;s Folly dwelt a spirit of unrest, of apprehension. I thought of
+      that queer lull which comes before a tropical storm, and I thought I read
+      a knowledge of pending evil even in the glances of the servants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had spoken to Harley of this fear. He had smiled and nodded grimly,
+      saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Evidently, Knox, you have forgotten that to-night is the night of the
+      full moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was in no easy state of mind, then, that I opened the gate and walked
+      up to the porch of the Guest House. That the solution of the grand mystery
+      of Cray&rsquo;s Folly would automatically resolve these lesser mysteries I felt
+      assured, and I was supported by the idea that a clue might lie here.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The house, which from the roadway had an air of neglect, proved on close
+      inspection to be well tended, but of an unprosperous aspect. The brass
+      knocker, door knob, and letter box were brilliantly polished, whilst the
+      windows and the window curtains were spotlessly clean. But the place cried
+      aloud for the service of the decorator, and it did not need the deductive
+      powers of a Paul Harley to determine that Mr. Colin Camber was in
+      straitened circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In response to my ringing the door was presently opened by Ah Tsong. His
+      yellow face exhibited no trace of emotion whatever. He merely opened the
+      door and stood there looking at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Mr. Camber at home?&rdquo; I enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master no got,&rdquo; crooned Ah Tsong.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He proceeded quietly to close the door again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;one moment. I wish, at any rate, to leave my card.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Tsong allowed the door to remain open, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No usee palaber so fashion,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;No feller comee here. Sabby?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I savvy, right enough,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but all the same you have got to take my
+      card in to Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I handed him a card as I spoke, and suddenly addressing him in &ldquo;pidgin,&rdquo;
+       of which, fortunately, I had a smattering:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Belong very quick, Ah Tsong,&rdquo; I said, sharply, &ldquo;or plenty big trouble,
+      savvy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sabby, sabby,&rdquo; he muttered, nodding his head; and leaving me standing in
+      the porch he retired along the sparsely carpeted hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This hall was very gloomily lighted, but I could see several pieces of
+      massive old furniture and a number of bookcases, all looking incredibly
+      untidy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rather less than a minute elapsed, I suppose, when from some place at the
+      farther end of the hallway Mr. Camber appeared in person. He wore a
+      threadbare dressing gown, the silken collar and cuffs of which were very
+      badly frayed. His hair was dishevelled and palpably he had not shaved this
+      morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was smoking a corncob pipe, and he slowly approached, glancing from the
+      card which he held in his hand in my direction, and then back again at the
+      card, with a curious sort of hesitancy. In spite of his untidy appearance
+      I could not fail to mark the dignity of his bearing, and the almost
+      arrogant angle at which he held his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr&mdash;er&mdash;Malcolm Knox?&rdquo; he began, fixing his large eyes upon me
+      with a look in which I could detect no sign of recognition. &ldquo;I am advised
+      that you desire to see me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is so, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; I replied, cheerily. &ldquo;I fear I have interrupted
+      your work, but as no other opportunity may occur of renewing an
+      acquaintance which for my part I found extremely pleasant&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of renewing an acquaintance, you say, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite.&rdquo; He looked me up and down critically. &ldquo;To be sure, we have met
+      before, I understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We met yesterday, Mr. Camber, you may recall. Having chanced to come
+      across a contribution of yours of the <i>Occult Review</i>, I have availed
+      myself of your invitation to drop in for a chat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His expression changed immediately and the sombre eyes lighted up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, of course,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;you are a student of the transcendental.
+      Forgive my seeming rudeness, Mr. Knox, but indeed my memory is of the
+      poorest. Pray come in, sir; your visit is very welcome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He held the door wide open, and inclined his head in a gesture of curious
+      old-world courtesy which was strange in so young a man. And congratulating
+      myself upon the happy thought which had enabled me to win such instant
+      favour, I presently found myself in a study which I despair of describing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In some respects it resembled the lumber room of an antiquary, whilst in
+      many particulars it corresponded to the interior of one of those
+      second-hand bookshops which abound in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross
+      Road. The shelves with which it was lined literally bulged with books, and
+      there were books on the floor, books on the mantelpiece, and books, some
+      open and some shut, some handsomely bound, and some having the covers torn
+      off, upon every table and nearly every chair in the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Volume seven of Burton&rsquo;s monumental &ldquo;Thousand Nights and a Night&rdquo; lay upon
+      a littered desk before which I presumed Mr. Camber had been seated at the
+      time of my arrival. Some wet vessel, probably a cup of tea or coffee, had
+      at some time been set down upon the page at which this volume was open,
+      for it was marked with a dark brown ring. A volume of Fraser&rsquo;s &ldquo;Golden
+      Bough&rdquo; had been used as an ash tray, apparently, since the binding was
+      burned in several places where cigarettes had been laid upon it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this interesting, indeed unique apartment, East met West, unabashed by
+      Kipling&rsquo;s dictum. Roman tear-vases and Egyptian tomb-offerings stood upon
+      the same shelf as empty Bass bottles; and a hideous wooden idol from the
+      South Sea Islands leered on eternally, unmoved by the presence upon his
+      distorted head of a soft felt hat made, I believe, in Philadelphia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strange implements from early British barrows found themselves in the
+      company of <i>Thugee</i> daggers There were carved mammals&rsquo; tusks and
+      snake emblems from Yucatan; against a Chinese ivory model of the Temple of
+      Ten Thousand Buddhas rested a Coptic crucifix made from a twig of the Holy
+      Rose Tree. Across an ancient Spanish coffer was thrown a Persian rug into
+      which had been woven the monogram of Shah-Jehan and a text from the Koran.
+      It was easy to see that Mr. Colin Camber&rsquo;s studies must have imposed a
+      severe strain upon his purse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Mr. Knox, sit down,&rdquo; he said, sweeping a vellum-bound volume of
+      Eliphas Levi from a chair, and pushing the chair forward. &ldquo;The visit of a
+      fellow-student is a rare pleasure for me. And you find me, sir,&rdquo; he seated
+      himself in a curious, carved chair which stood before the desk, &ldquo;you find
+      me engaged upon enquiries, the result of which will constitute chapter
+      forty-two of my present book. Pray glance at the contents of this little
+      box.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He placed in my hands a small box of dark wood, evidently of great age. It
+      contained what looked like a number of shrivelled beans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having glanced at it curiously I returned it to him, shaking my head
+      blankly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are puzzled?&rdquo; he said, with a kind of boyish triumph, which lighted
+      up his face, which rejuvenated him and gave me a glimpse of another man.
+      &ldquo;These, sir,&rdquo; he touched the shrivelled objects with a long, delicate
+      forefinger &ldquo;are seeds of the sacred lotus of Ancient Egypt. They were
+      found in the tomb of a priest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And in what way do they bear upon the enquiry to which you referred, Mr.
+      Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In this way,&rdquo; he replied, drawing toward him a piece of newspaper upon
+      which rested a mound of coarse shag. &ldquo;I maintain that the vital principle
+      survives within them. Now, I propose to cultivate these seeds, Mr. Knox.
+      Do you grasp the significance, of this experiment?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He knocked out the corn-cob upon the heel of his slipper and began to
+      refill the hot bowl with shag from the newspaper at his elbow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From a physical point of view, yes,&rdquo; I replied, slowly. &ldquo;But I should not
+      have supposed such an experiment to come within the scope of your own
+      particular activities, Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; he returned, triumphantly, at the same time stuffing tobacco into
+      the bowl of the corn-cob, &ldquo;it is for this very reason that chapter
+      forty-two of my book must prove to be the hub of the whole, and the whole,
+      Mr. Knox, I am egotist enough to believe, shall establish a new focus for
+      thought, an intellectual Rome bestriding and uniting the Seven Hills of
+      Unbelief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He lighted his pipe and stared at me complacently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whilst I had greatly revised my first estimate of the man, my revisions
+      had been all in his favour. Respecting his genius my first impression was
+      confirmed. That he was ahead of his generation, perhaps a new Galileo, I
+      was prepared to believe. He had a pride of bearing which I think was
+      partly racial, but which in part, too, was the insignia of intellectual
+      superiority. He stood above the commonplace, caring little for the views
+      of those around and beneath him. From vanity he was utterly free. His was
+      strangely like the egotism of true genius.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, sir,&rdquo; he continued, puffing furiously at his corn-cob, &ldquo;I observed
+      you glancing a moment ago at this volume of the &lsquo;Golden Bough.&rsquo;&rdquo; He
+      pointed to the scarred book which I have already mentioned. &ldquo;It is a work
+      of profound scholarship. But having perused its hundreds of pages, what
+      has the student learned? Does he know why the twenty-sixth chapter of the
+      &lsquo;Book of the dead&rsquo; was written upon lapis-lazuli, the twenty-seventh upon
+      green felspar, the twenty-ninth upon cornelian, and the thirtieth upon
+      serpentine? He does not. Having studied Part Four, has he learned the
+      secret of why Osiris was a black god, although he typified the Sun? Has he
+      learned why modern Christianity is losing its hold upon the nations,
+      whilst Buddhism, so called, counts its disciples by millions? He has not.
+      This is because the scholar is rarely the seer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite agree with you,&rdquo; I said, thinking that I detected the drift of
+      his argument.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I am an American citizen, Mr. Knox, which is
+      tantamount to stating that I belong to the greatest community of traders
+      which has appeared since the Phoenicians overran the then known world.
+      America has not produced the mystic, yet Judæa produced the founder of
+      Christianity, and Gautama Buddha, born of a royal line, established the
+      creed of human equity. In what way did these magicians, for a
+      miracle-worker is nothing but a magician, differ from ordinary men? In one
+      respect only: They had learned to control that force which we have to-day
+      termed Will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke those words Colin Camber directed upon me a glance from his
+      luminous eyes which frankly thrilled me. The bemused figure of the
+      Lavender Arms was forgotten. I perceived before me a man of power, a man
+      of extraordinary knowledge and intellectual daring. His voice, which was
+      very beautiful, together with his glance, held me enthralled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What we call Will,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;is what the Ancient Egyptians called
+      <i>Khu</i>. It is not mental: it is a property of the soul. At this point,
+      Mr. Knox, I depart from the laws generally accepted by my contemporaries.
+      I shall presently propose to you that the eye of the Divine Architect
+      literally watches every creature upon the earth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Literally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Literally, Mr. Knox. We need no images, no idols, no paintings. All
+      power, all light comes from one source. That source is the sun! The sun
+      controls Will, and the Will is the soul. If there were a cavern in the
+      earth so deep that the sun could never reach it, and if it were possible
+      for a child to be born in that cavern, do you know what that child would
+      be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Almost certainly blind,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;beyond which my imagination fails
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will inform you, Mr. Knox. It would be a demon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; I cried, and was momentarily touched with the fear that this was a
+      brilliant madman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; he said, and pointed with the stem of his pipe. &ldquo;Why, in all
+      ancient creeds, is Hades depicted as below? For the simple reason that
+      could such a spot exist and be inhabited, it must be <i>sunless</i>, when
+      it could only be inhabited by devils; and what are devils but creatures
+      without souls?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that a child born beyond reach of the sun&rsquo;s influence would have
+      no soul?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such is my meaning, Mr. Knox. Do you begin to see the importance of my
+      experiment with the lotus seeds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I shook my head slowly. Whereupon, laying his corn-cob upon the desk,
+      Colin Camber burst into a fit of boyish laughter, which seemed to
+      rejuvenate him again, which wiped out the image of the magus completely,
+      and only left before me a very human student of strange subjects, and
+      withal a fascinating companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear, sir,&rdquo; he said, presently, &ldquo;that my steps have led me farther into
+      the wilderness than it has been your fate to penetrate. The whole secret
+      of the universe is contained in the words Day and Night, Darkness and
+      Light. I have studied both the light and the darkness, deliberately and
+      without fear. A new age is about to dawn, sir, and a new age requires new
+      beliefs, new truths. Were you ever in the country of the Hill Dyaks?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This abrupt question rather startled me, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You refer to the Borneo hill-country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I was never there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then this little magical implement will be new to you,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Standing up, he crossed to a cabinet littered untidily with all sorts of
+      strange-looking objects, carved bones, queer little inlaid boxes, images,
+      untidy manuscripts, and what-not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took up what looked like a very ungainly tobacco-pipe, made of some
+      rich brown wood, and, handing it to me:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Examine this, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said, the boyish smile of triumph returning
+      again to his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I did as he requested and made no discovery of note. The thing clearly was
+      not intended for a pipe. The stem was soiled and, moreover, there was
+      carving inside the bowl. So that presently I returned it to him, shaking
+      my head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless one should be informed of the properties of this little
+      instrument,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;discovery by experiment is improbable. Now,
+      note.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He struck the hollow of the bowl upon the palm of his hand, and it
+      delivered a high, bell-like note which lingered curiously. Then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Note again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He made a short striking motion with the thing, similar to that which one
+      would employ who had designed to jerk something out of the bowl. And at
+      the very spot on the floor where any object contained in the bowl would
+      have fallen, came a reprise of the bell note! Clearly, from almost at my
+      feet, it sounded, a high, metallic ring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He struck upward, and the bell-note sounded on the ceiling; to the right,
+      and it came from the window; in my direction, and the tiny bell seemed to
+      ring beside my ear! I will honestly admit that I was startled, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dyak magic,&rdquo; said Colin Camber; &ldquo;one of nature&rsquo;s secrets not yet
+      discovered by conventional Western science. It was known to the Egyptian
+      priesthood, of course; hence the Vocal Memnon. It was known to Madame
+      Blavatsky, who employed an &lsquo;astral bell&rsquo;; and it is known to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned the little instrument to its place upon the cabinet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder if the fact will strike you as significant,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that the
+      note which you have just heard can only be produced between sunrise and
+      sunset?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without giving me time to reply:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The most notable survival of black magic&mdash;that is, the scientific
+      employment of darkness against light&mdash;is to be met with in Haiti and
+      other islands of the West Indies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are referring to Voodooism?&rdquo; I said, slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He nodded, replacing his pipe between his teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A subject, Mr. Knox, which I investigated exhaustively some years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was watching him closely as he spoke, and a shadow, a strange shadow,
+      crept over his face, a look almost of exaltation&mdash;of mingled sorrow
+      and gladness which I find myself quite unable to describe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the West Indies, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he continued, in a strangely altered
+      voice, &ldquo;I lost all and found all. Have you ever realized, sir, that sorrow
+      is the price we must pay for joy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I did not understand his question, and was still wondering about it when I
+      heard a gentle knock, the door opened, and a woman came in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. YSOLA CAMBER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I find it difficult, now, to recapture my first impression of that
+      meeting. About the woman, hesitating before me, there was something
+      unexpected, something wholly unfamiliar. She belonged to a type with which
+      I was not acquainted. Nor was it wonderful that she should strike me in
+      this fashion, since my wanderings, although fairly extensive, had never
+      included the West Indies, nor had I been to Spain; and this girl&mdash;I
+      could have sworn that she was under twenty&mdash;was one of those rare
+      beauties, a golden Spaniard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That she was not purely Spanish I learned later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was small, and girlishly slight, with slender ankles and exquisite
+      little feet; indeed I think she had the tiniest feet of any woman I had
+      ever met. She wore a sort of white pinafore over her dress, and her arms,
+      which were bare because of the short sleeves of her frock, were of a
+      child-like roundness, whilst her creamy skin was touched with a faint
+      tinge of bronze, as though, I remember thinking, it had absorbed and
+      retained something of the Southern sunshine. She had the swaying carriage
+      which usually belongs to a tall woman, and her head and neck were Grecian
+      in poise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her hair, which was of a curious dull gold colour, presented a mass of
+      thick, tight curls, and her beauty was of that unusual character which
+      makes a Cleopatra a subject of deathless debate. What I mean to say is
+      this: whilst no man could have denied, for instance, that Val Beverley was
+      a charmingly pretty woman, nine critics out of ten must have failed to
+      classify this golden Spaniard correctly or justly. Her complexion was
+      peach-like in the Oriental sense, that strange hint of gold underlying the
+      delicate skin, and her dark blue eyes were shaded by really wonderful
+      silken lashes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emotion had the effect of enlarging the pupils, a phenomenon rarely met
+      with, so that now as she entered the room and found a stranger present
+      they seemed to be rather black than blue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her embarrassment was acute, and I think she would have retired without
+      speaking, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola,&rdquo; said Colin Camber, regarding her with a look curiously compounded
+      of sorrow and pride, &ldquo;allow me to present Mr. Malcolm Knox, who has
+      honoured us with a visit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;it gives me great pleasure that you should meet my
+      wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps I had expected this, indeed, subconsciously, I think I had.
+      Nevertheless, at the words &ldquo;my wife&rdquo; I felt that I started. The analogy
+      with Edgar Allan Poe was complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Mrs. Camber extended her hand with a sort of appealing timidity, it
+      appeared to me that she felt herself to be intruding. The expression in
+      her beautiful eyes when she glanced at her husband could only be described
+      as one of adoration; and whilst it was impossible to doubt his love for
+      her, I wondered if his colossal egotism were capable of stooping to
+      affection. I wondered if he knew how to tend and protect this delicate
+      Southern girl wife of his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Remembering the episode of the Lavender Arms, I felt justified in doubting
+      her happiness, and in this I saw an explanation of the mingled sorrow and
+      pride with which Colin Camber regarded her. It might betoken recognition
+      of his own shortcomings as a husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How nice of you to come and see us. Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke in a faintly husky manner which was curiously attractive,
+      although lacking the deep, vibrant tones of Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s memorable
+      voice. Her English was imperfect, but her accent good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your husband has been carrying me to enchanted lands, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I
+      replied. &ldquo;I have never known a morning to pass so quickly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she replied, and laughed with a childish glee which I was glad to
+      witness. &ldquo;Did he tell you all about the book which is going to make the
+      world good? Did he tell you it will make us rich as well?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rich?&rdquo; said Camber, frowning slightly. &ldquo;Nature&rsquo;s riches are health and
+      love. If we hold these the rest will come. Now that you have joined us,
+      Ysola, I shall beg Mr. Knox, in honour of this occasion, to drink a glass
+      of wine and break a biscuit as a pledge of future meetings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I watched him as he spoke, a lean, unkempt figure invested with a curious
+      dignity, and I found it almost impossible to believe that this was the
+      same man who had sat in the bar of the Lavender Arms, sipping whisky and
+      water. The resemblance to the portrait in Harley&rsquo;s office became more
+      marked than ever. There was an air of high breeding about the delicate
+      features which, curiously enough, was accentuated by the unshaven chin. I
+      recognized that refusal would be regarded as a rebuff, and therefore:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very kind,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber inclined his head gravely and courteously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are very glad to have you with us, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He clapped his hands, and, silent as a shadow, Ah Tsong appeared. I noted
+      that although it was Camber who had summoned him, it was to Mrs. Camber
+      that the Chinaman turned for orders. I had thought his yellow face
+      incapable of expression, but as his oblique eyes turned in the direction
+      of the girl I read in them a sort of dumb worship, such as one sees in the
+      eyes of a dog.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke to him rapidly in Chinese.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hoi, hoi,&rdquo; he muttered, &ldquo;hoi, hoi,&rdquo; nodded his head, and went out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw that Colin Camber had detected my interest, for:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong is really my wife&rsquo;s servant,&rdquo; he explained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she said in a low voice, and looked at me earnestly, &ldquo;Ah Tsong
+      nursed me when I was a little baby so high.&rdquo; She held her hand about four
+      feet from the floor and laughed gleefully. &ldquo;Can you imagine what a funny
+      little thing I was?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must have been a wonder-child, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I replied with
+      sincerity; &ldquo;and Ah Tsong has remained with you ever since?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ever since,&rdquo; she echoed, shaking her head in a vaguely pathetic way. &ldquo;He
+      will never leave me, do you think, Colin?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; replied her husband; &ldquo;you are all he loves in the world. A case,
+      Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he turned to me, &ldquo;of deathless fidelity rarely met with
+      nowadays and only possible, perhaps, in its true form in an Oriental.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Camber having seated herself upon one of the few chairs which was not
+      piled with books, her husband had resumed his place by the writing desk,
+      and I sought in vain to interpret the glances which passed between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fact that these two were lovers none could have mistaken. But here
+      again, as at Cray&rsquo;s Folly, I detected a shadow. I felt that something had
+      struck at the very root of their happiness, in fact, I wondered if they
+      had been parted, and were but newly reunited for there was a sort of
+      constraint between them, the more marked on the woman&rsquo;s side than on the
+      man&rsquo;s. I wondered how long they had been married, but felt that it would
+      have been indiscreet to ask.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even as the idea occurred to me, however, an opportunity arose of learning
+      what I wished to know. I heard a bell ring, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is someone at the door, Colin,&rdquo; said Mrs. Camber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will go,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Ah Tsong has enough to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without another word he stood up and walked out of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said Mrs. Camber, smiling in her naive way, &ldquo;we only have one
+      servant, except Ah Tsong, her name is Mrs. Powis. She is visiting her
+      daughter who is married. We made the poor old lady take a holiday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is difficult to imagine you burdened with household responsibilities,
+      Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Please forgive me but I cannot help wondering
+      how long you have been married?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For nearly four years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;You must have been married very young?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was twenty. Do I look so young?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I gazed at her in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You astonish me,&rdquo; I declared, which was quite true and no mere
+      compliment. &ldquo;I had guessed your age to be eighteen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she laughed, and resting her hands upon the settee leaned forward
+      with sparkling eyes, &ldquo;how funny. Sometimes I wish I looked older. It is
+      dreadful in this place, although we have been so happy here. At all the
+      shops they look at me so funny, so I always send Mrs. Powis now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are really quite wonderful,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You are Spanish, are you not,
+      Mrs. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She slightly shook her head, and I saw the pupils begin to dilate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not really Spanish,&rdquo; she replied, haltingly. &ldquo;I was born in Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it was in Cuba that you met Mr. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded again, watching me intently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is strange that a Virginian should settle in Surrey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; she murmured, &ldquo;you think so? But really it is not strange at all.
+      Colin&rsquo;s people are so proud, so proud. Do you know what they are like,
+      those Virginians? Oh! I hate them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You hate them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I cannot hate them, for he is one. But he will never go back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should he never go back, Mrs. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that you do not wish to settle in America?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not&mdash;not where he comes from. They would not have me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyes grew misty, and she quickly lowered her lashes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would not have you?&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No?&rdquo; she said, and smiled up at me very gravely. &ldquo;It is simple. I am a
+      Cuban, one, as they say, of an inferior race&mdash;and of mixed blood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her golden head as if to dismiss the subject, and stood up, as
+      Camber entered, followed by Ah Tsong bearing a tray of refreshments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of the ensuing conversation I remember nothing. My mind was focussed upon
+      the one vital fact that Mrs. Camber was a Cuban Creole. Dimly I felt that
+      here was the missing link for which Paul Harley was groping. For it was in
+      Cuba that Colin Camber had met his wife, it was from Cuba that the menace
+      of Bat Wing came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What could it mean? Surely it was more than a coincidence that these two
+      families, both associated with the West Indies, should reside within sight
+      of one another in the Surrey Hills. Yet, if it were the result of design,
+      the design must be on the part of Colonel Menendez, since the Cambers had
+      occupied the Guest House before he had leased Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I know not if I betrayed my absentmindedness during the time that I was
+      struggling vainly with these maddening problems, but presently, Mrs.
+      Camber having departed about her household duties, I found myself walking
+      down the garden with her husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the summer house of which I was speaking, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said, and
+      I regret to state that I retained no impression of his having previously
+      mentioned the subject. &ldquo;During the time that Sir James Appleton resided at
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly, I worked here regularly in the summer months. It was Sir
+      James, of course, who laid out the greater part of the gardens and who
+      rescued the property from the state of decay into which it had fallen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I aroused myself from the profitless reverie in which I had become lost.
+      We were standing before a sort of arbour which marked the end of the
+      grounds of the Guest House. It overhung the edge of a miniature ravine, in
+      which, over a pebbly course, a little stream pursued its way down the
+      valley to feed the lake in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From this point of vantage I could see the greater part of Colonel
+      Menendez&rsquo;s residence. I had an unobstructed view of the tower and of the
+      Tudor garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I abandoned my work-shop,&rdquo; pursued Colin Camber, &ldquo;when the&mdash;er&mdash;the
+      new tenant took up his residence. I work now in the room in which you
+      found me this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sighed, and turning abruptly, led the way back to the house, holding
+      himself very erect, and presenting a queer figure in his threadbare
+      dressing gown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now a perfect summer&rsquo;s day, and I commented upon the beauty of the
+      old garden, which in places was bordered by a crumbling wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a quaint old spot,&rdquo; said Camber. &ldquo;I thought at one time, because of
+      the name of the house, that it might have been part of a monastery or
+      convent. This was not the case, however. It derives its name from a
+      certain Sir Jaspar Guest, who flourished, I believe, under King Charles of
+      merry memory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;the Guest House is a charming survival of more
+      spacious days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; returned Colin Camber, gravely. &ldquo;Here it is possible to lead one&rsquo;s
+      own life, away from the noisy world,&rdquo; he sighed again wearily. &ldquo;Yes, I
+      shall regret leaving the Guest House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! You are leaving?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am leaving as soon as I can find another residence, suited both to my
+      requirements and to my slender purse. But these domestic affairs can be of
+      no possible interest to you. I take it, Mr. Knox, that you will grant my
+      wife and myself the pleasure of your company at lunch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Many thanks,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but really I must return to Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I spoke the words I had moved a little ahead at a point where the path
+      was overgrown by a rose bush, for the garden was somewhat neglected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will quite understand,&rdquo; I said, and turned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never can I forget the spectacle which I beheld.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber&rsquo;s peculiarly pale complexion had assumed a truly ghastly
+      pallor, and he stood with tightly clenched hands, glaring at me almost
+      insanely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; I cried, with concern, &ldquo;are you unwell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He moistened his dry lips, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are returning&mdash;to Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo; he said, speaking, it seemed,
+      with difficulty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am, sir. I am staying with Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He clutched the collar of his pyjama jacket and wrenched so strongly that
+      the button was torn off. His passion was incredible, insane. The power of
+      speech had almost left him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a guest of&mdash;of Devil Menendez,&rdquo; he whispered, and the
+      speaking of the name seemed almost to choke him. &ldquo;Of&mdash;Devil Menendez.
+      You&mdash;you&mdash;are a spy. You have stolen my hospitality&mdash;you
+      have obtained access to my house under false pretences. God! if I had
+      known!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; I said, sternly, and realized that I, too, had clenched my
+      fists, for the man&rsquo;s language was grossly insulting, &ldquo;you forget
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I do,&rdquo; he muttered, thickly; &ldquo;and therefore&rdquo;&mdash;he raised a
+      quivering forefinger&mdash;&ldquo;go! If you have any spark of compassion in
+      your breast, go! Leave my house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nostrils dilated, he stood with that quivering finger outstretched, and
+      now having become as speechless as he, I turned and walked rapidly up to
+      the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong! Ah Tsong!&rdquo; came a cry from behind me in tones which I can only
+      describe as hysterical&mdash;&ldquo;Mr. Knox&rsquo;s hat and stick. Quickly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I walked in past the study door the Chinaman came to meet me, holding
+      my hat and cane. I took them from him without a word, and, the door being
+      held open by Ah Tsong, walked out on to the road.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My heart was beating rapidly. I did not know what to think nor what to do.
+      This ignominious dismissal afforded an experience new to me. I was
+      humiliated, mortified, but above all, wildly angry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How far I had gone on my homeward journey I cannot say, when the sound of
+      quickly pattering footsteps intruded upon my wild reverie. I stopped,
+      turned, and there was Ah Tsong almost at my heels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Blinga chit flom lilly missee,&rdquo; he said, and held the note toward me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I hesitated, glaring at him in a way that must have been very unpleasant;
+      but recovering myself I tore open the envelope, and read the following
+      note, written in pencil and very shakily:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MR. KNOX. Please forgive him. If you knew what we have suffered from Senor
+      Don Juan Menendez, I know you would forgive him. Please, for my sake.
+      YSOLA CAMBER.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Chinaman was watching me, that strangely pathetic expression in his
+      eyes, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell your mistress that I quite understand and will write to her,&rdquo; I
+      said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hoi, hoi.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Tsong turned, and ran swiftly off, as I pursued my way back to Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly in a mood which I shall not attempt to describe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. UNREST
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I sat in Paul Harley&rsquo;s room. Luncheon was over, and although, as on the
+      previous day, it had been a perfect repast, perfectly served, the sense of
+      tension which I had experienced throughout the meal had made me horribly
+      ill at ease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That shadow of which I have spoken elsewhere seemed to have become almost
+      palpable. In vain I had ascribed it to a morbid imagination: persistently
+      it lingered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s gaiety rang more false than ever. She twirled the rings
+      upon her slender fingers and shot little enquiring glances all around the
+      table. This spirit of unrest, from wherever it arose, had communicated
+      itself to everybody. Madame&rsquo;s several bon mots one and all were failures.
+      She delivered them without conviction like an amateur repeating lines
+      learned by heart. The Colonel was unusually silent, eating little but
+      drinking much. There was something unreal, almost ghastly, about the whole
+      affair; and when at last Madame de Stämer retired, bearing Val Beverley
+      with her, I felt certain that the Colonel would make some communication to
+      us. If ever knowledge of portentous evil were written upon a man&rsquo;s face it
+      was written upon his, as he sat there at the head of the table, staring
+      straightly before him. However:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if your enquiries here have led to no result of,
+      shall I say, a tangible character, at least I feel sure that you must have
+      realized one thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stared at him sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have realized, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that something is
+      pending.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; murmured the Colonel, and he clutched the edge of the table with his
+      strong brown hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; continued my friend, &ldquo;I have realized something more. You have
+      asked for my aid, and I am here. Now you have deliberately tied my hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, sir?&rdquo; asked the other, softly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will speak plainly. I mean that you know more about the nature of this
+      danger than you have ever communicated to me. Allow me to proceed, if you
+      please, Colonel Menendez. For your delightful hospitality I thank you. As
+      your guest I could be happy, but as a professional investigator whose
+      services have been called upon under most unusual circumstances, I cannot
+      be happy and I do not thank you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Their glances met. Both were angry, wilful, and self-confident. Following
+      a few moments of silence:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said the Colonel, &ldquo;you have something further to
+      say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have this to say,&rdquo; was the answer: &ldquo;I esteem your friendship, but I
+      fear I must return to town without delay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel&rsquo;s jaws were clenched so tightly that I could see the muscles
+      protruding. He was fighting an inward battle; then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you would desert me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never deserted any man who sought my aid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have sought your aid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then accept it!&rdquo; cried Harley. &ldquo;This, or allow me to retire from the
+      case. You ask me to find an enemy who threatens you, and you withhold
+      every clue which could aid me in my search.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What clue have I withheld?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stood up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is useless to discuss the matter further, Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he said,
+      coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel rose also, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, and his high voice was ill-controlled, &ldquo;if I
+      give you my word of honour that I dare not tell you more, and if, having
+      done so, I beg of you to remain at least another night, can you refuse
+      me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stood at the end of the table watching him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this would appear to be a game in which my
+      handicap rests on the fact that I do not know against whom I am pitted.
