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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9746-8.txt b/9746-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..072772e --- /dev/null +++ b/9746-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9437 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ashiel Mystery, by Mrs. Charles Bryce + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ashiel Mystery + A Detective Story + +Author: Mrs. Charles Bryce + +Posting Date: November 3, 2011 [EBook #9746] +Release Date: January, 2006 +First Posted: October 14, 2003 +[Last updated: September 30, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASHIEL MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and PG +Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ASHIEL MYSTERY + A DETECTIVE STORY + + + BY MRS. CHARLES BRYCE + + + + +_"It is the difficulty of the Police Romance, that the reader is always a +man of such vastly greater ingenuity than the writer._" + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +When Sir Arthur Byrne fell ill, after three summers at his post in the +little consulate that overlooked the lonely waters of the Black Sea, he +applied for sick leave. Having obtained it, he hurried home to scatter +guineas in Harley Street; for he felt all the uneasy doubts as to his +future which a strong man who has never in his life known what it is to +have a headache is apt to experience at the first symptom that all is not +well. Outwardly, he pretended to make light of the matter. + +"Drains, that's what it is," he would say to some of the passengers to +whom he confided the altered state of his health on board the boat which +carried him to Constantinople. "As soon as I get back to a civilized +sewage system I shall be myself again. These Eastern towns are all right +for Orientals; and what is your Muscovite but an Oriental, in all +essentials of hygiene? But they play the deuce with a European who has +grown up in a country where people still indulge in a sense of smell." + +And if anyone ventured to sympathize with him, or to express regret at +his illness, he would snub him fiercely. But for all that he felt +convinced, in his own mind, that he had been attacked by some fatal +disease. He became melancholy and depressed; and, if he did not spend his +days in drawing up his last will and testament, it was because such a +proceeding--in view of the state of his banking account--would have +partaken of the nature of a farce. Having a sense of humour, he was +little disposed, just then, to any action whose comic side he could not +conveniently ignore. + +When he arrived in London, however, he was relieved to find that the +specialists whom he consulted, while they mostly gave him his money's +worth of polite interest, did not display any anxiety as to his +condition. One of them, indeed, went so far as to mention a long name, +and to suggest that an operation for appendicitis would be likely to do +no harm; but, on being cross-examined, confessed that he saw no reason to +suspect anything wrong with Sir Arthur's appendix; so that the young man +left the consulting-room in some indignation. + +He remembered, as soon as the door had closed behind him, that he had +forgotten to ask the meaning of the long name; and, being reluctant to +set eyes again on the doctor who had mystified him with it, went to +another and demanded to know what such a term might signify. + +"Is--is it--dangerous?" he stammered, trying in vain to appear +indifferent. + +Sir Ronald Tompkins, F.R.C.S., etc. etc., let slip a smile; and then, +remembering his reputation, changed it to a look of grave sympathy. + +"No," he murmured, "no, no. There is no danger. I should say, no +immediate danger. Still you did right, quite right, in coming to me. +Taken in time, and in the proper way, this delicacy of yours will, I have +no hesitation in saying, give way to treatment. I assure you, my dear Sir +Arthur, that I have cured many worse cases than yours. I will write you +out a little prescription. Just a little pill, perfectly pleasant to the +taste, which you must swallow when you feel this alarming depression and +lack of appetite of which you complain; and I am confident that we shall +soon notice an improvement. Above all, my dear Sir, no worry; no anxiety. +Lead a quiet, open-air life; play golf; avoid bathing in cold water; +avoid soup, potatoes, puddings and alcohol; and come and see me again +this day fortnight. Thank you, yes, two guineas. _Good_-bye." + +He pressed Sir Arthur's hand, and shepherded him out of the room. + +His patient departed, impressed, soothed and comforted. + +After the two weeks had passed, and feeling decidedly better, he +returned. + +Sir Ronald on this occasion was absolutely cheerful. He expressed himself +astonished at the improvement, and enthusiastic on the subject of the +excellence of his own advice. He then broke to Sir Arthur the fact that +he was about to take his annual holiday. He was starting for Norway the +next day, and should not be back for six weeks. + +"But what shall I do while you are away?" cried his patient, aghast. + +"You have advanced beyond my utmost expectations," replied the doctor, +"and the best thing for you now will be to go out to Vichy, and take a +course of the waters there. I should have recommended this in any case. +My intended departure makes no difference. Let me earnestly advise you to +start for France to-morrow." + +Sir Arthur had by this time developed a blind faith in Sir Ronald +Tompkins and did not dream of ignoring his suggestion. He threw over all +the engagements he had made since arriving in England; packed his trunks +once more; and, if he did not actually leave the country until two or +three days later, it was only because he was not able to get a sleeping +berth on the night express at such short notice. + +The end of the week saw him installed at Vichy, the most assiduous and +conscientious of all the water drinkers assembled there. + +It was on the veranda of his hotel that he made the acquaintance of +Mrs. Meredith. + +She was twenty-five, rich, beautiful and a widow, her husband having been +accidentally killed within a few months of their marriage. After a year +or so of mourning she had recovered her spirits, and led a gay life in +English society, where she was very much in request. + +Sir Arthur had seen few attractive women of late, the ladies of Baku +being inclined to run to fat and diamonds, and he thought Lena Meredith +the most lovely and the most wonderful creature that ever stepped out of +a fairy tale. + +From the very moment he set eyes on her he was her devoted slave, and +after the first few days a more constant attendant than any shadow--for +shadows at best are mere fair-weather comrades. He seldom saw the lady +alone, for she had with her a small child, not yet a year old, of which +she was, as it seemed to Sir Arthur, inordinately fond; and whether she +were sitting under the trees in the garden of the hotel, or driving +slowly along the dusty roads--as was her habit each afternoon--the baby +and its nurse were always with her, and by their presence put an +effective check to the personalities in which he was longing to indulge. +It would have taken more than a baby to discourage Sir Arthur, however: +he cheerfully included the little girl in his attentions; and, as time +went on, became known to the other invalids in the place by the nickname +of "the Nursemaid." + +Mrs. Meredith took his homage as a matter of course. She was used to +admiration, though she was not one of those women to whom it is +indispensable. She considered it one of the luxuries of life, and held +that it is more becoming than diamonds and a better protection against +the weather than the most expensive furs. At first she looked upon the +obviously stricken state of Sir Arthur with amusement, combined with a +good deal of gratification that some one should have arisen to entertain +her in this dull health resort; but gradually, as the weeks passed, her +point of view underwent a change. Whether it was the boredom of the cure, +or whether she was touched by the unselfish devotion of her admirer, or +whether it was due merely to the accident that Sir Arthur was an +uncommonly good-looking young man and so little conscious of the fact, +from one cause or another she began to feel for him a friendliness which +grew quickly more pronounced; so that at the end of a month, when he +found her, for the first time walking alone by the lake, and proposed to +her inside the first two minutes of their encounter, she accepted him +almost as promptly, and with very nearly as much enthusiasm. + +"I want to talk to you about the child, little Juliet," she said, a day +or two later. "Or rather, though I want to talk about her, perhaps I had +better not, for I can tell you almost nothing that concerns her." + +"My dear," said Sir Arthur, "you needn't tell me anything, if you +don't like." + +"But that's just the tiresome part," she returned, "I should like you to +know everything, and yet I must not let you know. She is not mine, of +course, but beyond that her parentage must remain a secret, even from +you. Yet this I may say: she is the child of a friend of mine, and there +is no scandal attached to her birth, but I have taken all responsibility +as to her future. Are you, Arthur, also prepared to adopt her?" + +"Darling, I will adopt dozens of them, if you like," said her infatuated +betrothed. "Juliet is a little dear, and I am very glad we shall always +have her." + +In England, the news of Lena Meredith's engagement caused a flutter of +excitement and disappointment. It had been hoped that she would make a +great match, and she received many letters from members of her family and +friends, pointing out the deplorable manner in which she was throwing +herself away on an impecunious young baronet who occupied an obscure +position in the Consular Service. She was begged to remember that the +Duke of Dachet had seemed distinctly smitten when he was introduced to +her at the end of the last season; and told that if she would not +consider her own interests it was unnecessary that she should forget +those of her younger unmarried sisters. + +At shooting lodges in the North, and in country houses in the South, +young men were observed to receive the tidings with pained surprise. +More than one of them had given Mrs. Meredith credit for better taste +when it came to choosing a second husband; more than one of them had +felt, indeed, that she was the only woman in the world with an eye +discerning enough to appreciate his own valuable qualities at their true +worth. Could the fact be that she had overlooked those rare gifts? For a +week or so depression sat in many a heart unaccustomed to its presence; +and young ladies, in search of a husband, found, here and there, that +one turned to them whom they had all but given up as hopelessly +indifferent to their charms. + +Unconcerned by the lack of enthusiasm aroused by her decision, Lena +Meredith married Sir Arthur Byrne, and in the course of a few months +departed with him to his post on the Black Sea; where the baby Juliet and +her nurse formed an important part of the consular household. + +The years passed happily. Sir Arthur was moved and promoted from one +little port to another a trifle more frequented by the ships of his +country, and after a year or so to yet another still larger; so that, +while nothing was too good for Juliet in the eyes of her adopted mother, +and to a lesser extent in those of her father, it happened that she knew +remarkably little of her own land, though few girls were more familiar +with those of other nations. Nor were their wanderings confined to +Europe: Africa saw them, and the southern continent of America; and it +was in that far country that the happy days came to an end, for poor Lady +Byrne caught cold one bitter Argentine day, and died of pneumonia before +the week was out. + +Sir Arthur was heart-broken. He packed Juliet off to a convent school +near Buenos Ayres, and shut himself up in his consulate, refusing to meet +those who would have offered their sympathy, and going from his room to +his office, and back again, like a man in a dream. + +Not for more than a year did Juliet see again the only friend she had now +left in the world; and it was then she heard for the first time that he +was not really her father, and that the woman she had called "Mother" had +had no right to that name. She was fifteen years old when this blow fell +on her; and she had not yet reached her sixteenth birthday when Sir +Arthur was transferred back to Europe. + +"Your home must always be with me, Juliet," he had said, when he broke to +her his ignorance of her origin. "I have only you left now." + +But though he was kind, and even affectionate to her, he showed no real +anxiety for her society. She was sent to a school in Switzerland as soon +as they landed in Europe; and, while she used to fancy that at the +beginning of the holidays he was glad to see her return, she was much +more firmly convinced that at the end of them he was at least equally +pleased to see her depart. + +She was nineteen before he realized that she could not be kept at school +for ever; and when he considered the situation, and saw himself, a man +scarcely over forty, saddled with a grown-up girl, who was neither his +own daughter nor that of the woman he had loved, and to whom he had sworn +to care for the child as if she were indeed his own, it must be admitted +that his heart failed him. It was not that he had any aversion to Juliet +herself. He had been fond of the child, and he liked the girl. It was the +awkwardness of his position that filled him with a kind of despair. + +"If only somebody would marry her!" he thought, as he sat opposite to her +at the dinner-table, on the night that she returned for the last time +from school. + +The thought cheered him. Juliet, he noticed for the first time, had +become singularly pretty. He engaged a severe Frenchwoman of mature age +as chaperon, and made spasmodic attempts to take his adopted daughter +into such society as the Belgian port, where he was consul at this time, +could afford. + +It was not a large society; nor did eligible young men figure in it in +any quantity. Those there were, were foreigners, to whom the question of +a _dot_ must be satisfactorily solved before the idea of matrimony would +so much as occur to them. + +Juliet had no money. Lady Byrne had left her fortune to her husband, and +rash speculations on his part had reduced it to a meagre amount, which he +felt no inclination to part with. Two or three years went by, and she +received no proposals. Sir Arthur's hopes of seeing her provided for grew +faint, and he could imagine no way out of his difficulties. He himself +spent his leave in England, but he never took the girl with him on those +holidays. He had no wish to be called on to explain her presence to such +of his friends as might not remember his wife's whim; and, though she +passed as his daughter abroad, she could not do that at home. + +Juliet, for her part, was not very well content. She could hardly avoid +knowing that she was looked on as an incubus, and she saw that her +father, as she called him, dreaded to be questioned as to their +relationship. She lived a simple life; rode and played tennis with young +Belgians of her own age; read, worked, went to such dances and +entertainments as were given in the little town, and did not, on the +whole, waste much time puzzling over the mystery that surrounded her +childhood. But when her friends asked her why she never went to England +with Sir Arthur, she did not know what answer to make, and worried +herself in secret about it. + +Why did he not take her? Because he was ashamed of her? But why was he +ashamed? Her mother--she always thought of Lady Byrne by that name--had +said she was the daughter of a friend of hers. So that she must at least +be the child of people of good family. Was not that enough? + +She was already twenty-three when Sir Arthur married again. The lady was +an American: Mrs. Clarency Butcher, a good-looking widow of about +thirty-five, with three little girls, of whom the eldest was fifteen. She +had not the enormous wealth which is often one of her countrywomen's most +pleasing attributes, but she was moderately well off and came of a good +Colonial family. Having lived for several years in England, she had grown +to prefer the King's English to the President's, and had dropped, almost +completely, the accent of her native country. She was extremely well +educated, and talked three other languages with equal correctness, her +first husband having been attached to various European legations. +Altogether, she was a charming and attractive woman, and there were many +who envied Sir Arthur for the second time in his life. + +It was not, perhaps, her fault that she did not take very kindly to +Juliet. The girl resented the place once occupied by her dead mother +being filled by any newcomer; and was not, it is to be feared, at +sufficient pains to hide her feelings on the point. And the second Lady +Byrne was hardly to be blamed if she remembered that in a few years she +would have three daughters of her own to take out, and felt that a fourth +was almost too much of a good thing. + +Besides, there was no getting over the fact that she was no relation +whatever, and was on the other hand a considerable drain on the family +resources, all of which Lady Byrne felt entirely equal to disbursing +alone and unassisted. Finally, her presence led to disagreements between +Sir Arthur and his wife. + +The day came on which Lady Byrne could not resist drawing Juliet's +attention to her unfortunate circumstances. In a heated moment, induced +by the girl's refusal to meet her half-way when she was conscious of +having made an unusual effort to be friendly, she pointed out to Juliet +that it would be more becoming in her to show some gratitude to people on +whose charity she was living, and on whom she had absolutely no claim of +blood at all. + +The interview ended by Juliet flying to Sir Arthur, and begging, while +she wept on his shoulder, to be allowed to go away and work for her +living; though where and how she proposed to do this she did not specify. + +Sir Arthur had a bad quarter of an hour. His conscience, the knowledge of +the extent to which he shared his second wife's feelings, the remembrance +of the vows he had made on the subject to his first wife, these and the +old, if not very strong, affection he had for Juliet, combined to stir +in him feelings of compunction which showed themselves in an outburst of +irritability. He scolded Juliet; he blamed his wife. + +"Why," he asked them both, "can two women not live in the same house +without quarrelling? Is it impossible for a wretched man ever to have a +moment's peace?" + +In the end, he worked himself into such a passion that Lady Byrne and +Juliet were driven to a reconciliation, and found themselves defending +each other against his reproaches. + +After this they got on better together. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +One hot summer day, a few months after the marriage, Juliet, returning to +the consulate after a morning spent in very active exercise upon a tennis +court, was met on the doorstep by Dora, the youngest of the Clarency +Butchers, who was awaiting her approach in a high state of excitement. + +"Hurry up, Juliet," she cried, as soon as she could make herself +heard. "You'll never guess what there is for you. Something you don't +often get!" + +"What is it?" said Juliet, coming up the steps. + +"Guess!" + +"A present?" + +"No; at least I suppose not; but there may be one inside." + +"Inside? Oh, then it's a parcel?" asked Juliet good-humouredly. + +She felt a mild curiosity, tempered by the knowledge that many things +provided a thrill for the ten-year-old Dora, which she, from the advanced +age of twenty-three, could not look upon as particularly exciting. + +"No, not a parcel," cried Dora, dancing round her. "It's a letter. +There now!" + +"Then why do you say it's something I don't often get?" asked Juliet +suspiciously; "I often get letters. It's an invitation to the Gertignés' +dance, I expect." + +"No, no, it isn't. It's a letter from England. You don't often get one +from there, now, do you? You never did before since we've been here. I +always examine your letters, you know," said Dora, "to see if they look +as if they came from young men. So does Margaret. We think it's time you +got engaged." + +Margaret was the next sister. + +"It's very good of you to take such an interest in my fate," Juliet +replied, as she pulled off her gloves and went to the side-table for the +letter. As a matter of fact she was a good deal excited now; for what the +child said was true enough. She might even have gone further, and said +that she had never had a letter from England, except while Sir Arthur was +there on leave. + +It was a large envelope, addressed in a clerk's handwriting, and she came +to the conclusion, as she tore it open, that it must be an advertisement +from some shop. + + +"DEAR MADAM,--We shall esteem it a favour if you can make it convenient +to call upon us one day next week, upon a matter of business connected +with a member of your family. It is impossible to give you further +details in a letter; but if you will grant us the interview we venture to +ask, we may go so far as to say that there appears to us to be a +reasonable probability of the result being of advantage to yourself. +Trusting that you will let us have an immediate reply, in which you will +kindly name the day and hour when we may expect to see you.--We are, +yours faithfully, + +"FINDLAY & INCE, _Solicitors_." + +The address was a street in Holborn. + +Juliet read the letter through, and straightway read it through again, +with a beating heart. What did it mean? Was it possible she was going to +find her own family at last? + +She was recalled to the present by the voice of Dora, whom she now +perceived to be reading the letter over her shoulder with +unblushing interest. + +"Say," said Dora, "isn't it exciting? 'Something to your advantage!' Just +what they put in the agony column when they leave you a fortune. I bet +your long-lost uncle in the West has kicked the bucket, and left you all +his ill-gotten gains. Mark my words. You'll come back from England a +lovely heiress. I do wish the others would come in. There's no one in the +house, except Sir Arthur." + +"Where is he?" said Juliet, putting the sheet of paper back into the +envelope and slipping it under her waistband. "You know, Dora, it's not +at all a nice thing to read other people's letters. I wonder you aren't +ashamed of yourself. I'm surprised at you." + +"I shouldn't have read it if you'd been quicker about telling me what was +in it," retorted Dora. "It's not at all a nice thing to put temptation in +the way of a little girl like me. Do you suppose I'm made of cast iron?" + +She departed with an injured air, and Juliet went to look for the consul. + +"What is it?" he asked, as she put the envelope into his hand. "A letter +you want me to read? Not a proposal, eh?" He smiled at her as he unfolded +the large sheet of office paper. + +"Hullo, what's this?" + +He read it through carefully. + +"Why, Juliet," he said, when he had finished, "this is very interesting, +isn't it? It looks as if you were going to find out something about +yourself, doesn't it? After all these years! Well, well." + +"You think I must go, then," she said a little doubtfully. + +"Go? Of course I should go, if I were you. Why not?" + +"You don't think it is a hoax?" + +"No, no; I see no reason to suppose such a thing. I know the firm of +Findlay & Ince quite well by name and reputation." + +"Oh, I hope they will tell me who I am!" cried Juliet. "Have you no idea +at all, father?" + +"No, my dear, you know I have not. Besides, I promised Lena I would never +ask. You are the child of a friend of hers. That is all I know. I think +she scarcely realized how hard it would be for you not to know more when +you grew up. I often think that if she had lived she would have told you +before now." + +"If you promised her not to ask, I won't ask either," said Juliet +loyally. "But I hope they'll tell me. It will be different, won't it, if +they tell me without my asking?" + +"I think you might ask," said Sir Arthur. "It is absurd that you should +be bound by a promise that I made. And you may be sure of one thing. Your +asking, or your not asking, won't make any odds to Findlay & Ince. If +they mean to tell you, they will; and, if they don't, you're not likely +to get it out of them." + +"And when shall I go?" cried Juliet. "They say they want me to answer +immediately, you know." + +"Oh well, I don't know. In a few days. You will hardly be ready to start +to-morrow, will you?" + +"I could be ready, easily," said Juliet. + +"You're in a great hurry to get away from us," said Sir Arthur, with a +rather uneasy laugh. + +"Not from you." Juliet put her arm through his. "I could never find +another father half as nice as the one I've got. But you could do very +well without so many daughters, you know." She smiled at him mockingly. +"You're like the old woman who lived in a shoe. You ought to set up a +school for young ladies." + +"I don't believe I shall be able to get on without my eldest daughter," +he replied, half-serious. "Still I think it would be better for you if +your real parents have decided to own up to you. At all events, if they +do not turn out desirable, I shall still be here, I hope; so I don't see +how you can lose anything by taking this chance of finding out what you +can about them." + +At this point Lady Byrne came into the room, and the news had to be +retold for her benefit; the letter was produced again, and she joined +heartily in the excitement it had caused. + +"You had better start on Monday," she said to Juliet. "That will give you +two days to pack, and to write to an hotel for rooms. Are you going to +take her, Arthur?" she added, turning to her husband. + +"I would, like a shot," he replied, "but I can't possibly get away next +week. I've got a lot of work on hand just now. I suppose, my dear," he +suggested doubtfully, "that you wouldn't be able to run over with her?" + +Lady Byrne declared that it was impossible for her to do so: she had +engagements, she said, for every day of the following week, which it was +out of the question to break. Had Sir Arthur forgotten that they +themselves were having large dinner-parties on Tuesday and Friday? What +she would do without Juliet to help her in preparing for them, she did +not know, but at least it was obvious that some one must be there to +receive his guests. No, Juliet would have to go alone. She was really old +enough to be trusted by herself for three days, and there was no need, +that she could see, for her to be away longer. + +"She can go on Monday, see the lawyers on Tuesday, and come back on +Wednesday," said Lady Byrne. "The helplessness of young girls is the one +thing I disapprove of in your European system of education. It is much +better that they should learn to manage their own affairs; and Juliet is +not such a ninny as you seem to think." + +"I shall be perfectly all right by myself," Juliet protested. + +Sir Arthur did not like it. + +"Supposing she is detained in London," he said. + +"What should detain her," demanded his wife, "unless it is the discovery +of her parents? And, if she finds them, I presume they will be capable of +looking after her. In any case, she can write, or cable to us when she +has seen the solicitors, and it is no use providing for contingencies +that will probably never arise." + +So at last it was decided. A letter was written and dispatched to Messrs. +Findlay & Ince, saying that Miss Byrne would have pleasure in calling +upon them at twelve o'clock on the following Tuesday; and Juliet busied +herself in preparations for her journey. + +On Monday morning she left Ostend, in the company of her maid. + +It was a glorious August day. On shore the heat was intense, and it was a +relief to get out of the stifling carriages of the crowded boat train, +and to breathe the gentle air from the sea that met them as they crossed +the gangway on to the steamer. Juliet enjoyed every moment of the +journey; and would have been sorry when the crossing was over if she had +not been so eager to set foot upon her native soil. + +She leant upon the rail in the bows of the ship, watching the white +cliffs grow taller and more distinct, and felt that now indeed she +understood the emotions with which the heart of the exile is said to +swell at the sight of his own land. She wondered if the sight of their +country moved other passengers on the boat as she herself was moved, and +made timid advances to a lady who was standing near her, in her need of +some companion with whom to share her feeling. + +"Have you been away from England a long time," she asked her. + +"I have been abroad during a considerable period," replied the person she +addressed, a stern-looking Scotchwoman who did not appear anxious to +enter into conversation. + +From her severe demeanour Juliet imagined she might be a governess going +for a holiday. + +"You must be glad to be going home," she ventured. + +"It's a far cry north to my home," said the Scotchwoman, thawing +slightly. "I'm fearing I will not be seeing it this summer. I'll be +stopping in the south with some friends. The journey north is awful' +expensive." + +"I'm sorry you aren't going home," Juliet sympathized, "but it will be +nice to see the English faces at Dover, won't it? There may even be a +Scotchman among the porters, you know, by some chance." + +"No fear," said her neighbour gloomily. "They'll be local men, I have +nae doubt. Though whether they are English or Scots," she added, "I'll +have to give them saxpence instead of a fifty-centime bit; which is one +of the bonniest things you see on the Continent, to my way of thinking." + +Juliet could get no enthusiasm out of her; and, look which way she might, +she could not see any reflection on the faces of those around her of the +emotions which stirred in her own breast. It had been a rough crossing, +in spite of the cloudless sky and broiling sunshine, and most of the +passengers had been laid low by the rolling of the vessel. They displayed +anxiety enough to reach land; but, as far as she could see, what land it +was they reached was a matter of indifference to them. No doubt, she +thought, when the ship stopped and they felt better, they would be more +disposed to a sentimentality like hers. + +She found her maid--who had been one of the most sea-sick of those +aboard--and assisted her ashore, put her into a carriage and +ministered to her wants with the help of a tea-basket containing the +delicious novelty of English bread and butter. In half an hour's time +they were steaming hurriedly towards London. She was to lodge at a +small hotel in Jermyn Street; and on that first evening even this +seemed perfect to her. The badness of the cooking was a thing she +refused to notice; and the astonishing hills and valleys of the bed +caused in her no sensation beyond that of surprise. She was young, +strong and healthy, and there was no reason that trifling discomforts +of this kind should affect her enjoyment. To the shortcomings of the +bed, indeed, she shut her eyes in more senses than one, for she was +asleep three minutes after her head touched the pillow, nor did she +wake till her maid roused her the next morning. + +She got up at once and looked out of the window. It was a fine day again; +over the roofs of the houses opposite she could see a blue streak of sky. +Already the air had lost the touch of freshness which comes, even to +London in August, during the first hours of the morning; and the heat in +the low-ceilinged room on the third floor which Juliet occupied for the +sake of economy, was oppressive in spite of the small sash windows being +opened to their utmost capacity. But Juliet only laughed to herself with +pleasure at the brilliancy of the day. She felt that the weather was +playing up to the occasion, as became this important morning of her life. +For that it was important she did not doubt. She was going to hear +tremendous news that day; make wonderful discoveries about her birth; +hear undreamt-of things. Of this she felt absolutely convinced, and it +would not have astonished her to find herself claimed as daughter by any +of the reigning families of Europe. She was prepared for anything, or so +she said to herself, however astounding; and, that being so, she was +excited in proportion. Anyone could have told her that, by this attitude +of mind towards the future, she was laying up for herself disappointment +at the least, if not the bitterest disillusions; but there was no one to +throw cold water on her hopes, and she filled the air with castles of +every style of architecture that her fancy suggested, without any +hindrance from doubt or misgiving. + +She dressed quickly, in the gayest humour, but with even more care than +she usually bestowed upon her appearance; a subject to which she always +gave the fullest attention. + +"Which dress will Mademoiselle wear?" the maid asked her. + +"Why, my prettiest, naturally," she replied. + +"What, the white one that Mademoiselle wore for the marriage of Monsieur, +her papa?" inquired Thérèse, scandalized at the idea of such a precious +garment being put on before breakfast. + +"That very one," Juliet assured her, undaunted; and was arrayed in it, in +spite of obvious disapproval. + +After breakfast they went out, and, inquiring their way to Bond Street, +flattened their noses against the shop windows to their mutual +satisfaction. + +They had it almost to themselves, for there were not many people left in +that part of London; but more than one head was turned to gaze at the +pretty girl in the garden-party dress, who stood transfixed before shop +after shop. This amusement lasted till half-past eleven, when they +returned to the hotel for Juliet to give the final pats to her hair, and +to retilt her hat to an angle possibly more becoming, before she started +to keep her appointment with the solicitors. The next twenty minutes were +spent in cross-examining the hotel porter as to the time it would take to +drive to her destination, and, having decided to start at ten minutes to +twelve, in wondering whether the quarter of an hour which had still to +elapse would ever come to an end. + +At three minutes to twelve she rang the bell of the office of Messrs. +Findlay & Ince. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +A gloomy little clerk climbed down from a high stool where he sat +writing, and opened the door. + +"Oh yes, Miss Juliet Byrne," he said when Juliet had told him her name. +"Mr. Findlay is expecting you. Will you walk upstairs, Miss Byrne, +please. I think you have an appointment for twelve o'clock? This way, if +you please." + +He led the way up a steep and narrow flight of stairs, which rose out of +the black shadows at the end of the passage. + +"Ladies find these stairs rather dark, I'm afraid," he remarked +pleasantly, as he held open a door and ushered Juliet and her maid into +an empty room. "Will you kindly wait here," he continued. "Mr. Findlay is +engaged for the moment. You are a leetle before your time, I believe." He +pulled out his watch and examined it closely. "Not _quite_ the hour yet," +he repeated, and closed it with a snap. "But Mr. Findlay will see you as +soon as he is disengaged." + +With a flourish of his handkerchief he withdrew, shutting the door +behind him. + +Juliet sat down on a hard chair covered with green leather, and told her +maid to take another. Her spirits were damped. The sight of Mr. Nicol, as +the clerk was named, often had that effect upon persons who saw him for +the first time; indeed he was found to be a very useful check on +troublesome clients, who arrived full of determination to have their own +way, and were often so cowed by their preliminary interview with Nicol as +to feel it a privilege and a relief subsequently to be bullied by Mr. +Ince, or persuaded by Mr. Findlay into the belief that what they had +previously decided on was the last thing advisable to do. + +Mr. Findlay frequently remarked to Mr. Ince, when his partner's easily +roused temper was more highly tried than usual by some imbecile mistake +of the clerk's, that Nicol might have faults as a clerk and as a man, but +that, as a buffer, he was the nearest approach to perfection obtainable +in this world of makeshifts. + +To which Mr. Ince would reply with point and fluency that fenders could +be had by the dozen from any shipping warehouse, at a lower cost than one +week's salary of Nicol's would represent, and would be far more efficient +in the office. Still he did not suggest dismissing the man. + +Juliet, as she sat and looked round the musty little waiting-room, felt +that here was an end of her dreams of the resplendent family she was to +find pining to take her to its heart. She felt certain that she could +never have any feelings in common with people who could employ a firm of +solicitors which in its turn was served by the man who had received her. +Romance and the clerk could never, she thought, meet under one roof. And +such a roof! The room in which she sat was so dark, so gloomy, so bare +and cheerless, that Juliet began to wonder whether she would not have +been wiser not to have come. This was not a place, surely, which fond +parents would choose for a long-deferred meeting with their child, after +years of separation. She walked to the window, but the only view was of a +blank wall, and that so close that she could have touched it by leaning +out. No wonder the room was dark, even at midday in August. The walls +were lined with bookshelves, where heavy volumes, all dealing with the +same subject, that of law, stood shoulder to shoulder in stout bindings +of brown leather. + +There was a fireplace of cracked and dirty marble with an engraving hung +over it, representing the coronation of Queen Victoria. A gas stove +occupied the grate, and a gas bracket stuck out from the wall on either +side of the picture. + +On the small round mahogany table that stood in the middle of the room +lay a Bible, and a copy of the _St. James's Gazette_, which was dated a +week back. Juliet took it up and read an account of a cricket match +without much enthusiasm. Then she flung it down and wandered about the +room once more; but she had exhausted all its possibilities; and though +she took a volume entitled _Causes Célèbres_ from the shelf, and turned +its pages hopefully, she put it back with a grimace at its dullness and a +sort of surprise at finding anything drier than the cricket. + +She had waited half an hour, when the door opened and the face of Nicol +was introduced round the corner of it. + +"Will you please come this way," he said. + +Telling her maid to stay where she was, Juliet followed him. He opened +the other door on the landing, and announced her in a loud voice as, with +a quickened pulse, she passed him, and entered the room. + +There were two men standing by the hearth. One of them came forward to +receive her. + +"How do you do, Miss Byrne," he said; "I am glad you were able to come. +I am Jeremy Findlay, at your service." + +Mr. Findlay was a man of moderate height, with a long pointed nose which +he was in the habit of putting down to within an inch or two of his desk +when he was looking for any particular paper, for he was very short +sighted. It rather conveyed the impression that he was poking about with +it, and that he hunted for questionable clauses or illegalities in a +document, much as a pig might hunt for truffles in a wood. For the rest, +he was middle-aged, with hair nearly white, and small grey whiskers. He +beamed at Juliet through gold-rimmed eyeglasses. + +"Let me introduce my friend," he said, mumbling something. + +Juliet did not catch the name, but she supposed that this was Mr. Ince. + +The other man stepped forward and shook hands, but said nothing. He was a +thin, pallid creature, rather above the average height, and had the +drooping shoulders of a scholar. His face, which was long and narrow, +looked pale and emaciated, and though his blue eyes had a kindly twinkle +it seemed to Juliet that they burned with a feverish brightness. His nose +was long and slightly hooked, and beneath it the mouth was hidden by a +heavy red moustache; while his hair, though not of so bright a colour, +had a reddish tinge about it. He appeared to be about fifty years of age, +but this was due to a look of tiredness habitual to his expression, and, +in part, to actual bad health. In reality he was younger. + +"Pray take this chair, Miss Byrne," Mr. Findlay was saying. "We are +anxious to have a little conversation with you. I am sure you quite +understand that we should not have asked you to come all the way from +Belgium unless your presence was of considerable importance. How +important it is I really hardly know myself, but I repeat that I would +not have urged you to take so long a journey if I had not had serious +reason to think that it was desirable for your own sake that you should +do so. I may say at once that the matter is a family one; but before +going further I must ask your permission to put one or two questions to +you, which I hope you will believe are not prompted by any feeling of +idle curiosity on my part." + +He paused, and Juliet murmured some words of acquiescence. Mr. Findlay +took off his eyeglasses, glared at them, replaced them, and ran his nose +over the surface of the papers on his writing-table. + +"Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed triumphantly, pouncing on a folded sheet +and lifting it to his eyes. "Just a few notes," he explained. + +"We wrote you care of Sir Arthur Byrne," he resumed; "are you a member of +his family?" + +Here was a disturbing question for Juliet. She had imagined, until this +instant, that she was on the point of being told who her family was, and +now this man was asking for information from her. Tears of disappointment +would not be kept from her eyes. + +"I am a member of Sir Arthur's household," she stammered. + +"Are you not his daughter, then?" asked Mr. Findlay. + +"No, I am not really," Juliet replied. + +"Then may I ask what relation you are to him?" said the lawyer. + +"I am his adopted daughter," said Juliet. "I have always called him +'Father.'" + +"Are you not any relation at all?" pursued Mr. Findlay. + +"I believe not." + +"Then, Miss Byrne, I hope you will not think it an impertinent question +if I ask, who are you?" + +"I don't know," acknowledged poor Juliet. "I was hoping you would tell me +that. I thought, I imagined, that that was why you sent for me." + +"You astonish me," said Mr. Findlay. "Do you mean to say that your family +has never made any attempt to communicate with you?" + +"No, never." + +"And that Sir Arthur Byrne has never told you anything as to your birth? +Surely you must have questioned him about it?" + +"He has told me all he knows," said Juliet, "but that amounts to +nothing." + +"Indeed; that is very strange. He must have had dealings with the people +you were with before he adopted you. He must at least know their name?