+      Very well. You leave me no alternative but to reply that I will stay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you, Mr. Harley. As I fear I am far from well, dare I hope to be
+      excused if I retire to my room for an hour&rsquo;s rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I bowed, and the Colonel, returning our salutations, walked
+      slowly out, his bearing one of grace and dignity. So that memorable
+      luncheon terminated, and now we found ourselves alone and faced with a
+      problem which, from whatever point one viewed it, offered no single
+      opening whereby one might hope to penetrate to the truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley was pacing up and down the room in a state of such nervous
+      irritability as I never remembered to have witnessed in him before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had just finished an account of my visit to the Guest House and of the
+      indignity which had been put upon me, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Conundrums! conundrums!&rdquo; my friend exclaimed. &ldquo;This quest of Bat Wing is
+      like the quest of heaven, Knox. A hundred open doors invite us, each one
+      promising to lead to the light, and if we enter where do they lead?&mdash;to
+      mystification. For instance, Colonel Menendez has broadly hinted that he
+      looks upon Colin Camber as an enemy. Judging from your reception at the
+      Guest House to-day, such an enmity, and a deadly enmity, actually exists.
+      But whereas Camber has resided here for three years, the Colonel is a
+      newcomer. We are, therefore, offered the spectacle of a trembling victim
+      seeking the sacrifice. Bah! it is preposterous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you had seen Colin Camber&rsquo;s face to-day, you might not have thought it
+      so preposterous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I should, Knox! I should! It is impossible to suppose that Colonel
+      Menendez was unaware when he leased Cray&rsquo;s Folly that Camber occupied the
+      Guest House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Mrs. Camber is a Cuban,&rdquo; I murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t, Knox!&rdquo; my friend implored. &ldquo;This case is driving me mad. I have a
+      conviction that it is going to prove my Waterloo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;this mood is new to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you advise me to remember Auguste Dupin?&rdquo; asked Harley,
+      bitterly. &ldquo;That great man, preserving his philosophical calm, doubtless by
+      this time would have pieced together these disjointed clues, and have
+      produced an elegant pattern ready to be framed and exhibited to the
+      admiring public.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He dropped down upon the bed, and taking his briar from his pocket, began
+      to load it in a manner which was almost vicious. I stood watching him and
+      offered no remark, until, having lighted the pipe, he began to smoke. I
+      knew that these &ldquo;Indian moods&rdquo; were of short duration, and, sure enough,
+      presently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God bless us all, Knox,&rdquo; he said, breaking into an amused smile, &ldquo;how we
+      bristle when someone tries to prove that we are not infallible! How human
+      we are, Knox, but how fortunate that we can laugh at ourselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sighed with relief, for Harley at these times imposed a severe strain
+      even upon my easy-going disposition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us go down to the billiard room,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;I will play you a
+      hundred up. I have arrived at a point where my ideas persistently work in
+      circles. The best cure is golf; failing golf, billiards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The billiard room was immediately beneath us, adjoining the last apartment
+      in the east wing, and there we made our way. Harley played keenly,
+      deliberately, concentrating upon the game. I was less successful, for I
+      found myself alternately glancing toward the door and the open window, in
+      the hope that Val Beverley would join us. I was disappointed, however. We
+      saw no more of the ladies until tea-time, and if a spirit of constraint
+      had prevailed throughout luncheon, a veritable demon of unrest presided
+      upon the terrace during tea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer made apologies on behalf of the Colonel. He was
+      prolonging his siesta, but he hoped to join us at dinner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is the Colonel&rsquo;s heart affected?&rdquo; Harley asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, blankly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is mysterious, the state of his health,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;An old trouble,
+      which began years and years ago in Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley nodded sympathetically, but I could see that he was not satisfied.
+      Yet, although he might doubt her explanation, he had noted, and so had I,
+      that Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s concern was very real. Her slender hands were
+      strangely unsteady; indeed her condition bordered on one of distraction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley concealed his thoughts, whatever they may have been, beneath that
+      mask of reserve which I knew so well, whilst I endeavoured in vain to draw
+      Val Beverley into conversation with me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I gathered that Madame de Stämer had been to visit the invalid, and that
+      she was all anxiety to return was a fact she was wholly unable to conceal.
+      There was a tired look in her still eyes, as though she had undertaken a
+      task beyond her powers to perform, and, so unnatural a quartette were we,
+      that when presently she withdrew I was glad, although she took Val
+      Beverley with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley resumed his seat, staring at me with unseeing eyes. A sound
+      reached us through the drawing room which told us that Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s
+      chair was being taken upstairs, a task always performed when Madame
+      desired to visit the upper floors by Manoel and Pedro&rsquo;s daughter, Nita,
+      who acted as Madame&rsquo;s maid. These sounds died away, and I thought how
+      silent everything had become. Even the birds were still, and presently, my
+      eye being attracted to a black speck in the sky above, I learned why the
+      feathered choir was mute. A hawk was hovering loftily overhead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Noting my upward glance, Paul Harley also raised his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;a hawk. All the birds are cowering in their nests.
+      Nature is a cruel mistress, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. RED EVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Over the remainder of that afternoon I will pass in silence. Indeed,
+      looking backward now, I cannot recollect that it afforded one incident
+      worthy of record. But because great things overshadow small, so it may be
+      that whereas my recollections of quite trivial episodes are sharp enough
+      up to a point, my memories from this point onward to the horrible and
+      tragic happening which I have set myself to relate are hazy and
+      indistinct. I was troubled by the continued absence of Val Beverley. I
+      thought that she was avoiding me by design, and in Harley&rsquo;s gloomy
+      reticence I could find no shadow of comfort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We wandered aimlessly about the grounds, Harley staring up in a vague
+      fashion at the windows of Cray&rsquo;s Folly; and presently, when I stopped to
+      inspect a very perfect rose bush, he left me without a word, and I found
+      myself alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Later, as I sauntered toward the Tudor garden, where I had hoped to
+      encounter Miss Beverley, I heard the clicking of billiard balls; and there
+      was Harley at the table, practising fancy shots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced up at me as I paused by the open window, stopped to relight his
+      pipe, and then bent over the table again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave me alone, Knox,&rdquo; he muttered; &ldquo;I am not fit for human society.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Understanding his moods as well as I did, I merely laughed and withdrew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I strolled around into the library and inspected scores of books without
+      forming any definite impression of the contents of any of them. Manoel
+      came in whilst I was there and I was strongly tempted to send a message to
+      Miss Beverley, but common sense overcame the inclination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When at last my watch told me that the hour for dressing was arrived, I
+      heaved a sigh of relief. I cannot say that I was bored, my ill-temper
+      sprang from a deeper source than this. The mysterious disappearance of the
+      inmates of Cray&rsquo;s Folly, and a sort of brooding stillness which lay over
+      the great house, had utterly oppressed me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I passed along the terrace I paused to admire the spectacle afforded by
+      the setting sun. The horizon was on fire from north to south and the
+      countryside was stained with that mystic radiance which is sometimes
+      called the Blood of Apollo. Turning, I saw the disk of the moon coldly
+      rising in the heavens. I thought of the silent birds and the hovering
+      hawk, and I began my preparations for dinner mechanically, dressing as an
+      automaton might dress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s personality was never more marked than in his evil moods.
+      His power to fascinate was only equalled by his power to repel. Thus,
+      although there was a light in his room and I could hear Lim moving about,
+      I did not join him when I had finished dressing, but lighting a cigarette
+      walked downstairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The beauty of the night called to me, although as I stepped out upon the
+      terrace I realized with a sort of shock that the gathering dusk held a
+      menace, so that I found myself questioning the shadows and doubting the
+      rustle of every leaf. Something invisible, intangible yet potent, brooded
+      over Cray&rsquo;s Folly. I began to think more kindly of the disappearance of
+      Val Beverley during the afternoon. Doubtless she, too, had been touched by
+      this spirit of unrest and in solitude had sought to dispel it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So thinking. I walked on in the direction of the Tudor garden. The place
+      was bathed in a sort of purple half-light, lending it a fairy air of
+      unreality, as though banished sun and rising moon yet disputed for mastery
+      over earth. This idea set me thinking of Colin Camber, of Osiris, whom he
+      had described as a black god, and of Isis, whose silver disk now held
+      undisputed sovereignty of the evening sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Resentment of the treatment which I had received at the Guest House still
+      burned hotly within me, but the mystery of it all had taken the keen edge
+      off my wrath, and I think a sort of melancholy was the keynote of my
+      reflections as, descending the steps to the sunken garden, I saw Val
+      Beverley, in a delicate blue gown, coming toward me. She was the spirit of
+      my dreams, and the embodiment of my mood. When she lowered her eyes at my
+      approach, I knew by virtue of a sort of inspiration that she had been
+      avoiding me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I have been looking for you all the afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you? I have been in my room writing letters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I paced slowly along beside her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you would be very frank with me,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced up swiftly, and as swiftly lowered her lashes again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think I am not frank?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do think so. I understand why.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you really understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I do. Your woman&rsquo;s intuition has told you that there is something
+      wrong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are afraid of your thoughts. You can see that Madame de Stämer and
+      Colonel Menendez are deliberately concealing something from Paul Harley,
+      and you don&rsquo;t know where your duty lies. Am I right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She met my glance for a moment in a startled way, then: &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said,
+      softly; &ldquo;you are quite right. How have you guessed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have tried very hard to understand you,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;and so perhaps up
+      to a point I have succeeded.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox.&rdquo; She suddenly laid her hand upon my arm. &ldquo;I am oppressed
+      with such a dreadful foreboding, yet I don&rsquo;t know how to explain it to
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand. I, too, have felt it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have?&rdquo; She paused, and looked at me eagerly. &ldquo;Then it is not just
+      morbid imagination on my part. If only I knew what to do, what to believe.
+      Really, I am bewildered. I have just left Madame de Stämer&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; I said, for she had paused in evident doubt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, she has utterly broken down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Broken down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She came to my room and sobbed hysterically for nearly an hour this
+      afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what was the cause of her grief?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I simply cannot understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it possible that Colonel Menendez is dangerously ill?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be so, Mr. Knox, but in that event why have they not sent for a
+      physician?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; I murmured; &ldquo;and no one has been sent for?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you seen Colonel Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not since lunch-time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you ever known him to suffer in this way before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never. It is utterly unaccountable. Certainly during the last few months
+      he has given up riding practically altogether, and in other ways has
+      changed his former habits, but I have never known him to exhibit traces of
+      any real illness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has any medical man attended him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not that I know of. Oh, there is something uncanny about it all. Whatever
+      should I do if you were not here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had spoken on impulse, and seeing her swift embarrassment:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I am delighted to know that my company cheers
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Truth to tell my heart was beating rapidly, and, so selfish is the nature
+      of man, I was more glad to learn that my company was acceptable to Val
+      Beverley than I should have been to have had the riddle of Cray&rsquo;s Folly
+      laid bare before me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those sweetly indiscreet words, however, had raised a momentary barrier
+      between us, and we walked on silently to the house, and entered the
+      brightly lighted hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The silver peal of a Chinese tubular gong rang out just when we reached
+      the veranda, and as Val Beverley and I walked in from the garden, Madame
+      de Stämer came wheeling through the doorway, closely followed by Paul
+      Harley. In her the art of the toilette amounted almost to genius, and she
+      had so successfully concealed all traces of her recent grief that I
+      wondered if this could have been real.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I seem to be fated always to apologize for
+      other people. The Colonel is truly desolate, but he cannot join us for
+      dinner. I have already explained to Mr. Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley inclined his head sympathetically, and assisted to arrange Madame
+      in her place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Colonel requests us to smoke a cigar with him after dinner, Knox,&rdquo; he
+      said, glancing across to me. &ldquo;It would seem that troubles never come
+      singly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; Madame shrugged her shoulders, which her low gown left daringly
+      bare, &ldquo;they come in flocks, or not at all. But I suppose we should feel
+      lonely in the world without a few little sorrows, eh, Mr. Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I loved her unquenchable spirit, and I have wondered often enough what I
+      should have thought of her if I had known the truth. France has bred some
+      wonderful women, both good and bad, but none I think more wonderful than
+      Marie de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If such a thing were possible, we dined more extravagantly than on the
+      previous night. Madame&rsquo;s wit was at its keenest; she was truly brilliant.
+      Pedro, from the big bouffet at the end of the room, supervised this feast
+      of Lucullus, and except for odd moments of silence in which Madame seemed
+      to be listening for some distant sound, there was nothing, I think, which
+      could have told a casual observer that a black cloud rested upon the
+      house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, interrupting a tête-à-tête between Val Beverley and Paul Harley:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not encourage her, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said Madame, &ldquo;she is a desperate
+      flirt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame,&rdquo; cried Val Beverley and blushed deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know you are, my dear, and you are very wise. Flirt all your life,
+      but never fall in love. It is fatal, don&rsquo;t you think so, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;&mdash;turning
+      to me in her rapid manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked into her still eyes, which concealed so much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say, rather, that it is Fate,&rdquo; I murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that is more pretty, but not so true. If I could live my life again,
+      M. Knox,&rdquo; she said, for she sometimes used the French and sometimes the
+      English mode of address, &ldquo;I should build a stone wall around my heart. It
+      could peep over, but no one could ever reach it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Oddly enough, then, as it seems to me now, the spirit of unrest seemed
+      almost to depart for awhile, and in the company of the vivacious
+      Frenchwoman time passed very quickly up to the moment when Harley and I
+      walked slowly upstairs to join the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the latter part of dinner an idea had presented itself to me which
+      I was anxious to mention to Harley, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;an explanation of the Colonel&rsquo;s absence has occurred to
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really!&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;possibly the same one that has occurred to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley paused on the stairs, turning to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are thinking that he has taken cover from the danger which he
+      believes particularly to threaten him to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may be right,&rdquo; he murmured, proceeding upstairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He led the way to a little smoke-room which hitherto I had never visited,
+      and in response to his knock:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in,&rdquo; cried the high voice of Colonel Menendez.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We entered to find ourselves in a small and very cosy room. There was a
+      handsome oak bureau against one wall, which was littered with papers of
+      various kinds, and there was also a large bookcase occupied almost
+      exclusively by French novels. It occurred to me that the Colonel spent a
+      greater part of his time in this little snuggery than in the more formal
+      study below. At the moment of our arrival he was stretched upon a settee
+      near which stood a little table; and on this table I observed the remains
+      of what appeared to me to have been a fairly substantial repast. For some
+      reason which I did not pause to analyze at the moment I noted with
+      disfavour the presence of a bowl of roses upon the silver tray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez was smoking a cigarette, and Manoel was in the act of
+      removing the tray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; said the Colonel, &ldquo;I have no words in which to express my
+      sorrow. Manoel, pull up those armchairs. Help yourself to port, Mr.
+      Harley, and fill Mr. Knox&rsquo;s glass. I can recommend the cigars in the long
+      box.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As we seated ourselves:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am extremely sorry to find you indisposed, sir,&rdquo; said Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was watching the dark face keenly, and probably thinking, as I was
+      thinking, that it exhibited no trace of illness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez waved his cigarette gracefully, settling himself amid the
+      cushions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An old trouble, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, lightly; &ldquo;a legacy from
+      ancestors who drank too deep of the wine of life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are surely taking medical advice?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez shrugged slightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no doctor in England who would understand the case,&rdquo; he replied.
+      &ldquo;Besides, there is nothing for it but rest and avoidance of excitement.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that event, Colonel,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;we will not disturb you for long.
+      Indeed, I should not have consented to disturb you at all, if I had not
+      thought that you might have some request to make upon this important
+      night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; Colonel Menendez shot a swift glance in his direction. &ldquo;You have
+      remembered about to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your interest comforts me very greatly, gentlemen, and I am only sorry
+      that my uncertain health has made me so poor a host. Nothing has occurred
+      since your arrival to help you, I am aware. Not that I am anxious for any
+      new activity on the part of my enemies. But almost anything which should
+      end this deathly suspense would be welcome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke the final words with a peculiar intonation. I saw Harley watching
+      him closely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;However,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;everything is in the hands of Fate, and if your
+      visit should prove futile, I can only apologize for having interrupted
+      your original plans. Respecting to-night&rdquo;&mdash;he shrugged&mdash;&ldquo;what
+      can I say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing has occurred,&rdquo; asked Harley, slowly, &ldquo;nothing fresh, I mean, to
+      indicate that the danger which you apprehend may really culminate
+      to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing fresh, Mr. Harley, unless you yourself have observed anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; murmured Paul Harley, &ldquo;let us hope that the threat will never be
+      fulfilled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Menendez inclined his head gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us hope so,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the whole, he was curiously subdued. He was most solicitous for our
+      comfort and his exquisite courtesy had never been more marked. I often
+      think of him now&mdash;his big but graceful figure reclining upon the
+      settee, whilst he skilfully rolled his eternal cigarettes and chatted in
+      that peculiar, light voice. Before the memory of Colonel Don Juan
+      Sarmiento Menendez I sometimes stand appalled. If his Maker had but
+      endowed him with other qualities of mind and heart equal to his
+      magnificent courage, then truly he had been a great man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I stood at Harley&rsquo;s open window&mdash;looking down in the Tudor garden.
+      The moon, like a silver mirror, hung in a cloudless sky. Over an hour had
+      elapsed since I had heard Pedro making his nightly rounds. Nothing
+      whatever of an unusual nature had occurred, and although Harley and I had
+      listened for any sound of nocturnal footsteps, our vigilance had passed
+      unrewarded. Harley, unrolling the Chinese ladder, had set out upon a
+      secret tour of the grounds, warning me that it must be a long business,
+      since the brilliance of the moonlight rendered it necessary that he should
+      make a wide detour, in order to avoid possible observation from the
+      windows. I had wished to join him, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I count it most important that one of us should remain in the house,&rdquo; he
+      had replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a result, here was I at the open window, questioning the shadows to
+      right and left of me, and every moment expecting to see Harley reappear. I
+      wondered what discoveries he would make. It would not have surprised me to
+      learn that there were lights in many windows of Cray&rsquo;s Folly to-night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although, when we had rejoined the ladies for half an hour, after leaving
+      Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s room, there had been no overt reference to the menace
+      overhanging the house, yet, as we separated for the night, I had detected
+      again in Val Beverley&rsquo;s eyes that look of repressed fear. Indeed, she was
+      palpably disinclined to retire, but was carried off by the masterful
+      Madame, who declared that she looked tired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I wondered now, as I gazed down into the moon-bathed gardens, if Harley
+      and I were the only wakeful members of the household at that hour. I
+      should have been prepared to wager that there were others. I thought of
+      the strange footsteps which so often passed Miss Beverley&rsquo;s room, and I
+      discovered this thought to be an uncomfortable one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Normally, I was sceptical enough, but on this night of the full moon as I
+      stood there at the window, the horrors which Colonel Menendez had related
+      to us grew very real in my eyes, and I thought that the mysteries of
+      Voodoo might conceal strange and ghastly truths, &ldquo;The scientific
+      employment of darkness against light.&rdquo; Colin Camber&rsquo;s words leapt unbidden
+      to my mind; and, such is the magic of moonlight, they became invested with
+      a new and a deeper significance. Strange, that theories which one rejects
+      whilst the sun is shining should assume a spectral shape in the light of
+      the moon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such were my musings, when suddenly I heard a faint sound as of footsteps
+      crunching upon gravel. I leaned farther out of the window, listening
+      intently. I could not believe that Harley would be guilty of such an
+      indiscretion as this, yet who else could be walking upon the path below?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I watched, craning from the window, a tall figure appeared, and, slowly
+      crossing the gravel path, descended the moss-grown steps to the Tudor
+      garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Colonel Menendez!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was bare-headed, but fully dressed as I had seen him in the
+      smoking-room; and not yet grasping the portent of his appearance at that
+      hour, but merely wondering why he had not yet retired, I continued to
+      watch him. As I did so, something in his gait, something unnatural in his
+      movements, caught hold of my mind with a sudden great conviction. He had
+      reached the path which led to the sun-dial, and with short, queer, ataxic
+      steps was proceeding in its direction, a striking figure in the brilliant
+      moonlight which touched his gray hair with a silvery sheen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His unnatural, automatic movements told their own story. He was walking in
+      his sleep! Could it be in obedience to the call of M&rsquo;kombo?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My throat grew dry and I knew not how to act. Unwillingly it seemed, with
+      ever-halting steps, the figure moved onward. I could see that his fists
+      were tightly clenched and that he held his head rigidly upright. All
+      horrors, real and imaginary, which I had ever experienced, culminated in
+      the moment when I saw this man of inflexible character, I could have sworn
+      of indomitable will, moving like a puppet under the influence of some
+      unnameable force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was almost come to the sun-dial when I determined to cry out. Then,
+      remembering the shock experienced by a suddenly awakened somnambulist, and
+      remembering that the Chinese ladder hung from the window at my feet, I
+      changed my mind. Checking the cry upon my lips, I got astride of the
+      window ledge, and began to grope for the bamboo rungs beneath me. I had
+      found the first of these, and, turning, had begun to descend, when:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Knox! Knox!&rdquo; came softly from the opening in the box hedge, &ldquo;what the
+      devil are you about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Paul Harley returned from his tour of the building.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley!&rdquo; I whispered, descending, &ldquo;quick! the Colonel has just gone into
+      the Tudor garden!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; There was a note of absolute horror in the exclamation. &ldquo;You
+      should have stopped him, Knox, you should have stopped him!&rdquo; cried Harley,
+      and with that he ran off in the same direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Disentangling my foot from the rungs of the ladder which lay upon the
+      ground, I was about to follow, when it happened&mdash;that strange and
+      ghastly thing toward which, secretly, darkly, events had been tending.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The crack of a rifle sounded sharply in the stillness, echoing and
+      re-echoing from wing to wing of Cray&rsquo;s Folly and then, more dimly, up the
+      wooded slopes beyond! Somewhere ahead of me I heard Harley cry out:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God, I am too late! They have got him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, hotfoot, I was making for the entrance to the garden. Just as I came
+      to it and raced down the steps I heard another sound the memory of which
+      haunts me to this day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Where it came from I had no idea. Perhaps I was too confused to judge
+      accurately. It might have come from the house, or from the slopes beyond
+      the house, But it was a sort of shrill, choking laugh, and it set the
+      ultimate touch of horror upon a <i>scène macabre</i> which, even as I
+      write of it, seems unreal to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I ran up the path to where Harley was kneeling beside the sun-dial.
+      Analysis of my emotions at this moment were futile; I can only say that I
+      had come to a state of stupefaction. Face downward on the grass, arms
+      outstretched and fists clenched, lay Colonel Menendez. I think I saw him
+      move convulsively, but as I gained his side Harley looked up at me, and
+      beneath the tan which he never lost his face had grown pale. He spoke
+      through clenched teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Merciful God,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;he is shot through the head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      One glance I gave at the ghastly wound in the base of the Colonel&rsquo;s skull,
+      and then swayed backward in a sort of nausea. To see a man die in the heat
+      of battle, a man one has known and called friend, is strange and terrible.
+      Here in this moon-bathed Tudor garden it was a horror almost beyond my
+      powers to endure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley, without touching the prone figure, stood up. Indeed no
+      examination of the victim was necessary. A rifle bullet had pierced his
+      brain, and he lay there dead with his head toward the hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I clutched at Harley&rsquo;s shoulder, but he stood rigidly, staring up the
+      slope past the angle of the tower, to where a gable of the Guest House
+      jutted out from the trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear&mdash;that cry?&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;immediately after the shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A moment longer he stood fixedly watching, and then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a wisp of smoke,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You note the direction in which he was
+      facing when he fell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke in a stern and unnatural voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do. He must have turned half right when he came to the sun-dial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where were you when the shot was fired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Running in this direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You saw no flash?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither did I,&rdquo; groaned Harley; &ldquo;neither did I. And short of throwing a
+      cordon round the hills what can be done? How can I move?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had somewhat relaxed, but now as I continued to clutch his arm, I felt
+      the muscles grow rigid again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look, Knox!&rdquo; he whispered&mdash;&ldquo;look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I followed the direction of his fixed stare, and through the trees on the
+      hillside a dim light shone out. Someone had lighted a lamp in the Guest
+      House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A faint, sibilant sound drew my glance upward, and there overhead a bat
+      circled&mdash;circled&mdash;dipped&mdash;and flew off toward the distant
+      woods. So still was the night that I could distinguish the babble of the
+      little stream which ran down into the lake. Then, suddenly, came a loud
+      flapping of wings. The swans had been awakened by the sound of the shot.
+      Others had been awakened, too, for now distant voices became audible, and
+      then a muffled scream from somewhere within Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Back to the house, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley, hoarsely. &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake keep the
+      women away. Get Pedro, and send Manoel for the nearest doctor. It&rsquo;s
+      useless but usual. Let no one deface his footprints. My worst
+      anticipations have come true. The local police must be informed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the time that he spoke he continued to search the moon-bathed
+      landscape with feverish eagerness, but except for a faint movement of
+      birds in the trees, for they, like the swans on the lake, had been alarmed
+      by the shot, nothing stirred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It came from the hillside,&rdquo; he muttered. &ldquo;Off you go, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And even as I started on my unpleasant errand, he had set out running
+      toward the gate in the southern corner of the garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For my part I scrambled unceremoniously up the bank, and emerged where the
+      yews stood sentinel beside the path. I ran through the gap in the box
+      hedge just as the main doors were thrown open by Pedro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He started back as he saw me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pedro! Pedro!&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;have the ladies been awakened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes! there is terrible trouble, sir. What has happened? What has
+      happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A tragedy,&rdquo; I said, shortly. &ldquo;Pull yourself together. Where is Madame de
+      Stämer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pedro uttered some exclamation in Spanish and stood, pale-faced, swaying
+      before me, a dishevelled figure in a dressing gown. And now in the
+      background Mrs. Fisher appeared. One frightened glance she cast in my
+      direction, and would have hurried across the hall but I intercepted her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you going, Mrs. Fisher?&rdquo; I demanded. &ldquo;What has happened here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Madame, to Madame,&rdquo; she sobbed, pointing toward the corridor which
+      communicated with Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s bedchamber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard a frightened cry proceeding from that direction, and recognized
+      the voice of Nita, the girl who acted as Madame&rsquo;s maid. Then I heard Val
+      Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and fetch Mrs. Fisher, Nita, at once&mdash;and try to behave yourself.
+      I have trouble enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I entered the corridor and pulled up short. Val Beverley, fully dressed,
+      was kneeling beside Madame de Stämer, who wore a kimono over her
+      night-robe, and who lay huddled on the floor immediately outside the door
+      of her room!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox!&rdquo; cried the girl, pitifully, and raised frightened eyes to
+      me. &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake, what has happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nita, the Spanish girl, who was sobbing hysterically, ran along to join
+      Mrs. Fisher.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you in a moment,&rdquo; I said, quietly, rendered cool, as one
+      always is, by the need of others. &ldquo;But first tell me&mdash;how did Madame
+      de Stämer get here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, I don&rsquo;t know! I was startled by the shot. It has awakened
+      everybody. And just as I opened my door to listen, I heard Madame cry out
+      in the hall below. I ran down, turned on the light, and found her lying
+      here. She, too, had been awakened, I suppose, and was endeavouring to drag
+      herself from her room when her strength failed her and she swooned. She is
+      too heavy for me to lift,&rdquo; added the girl, pathetically, &ldquo;and Pedro is out
+      of his senses, and Nita, who was the first of the servants to come, is
+      simply hysterical, as you can see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded reassuringly, and stooping, lifted the swooning woman. She was
+      much heavier than I should have supposed, but, Val Beverley leading the
+      way, I carried her into her apartment and placed her upon the bed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will leave her to you,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You have courage, and so I will tell
+      you what has happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, tell me, oh, tell me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laid her hands upon my shoulders appealingly, and looked up into my
+      eyes in a way that made me long to take her in my arms and comfort her, an
+      insane longing which I only crushed with difficulty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Someone has shot Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; I said, in a low voice, for Mrs.
+      Fisher had just entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley opened and closed her eyes, clutching at me dizzily for a
+      moment, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;she must have known, and that was why she
+      swooned. Oh, my God! how horrible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I made her sit down in an armchair, and watched her anxiously, but
+      although every speck of colour had faded from her cheeks, she was
+      splendidly courageous, and almost immediately she smiled up at me, very
+      wanly, but confidently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will look after her,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Mr. Harley will need your assistance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When I returned to the hall I found it already filled with a number of
+      servants incongruously attired. Carter the chauffeur, who lived at the
+      lodge, was just coming in at the door, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Carter,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;get a car out quickly, and bring the nearest doctor. If
+      there is another man who can drive, send him for the police. Your master
+      has been shot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY OF MARKET HILTON
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury, &ldquo;I will take evidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dawn was creeping grayly over the hills, and the view from the library
+      windows resembled a study by Bastien-Lepage. The lamps burned yellowly,
+      and the exotic appointments of the library viewed in that cold light for
+      some reason reminded me of a stage set seen in daylight. The Velasquez
+      portrait mentally translated me to the billiard room where something lay
+      upon the settee with a white sheet drawn over it; and I wondered if my own
+      face looked as wan and comfortless as did the faces of my companions, that
+      is, of two of them, for I must except Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Squarely before the oaken mantel he stood, a large, pompous man, but in
+      this hour I could find no humour in Paul Harley&rsquo;s description of him as
+      resembling a walrus. He had a large auburn moustache tinged with gray, and
+      prominent brown eyes, but the lower part of his face, which terminated in
+      a big double chin, was ill-balanced by his small forehead. He was bulkily
+      built, and I had conceived an unreasonable distaste for his puffy hands.
+      His official air and oratorical manner were provoking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley sat in the chair which he had occupied during our last interview
+      with Colonel Menendez in the library, and I had realized&mdash;a
+      realization which had made me uncomfortable&mdash;that I was seated upon
+      the couch on which the Colonel had reclined. Only one other was present,
+      Dr. Rolleston of Mid-Hatton, a slight, fair man with a brisk, military
+      manner, acquired perhaps during six years of war service. He was standing
+      beside me smoking a cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have taken all the necessary particulars concerning the position of the
+      body,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, &ldquo;the nature of the wound, contents of
+      pockets, etc., and I now turn to you, Mr. Harley, as the first person to
+      discover the murdered man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley lay back in the armchair watching the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before we come to what happened here to-night I should like to be quite
+      clear about your own position in the matter, Mr. Harley. Now&rdquo;&mdash;Inspector
+      Aylesbury raised one finger in forensic manner&mdash;&ldquo;now, you visited me
+      yesterday afternoon, Mr. Harley, and asked for certain information
+      regarding the neighbourhood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; said Harley, shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The questions which you asked me were,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, slowly
+      and impressively, &ldquo;did I know of any negro or coloured people living in,
+      or about, Mid-Hatton, and could I give you a list of the residents within
+      a two-mile radius of Cray&rsquo;s Folly. I gave you the information which you
+      required, and now it is your turn to give me some. Why did you ask those
+      questions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For this reason,&rdquo; was the reply&mdash;&ldquo;I had been requested by Colonel
+      Menendez to visit Cray&rsquo;s Folly, accompanied by my friend, Mr. Knox, in
+      order that I might investigate certain occurrences which had taken place
+      here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, raising his eyebrows, &ldquo;I see. You were here to
+      make investigations?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And these occurrences, will you tell me what they were?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Simple enough in themselves,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;Someone broke into the
+      house one night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Broke into the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But this was never reported to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly not, but someone broke in, nevertheless. Secondly, Colonel
+      Menendez had detected someone lurking about the lawns, and thirdly, the
+      wing of a bat was nailed to the main door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury lowered his eyebrows and concentrated a frowning
+      glance upon the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to jump to conclusions, but you
+      are not by any chance trying to be funny at a time like this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My sense of humour has failed me entirely,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;I am merely
+      stating bald facts in reply to your questions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector cleared his throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Someone broke into Cray&rsquo;s Folly, then, a fact which was not reported to
+      me, a suspicious loiterer was seen in the grounds, again not reported, and
+      someone played a silly practical joke by nailing the wing of a bat, you
+      say, to the door. Might I ask, Mr. Harley, why you mention this matter?