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. "He doesn't know either, I am sure. It +wasn't Sir Arthur who adopted me. It was the lady he married. A Mrs. +Meredith. She is dead." + +"But he must have heard about you from her," insisted Mr. Findlay. "He +would not have taken a child into his household without knowing anything +at all about it." + +"His wife told him that I was the daughter of a friend of hers, and +begged him not to ask her any more about me. He was very devoted to her, +and he did as she wished. He has been most kind to me; but I am sure he +would be as glad as I should be to discover my relations. I am dreadfully +disappointed that you don't know anything about them. We all thought I +was going to find my family at last." + +Juliet's voice quavered a little. She had built too much on this +interview. + +"I am really extremely sorry not to be able to give you any information," +Mr. Findlay said. + +He turned towards the other man with an interrogative glance, and was met +by a nod of the head, at which he leant back in his chair, crossed his +legs and folded his hands upon them, with the expression of some one who +has played his part in the game, and now retires in favour of another +competitor. The pale man moved his chair a little forward and took up the +conversation. + +"Are you really quite certain that Sir Arthur Byrne has told you all +he knows?" he said earnestly, fixing on Juliet a look at once grave +and eager. + +"Yes," she answered. "I can see that he is as puzzled as I am. And he +would be glad enough to find a way to get rid of me," she added bitterly. + +"I thought you said you were attached to him," said the stranger in +surprise, "and that he had been very kind to you?" + +"Yes," said Juliet, "he has, and I am as fond of him as possible. But he +has three stepdaughters now; he has married again, you know. And he is +not very well off. I am a great expense, besides being an extra girl. I +don't blame him for thinking I am one too many." + +There was a long pause, during which Juliet was conscious of being +closely scrutinized. + +"I think I may be able to give you news of your family," said the pale +man unexpectedly. "That is, if you are the person I think you are +likely to be." + +"Oh," exclaimed Juliet, "can you really?" + +"Well, it is possible," admitted the other. "I can't say for +certain yet." + +"Oh, do, do tell me!" cried the girl. + +"Out of the question, at present," he replied firmly. "I must first +satisfy myself as to whose child you are, and on that point you appear +able to give me no assistance. You must wait till I can find out +something further about this matter of your adoption. And even then," +he added, "it is not certain if I can tell you. You must understand +that, though certain family secrets have been placed in my possession, +it does not depend upon myself whether or not I shall ultimately reveal +them to you." + +Juliet's face fell for a moment, but she refused to allow herself to be +discouraged. + +"There is a chance for me, anyhow!" she exclaimed. "How I hope you +will be allowed to tell me in the end! But why," she went on, turning +to Mr. Findlay, "did you make me think you knew nothing at all about +me. I suppose the family secrets your partner speaks of are the +secrets of my family?" + +"My dear young lady," said Mr. Findlay, "Lord Ashiel is not my partner. +On the contrary, he is an old client of ours, and it was at his request +that we wrote to you as we did. We know no more about your affairs than +you have told us yourself." + +"Oh," murmured Juliet, confused at her mistake. "I thought you were Mr. +Ince," she apologized; "I am so sorry." + +"Not very flattering to poor Ince I'm afraid," said Lord Ashiel, smiling +at her. "He's ten years younger than I am, I'm sorry to say, and I would +change places with him very willingly. Now, if you had mistaken me for +Nicol, that undertaker clerk of Findlay's, who always looks as if he's +been burying his grandmother, I should have been decidedly hurt. What in +the world do you keep that fellow in the office for, Findlay? To frighten +away custom?" + +Mr. Findlay laughed. + +"He's a more useful person than you imagine," he said. "Though I must say +Ince agrees with you, and is always at me about the poor man. Some day I +hope you will both see his sterling qualities." + +"I am afraid you must think I have given you a great deal of trouble for +very little reason," Lord Ashiel said to Juliet. "But perhaps there will +be more result than at present can seem clear to you. I may go so far as +to say that I hope so most sincerely. But, if the secret of which I spoke +just now is ever to be confided to you, it will be necessary for you and +me to know each other a little better. I have a proposal to make to you, +which I fear you may think our acquaintance rather too short and +unconventional to justify." + +He paused with a trace of embarrassment, and Juliet wondered what could +be coming. + +"It is not convenient for me to stay in London just now," he went on +after a minute, "and I am sure you must find it very disagreeable at this +time of the year; and yet it is very important that I should see more of +you. It is, in fact, part of the conditions under which I may be able to +reveal these family secrets of yours to you. That is to say, if they +should turn out to be indeed yours. I came up from the Highlands last +night. I have a place on the West Coast, where at this moment I have a +party of people staying with me for shooting. My sister is entertaining +them in my absence, but I must get back to my duties of host. What I want +to suggest is that you should pay us a visit at Inverashiel." + +"Thank you very much," said Juliet doubtfully. "I should love to, but--I +don't know whether my father would allow me." + +"Your father?" exclaimed Lord Ashiel and Mr. Findlay in one breath. + +"Sir Arthur Byrne, I mean," she corrected herself. + +"You might telegraph to him," urged Lord Ashiel. "And I, myself, will +write. You might mention my sister to him. I think he used to know her. +Mrs. John Haviland. But, indeed, it is very important that you should +come, more important than you think, perhaps." + +He seemed extraordinarily anxious, now, lest she should refuse. + +"Perhaps," suggested Mr. Findlay, "Miss Byrne would like to think over +the idea, and let you know later in the day." + +"A very good plan," said Lord Ashiel. "Yes, of course you would like to +think it over. Will you telephone to me at the Carlton after lunch? +Thanks so much. Good-bye for the present." + +He seized his hat and stick and darted to the door. "You talk to her, +Findlay!" he cried, and disappeared. + +Juliet and Mr. Findlay were left confronting one another. + +"That will be the best plan," the lawyer repeated. "Think it over, Miss +Byrne. I am sure you would enjoy the visit to Scotland. Inverashiel is a +most interesting old place, both historically and for the sake of its +beautiful scenery. A week or two of Highland air could not fail to be of +benefit to your health, even if nothing further came of it, so to speak." + +"I should love it," Juliet said again. "But, Mr. Findlay, I don't know +Lord Ashiel, or hardly know him. How can I go off and stay with someone I +never met before to-day?" + +"The circumstances are unusual," said the lawyer. "I fancy Lord Ashiel is +anxious to lose no time. He is in bad health, poor fellow. I am afraid he +will worry himself a good deal if you cannot make up your mind to go." + +"You see," said Juliet, troubled, "I know nothing about him. I don't know +what my father--I mean, Sir Arthur would say." + +"I am sure your father would have no objection whatever to your making +friends with Lord Ashiel," Mr. Findlay assured her. "He is one of the +most respectable, the most domesticated of peers. Not very cheerful +company, perhaps, but no one in the world can justly say a word against +him in any way. He has had a sad time lately; his wife and only child +died within a month of each other, only two or three years ago. They had +been married quite a short time. Since then, his sister, Mrs. Haviland, +keeps house for him; but he does not entertain much, I am told, except +during the autumn in Scotland. You need have no hesitation in accepting +this invitation, Miss Byrne. I am a married man, and the father of a +family, and I should only be too delighted if one of my daughters had +such an opportunity." + +"Well," said Juliet, "I think I will risk it, and go. I am old enough to +take care of myself, in any case." This she said haughtily, with her nose +in the air. And then, with a sudden drop to her usual manner, she +exclaimed in a tone of gaiety, "What fun it will be!" + +"I am sure you will not regret your decision," repeated Mr. Findlay, as +she got up to go. "You won't forget to let Lord Ashiel know, will you?" + +"No, I will telephone to him at once. But I will telegraph home too, +of course." + +Excitement over this new plan had almost dispelled the earlier +disappointment, and if Juliet's spirits, as she drove back to Jermyn +Street, were not quite as overflowingly high as when she had started +out, they were good enough to make her smile to herself and to every one +she met during the rest of the day, and to hum gay little tunes when no +one was near, and altogether to feel very happy and pleased and +possessed by the conviction that something delightful was about to +happen. She sent off her telegram to Sir Arthur, spending some time over +it, and spoiling a dozen telegraph forms, before she could find +satisfactory words in which to convey her plans with an appearance of +deference to authority. Then she called up the Carlton Hotel on the +telephone, and was much put out when she heard that Lord Ashiel was not +staying there, or even expected. + +It was the hall porter of her hotel who came to the rescue, by +suggesting that she should try the Carlton Club, of which she had never +before heard. + +From the quickness with which Lord Ashiel answered her, he might have +been sitting waiting at the end of the wire, and he expressed great +pleasure at her acceptance of his invitation. Indeed, she could hear from +the tone of his voice that his gratification was no mere empty form. It +was arranged that she should travel down on the following night, Lord +Ashiel promising to engage a sleeping berth for her on the eight o'clock +train. He himself was going North that same evening. He had just been +writing a letter to Sir Arthur Byrne, he told her. He hoped she had some +thick dresses with her; she would want them in Scotland. + +"I am afraid I haven't," she said. "I only expected to stay in London for +a day or two, you know." + +"Well," said the voice at the end of the telephone, "perhaps you can get +a waterproof or something, between this and to-morrow night. I am afraid +I don't know the names of any ladies' tailors, but there are lots about," +he concluded vaguely. + +"I suppose I had better," said Juliet doubtfully. "I wonder if the +shops here will trust me. The fact is, I haven't got very much extra +money. I think perhaps I'd better wait a day or two till I can have +some more sent me." + +"My dear child," came the answer in horrified tones, "you must on no +account put off coming. Of course you are not prepared for all this extra +expense. You must allow me to be your banker. I insist upon it. Your +family, in whose confidence I happen to be, would never forgive me if I +allowed you to continue to be dependent on Sir Arthur Byrne." + +"It is very kind of you," Juliet began. "But suppose I turn out to be +some one different. You know, you said--" + +"If you do, you shall repay me," he replied. "In the meantime I will +send you round a small sum to do your shopping with. Let me see, where +are you staying?" + +An hour later a bank messenger arrived with an envelope containing £100 +in notes. Juliet had never seen so much money in her life, and thought it +far too much. "I shall be sure to lose it," was her first thought. Her +second was to deposit it with the proprietor of the hotel; after which +she felt safer. Then, in huge delight, she sallied forth again with her +maid, the alluring memory of some of the shop windows into which she had +gazed that morning calling to her loudly; she had never thought to look +at those fascinating garments from the other side of the glass. +Intoxicating hours followed, in which a couple of tweed dresses were +purchased that seemed as if they must have been made on purpose for her; +nor were thick walking shoes, and country hats, and other accessories +neglected. By evening her room was strewn with cardboard boxes, and on +Wednesday more were added, so that a trunk to pack them in had to be +bought as well. The shops were very empty; Juliet had the entire +attention of the shop people, and revelled in her purchases. Time flew, +and she was quite sorry, as she drove to Euston on the following evening, +to think that she was leaving this fascinating town of London. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +On Tuesday afternoon, when Juliet, having hung up the telephone through +which she had been conversing with Lord Ashiel, hurried out to see what +Bond Street could provide her with, a little man was sitting writing in a +luxuriously furnished room in a flat in Whitehall. He was small and thin, +and possessed a pair of extraordinarily bright and intelligent brown +eyes, which saw a good deal more of what happened around him than perhaps +any other eyes within a radius of a mile from where he sat. He was, in +other words, observant to a very high degree; and, what was more +remarkable, he knew how to use his powers of observation. There was not a +criminal in the length and breadth of the country who did not wonder +uneasily whether he had really left the scene of his crime as devoid of +clues as he imagined, when he heard that the celebrated detective, +Gimblet, had visited the spot in pursuit of his investigations. + +For this was the man, who, in a few years, had unravelled more apparently +insoluble mysteries, and caused the arrest of more hitherto evasive +scoundrels, than his predecessors had managed to secure in a decade. The +name of Gimblet was known and detested wherever a coiner carried on his +forbidden craft, or a blackmailer concocted his cowardly plans; burglars +and forgers cursed freely when he was mentioned, and there was hardly an +illicit trade in the country which had not suffered at one time or +another from his inquisitive habit of interesting himself in other +people's affairs. Scotland Yard officials were never too proud to call +upon him for help, and many a difficulty he had helped them out of, +though he refused an offer of a regular post in the Criminal +Investigation Department, preferring to be at liberty to choose what +cases he would take up. Above all things he loved the strange and +inexplicable. Gimblet had not always been a detective. Indeed, he often +smiled to himself when he thought of the extraordinary confidence which +the public now elected to repose in him. + +No one was more conscious than himself that he was far from being +infallible; in fact, his admirers appeared to him to be wilfully blind to +that elementary truth; so that when he failed to bring a case to a +successful issue people were apt to show an amount of disappointment that +he, for his part, thought very unreasonable. It was, perhaps, in the +nature of things that the puzzles he solved correctly received so much +more publicity than was given to his mistakes; but he often could not +avoid wishing that less were expected of him, and that his reputation had +not grown so tropically on what he could but consider insufficient +nourishment. + +In early days, after leaving Oxford, he had gone into an architect's +office and had flourished there; till one day an accident had turned his +energies in the direction they had since taken. + +A crime had been committed during the erection of a house he was +building, and, when the police were at a loss to know how to account for +the somewhat peculiar circumstances, the young architect, going his +ordinary rounds of inspection, had seen in a flash that there was +something unusual in the disposal of a portion of the building material; +which observation, with certain deductions following thereon, had led to +the detection and arrest of the criminal. From that time on he had been +more and more drawn to the fascination of tracing events to their +causes, when these appeared connected with deeds of violence and fraud, +till of late years he had completely dropped the study of the carrying +powers of wood and stone for the more interesting lessons to be derived +from the contemplation of the strange vagaries indulged in by his fellow +human beings. + +He kept, however, a strong taste for art and all that appertained to it; +more especially he was devoted to the collection of old and rare +bric-à-brac. There was not a curiosity shop in London that did not know +him, and he was equally happy when he had discovered some dust-hidden +treasure in the back regions of a secondhand furniture shop, or when he +was engaged in running to earth some human vermin who up till then had +lain snug in his own particular back region of crime, straining his ears, +in a mixture of contempt and anxiety, as the sounds of the hunt went by. + +Having finished his letter, Gimblet put his stylo in his pocket, and +turned round to look at the clock. + +"Twenty minutes to four," he said half-aloud. "I wish to goodness people +would keep their appointments punctually, or else not come at all." + +Five more minutes passed, and he got up and went into the hall. + +"Higgs," he called, and his faithful servant and general factotum came +out of the pantry. + +"I am going out," said his master, taking up his straw hat. "If anyone +calls, say I could not wait any longer. Ah, there's the front-door bell. +Just see who it is." + +He retreated to his sitting-room while Higgs went to the door of the +flat. A minute or two later Lord Ashiel was ushered in. + +"I'm very sorry I'm late," said he, as the door closed behind him, "but +you know what kept me." + +"Not the young lady, surely," said Gimblet; "you were to see her at +twelve o'clock this morning, weren't you?" + +"Yes, but she telephoned to me after lunch. By Jove, Gimblet, I believe +you have got hold of the right girl this time." Lord Ashiel's tone was +enthusiastic. "If she turns out to be half as nice as she looks, I shall +be ever grateful to you for routing her out." + +"Indeed, I am very glad to hear it," replied the detective. "And do you +observe a resemblance in her to your family; do you feel satisfied that +she is your daughter?" + +"I can't say I do see much likeness," Lord Ashiel confessed rather +reluctantly. "I thought at one moment, when she smiled, that she was like +her mother; but otherwise she did not strike me as resembling either of +us, I am sorry to say." + +"Did she know her history at all?" asked Gimblet. "Did she claim you +as father?" + +"No, she had never heard of me, as far as I could make out. And she +assured me that Sir Arthur Byrne has no idea whose child she is." + +"That certainly seems very improbable," Gimblet commented. + +"Yes, it does. Still, I feel sure she was speaking the truth. Why, +indeed, should she not do so? It seems that Byrne has married again, and +that his wife has already three daughters of her own; so, as she says, he +would probably be glad enough to get the fourth one off his hands, as +they are not well off." + +"Yes," said Gimblet. "I knew that. No, there seems no reason why Sir +Arthur Byrne should not have told her about you if he knew she was your +child. What is odd, is that he should not have known it." + +"He had promised his first wife not to make any inquiries, it seems," +said Lord Ashiel. + +"Well, he is an uncommon kind of man if he kept that promise," +Gimblet remarked. + +"He was devoted to his first wife, this girl told me," said Lord Ashiel. +"You never knew Lena Meredith, Gimblet, or you would not be surprised +that people kept their promises to her. She was my wife's friend, as I +told you, and I only saw her once, but I don't think I shall ever forget +her. It was just after my wife's death, and I was too heart-broken to +take much notice of anyone, but she was the sort of woman who sticks in +your memory, and I can quite understand a man being infatuated about her, +even to the point of curbing his curiosity for a lifetime on any subject +she wished him to leave alone. I went to see her, you know, about the +baby. I remember, as if it was yesterday, how I told her the whole story. +I told her how I had met Juliana two years before, and how, from the +first, we had both known we should never care for anyone else. I told her +about my old grandfather, from whom I had such great expectations, and +who wouldn't hear of my marrying anyone except the cousin, still in the +schoolroom, whom he had picked out as my future wife. + +"It was his wish that we should be married when I was twenty-five and +the girl eighteen; but I was not yet twenty-two, so that there were at +least three years of grace before he could begin to try and impose his +design upon us. And he was old and ill, and I had heard that the doctors +didn't give him more than a year or two, at most, to live. I thought +that if Juliana and I were married secretly he would die before the +question of my marriage had time to become one of practical politics; +and I persuaded her to agree to a private marriage, which we would +announce to the world as soon as my eccentric old grandfather was safely +out of it. There was no possible obstacle to our marriage except the old +man's domineering temper. Juliana Sandfort was my superior in every +possible sense, worldly or otherwise; but I came of a good family, was +to inherit an old name and title, and a more than sufficient fortune so +long as I kept on the right side of the old Lord, and we both knew that +there was no objection to be feared from her relations or from any other +one of mine. In short, much as she disliked doing things in that +hole-and-corner sort of way, and ashamed as I was at heart of asking her +to, we neither of us could see much actual harm in the idea, and we were +married accordingly at a registry office in London. Everything would +have been well, and all would have gone as we hoped, but for the one +unforeseen and horrible calamity. My wife died six months before my +grandfather, on the day her baby was born." + +Lord Ashiel paused, and sat gazing before him, over Gimblet's shoulder. +There was a look on his face which showed that for the moment he was +blind to the scene that lay in front of him, and that he saw in place of +the bureau which stood opposite to him, and of the Oriental china which +was the detective's special pride, and on which his eyes seemed to be +fixed, some vision of the past which was far more real than the +unsubstantial present. Presently he went on talking in a reflective +undertone: + +"All this I told Mrs. Meredith, and a great deal besides, for I was still +in the first violence of bitter, self-reproachful grief. I wanted to be +rid of the child, the cause of the catastrophe, whom I hated as +vehemently as I had loved its mother, and I begged Mrs. Meredith to help +me to dispose of it in such a fashion that, to me at least, the little +one should be to all intents and purposes as dead as she was. Babies, I +knew, had not a very strong hold on life, and I hoped, as a matter of +fact, that it might really die, but this I did not dare to say aloud. +Mrs. Meredith was kind to me. I remember well how good and sympathetic +she was. She had heard most of the story from Juliana, whose friend she +was, and it was at her house that the child was born. We had confided in +no one else. She sat silently for a while after I had finished what I had +to say, till at last she turned to me and tried to persuade me to alter +my intention of disowning the baby. But I repeated doggedly that unless +she had some alternative way to suggest of getting rid of it, I meant to +leave the little girl at the door of one of the foundling hospitals, and +that I would take her that very night. + +"At length, seeing that I was resolved, she said she thought she could +manage better than that. She had a friend, she said, an elderly Russian +lady, who was a widow and childless. This lady was anxious to adopt a +little English girl, and had lately written to ask her to find her a baby +whom she could bring up as her own child. There was no reason why +Juliana's baby should not be the one. She would write at once and suggest +it. I was greatly relieved at this idea. Although I had been determined +to do as I proposed, whatever opposition I might meet with, my conscience +had not been willing to let me leave my child on a doorstep without +protesting, and, little though I heeded its condemnation, I was glad to +be able to get my own way and at the same time to silence the voice of my +inward critic. + +"The plan seemed simplicity itself. My wife, as I have told you, had no +parents living. Her brothers and sisters, who were all married and +living in different parts of the country, had been led to believe that +her death was the result of an accident. Mrs. Meredith had even managed +to prevail on the doctor to lend himself to this fiction; for, my +grandfather being yet alive, there was still every reason not to declare +our marriage, while there seemed to be none in favour of doing so, and I +shrank from the questionings and scenes which publicity now would not +fail to bring upon me. Before I left Mrs. Meredith we had agreed that +she should at once communicate with her Russian friend, whose name I +refused to let her tell me. + +"I have told you before to-day, Gimblet, of all that has happened since. +How I took passionately to books as a refuge from my sorrow; how, at my +grandfather's suggestion, I had been by way of working for the +Diplomatic Service; of how I now worked in good earnest, and in course +of time, and after my grandfather's death, found myself attached to our +embassy at Petersburg. During the two years I spent there I made the +acquaintance of Countess Romaninov. One day when I was talking to her +she happened to mention that she had once known an English lady, Mrs. +Meredith, and I came to the conclusion that the little girl who lived +with her must be none other than my own child. As you know, I could not +stand living in the same town as she did, and for that, and for other +reasons, I left the Diplomatic Service and returned to England, where I +have lived a quiet life on my place in Scotland ever since. Eight years +ago, as you know, I married for the second time, and after a few years +of comparative happiness, found myself again a widower, my second wife +and her child dying within a few months of each other, when my boy was +only four years old. + +"It is more than a year, now," continued Lord Ashiel, after a pause, +"since the girl Julia Romaninov came to my sister in London, with a +letter of introduction from our ambassador in Russia. It was not until my +sister invited her down to Scotland that I heard anything about her. Not, +in fact, till the day before she arrived, for I always tell my sister to +ask any girls she pleases to Inverashiel, and she very seldom bothers me +about it. You can imagine my feelings when I heard that Julia Romaninov +was expected within a few hours, and had indeed already started from +London. It was too late to try and stop her, and my first impulse was +flight. But on second thoughts I changed my mind, and stayed. Time had +dulled the feelings with which I had contemplated her share in the +tragedy that attended her birth, and I was not without a certain +curiosity to see this young creature for whose existence I was +responsible. + +"I waited; she came; she stayed six weeks. You know the result. My sister +liked her; my nephews, my other guests, every one, except myself, was +charmed with her. And I, for some reason, could never stand the girl. I +told myself over and over again that it was mere prejudice; the remains +of the violent opposition I felt towards her when she was unknown to me; +a survival, unconscious and unwilling, of the hatred I had allowed myself +to nourish for the baby of a day old, which had made it impossible that +she and I should inhabit the same town when she was no more than a child +in pinafores. But I could not reason myself out of my dislike, and it +culminated a few weeks ago when I found that my sister was anxious to +have her with us in the North again this autumn. As you remember, I came +to you, and told you the facts. I made you understand how repulsive it +was to me to think that this girl might be my child, and begged you to +sift the matter as far as was possible, and to find out if there were not +a chance that I was mistaken in thinking it was Countess Romaninov who +had been Lena Meredith's friend." + +"Yes," said Gimblet, "and all I could discover at first was that the two +ladies had indeed been acquainted. It is difficult to get at the truth +when both of them have been dead for so many years, and when you will not +allow me so much as to hint that you feel any interest in the matter. +People are shy of answering questions relating to the private affairs of +their friends when they think they are prompted by idle curiosity, and in +this case it seems very doubtful whether anyone even knows the answers. +But in the course of my inquiries I soon discovered the fact that Mrs. +Meredith herself had adopted a child, and it certainly seems more than +possible that it may have been yours and her friend's. As far as I can +find out, both these young ladies are of about the same age, but no one +seems to know exactly when either of them first appeared on the scene. If +we can only get hold of the nurses! But at present I can find no trace of +them, and you won't let me advertise." + +"Gimblet, I shall be ever grateful to you," repeated Lord Ashiel. "I had +no idea that Mrs. Meredith had adopted a child. I never saw her again, as +I have told you, and only heard vaguely that she had married and was +living abroad. I purposely avoided asking for news of her. I wished to +forget everything that was past. As if that had been possible!" + +"I hoped," said Gimblet, "that you would have seen some strong likeness +in this young lady to yourself, or to your first wife. That would have +clinched the matter to all intents and purposes. But, as things are, I +shouldn't build too much on the hope that she is your daughter. It may +turn out to be the girl adopted by Countess Romaninov." + +"I hope not, I hope not," said Lord Ashiel earnestly. "I have got her to +promise to come to Scotland, and in a few days I may get some definite +clue as to which of them it is. It is a very odd coincidence that both +the girls bear names so much like that of my poor wife's." He paused +reflectively, and then added, "In the meantime you will go on with your +inquiries, will you not?" + +"I will," said Gimblet. "And I hope for better luck." + +A silence followed. Lord Ashiel half rose to go, then sat down again. +Evidently he had something more to say, but hesitated to say it. At +last he spoke: + +"When I was at St. Petersburg, twenty years ago, I was aroused to a +state of excitement and indignation by the social and political evils +which were then so much in evidence to the foreigner who sojourned in the +country of the Czars. I was young and impressionable, impulsive and +unbalanced in my judgments, I am afraid; at all events I resented certain +seeming injustices which came to my notice, and my resentment took a +practical and most foolish form. To be short, I was so ill-advised as to +join a secret society, and have done nothing but regret it ever since." + +"I can well understand your regretting it," said the detective. "People +who join those societies are apt to find themselves let in for a good +deal more than they bargained for." + +"It was so, at all events so far as I am concerned," said Lord Ashiel, "I +had, you may be sure, only the wildest idea of what serious and extremely +unpleasant consequences my unreflecting action would entail. Withdrawal +from these political brotherhoods is to all intents and purposes a +practical impossibility; but, in a sense, I withdrew from all +participation in its affairs as soon as I realized to what an extent the +theories of its leaders, as to the best means to adopt by which to +rectify the injustices we all agreed in deploring, differed from my own +ideas on the subject. And I should not have been able to withdraw, even +in the negative way I did, if accident had not put into my hand a weapon +of defence against the tyranny of the Society." + +Lord Ashiel paused hesitatingly, and Gimblet murmured encouragingly: + +"And that was?" + +"No," said Lord Ashiel, after a moment's silence, "I must not tell you +more. We are, I know, to all appearances, safe from eavesdroppers or +interruption; but, if a word of what I know were to leak out by some +incredible agency, my life would not be worth a day's purchase. As it is, +I am alarmed; I believe these people wish for my death. In fact, there is +no doubt on that subject. But they dare not attempt it openly. I have +told them that if I should die under suspicious circumstances of any +sort, the weapon I spoke of will inevitably be used to avenge my death, +and they know me to be a man of my word. For all these years that threat +has been my safeguard, but now I am beginning to think that they are +trying other means of getting me out of the way." + +"It is a pity," said Gimblet, "that you do not speak to me more openly. I +think it is highly probable, from what I know of the methods resorted to +by Nihilists in general, that you may be in very grave danger. Indeed, I +strongly advise you to report the whole matter to the police." + +"I wish I could tell you everything," said Lord Ashiel, "but even if I +dared, you must remember that I am sworn to secrecy, and I cannot see +that because I have, by doing so, placed myself in some peril, that on +that account I am entitled to break my word. No, I cannot tell you any +more, but in spite of that, I want you to do me a service." + +"I am afraid I can't help you without fuller knowledge," said Gimblet. +"What do you think I can do?" + +"You can do this," said Lord Ashiel. He put his hand in his pocket and +Gimblet heard a crackling of paper. "I am thinking out a hiding-place +for some valuable documents that are in my possession, and when I have +decided on it I will write to you and explain where I have put them, +using a cipher of which the key is enclosed in an envelope I have here +in my pocket, and which I will leave with you when I go. Take charge of +it for me, and in the course of the next week or so I will send you a +cipher letter describing where the papers are concealed. Do not read it +unless the occasion arises. I can trust you not to give way to +curiosity, but if anything happens to me, if I die a violent death, or +equally if I die under the most apparently natural circumstances, I want +you to promise you will investigate those circumstances; and, if +anything should strike you as suspicious in connection with what I have +told you, you will be able to interpret my cipher letter, find the +document I have referred to, and act on the information it contains. +Will you undertake to do this for me?" + +"I will, certainly," Gimblet answered readily, "but I hope the occasion +will not arise. I beg you to break a vow which was extorted from you by +false representations and which cannot be binding on you. Do confide +fully in me; I do not at all like the look of this business." + +"No, no," replied Lord Ashiel, smiling. "You must let me be the judge of +whether my word is binding on me or not. As you say, I hope nothing will +happen to justify my perhaps uncalled-for nervousness. In any case it +will be a great comfort and relief to me to know that, if it does, the +scoundrels will not go unpunished." + +"They shall not do that," said Gimblet fervently. "You can make your mind +easy on that score, at least. But I advise you to send your documents to +the bank. They will be safer there than in any hiding-place you can +contrive." + +"I might want to lay my hand upon them at any moment," said Lord +Ashiel, "and I admit I don't like parting with my only weapon of +defence. Still, I dare say you are right really, and I will think it +over. But mind, I don't want you to take any steps unless you can +satisfy yourself that these people have a hand in my death. Please be +very careful to make certain of that. My health is not good, and grows +worse. I may easily die without their interference; but I suspect that, +if they do get me, they will manage the affair so that it has all the +look of having been caused by the purest misadventure. That is what I +fear. Not exactly murder; certainly no violent open assault. But we are +all liable to suffer from accidents, and what is to prevent my meeting +with a fatal one? That is more the line they will adopt, if, as I +imagine, they have decided on my death." + +"If ever there were a case in which prevention is better than cure," said +Gimblet, "I think you will own that we have it here. If I had some hint +of the quarter from which you expect danger, I might at least suggest +some rudimentary precautions. What kind of 'accident' do you imagine +likely to occur?" + +"That I can't tell," replied Lord Ashiel. "I only know that these enemies +of mine are resourceful people, who are apt to make short work of anyone +whose existence threatens their safety or the success of their designs. I +am, by your help, taking a precaution to ensure that I shall not die +unavenged. They must be taught that murder cannot