+      The other things are serious, but why you should mention the trick of some
+      mischievous boy at a time like this I can&rsquo;t imagine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Harley, wearily, &ldquo;it does sound absurd, Inspector; I quite
+      appreciate the fact. But, you see, Colonel Menendez regarded it as the
+      most significant episode of them all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! The bat wing nailed on the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bat wing, decidedly. He believed it to be the token of a negro secret
+      society which had determined upon his death, hence my enquiries regarding
+      coloured men in the neighbourhood. Do you understand, Inspector?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury took a large handkerchief from his pocket and blew his
+      nose. Replacing the handkerchief he cleared his throat, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I to understand,&rdquo; he enquired, &ldquo;that the late Colonel Menendez had
+      expected to be attacked?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may understand that,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;It explains my presence in the
+      house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;I see. It looks as though he might have done
+      better if he had applied to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley glanced across in my direction and smiled grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As I had predicted, Knox,&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;my Waterloo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that you say about Waterloo, Mr. Harley?&rdquo; demanded the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing germane to the case,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;It was a reference to a
+      battle, not to a railway station.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury stared at him dully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You quite understand that you are giving evidence?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It were impossible not to appreciate the fact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then. The late Colonel Menendez thought he was in danger from
+      negroes. Why did he think that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was a retired West Indian planter,&rdquo; replied Harley, patiently, &ldquo;and he
+      was under the impression that he had offended a powerful native society,
+      and that for many years their vengeance had pursued him. Attempts to
+      assassinate him had already taken place in Cuba and in the United States.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What sort of attempts?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was shot at, several times, and once, in Washington, was attacked by a
+      man with a knife. He maintained in my presence and in the presence of my
+      friend, Mr. Knox, here, that these various attempts were due to members of
+      a sect or religion known as Voodoo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Voodoo?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Voodoo, Inspector, also known as Obeah, a cult which has spread from the
+      West Coast of Africa throughout the West Indies and to parts of the United
+      States. The bat wing is said to be a sign used by these people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now let me get this thing clear,&rdquo; said he: &ldquo;Colonel Menendez believed
+      that people called Voodoos wanted to kill him? Before we go any farther,
+      why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty years ago in the West Indies he had shot an important member of
+      this sect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty years ago?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;According to a statement which he made to me, yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. Then for twenty years these Voodoos have been trying to kill him?
+      Then he comes and settles here in Surrey and someone nails a bat wing to
+      his door? Did you see this bat wing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did. I have it upstairs in my bag if you would care to examine it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;I see. And thinking he had been followed to
+      England he came to you to see if you could save him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did he go to you in preference to the local police, the proper
+      authorities?&rdquo; demanded the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was advised to do so by the Spanish ambassador, or so he informed me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that so? Well, I suppose it had to be. Coming from foreign parts. I
+      expect he didn&rsquo;t know what our police are for.&rdquo; He cleared his throat.
+      &ldquo;Very well, I understand now what you were doing here, Mr. Harley. The
+      next thing is, what were you doing tonight, as I see that both you and Mr.
+      Knox are still in evening dress?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were keeping watch,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury turned to me ponderously, raising a fat hand. &ldquo;One
+      moment, Mr. Knox, one moment,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;The evidence of one witness
+      at a time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were keeping watch,&rdquo; said Harley, deliberately echoing my words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More or less we were here for that purpose. You see, on the night of the
+      full moon, according to Colonel Menendez, Obeah people become particularly
+      active.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why on the night of the full moon?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This I cannot tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. You were keeping watch. Where were you keeping watch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In my room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In which part of the house is your room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Northeast. It overlooks the Tudor garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At what time did you retire?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About half-past ten.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you leave the Colonel well?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he had been unwell all day. He had remained in his room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had he asked you to sit up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all; our vigil was quite voluntary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then, you were in your room when the shot was fired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, I was on the path in front of the house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. The front door was open, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all. Pedro had locked up for the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And locked you out?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I descended from my window by means of a ladder which I had brought
+      with me for the purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With a ladder? That&rsquo;s rather extraordinary, Mr Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is extraordinary. I have strange habits.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again and looked frowningly across
+      at my friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What part of the grounds were you in when the shot was fired?&rdquo; he
+      demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Halfway along the north side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What were you doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was running.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Running?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Inspector, I regarded it as my duty to patrol the grounds of the
+      house at nightfall, since, for all I knew to the contrary, some of the
+      servants might be responsible for the attempts of which the Colonel
+      complained. I had descended from the window of my room, had passed
+      entirely around the house east to west, and had returned to my
+      starting-point when Mr. Knox, who was looking out of the window, observed
+      Colonel Menendez entering the Tudor garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh. Colonel Menendez was not visible to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not from my position below, but being informed by my friend, who was
+      hurriedly descending the ladder, that the Colonel had entered the garden,
+      I set off running to intercept him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He had acquired a habit of walking in his sleep, and I presumed that he
+      was doing so on this occasion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. So being told by the gentleman at the window that Colonel
+      Menendez was in the garden, you started to run toward him. While you were
+      running you heard a shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where do you think it came from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing is more difficult to judge, Inspector, especially when one is
+      near to a large building surrounded by trees.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; said the Inspector, again raising his finger and frowning
+      at Harley, &ldquo;you cannot tell me that you formed no impression on the point.
+      For instance, was it near, or a long way off?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was fairly near.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ten yards, twenty yards, a hundred yards, a mile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Within a hundred yards. I cannot be more exact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Within a hundred yards, and you have no idea from which direction the
+      shot was fired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the sound I could form none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. And what did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ran on and down into the sunken garden. I saw Colonel Menendez lying
+      upon his face near the sun-dial. He was moving convulsively. Running up to
+      him, I that he had been shot through the head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What steps did you take?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friend, Mr. Knox, had joined me, and I sent him for assistance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what steps did you take to apprehend the murderer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley looked at him quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What steps should you have taken?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat again, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I should have let my man slip through my fingers like
+      that,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Why! by now he may be out of the county.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your theory is quite feasible,&rdquo; said Harley, tonelessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were actually on the spot when the shot was fired, you admit that it
+      was fired within a hundred yards, yet you did nothing to apprehend the
+      murderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;I was ridiculously inactive. You see, I am a mere
+      amateur, Inspector. For my future guidance I should be glad to know what
+      the correct procedure would have been.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury blew his nose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know my job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I had been called in there might have been a
+      different tale to tell. But he was a foreigner, and he paid for his
+      ignorance, poor fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley took out his pipe and began to load it in a deliberate and
+      lazy manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury turned his prominent eyes in my direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX. COMPLICATIONS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid of this man Aylesbury,&rdquo; said Paul Harley. We sat in the
+      deserted dining room. I had contributed my account of the evening&rsquo;s
+      happenings, Dr. Rolleston had made his report, and Inspector Aylesbury was
+      now examining the servants in the library. Harley and I had obtained his
+      official permission to withdraw, and the physician was visiting Madame de
+      Stämer, who lay in a state of utter prostration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that he will presently make some tragic blunder. Good God, Knox,
+      to think that this man had sought my aid, and that I stood by idly whilst
+      he walked out to his death. I shall never forgive myself.&rdquo; He banged the
+      table with his fist. &ldquo;Even now that these unknown fiends have achieved
+      their object, I am helpless, helpless. There was not a wisp of smoke to
+      guide me, Knox, and one man cannot search a county.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sighed wearily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know, Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I am thinking of a verse of Kipling&rsquo;s.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know!&rdquo; he interrupted, almost savagely.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  &ldquo;A Snider squibbed in the jungle.
+  Somebody laughed and fled&mdash;&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I know, Knox. I heard that damnable laughter, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God,&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;who was it? What was it? Where did it come from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As well ask where the shot came from, Knox. Out amongst all those trees,
+      with a house that might have been built for a sounding-board, who could
+      presume to say where either came from? One thing we know, that the shot
+      came from the south.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He leaned upon a corner of the table, staring at me intently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the south?&rdquo; I echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley glanced in the direction of the open door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Presently,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we shall have to tell Aylesbury everything that we
+      know. After all, he represents the law; but unless we can get Inspector
+      Wessex down from Scotland Yard, I foresee a miscarriage of justice.
+      Colonel Menendez lay on his face, and the line made by his recumbent body
+      pointed almost directly toward&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded, watching him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, Harley&mdash;toward the Guest House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley inclined his head, grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The first light which we saw,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;was in a window of the
+      Guest House. It may have had no significance. Awakened by the sound of a
+      rifle-shot near by, any one would naturally get up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And having decided to come downstairs and investigate,&rdquo; I continued,
+      &ldquo;would naturally light a lamp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so.&rdquo; He stared at me very hard. &ldquo;Yet,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;unless Mr. Colin
+      Camber can produce an alibi I foresee a very stormy time for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So do I, Harley. A deadly hatred existed between these two men, and
+      probably this horrible deed was done on the spur of the moment. It is of
+      his poor little girl-wife that I am thinking. As though her troubles were
+      not heavy enough already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;I am almost tempted to hold my tongue, Knox, until I
+      have personally interviewed these people. But of course if our blundering
+      friend directly questions me, I shall have no alternative. I shall have to
+      answer him. His talent for examination, however, scarcely amounts to
+      genius, so that we may not be called upon for further details at the
+      moment. I wonder how I can induce him to requisition Scotland Yard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rested his chin in his hand and stared down reflectively at the carpet.
+      I thought that he looked very haggard, as he sat there in the early
+      morning light, dressed as for dinner. There was something pathetic in the
+      pose of his bowed head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaning across, I placed my hand on his shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get despondent, old chap,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You have not failed yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but I have, Knox!&rdquo; he cried, fiercely, &ldquo;I have! He came to me for
+      protection. Now he lies dead in his own house. Failed? I have failed
+      utterly, miserably.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned aside as the door opened and Dr. Rolleston came in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I wanted to see you before leaving. I have just
+      been to visit Madame de Stämer again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Harley, eagerly; &ldquo;how is she?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr. Rolleston lighted a cigarette, frowning perplexedly the while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be honest,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;her condition puzzles me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked across to the fireplace and dropped the match, staring at Harley
+      with a curious expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has any one told her the truth?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that Colonel Menendez is dead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Dr. Rolleston. &ldquo;I understood that no one had told her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one has done so to my knowledge,&rdquo; said Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then the sympathy between them must have been very acute,&rdquo; murmured the
+      physician, &ldquo;for she certainly knows!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you really think she knows?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am certain of it. She must have had knowledge of a danger to be
+      apprehended, and being awakened by the sound of the rifle shot, have
+      realized by a sort of intuition that the expected tragedy had happened. I
+      should say, from the presence of a small bruise which I found upon her
+      forehead, that she had actually walked out into the corridor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Walked?&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the physician. &ldquo;She is a shell-shock case, of course, and we
+      sometimes find that a second shock counteracts the effect of the first.
+      This, temporarily at any rate, seems to have happened to-night. She is now
+      in a very curious state: a form of hysteria, no doubt, but very curious
+      all the same.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley is with her?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr. Rolleston nodded affirmatively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a very capable nurse. I am glad to know that Madame de Stämer is in
+      such good hands. I am calling again early in the morning, and I have told
+      Mrs. Fisher to see that nothing is said within hearing of the room which
+      could enable Madame de Stämer to obtain confirmation of the idea, which
+      she evidently entertains, that Colonel Menendez is dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does she actually assert that he is dead?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear sir,&rdquo; replied Dr. Rolleston, &ldquo;she asserts nothing. She sits there
+      like Niobe changed to stone, staring straight before her. She seems to be
+      unaware of the presence of everyone except Miss Beverley. The only words
+      she has spoken since recovering consciousness have been, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t leave
+      me!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; muttered Harley. &ldquo;You have not attended Madame de Stämer before,
+      doctor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; was the reply, &ldquo;this is the first time I have entered Cray&rsquo;s Folly
+      since it was occupied by Sir James Appleton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was about to take his departure when the door opened and Inspector
+      Aylesbury walked in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I have two more witnesses to interview: Madame de Stämer
+      and Miss Beverley. From these witnesses I hope to get particulars of the
+      dead man&rsquo;s life which may throw some light upon the identity of his
+      murderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is impossible to see either of them at present,&rdquo; replied Dr. Rolleston
+      briskly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that, doctor?&rdquo; asked the Inspector. &ldquo;Are they hysterical, or
+      something?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a result of the shock, Madame de Stämer is dangerously ill,&rdquo; replied
+      the physician, &ldquo;and Miss Beverley is remaining with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. But Miss Beverley could come out for a few minutes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She could,&rdquo; admitted the physician, sharply, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t wish her to do
+      so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but the law must be served, doctor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so, but not at the expense of my patient&rsquo;s reason.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a resolute man, this country practitioner, and I saw Harley smiling
+      in grim approval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have expressed my opinion,&rdquo; he said, finally, walking out of the room;
+      &ldquo;I shall leave the responsibility to you, Inspector Aylesbury. Good
+      morning, gentlemen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury scratched his chin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s awkward,&rdquo; he muttered. &ldquo;The evidence of this woman is highly
+      important.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned toward us, doubtingly, whereupon Harley stood up, yawning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I can be of any further assistance to you, Inspector,&rdquo; said my friend,
+      &ldquo;command me. Otherwise, I feel sure you will appreciate the fact that both
+      Mr. Knox and myself are extremely tired, and have passed through a very
+      trying ordeal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Inspector Aylesbury, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s all very well, but I find
+      myself at a deadlock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You surprise me,&rdquo; declared Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see nothing to be surprised about,&rdquo; cried the Inspector. &ldquo;When I
+      was called in it was already too late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most unfortunate,&rdquo; murmured Harley, disagreeably. &ldquo;Come along, Knox, you
+      look tired to death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment, gentlemen,&rdquo; the Inspector insisted, as I stood up. &ldquo;One
+      moment. There is a little point which you may be able to clear up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley paused, his hand on the door knob, and turned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The point is this,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, frowning portentously and
+      lowering his chin so that it almost disappeared into the folds of his
+      neck, &ldquo;I have now interviewed all the inmates of Cray&rsquo;s Folly except the
+      ladies. It appears to me that four people had not gone to bed. There are
+      you two gentlemen, who have explained why I found you in evening dress,
+      Colonel Menendez, who can never explain, and there is one other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, looking from Harley to myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had come, the question which I had dreaded, the question which I had
+      been asking myself ever since I had seen Val Beverley kneeling in the
+      corridor, dressed as she had been when we had parted for the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I refer to Miss Val Beverley,&rdquo; the police-court voice proceeded. &ldquo;This
+      lady had evidently not retired, and neither, it would appear, had the
+      Colonel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither had I,&rdquo; murmured Harley, &ldquo;and neither had Mr. Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your reason I understand,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;or at least your
+      explanation is a possible one. But if the party broke up, as you say it
+      did, somewhere about half-past ten o&rsquo;clock, and if Madame de Stämer had
+      gone to bed, why should Miss Beverley have remained up?&rdquo; He paused
+      significantly. &ldquo;As well as Colonel Menendez?&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; I interrupted, I speaking in a very
+      quiet tone, I remember, &ldquo;your insinuations annoy me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said he, turning his prominent eyes in my direction, &ldquo;I see. They
+      annoy you? If they annoy you, sir, perhaps you can explain this point
+      which is puzzling me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot explain it, but doubtless Miss Beverley can do so when you ask
+      her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to have asked her now, and I can&rsquo;t make out why she refuses
+      to see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has not refused to see you,&rdquo; replied Harley, smoothly. &ldquo;She is
+      probably unaware of the fact that you wish to see her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know so much,&rdquo; muttered the Inspector. &ldquo;In my opinion I am being
+      deliberately baffled on all sides. You can throw no light on this matter,
+      then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None,&rdquo; I answered, shortly, and Paul Harley shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you must remember, Inspector,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;that the entire
+      household was in a state of unrest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In other words, everybody was waiting for this very thing to happen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Consciously, or subconsciously, everybody was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean by consciously or subconsciously?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;I mean that those of us who were aware of the previous attempts on
+the life of the Colonel apprehended this danger. And I believe that
+something of this apprehension had extended even to the servants.&rdquo;
+ 
+ &ldquo;Oh, to the servants? Now, I have seen all the servants, except the
+chef, who lives at a house on the outskirts of Mid-Hatton, as you may
+know. Can you give me any information about this man?&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have seen him,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;and have congratulated him upon his
+      culinary art. His name, I believe, is Deronne. He is a Spaniard, and a
+      little fat man. Quite an amiable creature,&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm.&rdquo; The Inspector cleared his throat noisily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If that is all,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;I should welcome an opportunity of a few
+      hours&rsquo; sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector. &ldquo;Well, I suppose that is quite natural, but I
+      shall probably have a lot more questions to ask you later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; muttered Harley, &ldquo;quite. Come on, Knox. Good-night, Inspector
+      Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley walked out of the dining room and across the deserted hall. He
+      slowly mounted the stairs and I followed him into his room. It was now
+      quite light, and as my friend dropped down upon the bed I thought that he
+      looked very tired and haggard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;shut the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I closed the door and turned to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You heard that question about Miss Beverley?&rdquo; I began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard it, and I am wondering what her answer will be when the Inspector
+      puts it to her personally.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely it is obvious?&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;A cloud of apprehension had settled on
+      the house last night, Harley, which was like the darkness of Egypt. The
+      poor girl was afraid to go to bed. She was probably sitting up reading.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; said Harley, drumming his feet upon the carpet. &ldquo;Of course you
+      realize that there is one person in Cray&rsquo;s Folly who holds the clue to the
+      heart of the mystery?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He nodded grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When the rifle cracked out, Knox, she knew! Remember, no one had told her
+      the truth. Yet can you doubt that she knows?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t doubt it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither do I.&rdquo; He clenched his teeth tightly and beat his fists upon the
+      coverlet. &ldquo;I was dreading that our friend the Inspector would ask a
+      question which to my mind was very obvious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, what investigator whose skull contained anything more useful than
+      bubbles would have failed to ask if Colonel Menendez had an enemy in the
+      neighbourhood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one,&rdquo; I admitted; &ldquo;but I fear the poor man is sadly out of his depth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is wading hopelessly, Knox, but even he cannot fail to learn about
+      Camber to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared at me in a curiously significant manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean, Harley,&rdquo; I began, &ldquo;that you really think&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox,&rdquo; he interrupted, &ldquo;forgetting, if you like, all that
+      preceded the tragedy, with what facts are we left? That Colonel Menendez,
+      at the moment when the bullet entered his brain, must have been standing
+      facing directly toward the Guest House. Now, you have seen the direction
+      of the wound?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was shot squarely between the eyes. A piece of wonderful
+      marksmanship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; Harley nodded his head. &ldquo;But the bullet came out just at the
+      vertex of the spine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, as if waiting for some comment, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that the shot came from above?&rdquo; I said, slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Obviously it came from above, Knox. Keep these two points in your mind,
+      and then consider the fact that someone lighted a lamp in the Guest House
+      only a few moments after the shot had been fired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember. I saw it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So did I,&rdquo; said Harley, grimly, &ldquo;and I saw something else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you went off to summon assistance I ran across the lawn, scrambled
+      through the bushes, and succeeded in climbing down into the little gully
+      in which the stream runs, and up on the other side. I had proceeded
+      practically in a straight line from the sun-dial, and do you know where I
+      found myself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can guess,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course you can. You have visited the place. I came out immediately
+      beside a little hut, Knox, which stands at the end of the garden of the
+      Guest House. Ahead of me, visible through a tangle of bushes in the
+      neglected garden, a lamp was burning. I crept cautiously forward, and
+      presently obtained a view of the interior of a kitchen. Just as I arrived
+      at this point of vantage the lamp was extinguished, but not before I had
+      had a glimpse of the only occupant of the room&mdash;the man who had
+      extinguished the lamp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who was it?&rdquo; I asked, in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a Chinaman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong!&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doubtless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens, Harley, do you think&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what to think, Knox. A possible explanation is that the
+      household had been aroused by the sound of the shot, and that Ah Tsong had
+      been directed to go out and see if he could learn what had happened. At
+      any rate, I waited no longer, but returned by the same route. If our
+      portly friend from Market Hilton had possessed the eyes of an Auguste
+      Dupin, he could not have failed to note that my dress boots were caked
+      with light yellow clay; which also, by the way, besmears my trousers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stooped and examined the garments as he spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A number of thorns are also present,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;In short, from the
+      point of view of an investigation, I am a most provoking object.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sighed wearily, and stared out of the window in the direction of the
+      Tudor garden. There was a slight chilliness in the air, which, or perhaps
+      a sudden memory of that which lay in the billiard room beneath us, may
+      have accounted for the fact that I shivered violently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley glanced up with a rather sad smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The morning after Waterloo,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Sleep well, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX. A SPANISH CIGARETTE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sleep was not for me, despite Harley&rsquo;s injunction, and although I was
+      early afoot, the big house was already astir with significant movements
+      which set the imagination on fire, to conjure up again the moonlight scene
+      in the garden, making mock of the song of the birds and of the glory of
+      the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Manoel replied to my ring, and prepared my bath, but it was easy to see
+      that he had not slept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No sound came from Harley&rsquo;s room, therefore I did not disturb him, but
+      proceeded downstairs in the hope of finding Miss Beverley about. Pedro was
+      in the hall, talking to Mrs. Fisher, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Inspector Aylesbury here?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, but he will be returning at about half-past eight, so he said.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is Madame de Stämer, Mrs. Fisher?&rdquo; I enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, poor, poor Madame,&rdquo; said the old lady, &ldquo;she is asleep, thank God. But
+      I am dreading her awakening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The blow is a dreadful one,&rdquo; I admitted; &ldquo;and Miss Beverley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t go to her room until after four o&rsquo;clock, sir, but Nita tells
+      me that she will be down any moment now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said I, and lighting a cigarette, I walked out of the open doors
+      into the courtyard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I dreaded all the ghastly official formalities which the day would bring,
+      since I realized that the brunt of the trouble must fall upon the
+      shoulders of Miss Beverley in the absence of Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I wandered about restlessly, awaiting the girl&rsquo;s appearance. A little two
+      seater was drawn up in the courtyard, but I had not paid much attention to
+      it, until, wandering through the opening in the box hedge and on along the
+      gravel path, I saw unfamiliar figures moving in the billiard room, and
+      turned, hastily retracing my steps. Officialdom was at work already, and I
+      knew that there would be no rest for any of us from that hour onward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I reëntered the hall I saw Val Beverley coming down the staircase. She
+      looked pale, but seemed to be in better spirits than I could have hoped
+      for, although there were dark shadows under her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Miss Beverley,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Mr. Knox. It was good of you to come down so early.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had hoped for a chat with you before Inspector Aylesbury returned,&rdquo; I
+      explained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at me pathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose he will want me to give evidence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will. We had great difficulty in persuading him not to demand your
+      presence last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was impossible,&rdquo; she protested. &ldquo;It would have been cruel to make me
+      leave Madame in the circumstances.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We realized this, Miss Beverley, but you will have to face the ordeal
+      this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We walked through into the library, where a maid white-faced and
+      frightened looking, was dusting in a desultory fashion. She went out as we
+      entered, and Val Beverley stood looking from the open window out into the
+      rose garden bathed in the morning sunlight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Heavens,&rdquo; she said, clenching her hands desperately, &ldquo;even now I
+      cannot realize that the horrible thing is true.&rdquo; She turned to me. &ldquo;Who
+      can possibly have committed this cold-blooded crime?&rdquo; she said in a low
+      voice. &ldquo;What does Mr. Harley think? Has he any idea, any idea whatever?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not that he has confided to me,&rdquo; I said, watching her intently. &ldquo;But tell
+      me, does Madame de Stämer know yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean has she been told the truth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she replied; &ldquo;I am positive that no one has told her. I was with her
+      all the time, up to the very moment that she fell asleep. Yet&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She knows! Oh, Mr. Knox! to me that is the most horrible thing of all:
+      that she knows, that she must have known all along&mdash;that the mere
+      sound of the shot told her everything!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You realize, now,&rdquo; I said, quietly, &ldquo;that she had anticipated the end?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes. This was the meaning of the sorrow which I had seen so often in
+      her eyes, the meaning of so much that puzzled me in her words, the
+      explanation of lots of little things which have made me wonder in the
+      past.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was silent for a while, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If she was so certain that no one could save him,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;she must have
+      had information which neither he nor she ever imparted to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure she had,&rdquo; declared Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But can you think of any reason why she should not have confided in Paul
+      Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot, I cannot&mdash;unless&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she looked at me strangely, &ldquo;they were both under some
+      vow of silence. Oh! it sounds ridiculous, wildly ridiculous, but what
+      other explanation can there be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What other, indeed? And now, Miss Beverley, I know one of the questions
+      Inspector Aylesbury will ask you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has learned, from one of the servants I presume, as he did not see
+      you, that you had not retired last night at the time of the tragedy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had not,&rdquo; said Val Beverley, quietly. &ldquo;Is that so singular?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To me it is no more than natural.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never been so frightened in all my life as I was last night. Sleep
+      was utterly out of the question. There was mystery in the very air. I
+      knew, oh, Mr. Knox, in some way I knew that a tragedy was going to
+      happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe I knew, too,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Good God, to think that we might have
+      saved him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think&mdash;&rdquo; began Val Beverley, and then paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; I prompted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I was going to say a strange thing that suddenly occurred to me, but
+      it is utterly foolish, I suppose. Inspector Aylesbury is coming back at
+      nine o&rsquo;clock, is he not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At half-past eight, so I understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid I have very little to tell him. I was sitting in my room in
+      an appalling state of nerves when the shot was fired. I was not even
+      reading; I was just waiting, waiting, for something to happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand. My own experience was nearly identical.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; continued the girl, &ldquo;as I unlocked my door and peeped out, feeling
+      too frightened to venture farther in the darkness, I heard Madame&rsquo;s voice
+      in the hall below.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Crying for help?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the girl, a puzzled frown appearing between her brows. &ldquo;She
+      cried out something in French. The intonation told me that it was French,
+      although I could not detect a single word. Then I thought I heard a moan.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you ran down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. I summoned up enough courage to turn on the light in the corridor
+      and to run down to the hall. And there she was lying just outside the door
+      of her room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was her room in darkness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. I turned on the light and succeeded in partly raising her, but she
+      was too heavy for me to lift. I was still trying to revive her when Pedro
+      opened the door of the servants&rsquo; quarters. Oh,&rdquo; she closed her eyes
+      wearily, &ldquo;I shall never forget it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I took her hand and pressed it reassuringly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your courage has been wonderful throughout,&rdquo; I declared, &ldquo;and I hope it
+      will remain so to the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled, and flushed slightly, as I released her hand again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must go and take a peep at Madame now,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but of course I
+      shall not disturb her if she is still sleeping.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We turned and walked slowly back to the hall, and there just entering from
+      the courtyard was Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;good morning, Mr. Knox. This is Miss Beverley, I
+      presume?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Inspector,&rdquo; replied the girl. &ldquo;I understand that you wish to speak
+      to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do, Miss, but I shall not detain you for many minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; she said, and as she turned and retraced her steps, he
+      followed her back into the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I walked out to the courtyard, and avoiding the Tudor garden and the
+      billiard room, turned in the other direction, passing the stables where
+      Jim, the negro groom, saluted me very sadly, and proceeded round to the
+      south side of the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury, I perceived, had wasted no time. I counted no fewer
+      than four men, two of them in uniform, searching the lawns and the slopes
+      beyond, although what they were looking for I could not imagine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Giving the library a wide berth, I walked along the second terrace, and
+      presently came in sight of the east wing and the tower. There, apparently
+      engaged in studying the rhododendrons, I saw Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He signalled to me, and, crossing the lawn, I joined him where he stood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Without any word of greeting:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Knox,&rdquo; he said, speaking in the eager manner which betokened a
+      rapidly working brain, &ldquo;this is the path which the Colonel must have
+      followed last night. Yonder is the door by which, according to his own
+      account, he came out on a previous occasion, walking in his sleep. Do you
+      remember?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Pedro found it unlocked this morning. You see it faces practically
+      due south, and the Colonel&rsquo;s bedroom is immediately above us where we
+      stand.&rdquo; He stared at me queerly. &ldquo;I must have passed this door last night
+      only a few moments before the Colonel came out, for I was just crossing
+      the courtyard and could see you at my window at the moment when you saw
+      poor Menendez enter the Tudor garden. He must have actually been walking
+      around the east wing at the same time that I was walking around the west.
+      Now, I am going to show you something, Knox, something which I have just
+      discovered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From his waistcoat pocket he took out a half-smoked cigarette. I stared at
+      it uncomprehendingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;the weather has been bone dry for more than a
+      week now, and it may have lain there for a long time, but to me, Knox, to
+      me it looks suspiciously fresh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the point?&rdquo; I asked, perplexedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The point is that it is a hand-made cigarette, one of the Colonel&rsquo;s.
+      Don&rsquo;t you recognize it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;yes, of course it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned it to his pocket without another word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may mean nothing,&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;or it may mean everything. And now,
+      Knox, we are going to escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To escape?&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely. We are going to anticipate the probable movements of our
+      blundering Aylesbury. In short, I wish you to present me to Mr. Colin
+      Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; I exclaimed, staring at him incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to ask you,&rdquo; he began, and then, breaking off: &ldquo;Quick, Knox,
+      run!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And thereupon, to my amazement, he set off through the rhododendron bushes
+      in the direction of the tower!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Utterly unable to grasp the meaning of his behaviour, I followed,
+      nevertheless, and as we rounded the corner of the tower Harley pulled up
+      short, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not mad,&rdquo; he explained rather breathlessly, &ldquo;but I wanted to avoid
+      being seen by that constable who is prowling about at the bottom of the
+      lawn making signals in the direction of the library. Presumably he is
+      replying to Inspector Aylesbury who wants to talk to us. I am determined
+      to interview Camber before submitting to further official interrogation.
+      It must be a cross-country journey, Knox. I am afraid we shall be a very
+      muddy pair, but great issues may hang upon the success of our expedition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He set off briskly toward a belt of shrubbery which marked the edge of the
+      little stream. Appreciating something of his intentions, I followed his
+      lead unquestioningly; and, scrambling through the bushes:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This was the point at which I descended last night,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You will
+      have to wade, Knox, but the water is hardly above one&rsquo;s ankles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He dropped into the brook, waded across, and began to climb up the
+      opposite bank. I imitated his movements, and presently, having scrambled
+      up on the farther side, we found ourselves standing on a narrow bank
+      immediately under that summer house which Colin Camber had told me he had
+      formerly used as a study.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can scarcely present ourselves at the kitchen door,&rdquo; murmured Harley;
+      &ldquo;therefore we must try to find a way round to the front. There is barbed
+      wire here. Be careful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I had now entered with zest into the business, and so the pair of us waded
+      through rank grass which in places was waist high, and on through a
+      perfect wilderness of weeds in which nettles dominated. Presently we came
+      to a dry ditch, which we negotiated successfully, to find ourselves upon
+      the high road some hundred yards to the west of the Guest House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I predict an unfriendly reception,&rdquo; I said, panting from my exertions,
+      and surveying my friend, who was a mockery of his ordinarily spruce self.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must face it,&rdquo; he replied, grimly. &ldquo;He has everything to gain by being
+      civil to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We proceeded along the dusty high road, almost overarched by trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;this is going to be a highly unpleasant ordeal for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stopped short, staring at me sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, Knox,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but I suppose you realize that a man&rsquo;s life
+      is at stake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that when we are both compelled to tell all we know, I doubt if
+      there is a counsel in the land who would undertake the defence of Mr.
+      Colin Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God! then you think he is guilty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did I say so?&rdquo; asked Harley, continuing on his way. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t recollect
+      saying so, Knox; but I do say that it will be a giant&rsquo;s task to prove him
+      innocent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you believe him to be innocent?&rdquo; I cried, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; he replied, somewhat irritably, &ldquo;I have not yet met Mr.
+      Colin Camber. I will answer your question at the conclusion of the
+      interview.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI. THE WING OF A BAT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      For a long time our knocking and ringing elicited no response. The
+      brilliant state of the door-brass afforded evidence of the fact that Ah
+      Tsong had arisen, even if the other members of the household were still
+      sleeping, and Harley, growing irritable, executed a loud tattoo upon the
+      knocker. This had its effect. The door opened and Ah Tsong looked out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell your master that Mr. Paul Harley has called to see him upon urgent
+      business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master no got,&rdquo; replied Ah Tsong, and proceeded to close the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley thrust his hand against it and addressed the man rapidly in
+      Chinese. I could not have supposed the face of Ah Tsong capable of
+      expressing so much animation. At the sound of his native tongue his eyes
+      lighted up, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Tchée, tchée,</i>&rdquo; he said, turned, and disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although he had studiously avoided looking at me, that Ah Tsong would
+      inform his master of the identity of his second visitor I did not doubt.
+      If I had doubted I should promptly have been disillusioned, for:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell them to go away!&rdquo; came a muffled cry from somewhere within. &ldquo;No spy
+      of Devil Menendez shall ever pass my doors again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Chinaman, on retiring, had left the door wide open, and I could see
+      right to the end of the gloomy hall. Ah Tsong presently re-appeared,
+      shuffling along in our direction. Unemotionally:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master no got,&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stamped his foot irritably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God, Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this unreasonable fool almost exhausts my
+      patience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he addressed Ah Tsong in Chinese, and although the man&rsquo;s wrinkled
+      ivory face exhibited no trace of emotion, a deep understanding was to be
+      read in those oblique eyes; and a second time Ah Tsong turned and trotted
+      back to the study. I could hear a muttered colloquy in progress, and
+      suddenly the gaunt figure of Colin Camber burst into view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was shaved this morning, but arrayed as I had last seen him. Whilst he
+      was not in that state of incoherent anger which I remembered and still
+      resented, he was nevertheless in an evil temper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He strode along the hallway, his large eyes widely opened, and fixing a
+      cold stare upon the face of Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I learn that your name is Mr. Paul Harley,&rdquo; he said, entirely ignoring my
+      presence, &ldquo;and you send me a very strange message. I am used to the ways
+      of Señor Menendez, therefore your message does not deceive me. The
+      gateway, sir, is directly behind you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley clenched his teeth, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The scaffold, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;is directly in front of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, sir?&rdquo; demanded the other, and despite my resentment of
+      the treatment which I had received at his hands, I could only admire the
+      lofty disdain of his manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean, Mr. Camber, that the police are close upon my heels.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The police? Of what interest can this be to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley&rsquo;s keen eyes were searching the pale face of the man before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;the shot was a good one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Not a muscle of Colin Camber&rsquo;s face moved, but slowly he looked Paul
+      Harley up and down, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been called a hasty man,&rdquo; he replied, coldly, &ldquo;but I can scarcely
+      be accused of leaping to a conclusion when I say that I believe you to be
+      mad. You have interrupted me, sir. Good morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stepped back, and would have closed the door, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; said Paul Harley, and the tone of his voice was arresting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name is evidently unfamiliar to you,&rdquo; Harley continued. &ldquo;You regard
+      myself and Mr. Knox as friends of the late Colonel Menendez&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At that Colin Camber started forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The <i>late</i> Colonel Menendez?&rdquo; he echoed, speaking almost in a
+      whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But as if he had not heard him Harley continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a matter of fact, I am a criminal investigator, and Mr. Knox is
+      assisting me in my present case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber clenched his hands and seemed to be fighting with some
+      emotion which possessed him, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean,&rdquo; he said, hoarsely&mdash;&ldquo;do you mean that Menendez is&mdash;dead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do,&rdquo; replied Harley. &ldquo;May I request the privilege of ten minutes&rsquo; 
+      private conversation with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber stood aside, holding the door open, and inclining his head in
+      that grave salutation which I knew, but on this occasion, I think,
+      principally with intent to hide his emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not another word did he speak until the three of us stood in the strange
+      study where East grimaced at West, and emblems of remote devil-worship
+      jostled the cross of the Holy Rose. The place was laden with tobacco
+      smoke, and scattered on the carpet about the feet of the writing table lay
+      twenty or more pages of closely written manuscript. Although this was a
+      brilliant summer&rsquo;s morning, an old-fashioned reading lamp, called, I
+      believe, a Victoria, having a nickel receptacle for oil at one side of the
+      standard and a burner with a green glass shade upon the other, still shed
+      its light upon the desk. It was only reasonable to suppose that Colin
+      Camber had been at work all night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He placed chairs for us, clearing them of the open volumes which they
+      bore, and, seating himself at the desk:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he began, slowly, paused, and then stood up, &ldquo;I accused you of
+      something when you last visited my house, something of which I would not
+      lightly accuse any man. If I was wrong, I wish to apologize.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only a matter of the utmost urgency could have induced me to cross your
+      threshold again,&rdquo; I replied, coldly. &ldquo;Your behaviour, sir, was
+      inexcusable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rested his long white hands upon the desk, looking across at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever I did and whatever I said,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;one insult I laid
+      upon you more deadly than the rest: I accused you of friendship with Juan
+      Menendez. Was I unjust?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had been retained professionally by Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; replied Harley
+      without hesitation, &ldquo;and Mr. Knox kindly consented to accompany me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber looked very hard at the speaker, and then equally hard at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it at behest of Colonel Menendez that you called upon me, Mr. Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not,&rdquo; said Harley, tersely; &ldquo;it was at mine. And he is here now at
+      my request. Come, sir, we are wasting time. At any moment&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber held up his hand, interrupting him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By your leave, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, and there was something compelling
+      in voice and gesture, &ldquo;I must first perform my duty as a gentleman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stepped forward in my direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Knox, I have grossly insulted you. Yet if you knew what had inspired
+      my behaviour I believe you could find it in your heart to forgive me. I do
+      not ask you to do so, however; I accept the humiliation of knowing that I
+      have mortally offended a guest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed to me formally, and would have returned to his seat, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray say no more,&rdquo; I said, standing up and extending my hand. Indeed, so
+      impressive was the man&rsquo;s strange personality that I felt rather as one
+      receiving a royal pardon than as an offended party being offered an
+      apology. &ldquo;It was a misunderstanding. Let us forget it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes gleamed, and he seized my hand in a warm grip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are generous, Mr. Knox, you are generous. And now, sir,&rdquo; he inclined
+      his head in Paul Harley&rsquo;s direction, and resumed his seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley had suffered this odd little interlude in silence but now:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he said, rapidly, &ldquo;I sent you a message by your Chinese
+      servant to the effect that the police would be here within ten minutes to
+      arrest you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did, sir,&rdquo; replied Colin Camber, drawing toward him a piece of
+      newspaper upon which rested a dwindling mound of shag. &ldquo;This is most
+      disturbing, of course. But since I have not rendered myself amenable to
+      the law, it leaves me moderately unmoved. Upon your second point, Mr.
+      Harley, I shall beg you, to enlarge. You tell me that Don Juan Menendez is
+      dead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had begun to fill his corn-cob as he spoke the words, but from where I
+      sat I could just see his face, so that although his voice was well
+      controlled, the gleam in his eyes was unmistakable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was shot through the head shortly after midnight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber dropped the corn-cob and stood up again, the light of a
+      dawning comprehension in his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that he was murdered?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God,&rdquo; whispered Camber, &ldquo;at last I understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is why we are here, Mr. Camber, and that is why the police will be
+      here at any moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber stood erect, one hand resting upon the desk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So this was the meaning of the shot which we heard in the night,&rdquo; he
+      said, slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Crossing the room, he closed and locked the study door, then, returning,
+      he sat down once more, entirely, master of himself. Frowning slightly he
+      looked from Harley in my direction, and then back again at Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he resumed, &ldquo;I appreciate the urgency of my danger.
+      Preposterous though I know it to be, nevertheless it is perhaps no more
+      than natural that suspicion should fall upon me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was evidently thinking rapidly. His manner had grown quite cool, and I
+      could see that he had focussed his keen brain upon the abyss which he
+      perceived to lie in his path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before I commit myself to any statements which might be used as
+      evidence,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;doubtless, Mr. Harley, you will inform me of your
+      exact standpoint in this matter. Do you represent the late Colonel
+      Menendez, do you represent the law, or may I regard you as a perfectly
+      impartial enquirer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may regard me, Mr. Camber, as one to whom nothing but the truth is of
+      the slightest interest. I was requested by the late Colonel Menendez to
+      visit Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Professionally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To endeavour to trace the origin of certain occurrences which had led him
+      to believe his life to be in danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley paused, staring hard at Colin Camber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since I recognize myself to be standing in the position of a suspect,&rdquo;
+       said the latter, &ldquo;it is perhaps unfair to request you to acquaint me with
+      the nature of these occurrences?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The one, sir,&rdquo; replied Paul Harley, &ldquo;which most intimately concerns
+      yourself is this: Almost exactly a month ago the wing of a bat was nailed
+      to the door of Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; exclaimed Colin Camber, leaning forward eagerly&mdash;&ldquo;the wing of
+      a bat? What kind of bat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of a South American Vampire Bat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The effect of those words was curious. If any doubt respecting Camber&rsquo;s
+      innocence had remained with me at this time I think his expression as he
+      leaned forward across the desk must certainly have removed it. That the
+      man was intellectually unusual, and intensely difficult to understand,
+      must have been apparent to the most superficial observer, but I found it
+      hard to believe that these moods of his were simulated. At the words &ldquo;A
+      South American Vampire Bat&rdquo; the enthusiasm of the specialist leapt into
+      his eyes. Personal danger was forgotten. Harley had trenched upon his
+      particular territory, and I knew that if Colin Camber had actually killed
+      Colonel Menendez, then it had been the act of a maniac. No man newly come
+      from so bloody a deed could have acted as Camber acted now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the death-sign of Voodoo!&rdquo; he exclaimed, excitedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet again he arose, and crossing to one of the many cabinets which were in
+      the room, he pulled open a drawer and took out a shallow tray.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend was watching him intently, and from the expression upon his
+      bronzed face I could deduce the fact that in Colin Camber he had met the
+      supreme puzzle of his career. As Camber stood there, holding up an object
+      which he had taken from the tray, whilst Paul Harley sat staring at him, I
+      thought the scene was one transcending the grotesque. Here was the
+      suspected man triumphantly producing evidence to hang himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between his finger and thumb Camber held the wing of a bat!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII. COLIN CAMBER&rsquo;S SECRET
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I brought this bat wing from Haiti,&rdquo; he explained, replacing it in the
+      tray. &ldquo;It was found beneath the pillow of a negro missionary who had died
+      mysteriously during the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned the tray to the drawer, closed the latter, and, standing
+      erect, raised clenched hands above his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With no thought of blasphemy,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but with reverence, I thank God
+      from the bottom of my heart that Juan Menendez is dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He reseated himself, whilst Harley regarded him silently, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;The evil that men do lives after them,&rsquo;&rdquo; he murmured. He rested his chin
+      upon his hand. &ldquo;A bat wing,&rdquo; he continued, musingly, &ldquo;a bat wing was
+      nailed to Menendez&rsquo;s door.&rdquo; He stared across at Harley. &ldquo;Am I to believe,
+      sir, that this was the clue which led you to the Guest House?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand. I must therefore take no more excursions into my special
+      subject, but must endeavour to regard the matter from the point of view of
+      the enquiry. Am I to assume that Menendez was acquainted with the
+      significance of this token?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He had seen it employed in the West Indies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, the black-hearted devil! But I fear I am involving myself more deeply
+      in suspicion. Perhaps, Mr. Harley, the ends of justice would be better
+      served if you were to question me, and I to confine myself to answering
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; Harley agreed: &ldquo;when and where did you meet the late Colonel
+      Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never met him in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that you had never spoken to him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm. Tell me, Mr. Camber, where were you at twelve o&rsquo;clock last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, writing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where was Ah Tsong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong?&rdquo; Colin Camber stared uncomprehendingly. &ldquo;Ah Tsong was in bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh. Did anything disturb you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, the sound of a rifle shot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You knew it for a rifle shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was unmistakable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was in the midst of a most important passage, and I should probably
+      have taken no steps in the matter but that Ah Tsong knocked upon the study
+      door, to inform me that my wife had been awakened by the sound of the
+      shot. She is somewhat nervous and had rung for Ah Tsong, asking him to see
+      if all were well with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do I understand that she imagined the sound to have come from this room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When we are newly awakened from sleep, Mr. Harley, we retain only an
+      imperfect impression of that which awakened us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; replied Paul Harley; &ldquo;and did Ah Tsong return to his room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not immediately. Permit me to say, Mr. Harley, that the nature of your
+      questions surprises me. At the moment I fail to see their bearing upon the
+      main issue. He returned and reported to my wife that I was writing, and
+      she then requested him to bring her a glass of milk. Accordingly, he came
+      down again, and going out into the kitchen, executed this order.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah. He would have to light a candle for that purpose, I suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A candle, or a lamp,&rdquo; replied Colin Camber, staring at Paul Harley. Then,
+      his expression altering: &ldquo;Of course!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;You saw the light from
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly? I understand at last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were silent for a while, until:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long a time elapsed between the firing of the shot and Ah Tsong&rsquo;s
+      knocking at the study door?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not answer definitely. I was absorbed in my work. But probably
+      only a minute or two.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was the sound a loud one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fairly loud. And very startling, of course, in the silence of the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shot, then, was fired from somewhere quite near the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I presume so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you thought no more about the matter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frankly, I had forgotten it. You see, the neighbourhood is rich with
+      game; it might have been a poacher.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; murmured Harley, but his face was very stern. &ldquo;I wonder if you
+      fully realize the danger of your position, Mr. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; was the reply, &ldquo;I can anticipate almost every question which
+      I shall be called upon to answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley stared at him in a way which told me that he was comparing his
+      features line for line with the etching of Edgar Allen Poe which hung in
+      his office in Chancery Lane, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do believe you,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and I am wondering if you are in a
+      position to clear yourself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; Camber assured him, &ldquo;I am only waiting to hear that
+      Juan Menendez was shot in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly, and not within the
+      house, to propose to you that unless the real assassin be discovered, I
+      shall quite possibly pay the penalty of his crime.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was shot in the Tudor garden,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;within sight of your
+      windows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; Colin Camber resumed the task of stuffing shag into his corn-cob.
+      &ldquo;Then if it would interest you, Mr. Harley, I will briefly outline the
+      case against myself. I had never troubled to disguise the fact that I
+      hated Menendez. Many witnesses can be called to testify to this. He was in
+      Cuba when I was in Cuba, and evidence is doubtless obtainable to show that
+      we stayed at the same hotels in various cities of the United States prior
+      to my coming to England and leasing the Guest House. Finally, he became my
+      neighbour in Surrey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He carefully lighted his pipe, whilst Harley and I watched him silently,
+      then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Menendez had the bat wing nailed to the door of his house,&rdquo; he continued.
+      &ldquo;He believed himself to be in danger, and associated this sign with the
+      source of his danger. Excepting himself and possibly certain other members
+      of his household it is improbable that any one else in Surrey understands
+      the significance of the token save myself. The unholy rites of Voodoo are
+      a closed book to the Western nations. I have opened that book, Mr. Harley.
+      The powers of the Obeah man, and especially of the arch-magician known and
+      dreaded by every negro as &lsquo;Bat Wing,&rsquo; are familiar to me. Since I was
+      alone at the time that the shot was fired, and for some few minutes
+      afterward, and since the Tudor garden of Cray&rsquo;s Folly is within easy range
+      of the Guest House, to fail to place me under arrest would be an act of
+      sheer stupidity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke the words with a sort of triumph. Like the fakir, he possessed
+      the art of spiritual detachment, which is an attribute of genius. From an
+      intellectual eminence he was surveying his own peril. Colin Camber in the
+      flesh had ceased to exist; he was merely a pawn in a fascinating game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley glanced at his watch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I have just sustained the most crushing defeat of
+      my career. The man who had summoned me to his aid was killed almost before
+      my eyes. One thing I must do or accept professional oblivion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand.&rdquo; Colin Camber nodded. &ldquo;Apprehend his murderer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ultimately, yes. But, firstly, I must see that to the assassination of
+      Colonel Menendez a judicial murder is not added.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean&mdash;?&rdquo; asked Camber, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that if you killed Menendez, you are a madman, and I have formed
+      the opinion during our brief conversation that you are brilliantly sane.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber rose and bowed in that old-world fashion which was his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am obliged to you, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;But has Mr. Knox informed
+      you of my bibulous habits?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They will, of course, be ascribed,&rdquo; continued Camber, &ldquo;and there are many
+      suitable analogies, to deliberate contemplation of a murderous deed. I
+      would remind you that chronic alcoholism is a recognized form, of
+      insanity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His mood changed again, and sighing wearily, he lay back in the chair.
+      Over his pale face crept an expression which I knew, instinctively, to
+      mean that he was thinking of his wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, speaking in a very low tone which scorned to
+      accentuate the beauty of his voice, &ldquo;I have suffered much in the quest of
+      truth. Suffering is the gate beyond which we find compassion. Perhaps you
+      have thought my foregoing remarks frivolous, in view of the fact that last
+      night a soul was sent to its reckoning almost at my doors. I revere the
+      truth, however, above all lesser laws and above all expediency. I do not,
+      and I cannot, regret the end of the man Menendez. But for three reasons I
+      should regret to pay the penalty of a crime which I did not commit, These
+      reasons are&mdash;one,&rdquo; he ticked them off upon his delicate fingers&mdash;&ldquo;It
+      would be bitter to know that Devil Menendez even in death had injured me;
+      two&mdash;My work in the world, which is unfinished; and, three&mdash;My
+      wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I watched and listened, almost awed by the strangeness of the man who sat
+      before me. His three reasons were illuminating. A casual observer might
+      have regarded Colin Camber as a monument of selfishness. But it was
+      evident to me, and I knew it must be evident to Paul Harley, that his
+      egotism was quite selfless. To a natural human resentment and a pathetic
+      love for his wife he had added, as an equal clause, the claim of the world
+      upon his genius.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard you,&rdquo; said Paul Harley, quietly, &ldquo;and you have led me to the
+      most important point of all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What point is that, Mr. Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have referred to your recent lapse from abstemiousness. Excuse me if
+      I discuss personal matters. This you ascribed to domestic troubles, or so
+      Mr. Knox has informed me. You have also referred to your undisguised
+      hatred of the late Colonel Juan Menendez. I am going to ask you, Mr.
+      Camber, to tell me quite frankly what was the nature of those domestic
+      troubles, and what had caused this hatred which survives even the death of
+      its object?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber stood up, angular, untidy, but a figure of great dignity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I cannot answer your questions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley inclined his head gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I suggest,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that you will be called upon to do so under
+      circumstances which will brook no denial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber watched him unflinchingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;The fate of every man is hung around his neck,&rsquo;&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet, in this secret history which you refuse to divulge, and which
+      therefore must count against you, the truth may lie which exculpates you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be so. But my determination remains unaltered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; answered Paul Harley, quietly, but I could see that he was
+      exercising a tremendous restraint upon himself. &ldquo;I respect your decision,
+      but you have given me a giant&rsquo;s task, and for this I cannot thank you, Mr.
+      Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard a car pulled up in the road outside the Guest House. Colin Camber
+      clenched his hands and sat down again in the carved chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The opportunity has passed,&rdquo; said Harley. &ldquo;The police are here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII. INSPECTOR AYLESBURY CROSS-EXAMINES
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury, &ldquo;a little private confab, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sank his chin into its enveloping folds, treating Harley and myself
+      each to a stare of disapproval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These gentlemen very kindly called to advise me of the tragic occurrence
+      at Cray&rsquo;s Folly,&rdquo; explained Colin Camber. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you be seated,
+      Inspector?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, but I can conduct my examination better standing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Might I ask, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;what concern this is of yours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am naturally interested in anything appertaining to the death of a
+      client, Inspector Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, so you slip in ahead of me, having deliberately withheld information
+      from the police, and think you are going to get all the credit. Is that
+      it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is it, Inspector,&rdquo; replied Harley, smiling. &ldquo;An instance of
+      professional jealousy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Professional jealousy?&rdquo; cried the Inspector. &ldquo;Allow me to remind you that
+      you have no official standing in this case whatever. You are merely a
+      member of the public, nothing more, nothing less.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am happy to be recognized as a member of that much-misunderstood body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well, we shall see. Now, Mr. Camber, your attention, please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his finger impressively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am informed by Miss Beverley that the late Colonel Menendez looked upon
+      you as a dangerous enemy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Were those her exact words?&rdquo; I murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Knox!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The inspector turned rapidly, confronting me. &ldquo;I have already warned your
+      friend. But if I have any interruptions from you, I will have you
+      removed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued to glare at me for some moments, and then, turning again to
+      Colin Camber:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say, I have information that Colonel Menendez looked upon you as a
+      dangerous neighbour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that event,&rdquo; replied Colin Camber, &ldquo;why did he lease an adjoining
+      property?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s an evasion, sir. Answer my first question, if you please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have asked me no question, Inspector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. That&rsquo;s your attitude, is it? Very well, then. Were you, or
+      were you not, an enemy of the late Colonel Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say I was. I hated him, and I hate him no less in death than I hated
+      him living.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I think that I had never seen a man so taken aback, Inspector Aylesbury,
+      drawing out a large handkerchief blew his nose. Replacing the
+      handkerchief, he produced a note-book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am placing that statement on record, sir,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He made an entry in the book, and then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you first meet Colonel Menendez?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never met him in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber merely shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will repeat my question,&rdquo; said the Inspector, pompously. &ldquo;Where did you
+      first meet Colonel Juan Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have answered you, Inspector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. You decline to answer that question. Very well, I will make a
+      note of this.&rdquo; He did so. &ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;what were you doing at
+      midnight last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was writing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Very succinctly Colin Camber repeated the statement which he had already
+      made to Paul Harley, and, at its conclusion:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Send for the man, Ah Tsong,&rdquo; directed Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber inclined his head, clapped his bands, and silently Ah Tsong
+      entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector stared at him for several moments as a visitor to the Zoo
+      might stare at some rare animal; then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your name is Ah Tsong?&rdquo; he began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong,&rdquo; murmured the Chinaman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to ask you to give an exact account of your movements last
+      night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sabby.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say I wish to know exactly what you did last night. Answer me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Tseng&rsquo;s face remained quite expressionless, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sabby,&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;This witness refuses to answer at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wrong,&rdquo; explained Colin Camber, quietly. &ldquo;Ah Tsong is a Chinaman,
+      and his knowledge of English is very limited. He does not understand you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He understood my first question. You can&rsquo;t draw wool over my eyes. He
+      knows well enough. Are you going to answer me?&rdquo; he demanded, angrily, of
+      the Chinaman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sabby, master,&rdquo; he said, glancing aside at Colin Camber. &ldquo;Number-one
+      p&rsquo;licee-man gotchee no pidgin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley was leisurely filling his pipe, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you think the evidence of Ah Tsong important, Inspector,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I
+      will interpret if you wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will do what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will act as interpreter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you want me to believe that you speak Chinese?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your beliefs do not concern me, Inspector; I am merely offering my
+      services.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks,&rdquo; said the Inspector, dryly, &ldquo;but I won&rsquo;t trouble you. I should
+      like a few words with Mrs. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber bent his head gravely, and gave an order to Ah Tsong, who
+      turned and went out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what firearms have you in the house?&rdquo; asked Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An early Dutch arquebus, which you see in the corner,&rdquo; was the reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t interest me. I mean up-to-date weapons.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And a Colt revolver which I have in a drawer here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke, Colin Camber opened a drawer in his desk and took out a heavy
+      revolver of the American Army Service pattern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to examine it, if you please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Camber passed it to the Inspector, and the latter, having satisfied
+      himself that none of the chambers were loaded, peered down the barrel, and
+      smelled at the weapon suspiciously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it has been recently used it has been well cleaned,&rdquo; he said, and
+      placed it on a cabinet beside him. &ldquo;Anything else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sporting rifles?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None. I never shoot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door opened and Mrs. Camber came in. She was very simply dressed, and
+      looked even more child-like than she had seemed before. I think Ah Tsong
+      had warned her of the nature of the ordeal which she was to expect, but
+      her wide-eyed timidity was nevertheless pathetic to witness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced at me with a ghost of a smile, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola,&rdquo; said Colin Camber, inclining his head toward me in a grave
+      gesture of courtesy, &ldquo;Mr. Knox has generously forgiven me a breach of good
+      manners for which I shall never forgive myself. I beg you to thank him, as
+      I have done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so good of you,&rdquo; she said, sweetly, and held out her hand. &ldquo;But I
+      knew you would understand that it was just a great mistake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Paul Harley,&rdquo; Camber continued, &ldquo;my wife welcomes you; and this,
+      Ysola, is Inspector Aylesbury, who desires a few moments&rsquo; conversation
+      upon a rather painful matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard, I have heard,&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;Ah Tsong has told me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The pupils of her eyes dilated, as she fixed an appealing glance upon the
+      Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In justice to the latter he was palpably abashed by the delicate beauty of
+      the girl who stood before him, by her naivete, and by that childishness of
+      appearance and manner which must have awakened the latent chivalry in
+      almost any man&rsquo;s heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry to have to trouble you with this disagreeable business, Mrs.
+      Camber,&rdquo; he began; &ldquo;but I believe you were awakened last night by the
+      sound of a shot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, watching him intently, &ldquo;that is so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I ask at what time this was heard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong told me it was after twelve o&rsquo;clock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was the sound a loud one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. It must have been to have awakened me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. Did you think it was in the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the garden?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really could not say, but I think that it was farther away than that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I rang the bell for Ah Tsong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he come immediately?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Almost immediately.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was dressed, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think he was. He had quickly put on an overcoat. He usually
+      answers at once, when I ring for him, you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. What did you do then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I was frightened, you understand, and I told him to find out if all
+      was well with my husband. He came back and told me that Colin was writing.
+      But the sound had alarmed me very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, and now perhaps <i>you</i> will tell me, Mrs. Camber, when and where
+      your husband first met Colonel Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Every vestige of colour fled from the girl&rsquo;s face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as I know&mdash;they never met,&rdquo; she replied, haltingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you swear to that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I think that hitherto she had not fully realized the nature of the
+      situation; but now something in the Inspector&rsquo;s voice, or perhaps in our
+      glances, told her the truth. She moved to where Colin Camber was sitting,
+      looking down at him questioningly, pitifully. He put his arm about her and
+      drew her close.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and returned his note-book to his
+      pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to take a look around the garden,&rdquo; he announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My respect for him increased slightly, and Harley and I followed him out
+      of the study. A police sergeant was sitting in the hall, and Ah Tsong was
+      standing just outside the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show me the way to the garden,&rdquo; directed the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Tsong stared stupidly, whereupon Paul Harley addressed him in his
+      native language, rapidly and in a low voice, in order, as I divined, that
+      the Inspector should not hear him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel dreadfully guilty, Knox,&rdquo; he confessed, in a murmured aside. &ldquo;For
+      any Englishman, fictitious characters excepted, to possess a knowledge of
+      Chinese is almost indecent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, then, I found myself once more in that unkempt garden of which
+      I retained such unpleasant memories.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury stared all about and up at the back of the house,
+      humming to himself and generally behaving as though he were alone. Before
+      the little summer study he stood still, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; he muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What he had seen was painfully evident. The right-hand window, beneath
+      which there was a permanent wooden seat, commanded an unobstructed view of
+      the Tudor garden in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Clearly I could detect
+      the speck of high-light upon the top of the sun-dial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector stepped into the hut. It contained a bookshelf upon which a
+      number of books remained, a table and a chair, with some few other
+      dilapidated appointments. I glanced at Harley and saw that he was staring
+      as if hypnotized at the prospect in the valley below. I observed a
+      constable on duty at the top of the steps which led down into the Tudor
+      garden, but I could see nothing to account for Harley&rsquo;s fixed regard,
+      until:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me one moment, Inspector,&rdquo; he muttered, brusquely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Brushing past the indignant Aylesbury, who was examining the contents of
+      the shelves in the hut, he knelt upon the wooden seat and stared intently
+      through the open window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One-two-three-four-five-six-<i>seven</i>,&rdquo; he chanted. &ldquo;Good! That will
+      settle it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury, standing strictly upright, his
+      prominent eyes turned in the direction of the kneeling Harley. &ldquo;One, two,
+      three, four, and so on will settle it, eh? If you don&rsquo;t mind me saying so,
+      it was settled already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; replied Harley, standing up, and I saw that his eyes were very
+      bright and that his face was slightly flushed. &ldquo;You think the case is so
+      simple as that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Simple?&rdquo; exclaimed the Inspector. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the most cunning thing that was
+      ever planned, but I flatter myself that I have a good straight eye which
+      can see a fairly long way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent,&rdquo; murmured Harley. &ldquo;I congratulate you. Myopia is so common in
+      the present generation. You have decided, of course, that the murder was
+      committed by Ah Tsong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s eyes seemed to protrude extraordinarily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Tsong!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Ah Tsong!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely it is palpable,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;that of the three people
+      residing in the Guest House, Ah Tsong is the only one who could possibly
+      have done the deed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who could possibly&mdash;who could possibly&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; stuttered the
+      Inspector, then paused because of sheer lack of words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Review the evidence,&rdquo; continued Harley, coolly. &ldquo;Mrs. Camber was awakened
+      by the sound of a shot. She immediately rang for Ah Tsong. There was a
+      short interval before Ah Tsong appeared&mdash;and when he did appear he
+      was wearing an overcoat. Note this point, Inspector: wearing an overcoat.
+      He descended to the study and found Mr. Camber writing. Now, Ah Tsong
+      sleeps in a room adjoining the kitchen on the ground floor. We passed his
+      quarters on our way to the garden a moment ago. Of course, you had noted
+      this? Mr. Camber is therefore eliminated from our list of suspects.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector was growing very red, but ere he had time to speak Harley
+      continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The first of these three persons to have heard a shot fired at the end of
+      the garden would have been Ah Tsong, and not Mrs. Camber, whose room is
+      upstairs and in the front of the house. If it had been fired by Mr. Camber
+      from the spot upon which we now stand, he would still have been in the
+      garden at the moment when Mrs. Camber was ringing the bell for Ah Tsong.
+      Mr. Camber must therefore have returned from the end of the garden to the
+      study, and have passed Ah Tsong&rsquo;s room&mdash;unheard by the occupant&mdash;between
+      the time that the bell rang and the time that Ah Tsong went upstairs. This
+      I submit to be impossible. There is an alternative: it is that he slipped
+      in whilst Ah Tsong, standing on the landing above, was receiving his
+      mistress&rsquo;s orders. I submit that the alternative is also impossible. We
+      thus eliminate Mr. Camber from the case, as I have already mentioned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eliminate&mdash;eliminate!&rdquo; cried the Inspector, beginning to recover
+      power of speech. &ldquo;Do you think you can fuddle me with a mass of words, Mr.