be committed in this +country with impunity. And I am very careful not to trust myself out of +England. If I crossed the Channel it would be to go to my certain death. +Otherwise I should have gone myself to see Sir Arthur Byrne. But in this +island the man who kills even so unpopular a person as a member of the +House of Lords does not get off with a few years' imprisonment, as he may +in some of the continental countries; and the Nihilists, for the most +part, know that as well as I do." + +Gimblet followed Lord Ashiel into the hall with the intention of showing +him out of the flat, but the sudden sound of the door bell ringing made +him abandon this courtesy and retreat to shelter. + +He did not wish to be denied all possibility of refusing an interview to +some one he might not want to see. + +So it was Higgs who opened the door and ushered out the last visitor, at +the same time admitting the newcomer. + +This proved to be a small, slight woman dressed in deepest black and +wearing the long veil of a widow, who was standing with her back to the +door, apparently watching the rapid descent of the lift which had brought +her to the landing of No. 7. + +She did not move when the door behind her opened, and Lord Ashiel, +emerging from it in a hurry to catch the lift before it vanished, nearly +knocked her down. She gave a startled gasp and stepped hastily to one +side into the dark shadows of the passage as he, muttering an apology, +darted forward to the iron gateway and applied his finger heavily to the +electric bell-push. But the liftboy had caught sight of him with the tail +of his eye, and was already reascending. + +His anxiety allayed, Lord Ashiel turned again to express his regrets to +the lady he had inadvertently collided with, but she had disappeared into +the flat, of which Higgs was even then closing the door. + +Ashiel stepped into the lift and sat down rather wearily on the +leather-covered seat. + +Although, to some extent, the relief of having unburdened his mind of +secrets that had weighed upon it for so many years produced in him a +certain lightness of heart to which he had long been a stranger, yet +the very charm of the impression made upon him by Juliet Byrne, during +his first meeting with her that morning, led him to suspect uneasily +that his hopes of her proving to be his child were due rather to the +pleasure it gave him to anticipate such a possibility than to any more +logical reason. + +He was so entirely engrossed in an honest endeavour to adjust correctly +the balance of probabilities, as to remain unconscious that the lift had +stopped at the ground floor, and it was not until the boy who was in +charge had twice informed him of the fact, that he roused himself with an +effort and left the building. + +Still absorbed in his speculations and anxieties, he walked rapidly away, +and, having narrowly escaped destruction beneath the wheels of more than +one taxi, wandered down Northumberland Avenue on to the Embankment. He +crossed to the farther side, turned mechanically to the right and walked +obliviously on. + +It was not until he came nearly to Westminster Bridge that he remembered +the cipher that he had prepared for Gimblet, and that he had, after all, +finally left without giving it to him. It was still in his pocket, and +the discovery roused him from his abstraction. + +He took a taxi and drove back to the flats. A motor which had been +standing before the door when he had come out was still there when he +returned; so that, thinking it probably belonged to the lady he had met +on the landing, and guessing that if so the detective was still occupied +with her, he did not ask to see him again, but handed the envelope over +to Higgs when he opened the door, with strict injunctions to take it +immediately to his master. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The lady, whose visit to Gimblet dovetailed so neatly with the departure +of his other client on that summer afternoon, was unknown to him. + +He had scarcely re-entered the room and resumed his accustomed seat by +the window when Higgs announced her. + +"A lady to see you, sir." + +The lady was already in the doorway. She must have followed Higgs from +the hall, and now stood, hesitating, on the threshold. + +"What name?" breathed Gimblet; but Higgs only shook his head. + +The detective went forward and spoke to his visitor. + +"Please come in," he said. "Won't you sit down?" + +And he pushed a chair towards her. + +"Thank you," said the lady, taking the seat he offered. "I hope I do not +disturb you; but I have come on business," she added, as the door closed +behind Higgs. + +"Yes?" said Gimblet interrogatively. "You will forgive me, but I didn't +catch your name when my man announced you." + +"He didn't say it," she replied. "I had not told him. I am sure you would +not remember my name, and it is of no consequence at present." + +"As you wish," said the detective. + +But he wondered who this unknown woman could be. When she said he would +not remember her name, did she mean to imply that he had once been +acquainted with it? If so, she was right in thinking that he did not +recognize her now; but, if she did not choose to raise the thick crape +veil that hid her face, she could hardly expect him to do so. + +He wondered whether she kept her veil lowered with the intention of +preventing his recognizing her, or whether in truth she were anxious not +to expose grief-swollen features to an unsympathetic gaze. + +Her voice, which was low and sorrowful, though at the same time curiously +resonant, seemed to suggest that she was in great trouble. She spoke, he +fancied, with a trace of foreign accent. + +For the rest, all that he could tell for certain about her was that she +was short and slender, with small feet, and hands, from which she was now +engaged in deliberately withdrawing a pair of black suede gloves. + +He watched her in silence. He always preferred to let people tell their +stories at their own pace and in their own way, unless they were of those +who plainly needed to be helped out with questions. + +And about this woman there was no suspicion of embarrassment; her whole +demeanour spoke of calmness and self-possession. + +"I believe," she said at last, "that you are a private detective. I come +to ask for your help in a matter of some difficulty. Some papers of the +utmost importance, not only to me but to others, are in the possession of +a person who intends to profit by the information contained in them to do +myself and my friends an irreparable injury. You can imagine how anxious +we are to obtain them from him." + +"Do I understand that this person threatens you with blackmail?" +asked Gimblet. + +The lady hesitated. + +"Something of the kind," she replied after a moment's pause. + +"And you have so far given in to his demands?" + +"Yes," admitted the visitor. "Up till now we have been obliged to +submit." + +"Has he proposed any terms on which he will be willing to return you the +papers?" asked the detective. + +"No," she replied. "I do not think any terms are possible." + +"How did this person obtain possession of the papers?" Gimblet asked +after a moment. "Did he steal them from you?" + +"No." + +"From your friends?" + +She hesitated. + +"No--not exactly." + +"From whom, then?" asked Gimblet in surprise. "I suppose they were yours +in the first place?" + +"He has always had them," she said reluctantly; "but they must not +remain his." + +"Do you mean they are his own?" exclaimed Gimblet. "In that case it is +you who propose to steal them!" + +"No," replied the strange lady calmly. "I want you to do that." + +"I'm sorry," said Gimblet; "that is not in my line of business. I'm +afraid you made a mistake in coming to me. I cannot undertake your +commission." + +"Money is no object; we shall ask you to name your own price," urged +his visitor. + +But the detective shook his head. + +"It is a matter of life and death," she said, and her voice betrayed an +agitation which could not have been inferred from her motionless shrouded +figure. "If you refuse to help me, not one life, but many, will be +endangered." + +"If you can offer me convincing proof of that," said Gimblet, "I might +feel it my duty to help you. I don't say I should, but I might. In any +case I can do nothing unless you are perfectly open and frank with me. +Expect no assistance from me unless you tell me everything, and then only +if I think it right to give it." + +For the first time she showed some signs of confusion. The hand upon her +lap moved restlessly and she turned her head slowly towards the window as +if in search of suitable words. But she did not speak or rise, though she +gradually fidgeted round in her chair till she faced the writing-table; +and so sat, with her head leaning on her hand, in silent consideration. + +It was clear she did not like Gimblet's terms; and after a few minutes +had passed in a silence as awkward as it was suggestive he pushed back +his chair and stood up. He hoped she would take the hint and bring an +unprofitable and embarrassing interview to an end. + +But she did not appear to notice him, and still sat lost in her +own thoughts. + +Suddenly the door opened and Higgs appeared. + +Gimblet looked at him with questioning disapproval. + +It was an inflexible rule of his that when engaged with a client he was +not to be disturbed. + +Higgs, well acquainted with this rule, hovered doubtfully in the +doorway, displaying on the salver he carried the blue, unaddressed +envelope Lord Ashiel had told him to deliver at once. + +"It's a note, sir," he murmured hesitatingly. "The gentleman who was with +you a little while ago came back with it. He asked me to be sure and +bring it in at once." + +He avoided Gimblet's reproachful eye and stammered uneasily: + +"Put it down on that table and go," said the detective. He indicated a +little table by the door, and Higgs hastily placed the letter on it and +fled, with the uncomfortable sensation of having been sternly reproved. + +As a matter of fact Gimblet would have shown more indignation if he +had not at heart felt rather glad of the interruption. His visitor had +decidedly outstayed her welcome; and, though she stirred his curiosity +sufficiently to make him wish he could induce her to raise her veil +and let him see what manner of woman it was who had the effrontery to +come and make him such unblushing proposals, he far more urgently +desired to see the last of her. She was wasting his time and annoying +him into the bargain. + +As the door shut behind the servant he made a step towards her. + +"If, madam, there is nothing else you wish to consult me about," he +began, taking out his watch with some ostentation--"I am a busy man--" + +The lady gave a little laugh, low and musical. + +"I will not detain you longer," she said, also rising from her chair. "I +am afraid I have cut into your afternoon, but you will still have time +for a game if you hurry." + +She laughed again, and moved over to the writing-table, where, among a +litter of papers and writing materials, a couple of golf balls were +acting as letter weights. A putter lay on the chair in front of the desk, +and she took it up and swung it to and fro. + +"A nice club," she remarked. "Where do you play, as a rule? There are so +many good links near London; so convenient. Well, I mustn't keep you." +She laid down the putter and fingered the balls for a moment. "Where have +I put my gloves?" she said then, looking around to collect her +belongings. + +Gimblet was slightly put out at her inference that his plea of business +was merely an excuse to dismiss her in order that he might go off and +play golf. Heaven knew it was no affair of hers whether he played golf +that day or not! But as a matter of fact he had no intention of leaving +the flat that afternoon, and had merely been practising a shot or two on +the carpet after lunch before Lord Ashiel's arrival. Still it was true +that he had made business a pretext for getting rid of her, and this made +the injustice of the widow's further inference ruffle him more than it +might have if she had been entirely in the wrong. He was the most +courteous of men, and that anyone should suspect him of unnecessary +rudeness distressed him. + +He made no reply, however, in spite of the temptation to defend himself; +but stooped to pick up a diminutive black suede glove which his visitor +had dropped when she took up the putter. + +She thanked him and put it on, depositing, while she did so, her other +glove, her handkerchief, sunshade and a small brown-paper parcel upon the +writing-table at her side. + +Gimblet did not appreciate seeing these articles heaped upon his +correspondence. Without any comment he removed them, and stood holding +them silently till she should be ready. + +She took them from him soon, with a little inclination of the head which +he felt was accompanied by a smile of thanks, though through the thick +crape it was impossible to do more than guess at any expression. + +She drew on her other glove and held out her hand again. + +"My purse?" she said. "Will you not give me that too? Where have you put +it? And then I must really go." + +"I haven't seen any purse," said Gimblet. + +"Yes, yes!" she cried. "A black silk bag! It has my purse inside it. I +had it, I am sure." + +She turned quickly back to the chair she had been sitting in, and taking +up the cushion, shook it and peered beneath it. + +"What can I have done with it? All my money is in it." + +Gimblet glanced round the room. He did not remember having noticed any +bag, and he was an observant person. She had probably left it in a cab. +Women were always doing these things. Witness the heaped shelves at +Scotland Yard. + +"Perhaps you put it down in the hall?" he suggested. + +"I am sure I had it when I came in here," she repeated in an agitated +voice. "But it might be worth while just to look in the hall," she added +doubtfully, and moved towards the door. + +Gimblet opened it for her gladly; but she came to a standstill in +the doorway. + +"There is nothing there, you see;" she said dolefully. "Oh, what +shall I do!" + +Gimblet looked over her shoulder. The hall was shadowy, with the +perpetual twilight of the halls of London flats, but he fancied he +could perceive a darker shadow lying beside his hat on the table near +the entrance. + +"Is that it? On the table?" he asked. + +"Where? I don't see anything," murmured the lady; and indeed it was +unlikely that she could distinguish anything in such a light from +behind her veil. + +"On the table by my hat," repeated Gimblet; and as she still did not +move, he made a step forward into the hall. + +Yes, it was her bag, beyond a doubt. A silken thing of black brocade, +embroidered with scattered purple pansies. + +Gimblet picked it up and turned back to his visitor. After a second's +hesitation she had followed him into the hall and was coming towards him, +groping her way rather blindly through the gloom. + +"Oh, thanks, thanks!" she exclaimed. "How stupid of me to have left it +there. Thank you again. My precious bag! I am so glad you have found it." +She took the bag eagerly from him. "I am afraid I have been a nuisance, +and disturbed you to no purpose. You must forgive my mistake. But now I +will not keep you any longer. Good-bye." + +She showed no further disposition to loiter; and Gimblet rang the bell +for the lift and saw her depart with a good deal of satisfaction. + +In spite of her extremely hazy ideas on the subject of other people's +property, there was, he admitted, something attractive about her. Still +he was very glad she had gone. + +He returned to his room, taking up and pocketing Lord Ashiel's envelope +as he passed the little table by the door. + +He did it mechanically, for his mind was occupied with a question which +must be immediately decided. + +Was it, or was it not, worth while to have the woman who had just left +him followed and located, and her identity ascertained? + +Gimblet disliked leaving small problems unsolved, however insignificant +they appeared. On the whole, he thought he might as well find out who she +was, and he turned back into the hall and called for Higgs. + +If she were to be caught sight of again before leaving the house there +was not a moment to lose. But Higgs did not reply, and on Gimblet's +opening the pantry door he found it empty. Unknown to him, the moment the +lady had departed Higgs had gone upstairs to the flat above to have a +word with a friend. + +The detective seized his hat and ran downstairs, but he was too late. + +The widow lady, the porter told him, had gone away two or three minutes +ago in the motor that had been waiting for her. No, he hadn't noticed the +number of the car. Neither had he seen Higgs. + +Gimblet shrugged his shoulders as he went upstairs again. After all, the +matter was of no great consequence. + +The widow was a cool hand, certainly, he thought, to come to him and +propose he should steal for her what she wanted; but the fact of her +having done so made it on the whole improbable that she was a thief, or +she would not have had need of him. She was certainly a person of +questionable principles, and it seemed likely that in one way or another +a theft would be committed through her agency, if not by herself, as +soon as the opportunity presented itself. She was, in fact, a woman on +whom the police might do worse than keep an eye; but, reflected Gimblet, +he was not the police, and the dishonesty of this scheming widow was +really no concern of his. As he reached his door, a postman was leaving +it, and two or three letters had been pushed through the flap. He let +himself in and took them out of the box. They were not of great +importance. A bill, an appeal for a subscription to some charity, a +couple of advertisements and the catalogue of a sale of pictures in +which he was interested. He turned over the leaves slowly, holding the +pamphlet sideways from time to time to look at the photographs which +illustrated some of the principal lots. + +Presently he turned and went back into his room. He sat down in his +favourite arm-chair near the window, where he habitually passed so much +time gazing out on to the smooth surface of the river, and fell to +ruminating on the problem presented by Lord Ashiel's story. + +For a long while he sat on, huddled in the corner of an arm-chair, his +elbows on the arm, his chin resting on his hand, and in his eyes the look +of one who wrestles with obscure and complicated problems of mental +arithmetic. From time to time, but without relaxing his expression of +concentrated effort, he stretched out long artistic fingers to a box on +the table, took from it a chocolate, and transferred it mechanically to +his mouth. He always ate sweets when he had a problem on hand. He was +trying to think of some means by which his client could be protected from +the mysterious danger that threatened him; that it was a very real +danger, Gimblet accepted without question; he had only seen Lord Ashiel +twice in his life, but it was quite enough to make him certain that here +was a man whom it would take a great deal to alarm. This was no boy +crying "wolf" for the sake of making a stir. + +But the more he thought, the more he saw that there was nothing to be +done. A word to the police would suffice, no doubt, to precipitate +matters; for, if the Nihilist Society which threatened Lord Ashiel +contemplated his destruction, a hint that he might be already taking +reciprocal measures would not be likely to make them feel more mercifully +towards him. It was obvious that Ashiel would look with suspicion upon +any Russian who might approach him, but Gimblet determined to write him a +line of warning against foreigners of any description. Still, these +societies sometimes had Englishmen amongst their members, and ways of +enforcing obedience upon their subordinates which made any decision they +might come to as good as carried out almost as soon as it was uttered. + +The detective's cogitations were disturbed by Higgs, who had returned, +and now brought him in some tea. He poured himself out half a cup, which +he filled up with Devonshire cream. He had a peculiar taste in food, and +was the despair of his excellent cook, but on this occasion he ate none +of the cakes and bread