+      Harley? Allow me to point out to you, sir, that you are in no way
+      officially associated with this matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have already drawn my attention to the fact, Inspector, but it can do
+      no harm to jog my memory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley spoke entirely without bitterness, and I, who knew his every mood,
+      realized that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Therefore I knew that at
+      last he had found a clue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may add, Inspector,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that upon further reflection I have also
+      eliminated Ah Tsong from the case. I forgot to mention that he lacks the
+      first and second fingers of his right hand; and I have yet to meet the
+      marksman who can shoot a man squarely between the eyes, by moonlight, at a
+      hundred yards, employing his third finger as trigger-finger. There are
+      other points, but these will be sufficient to show you that this case is
+      more complicated than you had assumed it to be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury did not deign to reply, or could not trust himself to
+      do so. He turned and made his way back to the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV. AN OFFICIAL MOVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      We reëntered the study to find Mrs. Camber sitting in a chair very close
+      to her husband. Inspector Aylesbury stood in the open doorway for a
+      moment, and then, stepping back into the hall:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant Butler,&rdquo; he said, addressing the man who waited there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go out to the gate and get Edson to relieve you. I shall want you to go
+      back to headquarters in a few minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I scented what was coming, and as Inspector Aylesbury reentered the room:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to make a statement,&rdquo; announced Paul Harley, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector frowned, and lowering his chin, regarded him with little
+      favour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not invited any statement from you, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; returned Harley. &ldquo;I am volunteering it. It is this: I gather that
+      you are about to take an important step officially. Having in view certain
+      steps which I, also, am about to take, I would ask you to defer action,
+      purely in your own interests, for at least twenty-four hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear you,&rdquo; said the Inspector, sarcastically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Inspector. You have come newly into this case, and I assure
+      you that its apparent simplicity is illusive. As new facts come into your
+      possession you will realize that what I say is perfectly true, and if you
+      act now you will be acting hastily. All that I have learned I am prepared
+      to place at your disposal. But I predict that the interference of Scotland
+      Yard will be necessary before this enquiry is concluded. Therefore I
+      suggest, since you have rejected my cooperation, that you obtain that of
+      Detective Inspector Wessex, of the Criminal Investigation Department. In
+      short, this is no one-man job. You will do yourself harm by jumping to
+      conclusions, and cause unnecessary trouble to perfectly innocent people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your statement concluded?&rdquo; asked the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the moment I have nothing to add.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. Very good. Then we can now get to business. Always with your
+      permission, Mr. Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took his stand before the fireplace, very erect, and invested with his
+      most official manner. Mrs. Camber watched him in a way that was pathetic.
+      Camber seemed to be quite composed, although his face was unusually pale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;I find your answers to the
+      questions which I have put to you very unsatisfactory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; said Colin Camber, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment, Inspector,&rdquo; interrupted Paul Harley, &ldquo;you have not warned Mr.
+      Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereupon the long-repressed wrath of Inspector Aylesbury burst forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will warn <i>you</i>, sir!&rdquo; he shouted. &ldquo;One more word and you
+      leave this house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet I am going to venture on one more word,&rdquo; continued Harley,
+      unperturbed. He turned to Colin Camber. &ldquo;I happen to be a member of the
+      Bar, Mr. Camber,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;although I rarely accept a brief. Have I your
+      authority to act for you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am grateful, Mr. Harley, and I leave this unpleasant affair in your
+      hands with every confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Camber stood up, bowing formally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The expression upon the inflamed face of Inspector Aylesbury was really
+      indescribable, and recognizing his mental limitations, I was almost
+      tempted to feel sorry for him. However, he did not lack self-confidence,
+      and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose you have scored, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, a certain hoarseness
+      perceptible in his voice, &ldquo;but I know my duty and I am not afraid to
+      perform it. Now, Mr. Camber, did you, or did you not, at about twelve
+      o&rsquo;clock last night&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Warn the accused,&rdquo; murmured Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury uttered a choking sound, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have to warn you,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that your answers may be used as evidence.
+      I will repeat: Did you, or did you not, at about twelve o&rsquo;clock last
+      night, shoot, with intent to murder, Colonel Juan Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ysola Camber leapt up, clutching at her husband&rsquo;s arm as if to hold him
+      back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not,&rdquo; he replied, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, looking aggressively at Paul
+      Harley whilst he spoke, &ldquo;I am going to detain you pending further
+      enquiries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber inclined his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;you only do your duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The little fingers clutching his sleeve slowly relaxed, and Mrs. Camber,
+      uttering a long sigh, sank in a swoon at his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola! Ysola!&rdquo; he muttered. Stooping he raised the child-like figure. &ldquo;If
+      you will kindly open the door, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I will carry my wife
+      to her room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I sprang to the door and held it widely open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Colin Camber, deadly pale, but holding his head very erect, walked in the
+      direction of the hallway with his pathetic burden. Mis-reading the purpose
+      written upon the stern white face, Inspector Aylesbury stepped forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let someone else attend to Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; he cried, sharply. &ldquo;I wish you
+      to remain here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His detaining hand was already upon Camber&rsquo;s shoulder when Harley&rsquo;s arm
+      shot out like a barrier across the Inspector&rsquo;s chest, and Colin Camber
+      proceeded on his way. Momentarily, he glanced aside, and I saw that his
+      eyes were unnaturally bright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he said, and carried his wife from the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley dropped his arm, and crossing, stood staring out of the window.
+      Inspector Aylesbury ran heavily to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant!&rdquo; he called, &ldquo;Sergeant! keep that man in sight. He must return
+      here immediately.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard the sound of heavy footsteps following Camber&rsquo;s up the stairs,
+      then Inspector Aylesbury turned, a bulky figure in the open doorway, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said he, entering and reclosing the door, &ldquo;you are a
+      barrister, I understand. Very well, then, I suppose you are aware that you
+      have resisted and obstructed an officer of the law in the execution of his
+      duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley spun round upon his heel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that a charge,&rdquo; he inquired, &ldquo;or merely a warning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two glared at one another for a moment, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From now onward,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, &ldquo;I am going to have no more
+      trouble with you, Mr. Harley. In the first place, I&rsquo;ll have you looked up
+      in the Law List; in the second place, I shall ask you to stick to your
+      proper duties, and leave me to look after mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have endeavoured from the outset,&rdquo; replied Harley, his good humour
+      quite restored, &ldquo;to assist you in every way in my power. You have declined
+      all my offers, and finally, upon the most flimsy evidence, you have
+      detained a perfectly innocent man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. A perfectly innocent man, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly innocent, Inspector. There are so many points that you have
+      overlooked. For instance, do you seriously suppose that Mr. Camber had
+      been waiting up here night after night on the off-chance that Colonel
+      Menendez would appear in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t. I have got that worked out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed? You interest me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Camber has an accomplice at Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; exclaimed Harley, and into his keen grey eyes crept a look of real
+      interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has an accomplice,&rdquo; repeated the Inspector. &ldquo;A certain witness was
+      strangely reluctant to mention Mr. Camber&rsquo;s name. It was only after very
+      keen examination that I got it at last. Now, Colonel Menendez had not
+      retired last night, neither had a certain other party. That other party,
+      sir, knows why Colonel Menendez was wandering about the garden at
+      midnight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At first, I think, this astonishing innuendo did not fully penetrate to my
+      mind, but when it did so, it seemed to galvanize me. Springing up from the
+      chair in which I had been seated:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You preposterous fool!&rdquo; I exclaimed, hotly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the last straw. Inspector Aylesbury strode to the door and throwing
+      it open once more, turned to me:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be good enough to leave the house, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am about to
+      have it officially searched, and I will have no strangers present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I think I could have strangled him with pleasure, but even in my rage I
+      was not foolhardy enough to lay myself open to that of which the Inspector
+      was quite capable at this moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Without another word I walked out of the study, took my hat and stick, and
+      opening the front door, quitted the Guest House, from which I had thus a
+      second time been dismissed ignominiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Appreciation of this fact, which came to me as I stepped into the porch,
+      awakened my sense of humour&mdash;a gift truly divine which has saved many
+      a man from desperation or worse. I felt like a schoolboy who had been
+      turned out of a class-room, and I was glad that I could laugh at myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A constable was standing in the porch, and he looked at me suspiciously.
+      No doubt he perceived something very sardonic in my merriment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I walked out of the gate, before which a car was standing, and as I paused
+      to light a cigarette I heard the door of the Guest House open and close. I
+      glanced back, and there was Paul Harley coming to join me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Knox,&rdquo; he said, briskly, &ldquo;we have got our hands full.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Harley, I am both angry and bewildered. Too angry and too
+      bewildered to think clearly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can quite understand it. I should become homicidal if I were forced to
+      submit for long to the company of Inspector Aylesbury. Of course, I had
+      anticipated the arrest of Colin Camber, and I fear there is worse to
+      come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that failing the apprehension of the real murderer, I cannot see,
+      at the moment, upon what the case for the defence is to rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely you demonstrated out there in the garden that he could not
+      possibly have fired the shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Words, Knox, words. I could pick a dozen loopholes in my own argument. I
+      had only hoped to defer the inevitable. I tell you, there is worse to
+      come. Two things we must do at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must persuade the man on duty to allow us to examine the Tudor garden,
+      and we must see the Chief Constable, whoever he may be, and prevail upon
+      him to requisition the assistance of Scotland Yard. With Wessex in charge
+      of the case I might have a chance. Whilst this disastrous man Aylesbury
+      holds the keys there is none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You heard what he said about Miss Beverley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now walking rapidly along the high road, and Harley nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had expected it. He was inspired with this brilliant
+      idea last night, and his ideas are too few to be lightly scrapped. If the
+      Chief Constable is anything like the Inspector, what we are going to do
+      heaven only knows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I take it, Harley, that you are convinced of Colin Camber&rsquo;s innocence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley did not answer for a moment, whereupon I glanced at him anxiously,
+      then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colin Camber,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;is of so peculiar a type that I could not
+      presume to say of what he is capable or is not capable. The most
+      significant point in his favour is this: He is a man of unusual intellect.
+      The planning of this cunning crime to such a man would have been child&rsquo;s
+      play&mdash;child&rsquo;s play, Knox. But is it possible to believe that his
+      genius would have failed him upon the most essential detail of all,
+      namely, an alibi?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course it is not. Which, continuing to regard Camber as an assassin,
+      reduces us to the theory that the crime was committed in a moment of
+      passion. This I maintain to be also impossible. It was no deed of
+      impulse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, I believe that the enquiry is going to turn upon a very delicate
+      point. If I am wrong in this, then perhaps I am wrong in my whole
+      conception of the case. But have you considered the mass of evidence
+      against Colin Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have, Harley,&rdquo; I replied, sadly, &ldquo;I have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Think of all that we know, and which the Inspector does not know. Every
+      single datum points in the same direction. No prosecution could ask for a
+      more perfect case. Upon this fact I pin my hopes. Where an Aylesbury
+      rushes in I fear to tread. The analogy with an angel was accidental,
+      Knox!&rdquo; he added, smilingly. &ldquo;In other words, it is all too obvious. Yet I
+      have failed once, Knox, failed disastrously, and it may be that in my
+      anxiety to justify myself I am seeking for subtlety where no subtlety
+      exists.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXV. AYLESBURY&rsquo;S THEORY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      There were strangers about Cray&rsquo;s Folly and a sort of furtive activity,
+      horribly suggestive. We had not pursued the circular route by the high
+      road which would have brought us to the lodge, but had turned aside where
+      the swing-gate opened upon a footpath into the meadows. It was the path
+      which I had pursued upon the day of my visit to the Lavender Arms. A
+      second private gate here gave access to the grounds at a point directly
+      opposite the lake; and as we crossed the valley, making for the terraced
+      lawns, I saw unfamiliar figures upon the veranda, and knew that the
+      cumbersome processes of the law were already in motion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was longing to speak to Val Beverley and to learn what had taken place
+      during her interview with Inspector Aylesbury, but Harley led the way
+      toward the tower wing, and by a tortuous path through the rhododendrons we
+      finally came out on the northeast front and in sight of the Tudor garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley crossed to the entrance, and was about to descend the steps, when
+      the constable on duty there held out his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I have orders to admit no one to this part
+      of the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Harley, pulling up short, &ldquo;but I am acting in this case. My
+      name is Paul Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sorry, sir,&rdquo; replied the constable, &ldquo;but you will have to see Inspector
+      Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend uttered an impatient exclamation, but, turning aside:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, constable,&rdquo; he muttered; &ldquo;I suppose I must submit. Our friend,
+      Aylesbury,&rdquo; he added to me, as we walked away, &ldquo;would appear to be a
+      martinet as well as a walrus. At every step, Knox, he proves himself a
+      tragic nuisance. This means waste of priceless time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What had you hoped to do, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prove my theory,&rdquo; he returned; &ldquo;but since every moment is precious, I
+      must move in another direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hurried on through the opening in the box hedge and into the courtyard.
+      Manoel had just opened the doors to a sepulchral-looking person who proved
+      to be the coroner&rsquo;s officer, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Manoel!&rdquo; cried Harley, &ldquo;tell Carter to bring a car round at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t time to fetch my own,&rdquo; he explained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you off to?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am off to see the Chief Constable, Knox. Aylesbury must be superseded
+      at whatever cost. If the Chief Constable fails I shall not hesitate to go
+      higher. I will get along to the garage. I don&rsquo;t expect to be more than an
+      hour. Meanwhile, do your best to act as a buffer between Aylesbury and the
+      women. You understand me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite,&rdquo; I returned, shortly. &ldquo;But the task may prove no light one,
+      Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he assured me, smiling grimly. &ldquo;How you must regret, Knox,
+      that we didn&rsquo;t go fishing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that he was off, eager-eyed and alert, the mood of dreamy abstraction
+      dropped like a cloak discarded. He fully realized, as I did, that his
+      unique reputation was at stake. I wondered, as I had wondered at the Guest
+      House, whether, in undertaking to clear Colin Camber, he had acted upon
+      sheer conviction, or, embittered by the death of his client, had taken a
+      gambler&rsquo;s chance. It was unlike him to do so. But now beyond reach of that
+      charm of manner which Colin Camber possessed, and discounting the pathetic
+      sweetness of his girl-wife, I realized how black was the evidence against
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Occupied with these, and even more troubled thoughts, I was making my way
+      toward the library, undetermined how to act, when I saw Val Beverley
+      coming along the corridor which communicated with Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I read a welcome in her eyes which made my heart beat the faster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I am so glad you have returned. Tell me all
+      that has happened, for I feel in some way that I am responsible for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know, then, where Inspector Aylesbury went when he left here, after
+      his interview with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at me pathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He went to the Guest House, of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;he was close behind us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And&rdquo;&mdash;she hesitated&mdash;&ldquo;Mr. Camber?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has been detained.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she moaned. &ldquo;I could hate myself! Yet what could I say, what could I
+      do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just tell me all about it,&rdquo; I urged. &ldquo;What were the Inspector&rsquo;s
+      questions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; explained the girl, &ldquo;he had evidently learned from someone,
+      presumably one of the servants, that there was enmity between Mr. Camber
+      and Colonel Menendez. He asked me if I knew of this, and of course I had
+      to admit that I did. But when I told him that I had no idea of its cause,
+      he did not seem to believe me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I murmured. &ldquo;Any evidence which fails to dove-tail with his
+      preconceived theories he puts down as a lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He seemed to have made up his mind for some reason,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;that
+      I was intimately acquainted with Mr. Camber. Whereas, of course, I have
+      never spoken to him in my life, although whenever he has passed me in the
+      road he has always saluted me with quite delightful courtesy. Oh, Mr.
+      Knox, it is horrible to think of this great misfortune coming to those
+      poor people.&rdquo; She looked at me pleadingly. &ldquo;How did his wife take it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor little girl,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;it was an awful blow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel that I want to set out this very minute,&rdquo; declared Val Beverley,
+      &ldquo;and go to her, and try to comfort her. Because I feel in my very soul
+      that her husband is innocent. She is such a sweet little thing. I have
+      wanted to speak to her since the very first time I ever saw her, but on
+      the rare occasions when we have met in the village she has hurried past as
+      though she were afraid of me. Mr. Harley surely knows that her husband is
+      not guilty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think he does,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but he may have great difficulty in proving
+      it. And what else did Inspector Aylesbury wish to know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I tell you?&rdquo; she said in a low voice; and biting her lip
+      agitatedly she turned her head aside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I can guess.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you?&rdquo; she asked, looking at me quickly. &ldquo;Well, then, he seemed to
+      attach a ridiculous importance to the fact that I had not retired last
+      night at the time of the tragedy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; said I, grimly. &ldquo;Another preconceived idea of his.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told him the truth of the matter, which is surely quite simple, and at
+      first I was unable to understand the nature of his suspicions. Then, after
+      a time, his questions enlightened me. He finally suggested, quite openly,
+      that I had not come down from my room to the corridor in which Madame de
+      Stämer was lying, but had actually been there at the time!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the corridor outside her room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. He seemed to think that I had just come in from the door near the
+      end of the east wing and beside the tower, which opens into the
+      shrubbery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That you had just come in?&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;He thinks, then, that you had
+      been out in the grounds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley&rsquo;s face had been very pale, but now she flushed indignantly,
+      and glanced away from me as she replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He dared to suggest that I had been to keep an assignation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fool!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;The ignorant, impudent fool!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;I felt quite ill with indignation. I am afraid I may
+      regard Inspector Aylesbury as an enemy from now onward, for when I had
+      recovered from the shock I told him very plainly what I thought about his
+      intellect, or lack of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad you did,&rdquo; I said, warmly. &ldquo;Before Inspector Aylesbury is
+      through with this business I fancy he will know more about his limitations
+      than he knows at present. The fact of the matter is that he is badly out
+      of his depth, but is not man enough to acknowledge the fact even to
+      himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled at me pathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever should I have done if I had been alone?&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was tempted to direct the conversation into a purely personal channel,
+      but common sense prevailed, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Madame de Stämer awake?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; The girl nodded. &ldquo;Dr. Rolleston is with her now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And does she know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. She sent for me directly she awoke, and asked me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you told her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How could I do otherwise? She was quite composed, wonderfully composed;
+      and the way she heard the news was simply heroic. But here is Dr.
+      Rolleston, coming now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I glanced along the corridor, and there was the physician approaching
+      briskly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, doctor. I hear that your patient is much improved?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wonderfully so,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;She has enough courage for ten men. She
+      wishes to see you, Mr. Knox, and to hear your account of the tragedy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think it would be wise?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it would be best.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you hold any hope of her permanently recovering the use of her limbs?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr. Rolleston shook his head doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may have only been temporary,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;These obscure nervous
+      affections are very fickle. It is unsafe to make predictions. But
+      mentally, at least, she is quite restored from the effects of last night&rsquo;s
+      shock. You need apprehend no hysteria or anything of that nature, Mr.
+      Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; exclaimed a loud voice behind us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We all three turned, and there was Inspector Aylesbury crossing the hall
+      in our direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Dr. Rolleston,&rdquo; he said, deliberately ignoring my presence.
+      &ldquo;I hear that your patient is quite well again this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is much improved,&rdquo; returned the physician, dryly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I can get her testimony, which is most important to my case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is somewhat better. If she cares to see you I do not forbid the
+      interview.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s good of you, doctor.&rdquo; He bowed to Miss Beverley. &ldquo;Perhaps,
+      Miss, you would ask Madame de Stämer to see me for a few minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley looked at me appealingly then shrugged her shoulders, turned
+      aside, and walked in the direction of Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Dr. Rolleston, in his brisk way, shaking me by the hand, &ldquo;I
+      must be getting along. Good morning, Mr. Knox. Good morning, Inspector
+      Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked rapidly out to his waiting car. The presence of Inspector
+      Aylesbury exercised upon Dr. Rolleston a similar effect to that which a
+      red rag has upon a bull. As he took his departure, the Inspector drew out
+      his pocket-book, and, humming gently to himself, began to consult certain
+      entries therein, with a portentous air of reflection which would have been
+      funny if it had not been so irritating.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus we stood when Val Beverley returned, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer will see you, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but
+      wishes Mr. Knox to be present at the interview.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, lowering his chin, &ldquo;I see. Oh, very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVI. IN MADAME&rsquo;S ROOM
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s apartment was a large and elegant one. From the
+      window-drapings, which were of some light, figured satiny material, to the
+      bed-cover, the lampshades and the carpet, it was French. Faintly perfumed,
+      and decorated with many bowls of roses, it reflected, in its ornaments,
+      its pictures, its slender-legged furniture, the personality of the
+      occupant. In a large, high bed, reclining amidst a number of silken
+      pillows, lay Madame de Stämer. The theme of the room was violet and
+      silver, and to this everything conformed. The toilet service was of dull
+      silver and violet enamel. The mirrors and some of the pictures had dull
+      silver frames, There was nothing tawdry or glittering. The bed itself,
+      which I thought resembled a bed of state, was of the same dull silver,
+      with a coverlet of delicate violet I hue. But Madame&rsquo;s décolleté robe was
+      trimmed with white fur, so that her hair, dressed high upon her head,
+      seemed to be of silver, too.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reclining there upon her pillows, she looked like some grande dame of that
+      France which was swept away by the Revolution. Immediately above the
+      dressing-table I observed a large portrait of Colonel Menendez dressed as
+      I had imagined he should be dressed when I had first set eyes on him, in
+      tropical riding kit, and holding a broad-brimmed hat in his hand. A
+      strikingly handsome, arrogant figure he made, uncannily like the Velasquez
+      in the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the face of Madame de Stämer I looked long and searchingly. She had not
+      neglected the art of the toilette. Blinds tempered the sunlight which
+      flooded her room; but that, failing the service of rouge, Madame had been
+      pale this morning, I perceived immediately. In some subtle way the night
+      had changed her. Something was gone out of her face, and something come
+      into it. I thought, and lived to remember the thought, that it was thus
+      Marie Antoinette might have looked when they told her how the drums had
+      rolled in the Place de la Revolution on that morning of the twenty-first
+      of January.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, M. Knox,&rdquo; she said, sadly, &ldquo;you are there, I see. Come and sit here
+      beside me, my friend. Val, dear, remain. Is this Inspector Aylesbury who
+      wishes to speak to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector, who had entered with all the confidence in the world,
+      seemed to lose some of it in the presence of this grand lady, who was so
+      little impressed by the dignity of his office.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She waved one slender hand in the direction of a violet brocaded chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Monsieur l&rsquo;inspecteur,&rdquo; she commanded, for it was rather a
+      command than an invitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and sat down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, M. Knox!&rdquo; exclaimed Madame, turning to me with one of her rapid
+      movements, &ldquo;is your friend afraid to face me, then? Does he think that he
+      has failed? Does he think that I condemn him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He knows that he has failed, Madame de Stämer,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but his
+      absence is due to the fact that at this hour he is hot upon the trail of
+      the assassin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;what!&rdquo;&mdash;and bending forward touched my arm.
+      &ldquo;Tell me again! Tell me again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is following a clue, Madame de Stämer, which he hopes will lead to the
+      truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! if I could believe it would lead to the truth,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;If I dared
+      to believe this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should it not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head, smiling with such a resigned sadness that I averted my
+      gaze and glanced across at Val Beverley who was seated on the opposite
+      side of the bed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you knew&mdash;if you knew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked again into the tragic face, and realized that this was an older
+      woman than the brilliant hostess I had known. She sighed, shrugged, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, M. Knox,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;it was swift and merciful, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Instantaneous,&rdquo; I replied, in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A good shot?&rdquo; she asked, strangely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A wonderful shot,&rdquo; I answered, thinking that she imposed unnecessary
+      torture upon herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They say he must be taken away, M. Knox, but I reply: not until I have
+      seen him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame,&rdquo; began Val Beverley, gently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my dear!&rdquo; Madame de Stämer, without looking at the speaker, extended
+      one hand in her direction, the fingers characteristically curled. &ldquo;You do
+      not know me. Perhaps it is a good job. You are a man, Mr. Knox, and men,
+      especially men who write, know more of women than they know of themselves,
+      is it not so? You will understand that I must see him again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;your courage is almost terrible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not proud to be brave, my friend. The animals are brave, but many
+      cowards are proud. Listen again. He suffered no pain, you think?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, Madame de Stämer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So Dr. Rolleston assures me. He died in his sleep? You do not think he
+      was awake, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most certainly he was not awake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the best way to die,&rdquo; she said, simply. &ldquo;Yet he, who was brave and
+      had faced death many times, would have counted it&rdquo;&mdash;&mdash;she
+      snapped her white fingers, glancing across the room to where Inspector
+      Aylesbury, very subdued, sat upon the brocaded chair twirling his cap
+      between his hands. &ldquo;And now, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;what is it
+      you wish me to tell you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Madame,&rdquo; began the Inspector, and stood up, evidently in an
+      endeavour to recover his dignity, but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Mr. Inspector! I beg of you be seated,&rdquo; cried Madame. &ldquo;I will
+      not be questioned by one who stands. And if you were to walk about I
+      should shriek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He resumed his seat, clearing his throat nervously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Madame,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;I have come to you particularly for
+      information respecting a certain Mr. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; said Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her vibrant voice was very low.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know him, no doubt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never met him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; exclaimed the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame shrugged and glanced at me eloquently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;this gets more and more funny. I am told by Pedro,
+      the butler, that Colonel Menendez looked upon Mr. Camber as an enemy, and
+      Miss Beverley, here, admitted that it was true. Yet although he was an
+      enemy, nobody ever seems to have spoken to him, and he swears that he had
+      never spoken to Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said Madame, listlessly, &ldquo;is that so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so, Madame, and now you tell me that you have never met him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did tell you so, yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His wife, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never met his wife,&rdquo; said Madame, rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is a fact that Colonel Menendez regarded him as an enemy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a fact-yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, now we are coming to it. What was the cause of this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that you don&rsquo;t know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that I cannot tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said the Inspector, blankly, &ldquo;I see. That&rsquo;s not helping me very
+      much, is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, it is no help,&rdquo; said Madame, twirling a ring upon her finger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector cleared his throat again, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There had been other attempts, I believe, at assassination?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Several.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you witness any of these?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you know that they took place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Juan&mdash;Colonel Menendez&mdash;had told me so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And he suspected that there was someone lurking about this house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Also, someone broke in?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There were doors unfastened, and a great disturbance, so I suppose
+      someone must have done so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I wondered if he would refer to the bat wing nailed to the door, but he
+      had evidently decided that this clue was without importance, nor did he
+      once refer to the aspect of the case which concerned Voodoo. He possessed
+      a sort of mulish obstinacy, and was evidently determined to use no scrap
+      of information which he had obtained from Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Madame,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you heard the shot fired last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It woke you up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was already awake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see: you were awake?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was awake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you think the sound came from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From back yonder, beyond the east wing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond the east wing?&rdquo; muttered Inspector Aylesbury. &ldquo;Now, let me see.&rdquo;
+       He turned ponderously in his chair, gazing out of the windows. &ldquo;We look
+      out on the south here? You say the sound of the shot came from the east?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it seemed to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh.&rdquo; This piece of information seemed badly to puzzle him. &ldquo;And what
+      then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was so startled that I ran to the door before I remembered that I could
+      not walk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced aside at me with a tired smile, and laid her hand upon my arm
+      in an oddly caressing way, as if to say, &ldquo;He is so stupid; I should not
+      have expressed myself in that way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Truly enough the Inspector misunderstood, for:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t follow what you mean, Madame,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;You say you forgot
+      that you could not walk?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, I expressed myself wrongly,&rdquo; Madame replied in a weary voice.
+      &ldquo;The fright, the terror, gave me strength to stagger to the door, and
+      there I fell and swooned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. You speak of fright and terror. Were these caused by the sound
+      of the shot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For some reason my cousin believed himself to be in peril,&rdquo; explained
+      Madame. &ldquo;He went in dread of assassination, you understand? Very well, he
+      caused me to feel this dread, also. When I heard the shot, something told
+      me, something told me that&mdash;&rdquo; she paused, and suddenly placing her
+      hands before her face, added in a whisper&mdash;&ldquo;that it had come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley was watching Madame de Stämer anxiously, and the fact that
+      she was unfit to undergo further examination was so obvious that any other
+      than an Inspector Aylesbury would have withdrawn. The latter, however,
+      seemed now to be glued to his chair, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;and now there&rsquo;s another point: Have you any idea
+      what took Colonel Menendez out into the grounds last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer lowered her hands and gazed across at the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that, Monsieur l&rsquo;inspecteur?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you don&rsquo;t think he might have gone out to talk to someone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To someone? To what one?&rdquo; demanded Madame, scornfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it isn&rsquo;t natural for a man to go walking about the garden at
+      midnight, when he&rsquo;s unwell, is it? Not alone. But if there was a lady in
+      the case he might go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A lady?&rdquo; said Madame, softly. &ldquo;Yes&mdash;continue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; resumed the Inspector, deceived by the soft voice, &ldquo;the young lady
+      sitting beside you was still wearing her evening dress when I arrived here
+      last night. I found that out, although she didn&rsquo;t give me a chance to see
+      her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His words had an effect more dramatic than he could have foreseen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de Stämer threw her arm around Val Beverley, and hugged her so
+      closely to her side that the girl&rsquo;s curly brown head was pressed against
+      Madame&rsquo;s shoulder. Thus holding her, she sat rigidly upright, her strange,
+      still eyes glaring across the room at Inspector Aylesbury. Her whole pose
+      was instinct with challenge, with defiance, and in that moment I
+      identified the illusive memory which the eyes of Madame so often had
+      conjured up in my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, years before, I had seen a wounded tigress standing over her cubs, a
+      beautiful, fearless creature, blazing defiance with dying eyes upon those
+      who had destroyed her, the mother-instinct supreme to the last; for as she
+      fell to rise no more she had thrown her paw around the cowering cubs. It
+      was not in shape, nor in colour, but in expression and in their stillness,
+      that the eyes of Madame de Stämer resembled the eyes of the tigress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame, Madame,&rdquo; moaned the girl, &ldquo;how dare he!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; Madame de Stämer raised her head yet higher, a royal gesture, that
+      unmoving stare set upon the face of the discomfited Inspector Aylesbury.
+      &ldquo;Leave my apartment.&rdquo; Her left hand shot out dramatically in the direction
+      of the door, but even yet the fingers remained curled. &ldquo;Stupid, gross
+      fool!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury stood up, his face very flushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am only doing my duty, Madame,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go, go!&rdquo; commanded Madame, &ldquo;I insist that you go!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Convulsively she held Val Beverley to her side, and although I could not
+      see the girl&rsquo;s face, I knew that she was weeping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those implacable flaming eyes followed with their stare the figure of the
+      Inspector right to the doorway, for he essayed no further speech, but
+      retired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I, also, rose, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame de Stämer,&rdquo; I said, speaking, I fear, very unnaturally, &ldquo;I love
+      your spirit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw back her head, smiling up at me. I shall never forget that look,
+      nor shall I attempt to portray all which it conveyed&mdash;for I know I
+      should fail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friend!&rdquo; she said, and extended her hand to be kissed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVII. AN INSPIRATION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury had disappeared when I came out of the hall, but Pedro
+      was standing there to remind me of the fact that I had not breakfasted. I
+      realized that despite all tragic happenings, I was ravenously hungry, and
+      accordingly I agreed to his proposal that I should take breakfast on the
+      south veranda, as on the previous morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To the south veranda accordingly I made my way, rather despising myself
+      because I was capable of hunger at such a time and amidst such horrors.
+      The daily papers were on my table, for Carter drove into Market Hilton
+      every morning to meet the London train which brought them down; but I did
+      not open any of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pedro waited upon me in person. I could see that the man was pathetically
+      anxious to talk. Accordingly, when he presently brought me a fresh supply
+      of hot rolls:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This has been a dreadful blow to you, Pedro?&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreadful, sir,&rdquo; he returned; &ldquo;fearful. I lose a splendid master, I lose
+      my place, and I am far, far from home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are from Cuba?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes. I was with Señor the Colonel Don Juan in Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And do you know anything of the previous attempts which had been made
+      upon his life, Pedro?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, sir. Nothing at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the bat wing, Pedro?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at me in a startled way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I found it pinned to the door here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you think it meant?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought it was a joke, sir&mdash;not a nice joke&mdash;by someone who
+      knew Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know the meaning of Bat Wing, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is Obeah. I have never seen it before, but I have heard of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you think?&rdquo; said I, proceeding with my breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought it was meant to frighten.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But who did you think had done it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had heard Señor Don Juan say that Mr. Camber hated him, so I thought
+      perhaps he had sent someone to do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why should Mr. Camber have hated the Colonel?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot say, sir. I wish I could tell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was your master popular in the West Indies?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir&mdash;&rdquo; Pedro hesitated&mdash;&ldquo;perhaps not so well liked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I had gathered as much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man withdrew, and I continued my solitary meal, listening to the song
+      of the skylarks, and thinking how complex was human existence, compared
+      with any other form of life beneath the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How to employ my time until Harley should return I knew not. Common
+      delicacy dictated an avoidance of Val Beverley until she should have
+      recovered from the effect of Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s gross insinuations, and
+      I was curiously disinclined to become involved in the gloomy formalities
+      which ensue upon a crime of violence. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to
+      remain within call, realizing that there might be unpleasant duties which
+      Pedro could not perform, and which must therefore devolve upon Val
+      Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I lighted my pipe and walked out on to the sloping lawn. A gardener was at
+      work with a big syringe, destroying a patch of weeds which had appeared in
+      one corner of the velvet turf. He looked up in a sort of startled way as I
+      passed, bidding me good morning, and then resuming his task. I thought
+      that this man&rsquo;s activities were symbolic of the way of the world, in whose
+      eternal progression one poor human life counts as nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently I came in sight of that door which opened into the rhododendron
+      shrubbery, the door by which Colonel Menendez had come out to meet his
+      death. His bedroom was directly above, and as I picked my way through the
+      closely growing bushes, which at an earlier time I had thought to be
+      impassable, I paused in the very shadow of the tower and glanced back and
+      upward. I could see the windows of the little smoke-room in which we had
+      held our last interview with Menendez; and I thought of the shadow which
+      Harley had seen upon the blind. I was unable to disguise from myself the
+      fact that when Inspector Aylesbury should learn of this occurrence, as
+      presently he must do, it would give new vigour to his ridiculous and
+      unpleasant suspicions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I passed on, and considering the matter impartially, found myself faced by
+      the questions&mdash;Whose was the shadow which Harley had seen upon the
+      blind? And with what purpose did Colonel Menendez leave the house at
+      midnight?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Somnambulism might solve the second riddle, but to the first I could find
+      no answer acceptable to my reason. And now, pursuing my aimless way, I
+      presently came in sight of a gable of the Guest House. I could obtain a
+      glimpse of the hut which had once been Colin Camber&rsquo;s workroom. The
+      window, through which Paul Harley had stared so intently, possessed
+      sliding panes. These were closed, and a ray of sunlight, striking upon the
+      glass, produced, because of an over-leaning branch which crossed the top
+      of the window, an effect like that of a giant eye glittering evilly
+      through the trees. I could see a constable moving about in the garden.
+      Ever and anon the sun shone upon the buttons of his tunic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By such steps my thoughts led me on to the pathetic figure of Ysola
+      Camber. Save for the faithful Ah Tsong she was alone in that house to
+      which tragedy had come unbidden, unforeseen. I doubted if she had a woman
+      friend in all the countryside. Doubtless, I reflected, the old
+      housekeeper, to whom she had referred, would return as speedily as
+      possible, but pending the arrival of someone to whom she could confide all
+      her sorrows, I found it almost impossible to contemplate the loneliness of
+      the tragic little figure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was my mental state, and my thoughts were all of compassion, when
+      suddenly, like a lurid light, an inspiration came to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had passed out from the shadow of the tower and was walking in the
+      direction of the sentinel yews when this idea, dreadfully complete, leapt
+      to my mind. I pulled up short, as though hindered by a palpable barrier.
+      Vague musings, evanescent theories, vanished like smoke, and a ghastly,
+      consistent theory of the crime unrolled itself before me, with all the
+      cold logic of truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God!&rdquo; I groaned aloud, &ldquo;I see it all. I see it all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVIII. MY THEORY OF THE CRIME
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The afternoon was well advanced before Paul Harley returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So deep was my conviction that I had hit upon the truth, and so well did
+      my theory stand every test which I could apply to it, that I felt
+      disinclined for conversation with any one concerned in the tragedy until I
+      should have submitted the matter to the keen analysis of Harley. Upon the
+      sorrow of Madame de Stämer I naturally did not intrude, nor did I seek to
+      learn if she had carried out her project of looking upon the dead man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About mid-day the body was removed, after which an oppressive and awesome
+      stillness seemed to descend upon Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury had not returned from his investigations at the Guest
+      House, and learning that Miss Beverley was remaining with Madame de
+      Stämer, I declined to face the ordeal of a solitary luncheon in the dining
+      room, and merely ate a few sandwiches, walking over to the Lavender Arms
+      for a glass of Mrs. Wootton&rsquo;s excellent ale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I found the bar-parlour full of local customers, and although a
+      heated discussion was in progress as I opened the door, silence fell upon
+      my appearance. Mrs. Wootton greeted me sadly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, sir,&rdquo; she said, as she placed a mug before me; &ldquo;of course you&rsquo;ve
+      heard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have, madam,&rdquo; I replied, perceiving that she did not know me to be a
+      guest at Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well!&rdquo; She shook her head. &ldquo;It had to come, with all these foreign
+      folk about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She retired to some sanctum at the rear of the bar, and I drank my beer
+      amid one of those silences which sometimes descend upon such a gathering
+      when a stranger appears in its midst. Not until I moved to depart was this
+      silence broken, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well,&rdquo; said an old fellow, evidently a farm-hand, &ldquo;we know now why he
+      was priming of hisself with the drink, we do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye!&rdquo; came a growling chorus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I came out of the Lavender Arms full of a knowledge that so far as
+      Mid-Hatton was concerned, Colin Camber was already found guilty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had hoped to see something of Val Beverley on my return, but she
+      remained closeted with Madame de Stämer, and I was left in loneliness to
+      pursue my own reflections, and to perfect that theory which had presented
+      itself to my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Harley&rsquo;s absence I had taken it upon myself to give an order to Pedro
+      to the effect that no reporters were to be admitted; and in this I had
+      done well. So quickly does evil news fly that, between mid-day and the
+      hour of Harley&rsquo;s return, no fewer than five reporters, I believe,
+      presented themselves at Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Some of the more persistent
+      continued to haunt the neighbourhood, and I had withdrawn to the deserted
+      library, in order to avoid observation, when I heard a car draw up in the
+      courtyard, and a moment later heard Harley asking for me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I hurried out to meet him, and as I appeared at the door of the library:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hullo, Knox,&rdquo; he called, running up the steps. &ldquo;Any developments?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No actual development?&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;except that several members of the
+      Press have been here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You told them nothing?&rdquo; he asked, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; they were not admitted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, good,&rdquo; he muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had expected you long before this, Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally,&rdquo; he said, with a sort of irritation. &ldquo;I have been all the way
+      to Whitehall and back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Whitehall! What, you have been to London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had half anticipated it, Knox. The Chief Constable, although quite a
+      decent fellow, is a stickler for routine. On the strength of those facts
+      which I thought fit to place before him he could see no reason for
+      superseding Aylesbury. Accordingly, without further waste of time, I
+      headed straight for Whitehall. You may remember a somewhat elaborate
+      report which I completed upon the eve of our departure from Chancery
+      Lane?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very thankless job for the Home Office, Knox. But I received my reward
+      to-day. Inspector Wessex has been placed in charge of the case and I hope
+      he will be down here within the hour. Pending his arrival I am tied hand
+      and foot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had walked into the library, and, stopping, suddenly, Harley stared me
+      very hard in the face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are bottling something up, Knox,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;Out with it. Has
+      Aylesbury distinguished himself again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;on the contrary. He interviewed Madame de Stämer, and
+      came out with a flea in his ear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said Harley, smiling. &ldquo;A clever woman, and a woman of spirit,
+      Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;and you are also right in supposing that I
+      have a communication to make to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I thought so. What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a theory, Harley, which appears to me to cover the facts of the
+      case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; said he, continuing to stare at me. &ldquo;And what inspired it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was staring up at the window of the smoke-room to-day, and I remembered
+      the shadow which you had seen upon the blind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; he cried, eagerly; &ldquo;and does your theory explain that, too?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It does, Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am all anxiety to hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then, I will endeavour to be brief. Do you recollect Miss
+      Beverley&rsquo;s story of the unfamiliar footsteps which passed her door on
+      several occasions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You recollect that you, yourself, heard someone crossing the hall, and
+      that both of us heard a door close?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And finally you saw the shadow of a woman upon the blind of the Colonel&rsquo;s
+      private study. Very well. Excluding the preposterous theory of Inspector
+      Aylesbury, there is no woman in Cray&rsquo;s Folly whose footsteps could
+      possibly have been heard in that corridor, and whose shadow could possibly
+      have been seen upon the blind of Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree,&rdquo; said Harley, quietly. &ldquo;I have definitely eliminated all the
+      servants from the case. Therefore, proceed, Knox, I am all attention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will do so. There is a door on the south side of the house, close to
+      the tower and opening into the rhododendron shrubbery. This was the door
+      used by Colonel Menendez in his somnambulistic rambles, according to his
+      own account. Now, assuming his statement to have been untrue in one
+      particular, that is, assuming he was not walking in his sleep, but was
+      fully awake&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh?&rdquo; exclaimed Harley, his expression undergoing a subtle change. &ldquo;Do you
+      think his statement was untrue?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;According to my theory, Harley, his statement was untrue, in this
+      particular, at least. But to proceed: Might he not have employed this door
+      to admit a nocturnal visitor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is feasible,&rdquo; muttered Harley, watching me closely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the Colonel to descend to this side door when the household was
+      sleeping,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;and to admit a woman secretly to Cray&rsquo;s Folly,
+      would have been a simple matter. Indeed, on the occasions of these visits
+      he might even have unbolted the door himself after Pedro had bolted it, in
+      order to enable her to enter without his descending for the purpose of
+      admitting her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By heavens! Knox,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;I believe you have it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes were gleaming excitedly, and I proceeded:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hence the footsteps which passed Miss Beverley&rsquo;s door, hence the shadow
+      which you saw upon the blind; and the sounds which you detected in the
+      hall were caused, of course, by this woman retiring. It was the door
+      leading into the shrubbery which we heard being closed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Continue,&rdquo; said Harley; &ldquo;although I can plainly see to what this is
+      leading.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can see, Harley?&rdquo; I cried; &ldquo;of course you can see! The enmity between
+      Camber and Menendez is understandable at last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that Menendez was Mrs. Camber&rsquo;s lover?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you agree with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is feasible, Knox, dreadfully feasible. But go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My theory also explains Colin Camber&rsquo;s lapse from sobriety. It is
+      legitimate to suppose that his wife, who was a Cuban, had been intimate
+      with Menendez before her meeting with Camber. Perhaps she had broken the
+      tie at the time of her marriage, but this is mere supposition. Then, her
+      old lover, his infatuation by no means abated, leases the property
+      adjoining that of his successful rival.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Knox!&rdquo; exclaimed Paul Harley, &ldquo;this is brilliant. I am all impatience for
+      the <i>dénouement</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is coming,&rdquo; I said, triumphantly. &ldquo;Relations are reëstablished,
+      clandestinely. Colin Camber learns of these. A passionate quarrel ensues,
+      resulting in a long drinking bout designed to drown his sorrows. His love
+      for his wife is so great that he has forgiven her this infidelity.
+      Accordingly, she has promised to see her lover no more. Hers was the
+      figure which you saw outlined upon the blind on the night before the
+      tragedy, Harley! The gestures, which you described as those of despair,
+      furnish evidence to confirm my theory. It was a final meeting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; muttered Harley. &ldquo;It would be taking big chances, because we have to
+      suppose, Knox, that these visits to Cray&rsquo;s Folly were made whilst her
+      husband was at work in the study. If he had suddenly decided to turn in,
+      all would have been discovered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True,&rdquo; I agreed, &ldquo;but is it impossible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not a bit. Women are dreadful gamblers. But continue, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well. Colonel Menendez has refused to accept his dismissal, and Mrs.
+      Camber had been compelled to promise, without necessarily intending to
+      carry out the promise, that she would see him again on the following
+      night. She failed to come; whereupon he, growing impatient, walked out
+      into the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly to look for her. She may even have
+      intended to come and have been intercepted by her husband. But in any
+      event, the latter, seeing the man who had wronged him, standing out there
+      in the moonlight, found temptation to be too strong. On the whole, I
+      favour the idea that he had intercepted his wife, and snatching up a
+      rifle, had actually gone out into the garden with the intention of
+      shooting Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; murmured Harley in a low voice. &ldquo;This hypothesis, Knox, does not
+      embrace the Bat Wing episodes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If Menendez has lied upon one point,&rdquo; I returned, &ldquo;it is permissible to
+      suppose that his entire story was merely a tissue of falsehood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. But why did he bring me to Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you understand, Harley?&rdquo; I cried, excitedly. &ldquo;He really feared for
+      his life, since he knew that Camber had discovered the intrigue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley heaved a long sigh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must congratulate you, Knox,&rdquo; he said, gravely, &ldquo;upon a really splendid
+      contribution to my case. In several particulars I find myself nearer to
+      the truth. But the definite establishment or shattering of your theory
+      rests upon one thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;You are surely not thinking of the bat wing
+      nailed upon the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I am thinking of the seventh yew tree from the
+      northeast corner of the Tudor garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIX. A LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      What reply I should have offered to this astonishing remark I cannot say,
+      but at that moment the library door burst open unceremoniously, and
+      outlined against the warmly illuminated hall, where sunlight poured down
+      through the dome, I beheld the figure of Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he cried, loudly, &ldquo;so you have come back, Mr. Harley? I thought you
+      had thrown up the case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you?&rdquo; said Harley, smilingly. &ldquo;No, I am still persevering in my
+      ineffectual way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see. And have you quite convinced yourself that Colin Camber is
+      innocent?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In one or two particulars my evidence remains incomplete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, in one or two particulars, eh? But generally speaking you don&rsquo;t doubt
+      his innocence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t doubt it for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley&rsquo;s words surprised me. I recognized, of course, that he might merely
+      be bluffing the Inspector, but it was totally alien to his character to
+      score a rhetorical success at the expense of what he knew to be the truth;
+      and so sure was I of the accuracy of my deductions that I no longer
+      doubted Colin Camber to be the guilty man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At any rate,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, &ldquo;he is in detention, and likely to
+      remain there. If you are going to defend him at the Assizes, I don&rsquo;t envy
+      you your job, Mr. Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was blatantly triumphant, so that the fact was evident enough that he
+      had obtained some further piece of evidence which he regarded as
+      conclusive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have detained the man Ah Tsong as well,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;He was an
+      accomplice of your innocent friend, Mr. Harley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was he really?&rdquo; murmured Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Finally,&rdquo; continued the Inspector, &ldquo;I have only to satisfy myself
+      regarding the person who lured Colonel Menendez out into the grounds last
+      night, to have my case complete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned aside, unable to trust myself, but Harley remarked quite coolly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your industry is admirable, Inspector Aylesbury, but I seem to perceive
+      that you have made a very important discovery of some kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, you have got wind of it, have you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no information on the point,&rdquo; replied Harley, &ldquo;but your manner
+      urges me to suggest that perhaps success has crowned your efforts?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has,&rdquo; replied the Inspector. &ldquo;I am a man that doesn&rsquo;t do things by
+      halves. I didn&rsquo;t content myself with just staring out of the window of
+      that little hut in the grounds of the Guest House, like you did, Mr.
+      Harley, and saying &lsquo;twice one are two&rsquo;&mdash;I looked at every book on the
+      shelves, and at every page of those books.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must have materially added to your information?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, very likely, but my enquiries didn&rsquo;t stop there. I had the floor up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The floor of the hut?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The floor of the hut, sir. The planks were quite loose. I had satisfied
+      myself that it was a likely hiding place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you find there, a dead rat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury turned, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant Butler,&rdquo; he called.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sergeant came forward from the hall, carrying a cricket bag. This
+      Inspector Aylesbury took from him, placing it upon the floor of the
+      library at his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;New, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I borrowed this bag in which to bring the evidence
+      away&mdash;the hanging evidence which I discovered beneath the floor of
+      the hut.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I had turned again, when the man had referred to his discovery; and now,
+      glancing at Harley, I saw that his face had grown suddenly very stern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show me your evidence, Inspector?&rdquo; he asked, shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There can be no objection,&rdquo; returned the Inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Opening the bag, he took out a rifle!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley&rsquo;s hands were thrust in his coat pockets, By the movement of
+      the cloth I could see that he had clenched his fists. Here was
+      confirmation of my theory!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A Service rifle,&rdquo; said the Inspector, triumphantly, holding up the
+      weapon. &ldquo;A Lee-Enfield charger-loader. It contains four cartridges, three
+      undischarged, and one discharged. He had not even troubled to eject it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector dropped the weapon into the bag with a dramatic movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fancy theories about bat wings and Voodoos,&rdquo; he said, scornfully, &ldquo;may
+      satisfy you, Mr. Harley, but I think this rifle will prove more
+      satisfactory to the Coroner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He picked up the bag and walked out of the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stood posed in a curiously rigid way, looking after him. Even when
+      the door had closed he did not change his position at once. Then, turning
+      slowly, he walked to an armchair and sat down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harley,&rdquo; I said, hesitatingly, &ldquo;has this discovery surprised you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surprised me?&rdquo; he returned in a low voice. &ldquo;It has appalled me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, although you seemed to regard my theory as sound,&rdquo; I continued
+      rather resentfully, &ldquo;all the time you continued to believe Colin Camber to
+      be innocent?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe so still.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought we had determined, Knox,&rdquo; he said, wearily, &ldquo;that a man of
+      Camber&rsquo;s genius, having decided upon murder, must have arranged for an
+      unassailable alibi. Very well. Are we now to leap to the other end of the
+      scale, and to credit him with such utter stupidity as to place hanging
+      evidence where it could not fail to be discovered by the most idiotic
+      policeman? Preserve your balance, Knox. Theories are wild horses. They run
+      away with us. I know that of old, for which very reason I always avoid
+      speculation until I have a solid foundation of fact upon which to erect
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear fellow,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;was Camber to foresee that the floor of
+      the hut would be taken up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley sighed, and leaned back in his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you recollect your first meeting with this man, Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What occurred?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was slightly drunk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but what was the nature of his conversation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He suggested that I had recognized his resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite. What had led him to make this suggestion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The manner in which I had looked at him, I suppose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. Although not quite sober, from a mere glance he was able to
+      detect what you were thinking. Do you wish me to believe, Knox, that this
+      same man had not foreseen what the police would think when Colonel
+      Menendez was found shot within a hundred yards of the garden of the Guest
+      House?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was somewhat taken aback, for Harley&rsquo;s argument was strictly logical,
+      and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is certainly very puzzling,&rdquo; I admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Puzzling!&rdquo; he exclaimed; &ldquo;it is maddening. This case is like a Syrian
+      village-mound. Stratum lies under stratum, and in each we meet with
+      evidence of more refined activity than in the last. It seems we have yet
+      to go deeper.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took out his pipe and began to fill it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me about the interview with Madame de Stämer,&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took a seat facing him, and he did not once interrupt me throughout my
+      account of Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s examination of Madame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; he commented, when I had told how the Inspector was dismissed.
+      &ldquo;But at least, Knox, he has a working theory, to which he sticks like an
+      express to the main line, whereas I find myself constantly called upon to
+      readjust my perspective. Directly I can enjoy freedom of movement,
+      however, I shall know whether my hypothesis is a house of cards or a
+      serviceable structure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your hypothesis?&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Then you really have a theory which is
+      entirely different from mine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not entirely different, Knox, merely not so comprehensive. I have
+      contented myself thus far with a negative theory, if I may so express it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Negative theory?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. We are dealing, my dear fellow, with a case of bewildering
+      intricacies. For the moment I have focussed upon one feature only.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon proving that Colin Camber did not do the murder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did <i>not</i> do it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely, Knox. Respecting the person or persons who did do it, I had
+      preserved a moderately open mind, up to the moment that Inspector
+      Aylesbury entered the library with the Lee-Enfield.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then?&rdquo; I said, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I began to think hard. However, since I practise what
+      I preach, or endeavour to do so, I must not permit myself to speculate
+      upon this aspect of the matter until I have tested my theory of Camber&rsquo;s
+      innocence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In other words,&rdquo; I said, bitterly, &ldquo;although you encouraged me to unfold
+      my ideas regarding Mrs. Camber, you were merely laughing at me all the
+      time!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Knox!&rdquo; exclaimed Harley, jumping up impulsively, &ldquo;please don&rsquo;t be
+      unjust. Is it like me? On the contrary, Knox&rdquo;&mdash;he looked me squarely
+      in the eyes&mdash;&ldquo;you have given me a platform on which already I have
+      begun to erect one corner of a theory of the crime. Without new facts I
+      can go no further. But this much at least you have done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, Harley,&rdquo; I murmured, and indeed I was gratified; &ldquo;but where do
+      your other corners rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They rest,&rdquo; he said, slowly, &ldquo;they rest, respectively, upon a bat wing, a
+      yew tree, and a Lee-Enfield charger-loader.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXX. THE SEVENTH YEW TREE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Detective-Inspector Wessex arrived at about five o&rsquo;clock; a quiet,
+      resourceful man, highly competent, and having the appearance of an
+      ex-soldier. His respect for the attainments of Paul Harley alone marked
+      him a student of character. I knew Wessex well, and was delighted when
+      Pedro showed him into the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God you are here, Wessex,&rdquo; said Harley, when we had exchanged
+      greetings. &ldquo;At last I can move. Have you seen the local officer in
+      charge?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the Inspector, &ldquo;but I gather that I have been requisitioned
+      over his head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have,&rdquo; said Harley, grimly, &ldquo;and over the head of the Chief
+      Constable, too. But I suppose it is unfair to condemn a man for the
+      shortcoming with which nature endowed him, therefore we must endeavour to
+      let Inspector Aylesbury down as lightly as possible. I have an idea that I
+      heard him return a while ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked out into the hall to make enquiries, and a few moments later I
+      heard Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, there you are, Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; said Harley, cheerily. &ldquo;Will you
+      please step into the library for a moment?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Inspector entered, frowning heavily, followed by my friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no earthly reason why we should get at loggerheads over this
+      business,&rdquo; Harley continued; &ldquo;but the fact of the matter is, Inspector
+      Aylesbury, that there are depths in this case to which neither you nor I
+      have yet succeeded in penetrating. You have a reputation to consider, and
+      so have I. Therefore I am sure you will welcome the cooperation of
+      Detective-Inspector Wessex of Scotland Yard, as I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s this, what&rsquo;s this?&rdquo; said Aylesbury. &ldquo;I have made no application to
+      London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless, Inspector, it is quite in order,&rdquo; declared Wessex. &ldquo;I have
+      my instructions here, and I have reported to Market Hilton already. You
+      see, the man you have detained is an American citizen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What of that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he seems to have communicated with his Embassy.&rdquo; Wessex glanced
+      significantly at Paul Harley. &ldquo;And the Embassy communicated with the Home
+      Office. You mustn&rsquo;t regard my arrival as any reflection on your ability,
+      Inspector Aylesbury. I am sure we can work together quite agreeably.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; muttered the other, in evident bewilderment, &ldquo;I see. Well, if that&rsquo;s
+      the way of it, I suppose we must make the best of things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; cried Wessex, heartily. &ldquo;Now perhaps you would like to state your
+      case against the detained man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A sound idea, Wessex,&rdquo; said Paul Harley. &ldquo;But perhaps, Inspector
+      Aylesbury, before you begin, you would be good enough to speak to the
+      constable on duty at the entrance to the Tudor garden. I am anxious to
+      take another look at the spot where the body was found.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury took out his handkerchief and blew his nose loudly,
+      continuing throughout the operation to glare at Paul Harley, and finally:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wasting your time, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;as
+      Detective-Inspector Wessex will be the first to admit when I have given
+      him the facts of my case. Nevertheless, if you want to examine the garden,
+      do so by all means.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned without another word and stamped out of the library across the
+      hall and into the courtyard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will join you again in a few minutes, Wessex,&rdquo; said Paul Harley,
+      following.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; Wessex answered. &ldquo;I know you wouldn&rsquo;t have had me
+      down if the case had been as simple as he seems to think it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I joined Harley, and we walked together up the gravelled path, meeting
+      Inspector Aylesbury and the constable returning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go ahead, Mr. Harley!&rdquo; cried the Inspector. &ldquo;If you can find any stronger
+      evidence than the rifle, I shall be glad to take a look at it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley nodded good-humouredly, and together we descended the steps to the
+      sunken garden. I was intensely curious respecting the investigation which
+      Harley had been so anxious to make here, for I recognized that it was
+      associated with something which he had seen from the window of Camber&rsquo;s
+      hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked along the moss-grown path to the sun-dial, and stood for a
+      moment looking down at the spot where Menendez had lain. Then he stared up
+      the hill toward the Guest House; and finally, directing his attention to
+      the yews which lined the sloping bank:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One, two, three, four,&rdquo; he counted, checking them with his fingers&mdash;&ldquo;five,
+      six, seven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He mounted the bank and began to examine the trunk of one of the trees,
+      whilst I watched him in growing astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he turned and looked down at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a trace, Knox,&rdquo; he murmured; &ldquo;not a trace. Let us try again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He moved along to the yew adjoining that which he had already inspected,
+      but presently shook his head and passed to the next. Then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Come here, Knox!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I joined him where he was kneeling, staring at what I took to be a large
+      nail, or bolt, protruding from the bark of the tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;you see!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stooped, in order to examine the thing more closely, and as I did so, I
+      realized what it was. It was the bullet which had killed Colonel Menendez!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley stood upright, his face slightly flushed and his eyes very bright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall not attempt to remove it, Knox,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The depth of
+      penetration may have a tale to tell. The wood of the yew tree is one of
+      the toughest British varieties.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Harley,&rdquo; I said, blankly, as we descended to the path, &ldquo;this is
+      merely another point for the prosecution of Camber. Unless&rdquo;&mdash;I turned
+      to him in sudden excitement, &ldquo;the bullet was of different&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;nothing so easy as that, Knox. The bullet was
+      fired from a Lee-Enfield beyond doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stared at him uncomprehendingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I am utterly out of my depth, Harley. It, appears to me that the
+      case against Camber is finally and fatally complete. Only the motive
+      remains to be discovered, and I flatter myself that I have already
+      detected this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am certainly inclined to think,&rdquo; admitted Harley, &ldquo;that there is a good
+      deal in your theory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, Harley,&rdquo; I said in bewilderment, &ldquo;you do believe that Camber
+      committed the murder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I am certain that he did not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stood quite still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are certain?&rdquo; I began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told you that the test of my theory, Knox, was to be looked for in the
+      seventh yew from the northeast corner of the Tudor garden, did I not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did. And it is there. A bullet fired from a Lee-Enfield rifle; beyond
+      any possible shadow of doubt the bullet which killed Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond any possible shadow of doubt, as you say, Knox, the bullet which
+      killed Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Therefore Camber is guilty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, therefore Camber is innocent!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are persistently overlooking one little point, Knox,&rdquo; said Harley,
+      mounting the steps on to the gravel path. &ldquo;I spoke of the seventh yew tree
+      from the northeast corner of the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my dear fellow, surely you observed that the bullet was embedded in
+      the ninth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was still groping for the significance of this point when, re-crossing
+      the hall, we entered the library again, to find Inspector Aylesbury posed
+      squarely before the mantelpiece stating his case to Wessex.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; he was saying, in his most oratorical manner, as we entered,
+      &ldquo;every little detail fits perfectly into place. For instance, I find that
+      a woman, called Mrs. Powis, who for the past two years had acted as
+      housekeeper at the Guest House and never taken a holiday, was sent away
+      recently to her married daughter in London. See what that means? Her room
+      is at the back of the house, and her evidence would have been fatal. Ah
+      Tsong, of course, is a liar. I made up my mind about that the moment I
+      clapped eyes on him. Mrs. Camber is the only innocent party. She was
+      asleep in the front of the house when the shot was fired, and I believe
+      her when she says that she cannot swear to the matter of distance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very interesting case, Inspector,&rdquo; said Wessex, glancing at Harley. &ldquo;I
+      have not examined the body yet, but I understand that it was a clean wound
+      through the head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bullet entered at the juncture of the nasal and frontal bones,&rdquo;
+       explained Harley, rapidly, &ldquo;and it came out between the base of the
+      occipital and first cervical. Without going into unpleasant surgical
+      details, the wound was a perfectly <i>straight</i> one. There was no
+      ricochet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand that a regulation rifle was used?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury; &ldquo;we have it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And at what range did you say, Inspector?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Roughly, a hundred yards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly less,&rdquo; murmured Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hundred yards or less,&rdquo; said Wessex, musingly; &ldquo;and the obstruction met
+      with in the case of a man shot in that way would be&mdash;&rdquo; He looked
+      towards Paul Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Less than if the bullet had struck the skull higher up,&rdquo; was the reply.