and butter she had provided, the chocolates having +rather taken the edge off his appetite. + +From where he sat he could see, through the open window, the broad grey +stretches of the river, with a barge going swiftly down on the tide; +brown sails turned to gleaming copper by the slanting rays from the West. +The hum and rattle of the streets came up to him murmuringly; now and +then a train rumbled over Charing Cross Bridge, and the whistle of +engines shrilled out above the constant low clamour of the town. + +Gimblet leant out of the window and watched the barge negotiate the +bridge. Then he returned to his chair, and taking Lord Ashiel's envelope +out of his pocket looked it over thoughtfully before opening it. He had +no doubts as to what it contained; he had been on the point of reminding +the peer that he had forgotten to give him the key of the cipher he had +spoken of when the widow's ring at the door had driven him to a hurried +retreat, but he had not considered the omission of any particular +significance. His client would certainly discover it and either return to +give him the key, or send it to the flat. + +It would probably be some time before it was required for use here. In +the meantime, thought Gimblet, he would have a look at it before locking +it away in the safe. + +He turned over the envelope. To his surprise, the flap was open and the +glue had obviously never been moistened. + +It was the work of an instant to look inside, but almost quicker came the +conviction that it was useless to do so. + +He was not mistaken. + +The envelope was empty. + +Gimblet stared at it for one moment in blank dismay. Then he strode to +the door and shouted for Higgs. + +"Did you notice," he asked him, "whether the envelope Lord Ashiel gave +you for me was fastened, or was it open as this one is?" + +"Oh no, sir," replied Higgs, "it was sealed up. There was a large patch +of red sealing-wax at the back, with a coronet and some sort of little +picture stamped on it. I can't say I looked at it particularly, but there +may have been a lion or a dog, or some kind of animal. His lordship's +arms, no doubt" + +"You are quite certain about the sealing-wax?" Gimblet repeated slowly. + +"Yes, sir, I am quite certain about that," answered Higgs; and he could +not refrain from adding, "I put down the note on this little table, sir, +as you told me." + +"Thank you. That is all." + +Gimblet's tone was as undisturbed as ever, but inwardly he was seething +with anger and disgust; directed, however, entirely against himself. + +When Higgs had departed he allowed himself the unusual, though quite +inadequate relief of giving the chair on which his last visitor had sat a +violent kick. After that he felt rather more ashamed of himself than +before, if possible, and he sat down and raged at the simple way in which +he had been fooled. + +The widow had taken the envelope, of course. She must have snatched it up +during the few seconds he had turned his back on her in order to step +across the hall and retrieve her bag, and have replaced it at the same +instant with this empty one which she had no doubt taken from his own +writing-table while he stooped beside her to pick up her glove. + +Gimblet fetched one of his own blue envelopes and compared it with the +substitute. Yes, they were alike in every particular. The watermarks were +the same and showed that she had used what she found ready to her hand. + +It seemed, then, that the _coup_ was not premeditated. But why, why, had +he let her escape so easily? If only he had been a little quicker about +following her, and had not wasted time looking for Higgs! She had had +time to get clear away; and he, bungler that he was, had thought it of +little consequence, and had afterwards stood poring over a catalogue in +the hall, having decided that her morals were no business of his. Ass +that he had been! + +Who was she? Probably some one known to Lord Ashiel, or why should she +have wanted his letter? Well, Ashiel must have met her on his way out, +and would in that case at least be able to provide the information as to +who she was. Still, more people might know Ashiel than Ashiel knew, and +it was possible that that hope might fail. No doubt she was a member of +the society the peer had so rashly entangled himself with in the days of +his youth; one of those enemies of whom he had spoken with such grave +apprehension. Had she followed him into the house and forced her way in +on a trumped-up pretext, on the chance of hearing or finding something +that might be useful to her Nihilist friends, or had she known that Lord +Ashiel intended to leave some document in Gimblet's keeping, and come +with the idea, already formed, of stealing it? Such a plan seemed to +partake too much of the nature of a forlorn hope to be likely, but +whether or no she had expected to find that letter, Gimblet could hardly +help admiring the rapidity with which she had possessed herself of it +without wasting an unnecessary moment. + +She must have been safe in the street and away with it, in less than +five minutes from when she first saw it. Oh, she had been quick and +dexterous! And he? He had been a gull, and false to his trust, and +altogether contemptible. What should he say to Lord Ashiel? Why in the +world hadn't he locked up the letter when Higgs brought it in? This was +what came of making red-tape regulations about not being disturbed. After +all, he comforted himself, she would be a good deal disappointed when she +found what she had got. The key to a cipher; that was all. And a key with +nothing to unlock was an unsatisfactory kind of loot to risk prison for. +Evidently she expected something more important; perhaps the very +documents she had invited Gimblet to steal for her, regardless of +expense. This, he thought, was a reassuring sign for Lord Ashiel. For it +was plain they meant to steal the papers, if they could; but not so plain +that they looked to murder as the means by which to gain that end, since +they applied for help from him. + +Gimblet rang up the Carlton Club and asked for his client, but he was not +in, nor did he succeed in communicating with him that afternoon; and when +he rang up the Club for the fifth time after dinner he was told that Lord +Ashiel had already left for Scotland. + +With a groan, and fortifying himself with chocolates, the detective sat +down to write a long and full account of his failure to keep what had +been confided to his care, for the space of one hour. + +In a couple of days he had an answer. Ashiel did not seem much perturbed +at the loss of the cipher. + +"It is a nuisance, of course," he said. "I must think out another, and +will let you have it in a few days before sending you other things. No, I +did not recognize the person I met as I was leaving your rooms. In spite +of what you say as to your belief that theft and not murder is the object +of these people, I am still convinced that my life is aimed at. However, +I think that for the present I have hit on a way of frustrating their +plans. With regard to the other problem you are helping me to solve, I am +seeing a great deal of both the young people, and I believe there can be +no doubt as to the identity of one of them, but I will write to you on +this subject also in a few days' time." + +He sent Gimblet a couple of brace of grouse, which the detective devoured +with great satisfaction, and for the next week no more letters bearing a +Scotch postmark were delivered at the Whitehall flat. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +"Here they come again." + +Lord Ashiel spoke in a voice scarcely above a whisper, and Juliet +crouched low against the peaty wall of the butt. There was an instant's +silence, and then crack, crack, shots sounded from the other end of the +line. Another minute and Lord Ashiel's gun went up; she heard the whirr +of approaching wings before she covered both ears with her hands to +deaden the noise of the explosions she knew were coming. + +Then several guns seemed to go off at once. Bang! bang! bang! Bang! +bang! bang! + +Juliet did not really enjoy grouse-driving, but she tried to appear as if +she did, since every one else seemed to, and at all events there were +intervals between drives when she could be happy in the glory of the +hills and the wild free air of the moors. + +Meanwhile she knelt in her corner of the butt beside her host's big +retriever, and waited. There was a little bunch of heather growing +level with her nose, and she bent forward silently and sniffed at it. +But the honey-sweet scent was drowned for the moment by the smell of +gunpowder and dog. + +Bang! bang! bang! + +Presently Lord Ashiel turned and looked down at her, with a smile. + +"The drivers are close up," he said. "The drive is over." + +They went out of the butt, and she stood watching the dog picking up the +birds Lord Ashiel had shot. He found nineteen, and the loader picked up +three more. Juliet was glad her host shot so well. She thought him a +wonderful man. And how kind he was to her. But she could not help looking +over from time to time to the next butt, round which three other people +were wandering: Sir David Southern, and his loader, and Miss Maisie +Tarver, to whom he was engaged to be married. + +One of Sir David's birds had fallen near his uncle's butt, and presently +he strolled across to look for it, his eyes on the heather as he +zigzagged about, leading his dog by the chain which his uncle insisted on +his using. + +"There is something here," called Juliet. "Yes, it is a dead grouse. Is +this your bird?" + +Sir David came up and took it. + +"That's it," he said. "Thanks very much. How do you like this sort +of thing?" + +He leant against the butt and looked down at her. + +"Oh, it's so lovely here," began Juliet. + +"But you don't like the shooting, eh?" + +"I don't know," Juliet stammered. "I think it's rather cruel." + +"You must remember there wouldn't be any grouse at all if they weren't +shot," he said seriously, "and besides, wild birds don't die comfortably +in their beds if they're not killed by man. A charge of shot is more +merciful than a death from cold and starvation, or even from the attack +of a hawk or any of a bird's other natural enemies. Just think. Wouldn't +you rather have the violent end yourself than the slow, lingering one?" + +"Yes," admitted Juliet, "I would. I believe you're right. But I don't +really much like seeing it happen, all the same." + +"I think you'd get used to it; it's a matter of habit. I believe +everything is a matter of habit, or almost everything. I suppose one gets +used to any kind of horror in time." + +He spoke reflectively; more, or so it seemed to Juliet, as if trying to +convince himself than her; and as he finished speaking, she was conscious +that his eyes, which had never left her face while they were talking, had +done so now, and were fixed on some object or person behind her. She +turned instinctively and saw Miss Maisie Tarver approaching, a brace of +grouse swinging in each hand. + +"I've got them all, right here, David," she informed him, as she came up. +She was a tall dark girl, with the look of breeding which often proves so +confusing to Europeans when they first come in contact with certain of +her countrywomen. "This bird," she added, holding up one which still +fluttered despairingly, "was a runner, but now he won't do any more +running than the colour of my new pink shirt-waist; and that's guaranteed +a fast tint, I guess." + +Juliet looked away, trying not to show her dismay at the struggles of the +wounded bird. + +"Here, give me that bird, Maisie," said David rather abruptly. "I'll +knock it on the head." + +"Oh, I can do that, if it makes Miss Byrne feel badly," Maisie laughed. + +Raising her small foot on to a stone, she began to make ineffectual +attempts to beat the bird's head against her toe. David snatched it from +her unceremoniously, and turned his back while he put an end to the poor +creature's sufferings. His face was very red. When he had killed the bird +he tossed it to Lord Ashiel's loader, and strode away across the heather. + +Maisie looked at Juliet with a laugh. + +"Your English young men are perfectly lovely," she remarked, "and David +is just elegant, I think, or I'd not have gone and engaged myself to be +led to the altar by him; but I can't kind of get used to the British way +of looking at things. It's quite remarkable the manner you people have +of admiring a girl one moment, because she's a good sport, and throwing +fits of disapprobation the next, because she tries to act like she is +one. Why, David looked at me just now as if he'd have taken less than two +cents to put knock-out drops in my next cocktail." + +"Oh," protested Juliet. "I'm sure he didn't mean to. I think his +expression is naturally rather stern." + +"Stern nothing," said Miss Tarver. "When I came up he was looking at you +as if he reckoned he could eat you, shooting-stick and all. Oh, there +aren't any flies on me! I know just what myself and dollars are worth to +Sir David Southern, and I'm beginning to do some calculating on my own +account as to what Sir David Southern is worth to me." + +"Oh, surely you are wrong," cried Juliet. "I am certain Sir David has +never thought about your money. Oh, I feel sure you misjudge him; and you +mustn't talk like that, even in fun!" + +"I don't know," said Miss Tarver doubtfully. "His cousin says David's +really vurry attached to me, but it's the sort of thing one ought to be +able to see for oneself, and I don't seem to feel a really strong +conviction on the subject. As for his thinking of my dollars, I fail to +see how he can help that when he's over head and ears in debt, the way he +is. He told me so himself when he proposed. He put it as a business +proposition. Said his ancient name was up for auction, and did I reckon +it worth my while to make a bid, or words to that effect. There's a +romantic love-story for you. He was the only titled man I'd ever struck +up till a month ago, and I always did think it would be stunning to marry +into an aristocratic British family, so I was pleased to death at the +idea of putting his on its legs again with my dollars. What else could I +do with them anyway? But I believe if I'd met your friend, Lord Ashiel, +before I'd taken the fatal step, I'd have waited to see if he didn't +fancy an Amurrican wife. But of course _he_ doesn't care a hill of beans +whether I'm rich or not. He's got plenty himself, I'm told, and I guess +he'd never have looked at me while you were around, any old way. All the +same I call him a real striking-looking man." + +"Oh, don't talk so loud," implored Juliet. "He'll hear you. He's +quite close." + +"Not he," said Miss Tarver. "He's back of the butt still. And I will say +he is a real high-toned gentleman, and it's my opinion the girl who gets +him will be able to give points to the man who took a piece of waste land +for a bad debt, and struck the richest vein of gold in Colorado on it." + +She looked at Juliet with an insinuating eye. + +"Come along," said Lord Ashiel, as he strolled up to them with a bird +he had been looking for, "we're going on now to the next drive," and +they started off down the hillside, wading deep through the heather to +the track. + +Juliet had been nearly a week at Inverashiel. A week of wet weather which +had sadly interfered with the shooting, but which had thrown the house +party on its own resources and given her plenty of chances to get well +acquainted with the other guests at the castle. They were most of them +related to Lord Ashiel and already well known to each other. The +American, David Southern's fiancée, the half Russian girl, Julia +Romaninov, who had arrived on the same day as Juliet, and Juliet herself, +were the only strangers. Mrs. Haviland, Lord Ashiel's sister, had been +there when she arrived, but had left a day or two later as her husband, +who was in the south, had fallen ill and needed her presence. Her place +as hostess had been taken by Lady Ruth Worsfold, a distant cousin of the +McConachans, who lived in a little house a mile down the loch, which was +given her rent free by Lord Ashiel. Another cousin of his, Mrs. Clutsam, +a young widow, he had also provided this year with a small house on the +estate which was sometimes let to fishing tenants, and she, too, was at +present staying at Inverashiel. + +The guns consisted of Col. Spicer and Sir George Hatch, both well-known +soldiers of between forty and fifty years of age, and Lord Ashiel's two +nephews, David Southern, the son of a widowed sister, and Mark +McConachan, whose father, now dead, had been Lord Ashiel's only brother. +Both were tall, good-looking young men, though there was not even a +family resemblance between the grey-eyed and fairhaired David, with his +smooth-shaven face and slender well-proportioned figure, and his +loose-limbed, rather ungainly cousin, whose appearance of great strength +made up for his lack of grace, and whose large melting brown eyes made +one forget the faults which the hypercritical might have found in the +rest of his face: the rather large nose, and the mouth which was apt too +often to be open except when it closed on the cigarette he was always +smoking. He had been, so Juliet had heard some one say, one of the most +popular men in the cavalry regiment he had lately left on account of its +being ordered to India. + +They were all very nice to Juliet, and she thought them all charming. +Especially, she told herself with unnecessary emphasis, did she think +Miss Maisie Tarver a delightful person; rather strange, possibly, to +European ways and customs and manner of conversation, a very different +type, certainly, from the new Lady Byrne--to whom Juliet was beginning to +feel she had perhaps not hitherto sufficiently done justice--but open as +the day, and with a heart of gold. She even went so far as to defend her +to old Lady Ruth Worsfold, who had lamented one morning when David and +his fiancee had gone out shooting together--for Miss Tarver, though not a +good shot, was fond of ferreting rabbits--that the lad should be throwing +himself away on this young lady from a provincial American town. + +"I forget which, my dear, but it's something to do with chickens, I +believe." They were sitting in the hall, and Lady Ruth looked up from her +embroidery as she spoke, with art interrogative glance towards Mrs. +Clutsam and Julia. + +"Chicago," said Mrs. Clutsam, turning round from the table where she was +writing. "That's where she comes from." + +"Yes, that's it," said Lady Ruth; "the name had slipped my memory. It's +the place where they all kill pigs, isn't it? I've read about it in +Kipling. Her having been brought up to do that accounts for her passion +for wounding rabbits, no doubt. I daresay one has to keep one's hand in. +That reminds me, I will tell the cook not to send up sausages for +breakfast. The poor girl is probably tired of the sight of them, though I +suppose they mean money to her, which is always pleasant. When I had a +poultry farm I used to feel my heart warm at the thought of poor dear +Duncan's bald head. You know, my dear," she went on, turning to Juliet, +"my husband had the misfortune to lose all his hair some years before he +died, though really I don't believe there was a patent hair-wash he +didn't try, till the house fairly reeked of them: but they never did any +good, and he got to look more and more like one of my nice new-laid eggs; +though not so brown of course, for I always kept Wyandots which lay the +most beautiful dark brown ones, like _café au lait_" + +"Well, the money will be very useful to poor David," said Mrs. Clutsam, +without turning her head. She was rather annoyed because she had found +that she had written "I am so glad you can kill pigs," instead of "I am +so glad you can come" to some one she had invited to stay with her. + +"There's plenty of money on this side of the duck pond, or whatever they +call it," said Lady Ruth severely. + +And it was then that Juliet had burst in. + +"I am sure Sir David has never given a thought to Miss Tarver's +money," she said. + +"Why not, my dear?" said Lady Ruth, turning upon her mild, surprised +eyes. "He is terribly badly off; it is his duty to marry money; but he +needn't have gone so far for it." + +"I