+      &ldquo;It passed clean through.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Therefore,&rdquo; continued Wessex, &ldquo;I am waiting to hear, Inspector, where you
+      found the bullet lodged?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh?&rdquo; said the Inspector, and he slowly turned his prominent eyes in
+      Harley&rsquo;s direction. &ldquo;Oh, I see. That&rsquo;s why you wanted to examine the Tudor
+      garden, is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly,&rdquo; replied Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of Inspector Aylesbury grew very red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had deferred looking for the bullet,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;as the case was
+      already as clear as daylight. Probably Mr. Harley has discovered it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have,&rdquo; said Harley, shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it the regulation bullet?&rdquo; asked Wessex.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is. I found it embedded in one of the yew trees.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There you are!&rdquo; exclaimed Aylesbury. &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t the ghost of a doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex looked at Harley in undisguised perplexity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must say, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;that I have never met with a
+      clearer case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither have I,&rdquo; agreed Harley, cheerfully. &ldquo;I am going to ask Inspector
+      Aylesbury to return here after nightfall. There is a little experiment
+      which I should like to make, and which would definitely establish my
+      case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Your</i> case?&rdquo; said Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My case, yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not going to tell me that you still persist in believing Camber
+      to be innocent?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all. I am merely going to ask you to return at nightfall to assist
+      me in this minor investigation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you ask my opinion,&rdquo; said the Inspector, &ldquo;no further evidence is
+      needed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t agree with you,&rdquo; replied Harley, quietly. &ldquo;Whatever your own
+      ideas upon the subject may be, I, personally, have not yet discovered one
+      single piece of convincing evidence for the prosecution of Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; exclaimed Aylesbury, and even Detective-Inspector Wessex stared at
+      the speaker incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; concluded Harley, &ldquo;when you have witnessed
+      the experiment which I propose to make this evening you will realize, as I
+      have already realized that we are faced by a tremendous task.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What tremendous task?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The task of discovering who shot Colonel Menendez.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXI. YSOLA CAMBER&rsquo;S CONFESSION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley, with Wessex and Inspector Aylesbury, presently set out for
+      Market Hilton, where Colin Camber and Ah Tsong were detained and where the
+      body of Colonel Menendez had been conveyed for the purpose of the
+      post-mortem. I had volunteered to remain at Cray&rsquo;s Folly, my motive being
+      not wholly an unselfish one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Refer reporters to me, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; said Inspector Wessex. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let them
+      trouble the ladies. And tell them as little as possible, yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The drone of the engine having died away down the avenue, I presently
+      found myself alone, but as I crossed the hall in the direction of the
+      library, intending to walk out upon the southern lawns, I saw Val Beverley
+      coming toward me from Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She remained rather pale, but smiled at me courageously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have they all gone, Mr. Knox?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I have really been hiding. I
+      suppose you knew?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suspected it,&rdquo; I said, smiling. &ldquo;Yes, they are all gone. How is Madame
+      de Stämer, now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is quite calm. Curiously, almost uncannily calm. She is writing. Tell
+      me, please, what does Mr. Harley think of Inspector Aylesbury&rsquo;s
+      preposterous ideas?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He thinks he is a fool,&rdquo; I replied, hotly, &ldquo;as I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But whatever will happen if he persists in dragging me into this horrible
+      case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will not drag you into it,&rdquo; I said, quietly. &ldquo;He has been superseded
+      by a cleverer man, and the case is practically under Harley&rsquo;s direction
+      now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank Heaven for that,&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;I wonder&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; She looked
+      at me hesitatingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; I prompted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been thinking about poor Mrs. Camber all alone in that gloomy
+      house, and wondering&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I know. You are going to visit her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley nodded, watching me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you leave Madame de Stämer with safety?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, I think so. Nita can attend to her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And may I accompany you, Miss Beverley? For more reasons than one, I,
+      too, should like to call upon Mrs. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We might try,&rdquo; she said, hesitatingly. &ldquo;I really only wanted to be kind.
+      You won&rsquo;t begin to cross-examine her, will you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not,&rdquo; I answered; &ldquo;although there are many things I should like
+      her to tell us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, suppose we go,&rdquo; said the girl, &ldquo;and let events take their own
+      course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As a result, I presently found myself, Val Beverley by my side, walking
+      across the meadow path. With the unpleasant hush of Cray&rsquo;s Folly left
+      behind, the day seemed to grow brighter. I thought that the skylarks had
+      never sung more sweetly. Yet in this same instant of sheerly physical
+      enjoyment I experienced a pang of remorse, remembering the tragic woman we
+      had left behind, and the poor little sorrowful girl we were going to
+      visit. My emotions were very mingled, then, and I retain no recollection
+      of our conversation up to the time that we came to the Guest House.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were admitted by a really charming old lady, who informed us that her
+      name was Mrs. Powis and that she was but an hour returned from London,
+      whither she had been summoned by telegram.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She showed us into a quaint, small drawing room which owed its atmosphere
+      quite clearly to Mrs. Camber, for whereas the study was indescribably
+      untidy, this was a model of neatness without being formal or unhomely.
+      Here, in a few moments, Mrs. Camber joined us, an appealing little figure
+      of wistful, almost elfin, beauty. I was surprised and delighted to find
+      that an instant bond of sympathy sprang up between the two girls. I
+      diplomatically left them together for a while, going into Camber&rsquo;s room to
+      smoke my pipe. And when I returned:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; said Val Beverley, &ldquo;Mrs. Camber has something to tell you
+      which she thinks you ought to know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Concerning Colonel Menendez?&rdquo; I asked, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Camber nodded her golden head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, but glancing at Val Beverley as if to gather
+      confidence. &ldquo;The truth can never hurt Colin. He has nothing to conceal.
+      May I tell you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all anxiety to hear,&rdquo; I assured her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you rather I went, Mrs. Camber?&rdquo; asked Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Camber reached across and took her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please, no,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Stay here with me. I am afraid it is rather a
+      long story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;It will be time well spent if it leads us any
+      nearer to the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; she questioned, watching me anxiously, &ldquo;you think so? I think so,
+      too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She became silent, sitting looking straight before her, the pupils of her
+      blue eyes widely dilated. Then, at first in a queer, far-away voice, she
+      began to speak again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must tell you,&rdquo; she commenced &ldquo;that before&mdash;my marriage, my name
+      was Isabella de Valera.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola was my baby way of saying it, and so I came to be called Ysola. My
+      father was manager of one of Señor Don Juan&rsquo;s estates, in a small island
+      near the coast of Cuba. My mother&rdquo;&mdash;she raised her little hands
+      eloquently&mdash;&ldquo;was half-caste. Do you know? And she and my father&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked pleadingly at Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; whispered the latter with deep sympathy; &ldquo;but you don&rsquo;t
+      think it makes any difference, do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No?&rdquo; said Mrs. Camber with a quaint little gesture. &ldquo;To you, perhaps not,
+      but there, where I was born, oh! so much. Well, then, my mother died when
+      I was very little. Ah Tsong was her servant. There are many Chinese in the
+      West Indies, you see, and I can just remember he carried me in to see her.
+      Of course I didn&rsquo;t understand. My father quarrelled bitterly with the
+      priests because they would not bury her in holy ground. I think he no
+      longer believed afterward. I loved him very much. He was good to me; and I
+      was a queen in that little island. All the negroes loved me, because of my
+      mother, I think, who was partly descended from slaves, as they were. But I
+      had not begun to understand how hard it was all going to be when my father
+      sent me to a convent in Cuba.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hated to go, but while I was there I learned all about myself. I knew
+      that I was outcast. It was&rdquo;&mdash;she raised her hand&mdash;&ldquo;not possible
+      to stay. I was only fifteen when I came home, but all the same I was a
+      woman. I was no more a child, and happy no longer. After a while, perhaps,
+      when I forgot what I had suffered at the convent, I became less miserable.
+      My father did all in his power to make me happy, and I was glad the
+      work-people loved me. But I was very lonely. Ah Tsong understood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyes filled with tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you imagine,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;that when my father was away in distant
+      parts of the island at night, Ah Tsong slept outside my door? Some of them
+      say, &lsquo;Do not trust the Chinese&rsquo; I say, except my husband and my father, I
+      have never known another one to trust but Ah Tsong. Now they have taken
+      him away from me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tears glittered on her lashes, but she brushed them aside angrily, and
+      continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was still less than twenty, and looked, they told me, only fourteen,
+      when Señor Menendez came to inspect his estate. I had never seen him
+      before. There had been a rising in the island, in the year after I was
+      born, and he had only just escaped with his life. He was hated. People
+      called him Devil Menendez. Especially, no woman was safe from him, and in
+      the old days, when his power had been great, he had used it for
+      wickedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father was afraid when he heard he was coming. He would have sent me
+      away, but before it could be arranged Señor the Colonel arrived. He had in
+      his company a French lady. I thought her very beautiful and elegant. It
+      was Madame de Stämer. It is only four years ago, a little more, but her
+      hair was dark brown. She was splendidly dressed and such a wonderful
+      horsewoman. The first time I saw her I felt as they had made me feel at
+      the convent. I wanted to hide from her. She was so grand a lady, and I
+      came from slaves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused hesitatingly and stared down at her own tiny feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me interrupting you, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;but can you tell me in
+      what way these two are related?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up with her naïve smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can tell you, yes. A cousin of Señor Menendez married a sister of
+      Madame de Stämer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;a very remote kinship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was in this way they met, in Paris, I think, and&rdquo;&mdash;she raised her
+      hands expressively&mdash;&ldquo;she came with him to the West Indies, although
+      it was during the great war. I think she loved him more than her soul, and
+      me&mdash;me she hated. As Señor Menendez dismounted from his horse in
+      front of the house he saw me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She sighed and ceased speaking again. Then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That very night,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;he began. Do you know? I was trying to
+      escape from him when Madame de Stämer found us. She called me a shameful
+      name, and my father, who heard it, ordered her out of the house. Señor
+      Menendez spoke sharply, and my father struck him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused once more, biting her lip agitatedly, but presently proceeded:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know what they are like, the Spanish, when their blood is hot?
+      Senor Menendez had a revolver, but my father knocked it from his grasp.
+      Then they fought with their bare hands. I was too frightened even to cry
+      out. It was all a horrible dream. What Madame de Stämer did, I do not
+      know. I could see nothing but two figures twined together on the floor. At
+      last one of them arose. I saw it was my father, and I remember no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was almost overcome by her tragic recollections, but presently, with a
+      wonderful courage, which, together with her daintiness of form, spoke
+      eloquently of good blood on one side at any rate, continued to speak:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father found he must go to Cuba to make arrangements for the future.
+      Of course, our life there was finished. Ah Tsong stayed with me. You have
+      heard how it used to be in those islands in the old days, but now you
+      think it is so different? I used to think it was different, too. On the
+      first night my father was away, Ah Tsong, who had gone out, was so long
+      returning I became afraid. Then a strange negro came with news that he had
+      been taken ill with cholera, and was lying at a place not far from the
+      house. I forgot my fears and hurried off with this man. Ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed wildly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not know I should never return, and I did not know I should never
+      see my father again. To you this must seem all wild and strange, because
+      there is a law in England. There is a law in Cuba, too, but in some of
+      those little islands the only law is the law of the strongest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She raised her hands to her face and there was silence for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course it was a trap,&rdquo; she presently continued. &ldquo;I was taken to an
+      island called El Manas which belonged to Senor Menendez, and where he had
+      a house. This he could do, but&rdquo;&mdash;she threw back her head proudly&mdash;&ldquo;my
+      spirit he could not break. Lots and lots of money would be mine, and
+      estates of my own; but one thing about him I must tell: he never showed me
+      violence. For one, two, three weeks I stayed a prisoner in his house. All
+      the servants were faithful to him and I could not find a friend among
+      them. Although quite innocent, I was ruined. Do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She raised her eyes pathetically to Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought my heart was broken, for something told me my father was dead.
+      This was true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; she answered, brokenly. &ldquo;He died on his way
+      to Havana. They said it was an accident. Well&mdash;at last, Señor
+      Menendez offered me marriage. I thought if I agreed it would give me my
+      freedom, and I could run away and find Ah Tsong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused, and a flush coloured her delicate face and faded again,
+      leaving it very pale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were married in the house, by a Spanish priest. Oh&rdquo;&mdash;she raised
+      her hands pathetically&mdash;&ldquo;do you know what a woman is like? My spirit
+      was not broken still, but crushed. I had now nothing but kindness and
+      gifts. I might never have known, but Senor Menendez, who thought&rdquo;&mdash;she
+      smiled sadly&mdash;&ldquo;I was beautiful, took me to Cuba, where he had a great
+      house. Please remember, please,&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;before you judge of me,
+      that I was so young and had never known love, except the love of my
+      father. I did not even dream, then, his death was not an accident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was proud of my jewels and fine dresses. But I began to notice that
+      Juan did not present any of his friends to me. We went about, but to
+      strange places, never to visit people of his own kind, and none came to
+      visit us. Then one night I heard someone on the balcony of my room. I was
+      so frightened I could not cry out. It was good I was like that, for the
+      curtain was pulled open and Ah Tsong came in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She clutched convulsively at the arms of her chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He told me!&rdquo; she said in a very low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, looking up pitifully:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know?&rdquo; she asked in her quaint way. &ldquo;It was a mock marriage. He
+      had done it and thought no shame, because it was so with my mother. Oh!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her beautiful eyes flashed, and for the first time since I had met Ysola
+      Camber I saw the real Spanish spirit of the woman leap to life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He did not know me. Perhaps I did not know myself. That night, with no
+      money, without a ring, a piece of lace, a peseta, anything that had
+      belonged to him, I went with Ah Tsong. We made our way to a half-sister of
+      my father&rsquo;s who lived in Puerto Principe, and at first&mdash;she would not
+      have me. I was talked about, she said, in all the islands. She told me of
+      my poor father. She told me I had dragged the name of de Valera in the
+      dirt. At last I made her understand&mdash;that what everyone else had
+      known, I had never even dreamed of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up wistfully, as if thinking that we might doubt her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know?&rdquo; she whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know&mdash;oh! I know!&rdquo; said Val Beverley. I loved her for the sympathy
+      in her voice and in her eyes. &ldquo;It is very, very brave of you to tell us
+      this, Mrs. Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes? Do you think so?&rdquo; asked the girl, simply. &ldquo;What does it matter if it
+      can help Colin?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This aunt of mine,&rdquo; she presently continued, &ldquo;was a poor woman, and it
+      was while I was hiding in her house&mdash;because spies of Senor Menendez
+      were searching for me&mdash;that I met&mdash;my husband. He was studying
+      in Cuba the strange things he writes about, you see. And before I knew
+      what had happened&mdash;I found I loved him more than all else in the
+      world. It is so wonderful, that feeling,&rdquo; she said, looking across at Val
+      Beverley. &ldquo;Do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl flushed deeply, and lowered her eyes, but made no reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because you are a woman, too, you will perhaps understand,&rdquo; she resumed.
+      &ldquo;I did not tell him. I did not dare to tell him at first. I was so madly
+      happy I had no courage to speak. But when&rdquo;&mdash;her voice sank lower and
+      lower&mdash;&ldquo;he asked me to marry him, I told him. Nothing he could ever
+      do would change my love for him now, because he forgave me and made me his
+      wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I feared that at last she was going to break down, for her voice became
+      very tremulous and tears leapt again into her eyes. She conquered her
+      emotion, however, and went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We crossed over to the States, and Colin&rsquo;s family who had heard of his
+      marriage&mdash;some friend of Señor Menendez had told them&mdash;would not
+      know us. It meant that Colin, who would have been a rich man, was very
+      poor. It made no difference. He was splendid. And I was so happy it was
+      all like a dream. He made me forget I was to blame for his troubles. Then
+      we were in Washington&mdash;and I saw Señor Menendez in the hotel!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my heart stopped beating. For me it seemed like the end of
+      everything. I knew, I knew, he was following me. But he had not seen me,
+      and without telling Colin the reason, I made him leave Washington, He was
+      glad to go. Wherever we went, in America, they seemed to find out about my
+      mother. I got to hate them, hate them all. We came to England, and Colin
+      heard about this house, and we took it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At last we were really happy. No one knew us. Because we were strange,
+      and because of Ah Tsong, they looked at us very funny and kept away, but
+      we did not care. Then Sir James Appleton sold Cray&rsquo;s Folly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I tell you? It must have been by Ah Tsong that he traced me to
+      Surrey. Some spy had told him there was a Chinaman living here. Oh, I
+      don&rsquo;t know how he found out, but when I heard who was coming to Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly I thought I should die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something I must tell you now. When I had told my story to Colin, one
+      thing I had not told him, because I was afraid what he might do. I had not
+      told him the name of the man who had caused me to suffer so much. On the
+      day I first saw Señor Menendez walking in the garden of Cray&rsquo;s Folly I
+      knew I must tell my husband what he had so often asked me to tell him&mdash;the
+      name of the man. I told him&mdash;and at first I thought he would go mad.
+      He began to drink&mdash;do you know? It is a failing in his family. But
+      because I knew&mdash;because I knew&mdash;I forgave him, and hoped, always
+      hoped, that he would stop. He promised to do so. He had given up going out
+      each day to drink, and was working again like he used to work&mdash;too
+      hard, too hard, but it was better than the other way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopped speaking, and suddenly, before I could divine her intention,
+      dropped upon her knees, and raised her clasped hands to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He did not, he did not kill him!&rdquo; she cried, passionately. &ldquo;He did not! O
+      God! I who love him tell you he did not! You think he did. You do&mdash;you
+      do! I can see it in your eyes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I answered, deeply moved, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t doubt your
+      word for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She continued to look at me for a while, and then turned to Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>You</i> don&rsquo;t think he did,&rdquo; she sobbed, &ldquo;do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked such a child, such a pretty, helpless child, as she knelt there
+      on the carpet, that I felt a lump rising in my throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Val Beverley dropped down impulsively beside her and put her arms around
+      the slender shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she exclaimed, indignantly. &ldquo;Of course I don&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s
+      quite unthinkable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it is,&rdquo; moaned the other, raising her tearful face. &ldquo;I love him
+      and know his great soul. But what do these others know, and they will
+      never believe <i>me</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have courage,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;It has never failed you yet. Mr. Paul Harley has
+      promised to clear him by to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has promised?&rdquo; she whispered, still kneeling and clutching Val
+      Beverley tightly. She looked up at me with hope reborn in her beautiful
+      eyes. &ldquo;He has promised? Oh, I thank him. May God bless him. I know he will
+      succeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned aside, and walked out across the hall and into the empty study.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0032" id="link2HCH0032">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXII. PAUL HARLEY&rsquo;S EXPERIMENT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I recognize that whosoever may have taken the trouble to follow my
+      chronicle thus far will be little disposed to suffer any intrusion of my
+      personal affairs at such a point. Therefore I shall pass lightly over the
+      walk back to Cray&rsquo;s Folly, during which I contrived to learn much about
+      Val Beverley&rsquo;s personal history but little to advance the investigation
+      which I was there to assist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I had surmised, Miss Beverley had been amply provided for by her
+      father, and was bound to Madame de Stämer by no other ties than those of
+      friendship and esteem. Very reluctantly I released her, on our returning
+      to the house; for she, perforce, hurried off to Madame&rsquo;s room, leaving me
+      looking after her in a state of delightful bewilderment, the significance
+      of which I could not disguise from myself. The absurd suspicions of
+      Inspector Aylesbury were forgotten; so was the shadow upon the blind of
+      Colonel Menendez&rsquo;s study. I only knew that love had come to me, an
+      unbidden guest, to stay for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Manoel informed me that a number of pressmen, not to be denied, had taken
+      photographs of the Tudor garden and of the spot where Colonel Menendez had
+      been found, but Pedro, following my instructions, had referred them all to
+      Market Hilton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was standing in the doorway talking to the man when I heard the drone of
+      Harley&rsquo;s motor in the avenue, and a moment later he and Wessex stepped out
+      in front of the porch and joined me. I thought that Wessex looked stern
+      and rather confused, but Harley was quite his old self, his keen eyes
+      gleaming humorously, and an expression of geniality upon his tanned
+      features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hullo, Knox!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;any developments?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Suppose we go up to your room and talk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Wessex nodded without speaking, and the three of us mounted the
+      staircase and entered Paul Harley&rsquo;s room. Harley seated himself upon the
+      bed and began to load his pipe, whilst Wessex, who seemed very restless,
+      stood staring out of the window. I sat down in the armchair, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have had an interesting interview with Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; exclaimed Harley. &ldquo;Good. Tell us all about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex turned, hands clasped behind him, and listened in silence to an
+      account which I gave of my visit to the Guest House. When I had finished:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me,&rdquo; said the Inspector, slowly, &ldquo;that the only doubtful
+      point in the case against Camber is cleared up; namely, his motive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It certainly looks like it,&rdquo; agreed Harley. &ldquo;But how strangely Mrs.
+      Camber&rsquo;s story differs from that of Menendez although there are points of
+      contact. I regret, however, that you were unable to settle the most
+      important matter of all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean whether or not she had visited Cray&rsquo;s Folly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you still consider my theory to be correct?&rdquo; I asked eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Up to a point it has been proved to be,&rdquo; he returned. &ldquo;I must
+      congratulate you upon a piece of really brilliant reasoning, Knox. But
+      respecting the most crucial moment of all, we are still without
+      information, unfortunately. However, whilst the presence or otherwise, of
+      Mrs. Camber in Cray&rsquo;s Folly on the night preceding the tragedy may prove
+      to bear intimately upon the case, an experiment which I propose to make
+      presently will give the matter an entirely different significance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; said Wessex, doubtfully, &ldquo;I am looking forward to this experiment of
+      yours, Mr. Harley, with great interest. To be perfectly honest, I have no
+      more idea than the man in the moon how you hope to clear Camber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Harley, musingly, &ldquo;the weight of evidence against him is
+      crushing. But you are a man of great experience, Wessex, in criminal
+      investigations. Tell me honestly, have you ever known a murder case in
+      which there was such conclusive material for the prosecution?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; replied the Inspector, promptly. &ldquo;In this respect, as in others,
+      the case is unique.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have seen Camber,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;and have been enabled to form
+      some sort of judgment respecting his character. You will admit that he is
+      a clever man, brilliantly clever. Keep this fact in mind. Remember his
+      studies, and he does not deny that they have included Voodoo. Remember his
+      enquiries into the significance of Bat Wing. Remember, as we now learn
+      definitely from Mrs. Camber&rsquo;s evidence, that he was in Cuba at the same
+      time as the late Colonel Menendez, and once, at least, actually in the
+      same hotel in the United States. Consider the rifle found under the floor
+      of the hut; and, having weighed all these points judicially, Wessex, tell
+      me frankly, if in the whole course of your experience, you have ever met
+      with a more perfect frame-up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; shouted Wessex, in sudden excitement. &ldquo;What!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said a frame-up,&rdquo; repeated Harley, quietly. &ldquo;An American term, but one
+      which will be familiar to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; muttered the detective, &ldquo;you have turned all my ideas upside
+      down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What may be termed the <i>physical</i> evidence,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;is
+      complete, I admit: too complete. There lies the weak spot. But what I will
+      call the psychological evidence points in a totally different direction. A
+      man clever enough to have planned this crime, and Camber undoubtedly is
+      such a man, could not&mdash;it is humanly impossible&mdash;have been fool
+      enough, deliberately to lay such a train of damning facts. It&rsquo;s a
+      frame-up, Wessex! I had begun to suspect this even before I met Camber.
+      Having met him, I knew that I was right. Then came an inspiration. I saw
+      where there must be a flaw in the plan. It was geographically impossible
+      that this could be otherwise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Geographically impossible?&rdquo; I said, in a hushed voice, for Harley had
+      truly astounded me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Geographical is the term, Knox. I admit that the discovery of the rifle
+      beneath the floor of the hut appalled me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could see that it did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the crowning piece of evidence, Knox, evidence of such fiendish
+      cleverness on the part of those who had plotted Menendez&rsquo;s death that I
+      began to wonder whether after all it would be possible to defeat them. I
+      realized that Camber&rsquo;s life hung upon a hair. For the production of that
+      rifle before a jury of twelve moderately stupid men and true could not
+      fail to carry enormous weight. Whereas the delicate point upon which my
+      counter case rested might be more difficult to demonstrate in court.
+      To-night, however, we shall put it to the test, and there are means, no
+      doubt, which will occur to me later, of making its significance evident to
+      one not acquainted with the locality. The press photographs, which I
+      understand have been taken, may possibly help us in this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bewildered by my friend&rsquo;s revolutionary ideas, which explained the
+      hitherto mysterious nature of his enquiries, I scarcely knew what to say;
+      but:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s a frame-up, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; said Wessex, &ldquo;and the more I think about
+      it the more it has that look to me, practically speaking, we have not yet
+      started on the search for the murderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have not,&rdquo; replied Harley, grimly. &ldquo;But I have a dawning idea of a
+      method by which we shall be enabled to narrow down this enquiry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It must be unnecessary for me to speak of the state of suppressed
+      excitement in which we passed the remainder of that afternoon and evening.
+      Dr. Rolleston called again to see Madame de Stämer, and reported that she
+      was quite calm. In fact, he almost echoed Val Beverley&rsquo;s words spoken
+      earlier in the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is unnaturally calm, Mr. Knox,&rdquo; he said in confidence. &ldquo;I understand
+      that the dead man was a cousin, but I almost suspect that she was madly in
+      love with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded shortly, admiring his acute intelligence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you are right, doctor,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;and if it is so, her amazing
+      fortitude is all the more admirable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Admirable?&rdquo; he echoed. &ldquo;As I said before, she has the courage of ten
+      men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A formal dinner was out of the question, of course; indeed, no one
+      attempted to dress. Val Beverley excused herself, saying that she would
+      dine in Madame&rsquo;s room, and Harley, Wessex, and I, partook of wine and
+      sandwiches in the library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury arrived about eight o&rsquo;clock in a mood of repressed
+      irritation. Pedro showed him in to where the three of us were seated, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good evening, gentlemen,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;here I am, as arranged, but as I am
+      up to my eyes in work on the case, I will ask you, Mr. Harley, to carry
+      out this experiment of yours as quickly as possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No time shall be lost,&rdquo; replied my friend, quietly. &ldquo;May I request you to
+      accompany Detective-Inspector Wessex and Mr. Knox to the Guest House by
+      the high road? Do not needlessly alarm Mrs. Camber. Indeed, I think you
+      might confine your attention to Mrs. Powis. Merely request permission to
+      walk down the garden to the hut, and be good enough to wait there until I
+      join you, which will be in a few minutes after your arrival.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury uttered an inarticulate, grunting sound, but I, who
+      knew Harley so well, could see that he felt himself to be upon the eve of
+      a signal triumph. What he proposed to do, I had no idea, save that it was
+      designed to clear Colin Camber. I prayed that it might also clear his
+      pathetic girl-wife; and in a sort of gloomy silence I set out with Wessex
+      and Aylesbury, down the drive, past the lodge, which seemed to be deserted
+      to-night, and along the tree-lined high road, cool and sweet in the dusk
+      of evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Aylesbury was very morose, and Wessex, who had lighted his pipe, did not
+      seem to be in a talkative mood either. He had the utmost faith in Paul
+      Harley, but it was evident enough that he was oppressed by the weight of
+      evidence against Camber. I divined the fact that he was turning over in
+      his mind the idea of the frame-up, and endeavouring to re-adjust the
+      established facts in accordance with this new point of view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were admitted to the Guest House by Mrs. Powis, a cheery old soul; one
+      of those born optimists whose special task in life seems to be that of a
+      friend in need.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she opened the door, she smiled, shook her head, and raised her finger
+      to her lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be as quiet as you can, sir,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I have got her to sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke of Mrs. Camber as one refers to a child, and, quite
+      understanding her anxiety:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There will be no occasion to disturb her, Mrs. Powis,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;We
+      merely wish to walk down to the bottom of the garden to make a few
+      enquiries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, gentlemen,&rdquo; she whispered, quietly closing the door as we all
+      entered the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She led us through the rear portion of the house, and past the quarters of
+      Ah Tsong into that neglected garden which I remembered so well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There you are, sir, and may Heaven help you to find the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rest assured that the truth will be found, Mrs. Powis,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat, but Wessex, puffing at his pipe,
+      made no remark whatever until we were all come to the hut overhanging the
+      little ravine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is where I found the rifle, Detective-Inspector,&rdquo; explained
+      Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex nodded absently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was another perfect night, with only a faint tracery of cloud to be
+      seen like lingering smoke over on the western horizon. Everything seemed
+      very still, so that although we were several miles from the railway line,
+      when presently a train sped on its way one might have supposed, from the
+      apparent nearness of the sound, that the track was no farther off than the
+      grounds of Cray&rsquo;s Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward those grounds, automatically, our glances were drawn; and we stood
+      there staring down at the ghostly map of the gardens, and all wondering,
+      no doubt, what Harley was doing and when he would be joining us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Very faintly I could hear the water of the little stream bubbling beneath
+      us. Then, just as this awkward silence was becoming intolerable, there
+      came a scraping and scratching from the shadows of the gully, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me a hand, Knox!&rdquo; cried the voice of Harley from below. &ldquo;I want to
+      avoid the barbed wire if possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had come across country, and as I scrambled down the slope to meet him
+      I could not help wondering with what object he had sent us ahead by the
+      high road. Presently, when he came clambering up into the garden, this in
+      a measure was explained, for:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are all wondering,&rdquo; he began, rapidly, &ldquo;what I am up to, no doubt.
+      Let me endeavour to make it clear. In order that my test should be
+      conclusive, and in no way influenced by pre-knowledge of certain
+      arrangements which I had made, I sent you on ahead of me. Not wishing to
+      waste time, I followed by the shorter route. And now, gentlemen, let us
+      begin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But first of all,&rdquo; continued Harley, &ldquo;I wish each one of you in turn to
+      look out of the window of the hut, and down into the Tudor garden of
+      Cray&rsquo;s Folly. Will you begin, Wessex?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex, taking his pipe out of his mouth, and staring hard at the speaker,
+      nodded, entered the hut, and kneeling on the wooden seat, looked out of
+      the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Open the panes,&rdquo; said Harley, &ldquo;so that you have a perfectly clear view.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex slid the panes open and stared intently down into the valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see anything unusual in the garden?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; he reported.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, Inspector Aylesbury.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury stamped noisily across the little hut, and peered out,
+      briefly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see the garden,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you see the sun-dial?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite clearly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good. And now you, Knox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I followed, filled with astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see the sun-dial?&rdquo; asked Harley, again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite clearly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And beyond it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I can see beyond it. I can even see its shadow lying like a black
+      band on the path.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you can see the yew trees?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But nothing else? Nothing unusual?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Harley, tersely. &ldquo;And now, gentlemen, we take to the
+      rough ground, proceeding due east. Will you be good enough to follow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Walking around the hut he found an opening in the hedge, and scrambled
+      down into the place where rank grass grew and through which he and I on a
+      previous occasion had made our way to the high road. To-night, however, he
+      did not turn toward the high road, but proceeded along the crest of the
+      hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I followed him, excited by the novelty of the proceedings. Wessex, very
+      silent, came behind me, and Inspector Aylesbury, swearing under his
+      breath, waded through the long grass at the rear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you all turn your attention to the garden again, please?&rdquo; cried
+      Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We all paused, looking to the right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything unusual?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were agreed that there was not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said my friend. &ldquo;You will kindly note that from this point
+      onward the formation of the ground prevents our obtaining any other view
+      of Cray&rsquo;s Folly or its gardens until we reach the path to the valley, or
+      turn on to the high road. From a point on the latter the tower may be seen
+      but that is all. The first part of my experiment is concluded, gentlemen.
+      We will now return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Giving us no opportunity for comment, he plunged on in the direction of
+      the stream, and at a point which I regarded as unnecessarily difficult,
+      crossed it, to the great discomfiture of the heavy Inspector Aylesbury. A
+      few minutes later we found ourselves once more in the grounds of Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley, evidently with a definite objective in view, led the way up the
+      terraces, through the rhododendrons, and round the base of the tower. He
+      crossed to the sunken garden, and at the top of the steps paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be good enough to regard the sun-dial from this point,&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even as he spoke, I caught my breath, and I heard Aylesbury utter a sort
+      of gasping sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Beyond the sun-dial and slightly to the left of it, viewed from where we
+      stood, a faint, elfin light flickered, at a point apparently some four or
+      five feet above the ground!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s this?&rdquo; muttered Wessex.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Follow again, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Harley quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He led the way down to the garden and along the path to the sun-dial. This
+      he passed, pausing immediately in front of the yew tree in which I knew
+      the bullet to be embedded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did not speak, but, extending his finger, pointed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A piece of candle, some four inches long, was attached by means of a nail
+      to the bark of the tree, so that its flame burned immediately in front of
+      the bullet embedded there!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For perhaps ten seconds no one spoke; indeed I think no one moved. Then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; murmured Wessex. &ldquo;You have done some clever things to my
+      knowledge, Mr. Harley, but this crowns them all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clever things!&rdquo; said Inspector Aylesbury. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a lot of damned
+      tomfoolery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you, Inspector?&rdquo; asked the Scotland Yard man, quietly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t. I
+      think it has saved the life of an innocent man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that? What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; cried Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This candle was burning here on the yew tree,&rdquo; explained Harley, &ldquo;at the
+      time that you looked out of the window of the hut. You could not see it.
+      You could not see it from the crest adjoining the Guest House&mdash;the
+      only other spot in the neighbourhood from which this garden is visible.
+      Now, since the course of a bullet is more or less straight, and since the
+      nature of the murdered man&rsquo;s wound proves that it was not deflected in any
+      way, I submit that the one embedded in the yew tree before you could not
+      possibly have been fired from the Guest House! The second part of my
+      experiment, gentlemen, will be designed to prove from whence it <i>was</i>
+      fired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0033" id="link2HCH0033">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXIII. PAUL HARLEY&rsquo;S EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Up to the very moment that Paul Harley, who had withdrawn, rejoined us in
+      the garden, Inspector Aylesbury had not grasped the significance of that
+      candle burning upon the yew tree. He continued to stare at it as if
+      hypnotized, and when my friend re-appeared, carrying a long ash staff and
+      a sheet of cardboard, I could have laughed to witness the expression upon
+      the Inspector&rsquo;s face, had I not been too deeply impressed with that which
+      underlay this strange business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wessex, on the other hand, was watching my friend eagerly, as an earnest
+      student in the class-room might watch a demonstration by some celebrated
+      lecturer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will notice,&rdquo; said Paul Harley, &ldquo;that I have had a number of boards
+      laid down upon the ground yonder, near the sun-dial. They cover a spot
+      where the turf has worn very thin. Now, this garden, because of its sunken
+      position, is naturally damp. Perhaps, Wessex, you would take up these
+      planks for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Wessex obeyed, and Harley, laying the ash stick and cardboard
+      upon the ground, directed the ray of an electric torch upon the spot
+      uncovered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The footprints of Colonel Menendez!&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;Here he turned from
+      the tiled path. He advanced three paces in the direction of the sun-dial,
+      you observe, then stood still, facing we may suppose, since this is the
+      indication of the prints, in a southerly direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Straight toward the Guest House,&rdquo; muttered Inspector Aylesbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Roughly,&rdquo; corrected Harley. &ldquo;He was fronting in that direction,
+      certainly, but his head may have been turned either to the right or to the
+      left. You observe from the great depth of the toe-marks that on this spot
+      he actually fell. Then, here&rdquo;&mdash;he moved the light&mdash;&ldquo;is the
+      impression of his knee, and here again&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shone the white ray upon a discoloured patch of grass, and then
+      returned the lamp to his pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to make a hole in the turf,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;directly between
+      these two footprints, which seem to indicate that the Colonel was standing
+      in the military position of attention at the moment that he met his
+      death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With the end of the ash stick, which was pointed, he proceeded to do this.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colonel Menendez,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;stood rather over six feet in his shoes.
+      The stick which now stands upright in the turf measures six feet, from the
+      chalk mark up to which I have buried it to the slot which I have cut in
+      the top. Into this slot I now wedge my sheet of cardboard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he placed the sheet of cardboard in the slot which he had indicated, I
+      saw that a round hole was cut in it some six inches in diameter. We
+      watched these proceedings in silence, then:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will allow me to adjust the candle, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Harley,
+      &ldquo;which has burned a little too low for my purpose, I shall proceed to the
+      second part of this experiment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked up to the yew tree, and by means of bending the nail upward he
+      raised the flame of the candle level with the base of the embedded bullet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By heavens!&rdquo; cried Wessex, suddenly divining the object of these
+      proceedings, &ldquo;Mr. Harley, this is genius!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, Wessex,&rdquo; Harley replied, quietly, but nevertheless he was
+      unable to hide his gratification. &ldquo;You see my point?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In ten minutes we shall know the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see,&rdquo; muttered Inspector Aylesbury; &ldquo;we shall know the truth, eh?
+      If you ask me the truth, it&rsquo;s this, that we are a set of lunatics.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Inspector Aylesbury,&rdquo; said Harley, good humouredly, &ldquo;surely you
+      have grasped the lesson of experiment number one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; admitted the other, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s funny, certainly. I mean, it wants a lot
+      of explaining, but I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m convinced.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a pity,&rdquo; murmured Wessex, &ldquo;because I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Inspector,&rdquo; Harley continued, patiently, &ldquo;the body of Colonel
+      Menendez as it lay formed a straight line between the sun-dial and the hut
+      in the garden of the Guest House. That is to say: a line drawn from the
+      window of the hut to the sun-dial must have passed through the body. Very
+      well. Such an imaginary line, if continued <i>beyond</i> the sun-dial,
+      would have terminated near the base of the <i>seventh yew</i> tree.
+      Accordingly, I naturally looked for the <i>bullet</i> there. It was not
+      there. But I found it, as you know, in the ninth tree. Therefore, the shot
+      could not possibly have been fired from the Guest House, because the spot
+      in the ninth yew where the bullet had lodged is not visible from the Guest
+      House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Aylesbury removed his cap and scratched his head vigorously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In order that we may avoid waste of valuable time,&rdquo; said Harley, finally,
+      &ldquo;let us take a hasty observation from here. As a matter of fact, I have
+      done so already, as nearly as was possible, without employing this rough
+      apparatus.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He knelt down beside the yew tree, lowering his head so that the
+      candlelight shone upon the brown, eager face, and looked upward, over the
+      top of the sun-dial and through the hole in the cardboard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he muttered, a note of rising excitement in his voice. &ldquo;As I
+      thought, as I thought. Come, gentlemen, let us hurry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked rapidly out of the garden, and up the steps, whilst we followed
+      dumb with wonder&mdash;or such at any rate was the cause of my own
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the hall Pedro was standing, a bunch of keys in his hand, and evidently
+      expecting Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you take us by the shortest way to the tower stairs?&rdquo; my friend
+      directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Doubting, wondering, scarcely knowing whether to be fearful or jubilant, I
+      followed, along a carpeted corridor, and thence, a heavy, oaken door being
+      unlocked, across a dusty and deserted apartment apparently intended for a
+      drawing room. From this, through a second doorway we were led into a
+      small, square, unfurnished room, which I knew must be situated in the base
+      of the tower. Yet a third door was unlocked, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here is the stair, sir,&rdquo; said Pedro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Indian file we mounted to the first floor, to find ourselves in a
+      second, identical room, also stripped of furniture and decorations. Harley
+      barely glanced out of the northern window, shook his head, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Next floor, Pedro,&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up we went, our footsteps arousing a cloud of dust from the uncarpeted
+      stairs, and the sound of our movements echoing in hollow fashion around
+      the deserted rooms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gaining the next floor, Harley, unable any longer to conceal his
+      excitement, ran to the north window, looked out, and:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;my experiment is complete!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned, his back to the window, and faced us in the dusk of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Assuming the ash stick to represent the upright body of Colonel
+      Menendez,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;and the sheet of cardboard to represent his
+      head, the hole which I have cut in it corresponds fairly nearly to the
+      position of his forehead. Further assuming the bullet to have illustrated
+      Euclid&rsquo;s definition of a straight line, such a line, <i>followed back</i>
+      from the yew tree to the spot where the rifle rested, would pass through
+      the hole in the cardboard! In other words, there is only one place from
+      which it is possible to see the flame of the candle <i>through the hole in
+      the cardboard</i>: the place where the rifle rested! Stand here in the
+      left-hand angle of the window and stoop down! Will you come first, Knox?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stepped across the room, bent down, and stared out of the window, across
+      the Tudor garden. Plainly I could see the sun-dial with the ash stick
+      planted before it. I could see the piece of cardboard which surmounted it&mdash;and,
+      through the hole cut in the cardboard, I could see the feeble flame of the
+      candle nailed to the ninth yew tree!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I stood upright, knowing that I had grown pale, and conscious of a moist
+      sensation upon my forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Merciful God!&rdquo; I said in a hollow voice. &ldquo;It was from <i>this window</i>
+      that the shot was fired which killed him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0034" id="link2HCH0034">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CREEPING SICKNESS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      From the ensuing consultation in the library we did not rise until close
+      upon midnight. To the turbid intelligence of Inspector Aylesbury the fact
+      by this time had penetrated that Colin Camber was innocent, that he was
+      the victim of a frame-up, and that Colonel Juan Menendez had been shot
+      from a window of his own house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By a process of lucid reasoning which must have convinced a junior
+      schoolboy, Paul Harley, there in the big library, with its garish
+      bookcases and its Moorish ornaments, had eliminated every member of the
+      household from the list of suspects. His concluding words, I remember,
+      were as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of the known occupants of Cray&rsquo;s Folly on the night of the tragedy we now
+      find ourselves reduced to four, any one of whom, from the point of view of
+      an impartial critic uninfluenced by personal character, question, or
+      motive, or any consideration other than that of physical possibility,
+      might have shot Colonel Menendez. They are, firstly: Myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In order to believe me guilty, it would be necessary to discount the
+      evidence of Knox, who saw me on the gravel path below at the time that the
+      shot was fired from the tower window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Secondly: Knox; whose guilt, equally, could only be assumed by means of
+      eliminating <i>my</i> evidence, since I saw him at the window of my room
+      at the time that the shot was fired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thirdly: Madame de Stämer. Regarding this suspect, in the first place she
+      could not have gained access to the tower room without assistance, and in
+      the second place she was so passionately devoted to the late Colonel
+      Menendez that Dr. Rolleston is of opinion that her reason may remain
+      permanently impaired by the shock of his death. Fourthly and lastly: Miss
+      Val Beverley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Over my own feelings, as he had uttered the girl&rsquo;s name, I must pass in
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Val Beverley is the only one of the four suspects who is not in a
+      position to establish a sound alibi so far as I can see at the moment; but
+      in this case entire absence of motive renders the suspicion absurd. Having
+      dealt with the <i>known</i> occupants, I shall not touch upon the
+      possibility that some stranger had gained access to the house. This opens
+      up a province of speculation which we must explore at greater leisure, for
+      it would be profitless to attempt such an exploration now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus the gathering had broken up, Inspector Aylesbury returning to Market
+      Hilton to make his report and to release Colin Camber and Ah Tsong, and
+      Wessex to seek his quarters at the Lavender Arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remember that having seen them off, Harley and I stood in the hall,
+      staring at one another in a very odd way, and so we stood when Val
+      Beverley came quietly from Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s room and spoke to us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pedro has told me what you have done, Mr. Harley,&rdquo; she said in a low
+      voice. &ldquo;Oh, thank God you have cleared him. But what, in Heaven&rsquo;s name,
+      does your new discovery mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may well ask,&rdquo; Harley answered, grimly. &ldquo;If my first task was a hard
+      one, that which remains before me looks more nearly hopeless than anything
+      I have ever been called upon to attempt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is horrible, it is horrible,&rdquo; said the girl, shudderingly. &ldquo;Oh, Mr.
+      Knox,&rdquo; she turned to me, &ldquo;I have felt all along that there was some
+      stranger in the house&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have told me so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Conundrums! Conundrums!&rdquo; muttered Harley, irritably. &ldquo;Where am I to
+      begin, upon what am I to erect any feasible theory?&rdquo; He turned abruptly to
+      Val Beverley. &ldquo;Does Madame de Stämer know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered, nodding her head; &ldquo;and hearing the others depart, she
+      asked me to tell you that sleep is impossible until you have personally
+      given her the details of your discovery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She wishes to see me?&rdquo; asked Harley, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She insists upon seeing you,&rdquo; replied the girl, &ldquo;and also requests Mr.
+      Knox to visit her.&rdquo; She paused, biting her lip. &ldquo;Madame&rsquo;s manner is very,
+      very odd. Dr. Rolleston cannot understand her at all. I expect he has told
+      you? She has been sitting there for hours and hours, writing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Writing?&rdquo; exclaimed Harley. &ldquo;Letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what she has been writing,&rdquo; confessed Val Beverley. &ldquo;She declines
+      to tell me, or to show me what she has written. But there is quite a
+      little stack of manuscript upon the table beside her bed. Won&rsquo;t you come
+      in?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could see that she was more troubled than she cared to confess, and I
+      wondered if Dr. Rolleston&rsquo;s unpleasant suspicions might have solid
+      foundation, and if the loss of her cousin had affected Madame de Stämer&rsquo;s
+      brain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, then, ushered by Val Beverley, I found myself once more in the
+      violet and silver room in which on that great bed of state Madame reclined
+      amid silken pillows. Her art never deserted her, not even in moments of
+      ultimate stress, and that she had prepared herself for this interview was
+      evident enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had thought previously that one night of horror had added five years to
+      her apparent age. I thought now that she looked radiantly beautiful. That
+      expression in her eyes, which I knew I must forevermore associate with the
+      memory of the dying tigress, had faded entirely. They remained still, as
+      of old, but to-night they were velvety soft. The lips were relaxed in a
+      smile of tenderness. I observed, with surprise, that she wore much
+      jewelery, and upon her white bosom gleamed the famous rope of pearls which
+      I knew her to treasure above almost anything in her possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again the fear touched me coldly that much sorrow had made her mad. But at
+      her very first word of greeting I was immediately reassured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my friend,&rdquo; she said, as I entered, a caressing note in her deep,
+      vibrant voice, &ldquo;you have great news, they tell me? Mr. Harley, I was
+      afraid that you had deserted me, sir. If you had done so I should have
+      been very angry with you. Set the two armchairs here on my right, Val,
+      dear, and sit close beside me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, as we seated ourselves:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not smoking, my friends,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;and I know that you are
+      both so fond of a smoke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley excused himself but I accepted a cigarette which Val Beverley
+      offered me from a silver box on the table, and presently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am here, like a prisoner of the Bastille,&rdquo; declared Madame, shrugging
+      her shoulders, &ldquo;where only echoes reach me. Now, Mr. Harley, tell me of
+      this wonderful discovery of yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley inclined his head gravely, and in that succinct fashion which he
+      had at command acquainted Madame with the result of his two experiments.
+      As he completed the account:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; she sighed, and lay back upon her pillows, &ldquo;so to-night he is again
+      a free man, the poor Colin Camber. And his wife is happy once more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank God,&rdquo; I murmured. &ldquo;Her sorrow was pathetic.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only the pure in heart can thank God,&rdquo; said Madame, strangely, &ldquo;but I,
+      too, am glad. I have written, here&rdquo;&mdash;she pointed to a little heap of
+      violet note-paper upon a table placed at the opposite side of the bed&mdash;&ldquo;how
+      glad I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley and I stared vaguely across at the table. I saw Val Beverley
+      glancing uneasily in the same direction. Save for the writing materials
+      and little heap of manuscript, it held only a cup and saucer, a few
+      sandwiches, and a medicine bottle containing the prescription which Dr.
+      Rolleston had made up for the invalid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am curious to know what you have written, Madame,&rdquo; declared Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, you are curious?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Very well, then, I will tell you, and
+      afterward you may read if you wish.&rdquo; She turned to me. &ldquo;You, my friend,&rdquo;
+       she whispered, and reaching over she laid her jewelled hand upon my arm,
+      &ldquo;you have spoken with Ysola de Valera this afternoon, they tell me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With Mrs. Camber?&rdquo; I asked, startled. &ldquo;Yes, that is true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Mrs. Camber,&rdquo; murmured Madame. &ldquo;I knew her as Ysola de Valera. She is
+      beautiful, in her golden doll way. You think so?&rdquo; Then, ere I had time to
+      reply: &ldquo;She told you, I suppose, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She told me,&rdquo; I replied with a certain embarrassment, &ldquo;that she had met
+      you some years ago in Cuba.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, yes, although <i>I</i> told the fat Inspector it was not so. How we
+      lie, we women! And of course she told you in what relation I stood to Juan
+      Menendez?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She did not, Madame de Stämer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No-no? Well, it was nice of her. No matter. <i>I</i> will tell you. I was
+      his mistress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke without bravado, but quite without shame, seeming to glory in
+      the statement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I met him in Paris,&rdquo; she continued, half closing her eyes. &ldquo;I was staying
+      at the house of my sister, and my sister, you understand, was married to
+      Juan&rsquo;s cousin. That is how we met. I was married. Yes, it is true. But in
+      France our parents find our husbands and our lovers find our hearts. Yet
+      sometimes these marriages are happy. To me this good thing had not
+      happened, and in the moment when Juan&rsquo;s hand touched mine a living fire
+      entered into my heart and it has been burning ever since; burning-burning,
+      always till I die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, I am a shameless woman, yes. But I have lived, and I have
+      loved, and I am content. I went with him to Cuba, and from Cuba to another
+      island where he had estates, and the name of which I shall not pronounce,
+      because it hurts me so, even yet. There he set eyes upon Ysola de Valera,
+      the daughter of his manager, and, pouf!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shrugged and snapped her fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was like that, you understand? I knew it well. They did not call him
+      Devil Menendez for nothing. There was a scene, a dreadful scene, and after
+      that another, and yet a third. I have pride. If I had seemed to forget it,
+      still it was there. I left him, and went back to France. I tried to
+      forget. I entered upon works of charity for the soldiers at a time when
+      others were becoming tired. I spent a great part of my fortune upon
+      establishing a hospital, and this child&rdquo;&mdash;she threw her arm around
+      Val Beverley&mdash;&ldquo;worked with me night and day. I think I wanted to die.
+      Often I tried to die. Did I not, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did, Madame,&rdquo; said the girl in a very low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twice I was arrested in the French lines, where I had crept dressed like
+      a <i>poilu</i>, from where I shot down many a Prussian. Is it not so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; answered the girl, nodding her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They caught me and arrested me,&rdquo; said Madame, with a sort of triumph. &ldquo;If
+      it had been the British&rdquo;&mdash;she raised her hand in that Bernhardt
+      gesture&mdash;&ldquo;with me it would have gone hard. But in France a woman&rsquo;s
+      smile goes farther than in England. I had had my fun. They called me &lsquo;good
+      comrade!&rsquo; Perhaps I paid with a kiss. What does it matter? But they heard
+      of me, those Prussian dogs. They knew and could not forgive. How often did
+      they come over to bomb us, Val, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, many, many times,&rdquo; said the girl, shudderingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And at last they succeeded,&rdquo; added Madame, bitterly. &ldquo;God! the black
+      villains! Let me not think of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She clenched her hands and closed her eyes entirely, but presently resumed
+      again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If they had killed me I should have been glad, but they only made of me a
+      cripple. M. de Stämer had been killed a few weeks before this. I am sorry
+      I forgot to mention it. I was a widow. And when after this catastrophe I
+      could be moved, I went to a little villa belonging to my husband at Nice,
+      to gain strength, and this child came with me, like a ray of sunshine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, to wake the fire in my heart, came Juan, deserted, broken, wounded
+      in soul, but most of all in pride, in that evil pride which belongs to his
+      race, which is so different from the pride of France, but for which all
+      the same I could never hate him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ysola de Valera had run away from his great house in Cuba. Yes! A woman
+      had dared to leave him, the man who had left so many women. To me it was
+      pathetic. I was sorry for him. He had been searching the world for her. He
+      loved this little golden-haired girl as he had never loved me. But to me
+      he came with his broken heart, and I&rdquo;&mdash;her voice trembled&mdash;&ldquo;I
+      took him back. He still cared for me, you understand. Ah!&rdquo; She laughed. &ldquo;I
+      am not a woman who is lightly forgotten. But the great passion that burned
+      in his Spanish soul was revenge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was a broken man not only in mind, but in body. Let me tell you. In
+      that island which I have not named there is a horrible disease called by
+      the natives the Creeping Sickness. It is supposed to come from a poisonous
+      place named the Black Belt, and a part of this Black Belt is near, too
+      near, to the hacienda in which Juan sometimes lived.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley started and glanced at me significantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They think, those simple negroes, that it is witchcraft, Voodoo, the work
+      of the Obeah man. It is of two kinds, rapid and slow. Those who suffer
+      from the first kind just decline and decline and die in great agony.
+      Others recover, or seem to do so. It is, I suppose, a matter of
+      constitution. Juan had had this sickness and had recovered, or so the
+      doctors said, but, ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She lay back, shaking her finger characteristically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In one year, in two, three, a swift pain comes, like a needle, you
+      understand? Perhaps in the foot, in the hand, in the arm. It is exquisite,
+      deathly, while it lasts, but it only lasts for a few moments. It is agony.
+      And then it goes, leaving nothing to show what has caused it. But, my
+      friends, it is a death warning!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it comes here&rdquo;&mdash;she raised one delicate white hand&mdash;&ldquo;you may
+      have five years to live; if in the foot, ten, or more. But&rdquo;&mdash;she sank
+      her voice dramatically&mdash;&ldquo;the nearer it is to the heart, the less are
+      the days that remain to you of life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that it recurs?&rdquo; asked Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps in a week, perhaps not for another year, it comes again, that
+      quick agony. This time in the shoulder, in the knee. It is the second
+      warning. Three times it may come, four times, but at last&rdquo;&mdash;she laid
+      her hand upon her breast&mdash;&ldquo;it comes here, in the heart, and all is
+      finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused as if exhausted, closing her eyes again, whilst we three who
+      listened looked at one another in an awestricken silence, until the
+      vibrant voice resumed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is only one man in Europe who understands this thing, this Creeping
+      Sickness. He is a Frenchman who lives in Paris. To him Juan had been, and
+      he had told him, this clever man, &lsquo;If you are very quiet and do not exert
+      yourself, and only take as much exercise as is necessary for your general
+      health, you have one year to live&mdash;&lsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God!&rdquo; groaned Harley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, such was the verdict. And there is no cure. The poor sufferer must
+      wait and wait, always wait, for that sudden pang, not knowing if it will
+      come in his heart and be the finish. Yes. This living death, then, and
+      revenge, were the things ruling Juan&rsquo;s life at the time of which I tell
+      you. He had traced Ysola de Valera to England. A chance remark in a London
+      hotel had told him that a Chinaman had been seen in a Surrey village and
+      of course had caused much silly chatter. He enquired at once, and he found
+      out that Colin Camber, the man who had taken Ysola from him, was living
+      with her at the Guest House, here, on the hill. How shall I tell you the
+      rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Merciful Heaven!&rdquo; exclaimed Harley, his glance set upon her, with a sort
+      of horror in his gray eyes, &ldquo;I think I can guess.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned to him rapidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;M. Harley,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you are a clever man. I believe you are a genius.
+      And I have the strength to tell you because I am happy to-night. Because
+      of his great wealth Juan succeeded in buying Cray&rsquo;s Folly from Sir James
+      Appleton to whom it belonged. He told everybody he leased it, but really
+      he bought it. He paid him more than twice its value, and so obtained
+      possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the plan was not yet complete, although it had taken form in that
+      clever, wicked brain of his. Oh! I could tell you stories of the Menendez,
+      and of the things they have done for love and revenge, which even you, who
+      know much of life, would doubt, I think. Yes, you would not believe. But
+      to continue. Shall I tell you upon what terms he had returned to me, eh? I
+      will. Once more he would suffer that pang of death in life, for he had
+      courage, ah! such great courage, and then, when the waiting for the next
+      grew more than even his fearless heart could bear, I, who also had
+      courage, and who loved him, should&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; She paused, &ldquo;Do you
+      understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley nodded dumbly, and suddenly I found Val Beverley&rsquo;s little fingers
+      twined about mine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agreed,&rdquo; continued the deep voice. &ldquo;It was a boon which I, too, would
+      have asked from one who loved me. But to die, knowing another cherished
+      the woman who had been torn from him, was an impossibility for Juan
+      Menendez. What he had schemed to do at first I never knew. But presently,
+      because of our situation here, and because of that which he had asked of
+      me, it came, the great plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the night he told me, a night I shall never forget, I drew back in
+      horror from him&mdash;I, Marie de Stämer, who thought I knew the blackest
+      that was in him. I shrank. And because of that scene it came to him again
+      in the early morning&mdash;the moment of agony, the needle pain, here, low
+      down in his left breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He pleaded with me to do the wicked thing that he had planned, and
+      because I dared not refuse, knowing he might die at my feet, I consented.
+      But, my friends, I had my own plan, too, of which he knew nothing. On the
+      next day he went to Paris, and was told he had two months to live, with
+      great, such great care, but perhaps only a week, a day, if he should
+      permit his hot passions to inflame that threatened heart. Very well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said yes, yes, to all that he suggested, and he began to lay the trail&mdash;the
+      trail to lead to his enemy. It was his hobby, this vengeance. He was like
+      a big, cruel boy. It was he, himself, Juan Menendez, who broke into Cray&rsquo;s
+      Folly. It was he who nailed the bat wing to the door. It was he who bought
+      two rifles of a kind of which so many millions were made during the war
+      that anybody might possess one. And it was he who concealed the first of
+      these, one cartridge discharged, under the floor of the hut in the garden
+      of the Guest House. The other, which was to be used, he placed&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the shutter-case of one of the tower rooms,&rdquo; continued Paul Harley. &ldquo;I
+      know! I found it there to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo; I asked, &ldquo;you found it, Harley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I returned to look for it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At the present moment it is
+      upstairs in my room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, M. Harley,&rdquo; exclaimed Madame, smiling at him radiantly, &ldquo;I love your
+      genius. Then it was,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;that he thought himself ready, ready
+      for revenge and ready for death. He summoned you, M. Harley, to be an
+      expert witness. He placed with you evidence which could not fail to lead
+      to the arrest of M. Camber. Very well. I allowed him to do all this. His
+      courage, <i>mon Dieu</i>, how I worshipped his courage!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At night, when everyone slept, and he could drop the mask, I have seen
+      what he suffered. I have begged him, begged him upon my knees, to allow me
+      to end it then and there; to forget his dream of revenge, to die without
+      this last stain upon his soul. But he, expecting at any hour, at any
+      minute, to know again the agony which cannot be described, which is unlike
+      any other suffered by the flesh&mdash;refused, refused! And I&rdquo;&mdash;she
+      raised her eyes ecstatically&mdash;&ldquo;I have worshipped this courage of his,
+      although it was evil&mdash;bad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The full moon gives the best light, and so he planned it for the night of
+      the full moon. But on the night before, because of some scene which he had
+      with you, M. Harley, nearly I thought his plans would come to nothing.
+      Nearly I thought the last act of love which he asked of me would never be
+      performed. He sat there, up in the little room which he liked best, the
+      coldness upon him which always came before the pang, waiting, waiting, a
+      deathly dew on his forehead, for the end; and I, I who loved him better
+      than life, watched him. And, so Fate willed it, the pang never came.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You watched him?&rdquo; I whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harley turned to me slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you understand, Knox?&rdquo; he said, in a voice curiously unlike his
+      own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my friend,&rdquo; Madame de Stämer laid her hand upon my arm with that
+      caressing gesture which I knew, &ldquo;you do understand, don&rsquo;t you? The power
+      to use my limbs returned to me during the last week that I lived in Nice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She bent forward and raised her face, in an almost agonized appeal to Val
+      Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, my dear,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;forgive me, forgive me! But I loved him so.
+      One day, I think&rdquo;&mdash;her glance sought my face&mdash;&ldquo;you will know.
+      Then you will forgive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame, Madame,&rdquo; whispered the girl, and began to sob silently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it enough?&rdquo; asked Madame de Stämer, raising her head, and looking
+      defiantly at Paul Harley. &ldquo;Last night, you, M. Harley, who have genius,
+      nearly brought it all to nothing. You passed the door in the shrubbery
+      just when Juan was preparing to go out. I was watching from the window
+      above. Then, when you had gone, he came out&mdash;smoking his last
+      cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went to my place, entering the tower room by the door from that
+      corridor. I opened the window. It had been carefully oiled. It was
+      soundless. I was cold as one already dead, but love made me strong. I had
+      seen him suffer. I took the rifle from its hiding-place, the heavy rifle
+      which so few women could use. It was no heavier than some which I had used
+      before, and to good purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again she paused, and I saw her lips trembling. Before my mind&rsquo;s eye the
+      picture arose which I had seen from Harley&rsquo;s window, the picture of
+      Colonel Juan Menendez walking in the moonlight along the path to the
+      sun-dial, with halting steps, with clenched fists, but upright as a
+      soldier on parade. Walking on, dauntlessly, to his execution. Out of a
+      sort of haze, which seemed to obscure both sight and hearing, I heard
+      Madame speaking again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He turned his head toward me. He threw me a kiss&mdash;and I fired. Did
+      you think a woman lived who could perform such a deed, eh? If you did not
+      think so, it is because you have never looked into the eyes of one who
+      loved with her body, her mind, and with her soul. I think, yes, I think I
+      went mad. The rifle I remember I replaced. But I remember no more. Ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She sighed in a resigned, weary way, untwining her arm from about Val
+      Beverley, and falling back upon her pillows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all written here,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;every word of it, my friends, and
+      signed at the bottom. I am a murderess, but it was a merciful deed. You
+      see, I had a plan of which Juan knew nothing. This was my plan.&rdquo; She
+      pointed to the heap of manuscript. &ldquo;I would give him relief from his
+      agonies, yes. For although he was an evil man, I loved him better than
+      life. I would let him die happy, thinking his revenge complete. But others
+      to suffer? No, no! a thousand times no! Ah, I am so tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took up the little medicine bottle, poured its contents into the
+      glass, and emptied it at a draught.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul Harley, as though galvanized, sprang to his feet. &ldquo;My God!&rdquo; he cried,
+      huskily, &ldquo;Stop her, stop her!&rdquo; Val Beverley, now desperately white,
+      clutched at me with quivering fingers, her agonized glance set upon the
+      smiling face of Madame de Stämer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No fuss, dear friends,&rdquo; said Madame, gently, &ldquo;no trouble, no nasty
+      stomach-pumps; for it is useless. I shall just fall asleep in a few
+      moments now, and when I wake Juan will be with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her face was radiant. It became lighted up magically. I knew in that grim
+      hour what a beautiful woman Madame de Stämer must have been. She rested
+      her hand upon Val Beverley&rsquo;s head, and looked at me with her strange,
+      still eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be good to her, my friend,&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;She is English, but not cold
+      like some. She, too, can love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She closed her eyes and dropped back upon her pillows for the last time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0035" id="link2HCH0035">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXV. AN AFTERWORD
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This shall be a brief afterword, for I have little else to say. As Madame
+      had predicted, all antidotes and restoratives were of no avail. She had
+      taken enough of some drug which she had evidently had in her possession
+      for this very purpose to ensure that there should be no awakening, and
+      although Dr. Rolleston was on the spot within half an hour, Madame de
+      Stämer was already past human aid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are perhaps one or two details which may be of interest. For
+      instance, as a result of the post-mortem examination of Colonel Menendez,
+      no trace of disease was discovered in any of the organs, but from
+      information supplied by his solicitors, Harley succeeded in tracing the
+      Paris specialist to whom Madame de Stämer had referred; and he confirmed
+      her statement in every particular. The disease, to which he gave some name
+      which I have forgotten, was untraceable, he declared, by any means thus
+      far known to science.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we had anticipated, the bulk of Colonel Don Juan&rsquo;s wealth he had
+      bequeathed to Madame de Stämer, and she in turn had provided that all of
+      which she might die possessed should be divided between certain charities
+      and Val Beverley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thus found myself at the time when all these legal processes terminated
+      engaged to marry a girl as wealthy as she was beautiful. Therefore, except
+      for the many grim memories which it had left with me, nothing but personal
+      good fortune resulted from my sojourn at Cray&rsquo;s Folly, beneath the shadow
+      of that Bat Wing which had had no existence outside the cunning
+      imagination of Colonel Juan Menendez.
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      THE END
+    </h3>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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