don't believe he would marry for money. He would be above doing such a +thing!" Juliet declared. + +Julia, who had said nothing, stared at her, and laughed softly. She had a +very low, musical laugh. + +"I don't think you understand the position," said Mrs. Clutsam, turning +round at last and laying down her pen with an air of resignation. "David +Southern has inherited a lot of debts from his father, who only died last +year, and he had piled up a good many on his own account before then, +never suspecting that he would not be very well off. But he found the +place mortgaged up to the hilt. There is really nothing between his +mother and starvation, except her brother-in-law Ashiel's charity, and +that is not pleasant for her because she has never been on good terms +with him. It is very important that David should obtain money somehow, +for her sake more than for his own, and I'm sure he feels that deeply. He +is devoted to her." + +"But there are other ways of getting money than by marrying," +Juliet objected. + +"Yes, there are; but they are slow and uncertain, and David can't bear to +see his mother poor. I am sure it was for her sake that he proposed to +Miss Tarver." + +"I think he would have tried some other way first, unless he had been in +love with her," Juliet repeated, flushed and obstinate. + +"Mr. McConachan says Sir David is very fond of Miss Tarver, really," +said Julia, speaking for the first time. She spoke English fluently, but +with a slight foreign accent. "He says his cousin is so reserved that +he conceals his feelings as much as possible, but that, _au fond_, he +adores her." + +There was a short silence; Mrs. Clutsam seemed about to speak, but her +eyes met those of Lady Ruth fixed on her with an expressionless gaze, and +she turned round without a word and took up her discarded pen. + +They were both thinking the same thing. If David concealed his feelings +in the presence of Miss Tarver he was not so successful when he was in +Juliet's neighbourhood. Both women had noticed the change that came over +him when she was in the room. It was not that he did not try to appear +indifferent; he did not talk to her, or seek her society. On the contrary +he seemed to avoid it, and relapsed into silence at her approach. But +both Lady Ruth and Mrs. Clutsam had caught him looking at her when he +thought himself unobserved, and their observations had not left either of +them in any doubt as to how the land lay. + +Sir David Southern might be engaged to marry Miss Tarver, but he had +fallen in love with some one quite different, and some one who was, +moreover, or so they imagined, destined for quite another person. + +For what was Miss Juliet Byrne doing at Inverashiel Castle? + +This was a question which much exercised the minds of Lord Ashiel's +relations and, when she was not present, formed the subject of many +discussions. + +Where had this girl, this extremely pretty and attractive girl, suddenly +appeared from? Well, they all knew, of course, where she really had come +from; but why? Why had Lord Ashiel suddenly sprung her on them like +this? He had not even told Mrs. Haviland that he had invited her until +the day before she arrived. Why this mystery? Where had he met her? How +long had he known her? To a casual question Juliet had replied guardedly +that she had not known him very long, but that he knew her family. +Fervently did she hope that what she said was true. + +One thing, however, seemed certain. No matter how, where, or why, Ashiel +had made friends with Juliet Byrne, he was bent on becoming even better +acquainted. He appeared to be on excellent terms with her already, and +every day saw them grow more familiar, and, on Ashiel's side, almost +affectionate. If he went shooting or fishing Juliet must go too; to her +he addressed his remarks; it was she whom he consulted when he made plans +for the following days. His health was bad, he was subject to terrible +headaches, and if she were not present he grew quickly nervous and +irritable; when she was, he seldom took his eyes off her. He seemed to +watch her, Mrs. Clutsam thought, with a certain expectancy; but also with +a distinct and unmistakable pride. There was little doubt in the mind of +anyone in the house that there would soon be a second Lady Ashiel. + +As the party walked between the butts on that brilliant August day, Miss +Tarver tacked herself on to her host and strode on ahead with him, +keeping up a flow of interminable, drawling inanities, which made him +wonder for the fortieth time what David could see in her. + +The others tailed out after them, followed by dogs and loaders. + +Without knowing how it came about, Juliet found herself walking beside +David; and, as she was not used to the rough going on the hillside, they +insensibly dropped behind the rest of the long, straggling procession. +The way was uphill; Juliet panted and stumbled; and her companion seemed +disinclined to talk. + +They came to a burn, and he gave her his hand to cross from stone to +stone. The burn was high, and one stone was under water, leaving a space +too wide for Juliet to jump. David stepped on to the flooded rock, and +turned to her. + +"I will lift you over here," he said shortly. "Oh, I can wade quite +well," said she. "My shoes are wet already." + +But without more words he put his arms round her, and lifted her over. +When he put her down he found his tongue. + +"If Maisie stands with my uncle at the next drive," he said, "will you +come to my butt?" + +"I should like to," she said. For some reason his tone made her breath +come quickly. + +David stood looking down at her as though considering. + +"I can't go back on my word," he said at last inconsequently. "I shall +have to marry her, if she wants it, I suppose. But I can't bear you to +think that I care for her. I've got to think of other people." + +"You mustn't say that!" she cried. "Oh, you mustn't say that to me!" + +"Why not?" he said, looking at her strangely. "What have I said that +isn't right?" + +"Nothing, I suppose," Juliet faltered. "But--but--Oh," she cried, "if +you don't care for her, you must tell her so, and she will break it off. +Anything would be better than to go on with it!" + +"I think she knows," he answered gloomily. "She won't break it off, +because she wants to be 'my Lady,' It's a business matter, really. And +I'd have to stick to it for my mother's sake, anyhow." + +Juliet could think of nothing to say. "You ought not to marry her," she +stammered again. + +"If I didn't," he began hoarsely--"if she did let me go, I don't suppose +you'd ever care for me enough to marry me? Oh, I know I ought not to say +it," he broke off; "I'm a cad to speak like this. Forgive me, Juliet." + +Juliet's world revolved around her at an unusual pace for the space of a +second. She shut her eyes to steady herself; a mixture of misery and +happiness deprived her of speech or movement. Gradually the misery +predominated and she burst into tears. + +"Forgive me, forgive me," he was saying. He stood before her, looking as +wretched as a man can look. + +"Yes, yes," she sobbed. "Let us forget all about it. You must forget me." + +"You know I can't," he said. "Juliet, Juliet, don't cry. If you cry I +shall be simply obliged to kiss you." And he took a step towards her. + +They were still standing at the edge of the burn, screened from the +track ahead, partly by a little bush of alder which grew beside them, +partly by the winding of the path round the slope of the hill. As David +spoke a rabbit came scampering up to the other side of the bush, and +then, becoming aware of their proximity, turned at right angles and +darted down the bank. It was three or four yards away, and going hard, +when there was a loud report, and the branches of the alder cracked and +rattled. Several little boughs fell to the ground a foot or two away +from the spot on which Juliet stood. Surprise dried her tears and +restored David to his senses. + +"Hi!" he shouted, bounding on to the path, and waving his arms +frantically. "What are you shooting at? Look out, can't you?" + +Fifty yards up the track his Cousin Mark was standing, an open gun in his +hand; a scared ghillie was running towards them down the path beyond. + +"Good heavens, David," Mark ejaculated, "do you mean to say you were in +the burn? I thought you were on ahead! Why in the world did you lag +behind like that? Do you know I might easily have shot you?" + +"Do I know it? You precious near did shoot me, and Miss Byrne, too, I +tell you. If it hadn't been for that alder we should have been bound to +get most of the charge between us. It's not like you to be so careless." + +"I'm frightfully sorry, old man," said Mark, coming up; "it was careless +of me, but I felt sure there was no one back there. I saw that rabbit and +stalked it, meaning to overtake you all afterwards. They walk so +fearfully slow, you know, what with all these ladies, and Uncle Douglas +not feeling very fit. And Miss Byrne here, too! By Jove, I _am_ sorry! +Beastly stupid of me." + +He was plainly agitated, and could hardly blame himself severely enough. +And David, for his part, was not disposed to make light of what had +happened. Perhaps he was glad of a subject on which he could enlarge. + +"It was a rotten shot, too," he mumbled, as they all hurried on after +the others. "You were about four yards behind that rabbit." + +"Absolutely rotten," agreed Mark. "I don't know what's happened to my +shooting. I've hit every bird in the tail to-day, except when I've missed +'em clean, and that's what I've done most of the time. There's something +wrong with my eye altogether. If I don't get better, I shall knock off +shooting--for a few days, anyhow." + +All his usual self-possession seemed to have been shaken out of him by +the thought of the catastrophe he might have caused. Young, good-looking +and popular, he was accustomed to take the pleasure shown in his society +and the admiring approval of his associates, which had always contributed +so much to his comfortable feeling of satisfaction with himself, and +which had invariably strengthened his reluctance to harbour unpleasant +doubts as to his own perfections, as a matter of course; and the +heartiness with which he now cursed himself for a careless and dangerous +fool testified to the fright he had had. + +Even when David, relenting a little, though still reluctant to show +it, grunted surlily, "None of you cavalry soldiers are safe with a +gun." Mark did not, as he would generally have done, deny the +accusation resentfully, but displayed an astonishing meekness, which +proved how clearly he saw himself to be in the wrong. Juliet, who had +sometimes thought him rather selfish--a fault he shared with many +others of his kind, and one perhaps almost unavoidable in attractive +only sons--was touched by his unusual humility, and treated the matter +lightly, doing all she could to cheer him up and restore to him his +good opinion of himself. + +But Mark, while he smiled back gratefully in reply, would not allow her +to persuade him that he was less to blame than he asserted, and he was +still lamenting his carelessness when they came up with the rest of the +party, who were already stationed in the butts. + +Miss Tarver was beside Lord Ashiel, and Mark stopped a minute to relate +how nearly he had been the cause of an accident, although both David and +Juliet, by mutual consent, guessed what he was going to do, and tried to +dissuade him. + +"No need to say anything about it," David mumbled in his ear. + +"No, no, don't, please," Juliet murmured in the other. + +Yet he would not be tempted, and they walked on together in silence, +leaving him to tell the story. + +"I as near as makes no difference peppered David and Miss Byrne just +now," they heard him begin, and then Lord Ashiel's voice broke in in an +angry tone as they passed out of earshot. + +David's loader reported afterwards that that young gentleman and Miss +Byrne, when she waited with him in the butt, seemed to find very +little to talk about. And it was a long wait before any birds came up, +on that beat. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was a few days after this that Gimblet, taking up an evening paper at +the Club, was startled to see a sinister headline of "Murder," +immediately followed by the name of Ashiel. + +"MURDER OF A SCOTCH PEER." +"LORD ASHIEL SHOT DEAD IN HIS OWN HOUSE." +"ESCAPE OF MURDERER." + +"They've got him," he muttered between his teeth as he hastily began to +read the paragraph that followed: + +"News reaches us, as we go to press, of a dastardly crime, involving the +death of Lord Ashiel, which occurred late last night at his residence in +the Highlands of Scotland. Lord Ashiel was sitting quietly in his library +at Inverashiel Castle, when a shot was fired through the window by +someone in the grounds, which wounded his Lordship so severely that death +took place instantaneously. Although the household was immediately +alarmed and a thorough search made through the garden and grounds +surrounding the castle, the murderer contrived to escape. The police are +continuing their search in the neighbourhood, and it is believed that a +very strong clue to the scoundrel has been discovered. Douglas, Lord +Ashiel, was the seventh Baron. He was born in 1869, educated at Eton and +Oxford, and served for some years in the Diplomatic Service. He was a +widower and childless, and is succeeded in the title by his nephew, Mr. +Mark McConachan." + + +There was nothing more. + +Gimblet strode out of the Club and drove to New Scotland Yard. The +Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department was in, and +received him gladly. Gimblet held out the paper he had carried off from +the Club and pointed to the news of the tragedy. + +"Is all this correct?" he asked. + +"Yes, yes, indeed," replied Mr. Beech, the superintendent. "We heard of +it this morning. The Glasgow people have sent their men up, but it will +take them all day to get to the place. Inverashiel is on the West Coast, +and not what one would call easy to get at. They ought to be there about +five o'clock." + +"Who has gone?" asked Gimblet. + +"Macross has gone himself with one or two others. He has taken a +photographer and a finger-print man, and will get to work as soon as he +possibly can. This is a big business. Lord Ashiel is an important person; +apart from his being a Scotch landowner--he owns 90,000 acres of moorland +there--he is connected with half the great families in England. He has a +cousin in the Cabinet; cousins everywhere, in the Foreign Office, in +Parliament, in trade; he has one who owns a newspaper. He is rich; he is +a sleeping partner in some Newcastle iron works, he is part owner of a +small colliery in Yorkshire. Oh, there's going to be a fine to-do about +this case, you bet your life!" + +"I knew him," said Gimblet slowly. "He came to see me a fortnight ago. He +told me he expected an attempt might be made to kill him." + +"The deuce he did!" exclaimed Beech. "Did he say who it was he feared?" + +"Not exactly; but I gathered he had mixed himself up with some secret +society abroad. He refused to give me any explicit information, or to +appeal to you for protection, as I advised him to do. He told me he had +some document in his possession which his enemies were anxious to obtain +from him, and that if they failed to do so by peaceful methods he thought +it likely they might try to get him out of the way; though he added that +he did not anticipate any open assault, but thought it likely he might +die some death that should have all the appearances of being accidental. +He made me promise to take up the case if this should happen." + +"We are always glad of your help, my dear fellow," said Beech. + +"He gave me certain instructions, in the event of my being able to +satisfy myself that his death is the work of his Nihilist friends," said +Gimblet, who thought it unnecessary to mention his disconcerting +experience with the veiled lady, "And contrariwise, if I can make sure +that they have no hand in it, it was his wish that I should then leave +the whole thing alone. So I had better see what I can make of it before I +go into this any further with you." + +"I can't say I agree with that idea," protested the superintendent. +"However, I know you insist on working on your own lines, and that I have +really no influence with you, in spite of the show you make, humbug that +you are! of consulting my opinion. Well, good luck go with you; and let +me know if you hit on anything that escapes our men." + +Gimblet walked back to his flat, his mind full of the tragedy which he +had an uneasy feeling he might, in some way, have averted. How, he hardly +knew. Lord Ashiel could not have lived all his life encircled by a cordon +of police and detectives; and, without such precautions, a man condemned +by Nihilist societies is practically sure to fall a victim to their +excellent organization and disregard for the lives of their own members. + +Still Gimblet had liked the dead peer, and could not get the pale +aristocratic face and tired, feverish blue eyes out of his head. Surely +he might have found some way of preventing this catastrophe. + +He found a telegram at his flat. It was signed Byrne, and ran: + +"Please come immediately to investigate death of Lord Ashiel certain +some mistake." + +It had been sent off at four o'clock that day. + +"Higgs," called Gimblet to his servant, as he filled up the prepaid reply +form, "I am going North to-night, by the eight o'clock from Euston. Pack +me things for a week; country clothes; and put in plenty of chocolate." + +He collected several things he wanted packed, and then retired to his +sitting-room, where he buried himself in an enormous file of typewritten +papers he had borrowed from Scotland Yard, and which related to the +various Nihilists known to be living in England. He had to return them +before he left London, and when he dropped them at the Yard about seven +o'clock, on his way to the station, he learnt that no word had yet come +from the Scotch authorities as to any further developments at +Inverashiel. + +A few minutes past eight he was travelling North as fast as the Scotch +express could carry him. + +It was midday on the following day when he got off the steamer that had +brought him from Crianan, and landed with his luggage on the wooden pier +which displayed, painted on a rough board, the name of Inverashiel. + +One of the deck hands dumped his luggage out on to the side of the loch +and the boat moved on again. + +A track led across the moor, and down it Gimblet saw a farm cart +advancing, driven by a man who shouted as he approached: + +"The young leddy's comin' doon tae meet ye, sir." + +And behind him, on the near skyline, the detective beheld the hurrying +figure of a girl. + +Leaving the man with the cart to grapple with his luggage, which was not +of large dimensions, Gimblet walked to meet Juliet. As they drew near, +she stopped and held out her hand. + +"Mr. Gimblet?" she asked. + +"Yes," he said; "and you are Miss Byrne, are you not?" + +He looked at her keenly as he spoke, noticing that her eyes were red and +swollen, and that her whole bearing was eloquent of sorrow and want of +sleep. She lifted a miserable face to him. + +"Yes," she said. "I am so glad you have come, but it has seemed a long +while. I suppose you couldn't get here before. Do you know all that has +happened?" + +"I know that Lord Ashiel is dead," said the detective. "Hardly more +than that. Will you tell me all there is to tell before we go up to +the castle?" + +"I have left the castle, and am staying with Lady Ruth Worsfold, whose +house you can just see through the trees," she said. "Will you come there +first, or shall we go straight to the castle. It is about a mile through +the woods." + +"Let us walk straight up," said Gimblet. "You can tell me as we go. I +have, as you say, been a long while getting here, but it is fortunate +that the day is fine. I hope it has not rained during the last +thirty-six hours?" + +"I don't know," said the girl. "No; I believe it has been fine. But I +haven't taken much notice what the weather has been like." She was +disappointed and indignant that he should talk in this trivial strain, +when her own heart was nearly bursting, and her every nerve stretched and +tingling. She had pinned all her hopes on the arrival of the famous +detective. + +Gimblet heard the change in her tone. + +"You think I am talking platitudes about the weather," he said quickly, +"and you think I am unsympathetic for your distress; but, believe me, +what I said is very much to the point. If it has not rained the +murderer's footmarks will be very much more easily seen, and that is very +important." + +"You don't know," said Juliet in a voice that trembled ominously. "They +have found plenty of footmarks. The Glasgow detectives said they were +Sir--Sir David Southern's. They found his gun too, not cleaned; and they +say he did it, and they have taken him away, to--to prison." A sob +escaped her, but she controlled herself with a great effort and went on: +"You must prove that he didn't do it. I know he didn't. Anyone who knew +him must know he didn't. Oh you must, you must, find the real murderer!" + +Gimblet was silent for a moment before this appeal. It was difficult to +know what to say. He knew Macross well for a cautious, intelligent +officer; if he had arrested Sir David Southern it seemed pretty certain +that there was good evidence against that gentleman. On the other hand +Lord Ashiel had seemed to think it likely that his death might wear an +appearance calculated to mislead. Still Gimblet had a deep-rooted +prejudice against holding out hopes he could not see a good chance of +fulfilling, and he had so often been appealed to by distracted women to +save their friend and "find the real murderer." + +"Will you not begin at the beginning?" he said at last. "I know how you +came to be staying at Inverashiel, but I know nothing of what has +happened since your arrival, except the bare fact of Lord Ashiel's death. +Tell me every detail you can think of, but, first, who else was staying +at the castle besides yourself? I suppose they have left now?" + +"Yes, they have all gone," said Juliet. "The men went before it all +happened, and the others the next day. There were Lady Ruth Worsfold and +Mrs. Clutsam; they are both cousins of Lord Ashiel's, and he lends them +little houses that belong to him near here, but they were staying at the +castle for a week or two. Then there was Miss Julia Romaninov. She is +half a Russian, and Lord Ashiel's sister, who is away just now, had +invited her. An American girl, Miss Tarver, a great heiress, was there +too. The men were Sir George Hatch and Colonel Spicer, who are cousins of +Lord Ashiel's; and Mr. Mark McConachan and Sir David Southern, who are +his nephews, Mr. McConachan being the son of his dead brother, while Sir +David is his younger sister's child. + +"I have been here a fortnight. The time has gone quickly. Every one was +very nice to me; and, though nothing out of the way happened, it was all +new and delightful, and I enjoyed it very much. Lord Ashiel, especially, +was kindness itself; he was never tired of explaining to me the customs +and traditions of the countryside, and he spared no pains to see that I +was amused and entertained. I was with him most of the time, and grew to +know him very well. I thought him a wonderful man: so clever, so widely +read, so tolerant and sympathetic in his opinions. He was terribly +delicate, though; he had continual headaches, and was so easily tired; +but he told me it was a new thing for him to feel ill; up till a year or +so ago he had always had the best of health. Mrs. Clutsam told me she +thought he had been terribly worried over something; she didn't know what +it was; and of course it is not so very long since his wife and child +died. But he did not strike me as being troubled about anything; his eyes +had a sad expression, and sometimes he looked at me in a wondering sort +of way; but I never saw him appear worried, and he was always cheerful +and lively while I was with him." + +"Was he not equally so with the rest of the party?" asked Gimblet. "Did +he show his likes and dislikes plainly?" + +"I am afraid he did, rather. I think feeling ill and tired made him +irritable, and his temper was very quick. But he was always nice to me." + +"Who wasn't he nice too?" + +"Well, I don't think he liked Miss Romaninov much, In fact, she seemed to +get on his nerves, and sometimes he was so rude to her that I used to +wonder that she stayed. But she is such a quiet, good-tempered little +thing; she never seems to mind anything, and she was really sorry and +upset when he died. And he didn't much like the other girl, Miss Tarver, +but he made an effort, I think, to bear with her for his nephew's sake. +He said to me how glad he was that the boy would be well provided for." + +"Which nephew?" asked Gimblet. "I don't understand. What had Miss Tarver +to do with it?" + +"Sir David Southern was engaged to marry her. She has thrown him over +now," said Juliet, and in spite of herself there was a trace of elation +in her voice. "As soon as Sir David was suspected of the murder she broke +off the engagement." + +"Ah," said Gimblet, stooping to pick a piece of bracken, and waving it +before him to keep at bay the flies, which were buzzing round them in +clouds. He offered another bit silently to his companion, and she took it +absently, without a word. + +"He seemed very fond of Mr. McConachan," she said, "and I think he liked +every one else as well. Yes, I am sure he did, though he did have a +dreadful quarrel with Sir David two days before he was killed; and he was +angry with him once before that." + +"Ah," said Gimblet again. "How was that?" + +"The first time it was my fault, or partly my fault," Juliet went on. "It +was out shooting, and I couldn't go as fast as the others, so I lagged +behind and nearly got shot by accident, as Mr. McConachan thought we were +in front of him. Sir David was with me, and Lord Ashiel was fearfully +angry with him, and said he'd no business to let me get in a place where +I might have been killed. He was rather cross with him for the next few +days, though I told him it was my fault; and then the other day, when Sir +David annoyed him again, there was a frightful row." + +"Was that your fault too?" asked Gimblet with a smile. + +"No, it really wasn't. Sir David had a dog, a retriever, to which he was +devoted, but which Lord Ashiel hated. It was not a well-trained dog, I +must admit, and it used to pay very little attention to its master, +except at meal times, when it became very affectionate, not only to him, +but to every one. The truth is that he spoilt it, and never punished it +when it did wrong, or took any trouble to make it behave better. I heard +that before I arrived there was trouble about it, as it did a lot of +damage in the garden, trampling down the flower-beds, and knocking Lord +Ashiel's favourite plants to pieces--he was very fond of gardening--and +the very first day they went out shooting it ran away for miles, and Sir +David after it, which delayed one of the drives half an hour. His uncle +had been very cross about that, they said, and told Sir David he must +keep it on a chain; but the next day it ate a grouse it was supposed to +be retrieving, and Lord Ashiel was furious, and said that if it did +anything more of the kind he'd have it killed. + +"However, after that, all went well. The dog was kept tightly chained, +and nothing happened till the other day. We were all out on the moors, +waiting in the butts for the last drive to begin. Everything had gone +badly with the shooting that day; the birds all went the wrong way; there +were hardly enough guns for driving, anyhow; there was a high wind, and +the shooting had been shocking; no one had shot well except Mr. +McConachan, who is such a good shot; every one had been wounding their +birds, and that always annoyed Lord Ashiel. He was in a very bad temper, +and though he was not cross with me, I was rather afraid he might be, so +I went and stood with Sir David. Miss Tarver was watching Sir George +Hatch in the next butt, and then came Colonel Spicer, with Mr. McConachan +and Lord Ashiel right at the end of the line. + +"We had been waiting some time, when Sir David whispered to me that the +birds were coming, and crouched down under the wall of the butt. His +loader was kneeling behind him ready to hand him his second gun, with two +cartridges stuck between his fingers to reload the first one. We were all +intent on the grouse, and no one noticed that that wretched dog had +worked his head out of his collar and was roaming about behind us. Just +at that moment a mountain hare came lolloping along the crest of the +hill, and, deceived by the stillness, came to a pause just opposite us +and sat up on its hind legs to brush its whiskers with its paw. Its +toilette didn't last long, however, for by that time the dog had caught +its wind, and with a series of yelps had hurled itself upon it. The hare +was off in a second, and away they went, straight down the line, the dog +making as much noise as a whole pack of hounds as he bounded and leapt +over the thick heather. Sir David started up with an exclamation of +dismay, and I, too, stood up and looked over the top of the butt. +Following the direction of his eyes, I saw clouds of grouse streaming +away to the left, all turning as they came over the hill, and wheeling +away from us towards the north. + +"The drive was absolutely spoilt. The hare and its pursuer had by this +time gone the whole length of the butts, and looked like going till +Christmas. Lord Ashiel had come out into the open, and we saw him put his +gun to his shoulder. The dog gave one last leap, and rolled over before +the report reached our ears. It was a quarter of a mile away from us." + +Juliet paused; she was out of breath; they had been walking fast and were +within sight of the castle gates. The way led along the side of Loch +Ashiel, and the castle rose in front of them on a tall rocky promontory, +which jutted far into the water. + +"Let us rest here a few minutes," said Gimblet. "It is too much to ask +you to talk while we are walking up that hill, and I don't want you to +leave out any details, however unimportant they may appear to you." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +They had reached a place where a wide horseshoe of beach ran down to the +loch. For more than a week there had been no rain to speak of. The season +as a whole had been dry, and the water was very low; tufts of grass +dotted the shore; brambles and young alders were springing up bravely, +determined to make the most of their time. At the back stretched a +meadow, part of which had been cut for hay; the rest of it was so full of +weeds and wild flowers, ragweed, burdock and the red stalks of sorrel, +that it had been left untouched, and filled the foreground with colour. +The grass had gone to seed and turned a rich reddish purple; beneath it +grew wild geraniums whose leaves were already scarlet. Bluebells and +scabious made a haze of mauve, and everywhere the warm, sandy stalks of +the dried grasses shone yellow through the patch. + +They sat down at the edge of the beach and leant back against the +overhanging turf. Opposite to them the little town of Crianan clung to +the steep rocks below Ben Ghusy, the houses looking as if they stood +piled one on top of another in a rough pyramid; and the whole surmounted +by the high walls and tower of the Roman Catholic monastery which +dominated the scene, and always seemed to Juliet to wear a look of stern +defiance, as if it were offering a challenge to that other fortress that +frowned back at it. She could imagine the monks in the old days, standing +on its parapet and daring the Lords of Inverashiel to do their worst. Far +away down the loch lay the hills, scarce more deeply grey than the water; +beyond them more distant tops melted into the sky. The grey ripples +lapped gently on jagged shingle, and a persistent housefly buzzed loudly +round their heads; at that hour there were as yet few midges, and it was +very peaceful, very solitary, very desolate. + +"I don't know," said Juliet, going on with her story where she had left +off, "which was more angry, Lord Ashiel or Sir David. After the first few +minutes, in which they both said things I am sure they regretted +afterwards, neither of them would speak to the other, and it was a very +uncomfortable evening for every one. The next day was better. Colonel +Spicer and Sir George left by the morning train, both going on to shoot +in other parts of Scotland. Mrs. Clutsam went away too; she had some one +coming to stay with her at her own house near by. Both the young men went +stalking on different parts of the forest, and Lord Ashiel and I, with +the two other girls, spent the morning on the loch trolling for salmon; +but we didn't get a rise. + +"In the afternoon I walked up the river with Julia Romaninov; we talked +about our schooldays. She had been at school in Germany, and I in +Switzerland. After a while she got tired and went home, but I went on by +myself, for I had a lot of things to think of, and was glad to be alone. +I came at last to a great pool among the rocks, where the river comes +down in a fall from far above in a cloud of spray and foam. I stood on a +stone at the water's edge and watched the trout rising in the pool. The +river was low and the water very clear. Standing on the rocks above it, +it seemed as if I could see every pebble at the bottom, except where they +were hidden in the ripples which spread away from beneath the fall. The +pool is like the bottom of a well; high rocks rear themselves round it to +a great height; they are veiled in a greenness of fern and moss, and near +the top many trees have found a roothold in the crevices and bend forward +towards each other over the water, as divers poise themselves before +leaping down. Through a narrow opening opposite the fall the river makes +its way onward. As I stood there a stone must have come down from the +heights above. I did not see it, and the noise of the waterfall deadened +any sound of its descent, but suddenly I felt a heavy blow between the +shoulders, and I must have tumbled forward into the pool below. + +"The next thing I remember was looking up into the anxious friendly face +of Andrew Campbell, one of the ghillies at Inverashiel. It seemed to be +hanging above me in the sky, which was the only other thing I could see, +and I wondered vaguely why I saw it upside down. My head was aching +cruelly and I couldn't imagine what was the matter, though I was too weak +and faint to care. To cut my adventure short, Andrew had come to a pool +lower down the river just as I floated into it on top of the current; he +had fished me out, and was now restoring me to life again. I was got back +to the house, how I hardly know, put to bed, and actually wept over by +Lord Ashiel. By the evening I had so far recovered that I was able to +come down to dinner, though I should not have done so if it had not been +for the anxiety of my host, as my head still felt as if it was going to +split. I received many congratulations on my escape, and Lord Ashiel, +when he spoke of it, was so much moved that every one was quite +embarrassed, and I myself was touched beyond expression at the affection +he did not attempt to conceal. He was very silent after that, but in +spite of him dinner that night was a merry meal. Every one was in the +best of spirits, or else assumed them for the time being. We all joked +and laughed over my adventure, and Mr. McConachan said I bore a charmed +life, since I had escaped being killed by his careless shot, and now the +river refused to drown me. It was not till the servants had left the +room, and we were preparing to do the same, that Lord Ashiel spoke again. + +"Lady Ruth had got up, and was moving towards the door, and the other +girls and I were following her, when he called her back. 'Will you wait a +minute, Ruth,' he said. 'I have something to tell you and my young +friends here.' He smiled round at all of us, including Sir David, to whom +he hadn't spoken since the affair of the dog. 'I have some good news +which I want you to share with me.' He took me by the hand and drew me +forward. 'I want,' said he, 'to introduce you all to a young lady whom +you do not know. This is Juliet McConachan, my dear and only daughter.' + +"I was not really so surprised as he expected. His behaviour to me had +made me suspicious, and during the last few days especially I had allowed +myself to nourish a hope that we were related. But I was glad. I can't +tell you how glad and thankful. Every one else was tremendously +surprised. They all clustered round us with questions and exclamations, +but Lord Ashiel would say no more just then, and only smiled and beamed, +and nodded mysteriously. 'I am not going to answer any questions till I +have had a talk with Juliet,' he said. 'This is as much news to her as it +is to any of you, and it is only fair that she should be the first to +hear the story. For I won't deny that there is a story. Come to me +presently, my child,' he went on, addressing himself to me. 'Come to the +library in half an hour's time. You will find me there, and I will tell +you all about it.' + +"I went to the drawing-room, my aching head almost forgotten. I was, of +course, intensely excited; indeed I think I scarcely took in any of the +kind things that Lady Ruth and the others said to me that evening; at all +events I have hardly any idea what they were, and none at all as to what +I answered. My one overmastering desire was to be alone; to have time to +think; to realize all that the news meant to me; and after a quarter of +an hour had passed I made some excuse, and left the room. The nearest way +to my bedroom was by a back stair, and to reach it I had to pass through +a passage leading to the gun-room. The door of that room was ajar, and as +I went by Sir David Southern came out. + +"'What have you been doing in there at this time of night?' I asked; and +oh, Mr. Gimblet, I was so foolish as to repeat this to the Glasgow +detective when he questioned me. To think that my careless words have led +them to believe Sir David capable of such a crime! But I had no idea of +the meaning they would attach to it. You will understand presently how it +was. 'I went to clean my rifle,' he answered, shutting the door behind +him. 'I always see to that myself. And where are you off to so fast, +Cousin Juliet? That is what you are to me, it appears.' And so we +talked: about me, and our newly discovered relationship. I need not +repeat all that, need I? And, besides, I do not remember everything we +said," added Juliet, flushing. + +"After a little while, though, I told him how badly my head ached, and he +was very sympathetic about it. 'You ought not to have come down to +dinner,' he said, 'the dining-room gets so hot and stuffy; it is a low +room, and Uncle Douglas never will have the window open, even on a lovely +night like this.' There is a door at the foot of the stairs, opposite the +gun-room, and as he spoke he drew back the bolt. 'Come out into the +garden for a few minutes,' he said, holding the door open for me to pass, +'a little fresh air will do you more good than anything.' + +"The night was warm, I suppose, for Scotland, but cool enough to seem +wonderfully fresh and invigorating after the enclosed air within the +house. It was very dark, and the sky was overcast, though just above us a +star or two was shining, very large and clear. Otherwise I could hardly +distinguish anything at all, except the line, about fifty yards away, +where the lawn came to an end, and the ground dipped abruptly down +towards the loch, so that the level edge of the grass showed up against +the less opaque darkness of the sky, like a black velvet border to a +piece of black silk. + +"We stood there a little while, till I remembered I must go to the +library. My head was already much better when I turned back into the +house; Sir David didn't follow me; he seemed to be staring through the +gloom in front of him. 'I am going in,' I said. 'What are you looking +at?' 'I thought I saw something move over there on the skyline,' he +replied; 'do you see anything?' I looked, but could make out nothing. +'Well,' he said, 'if you are going in, I think I'll just go over and see +if there's anyone about; you might leave the door open, will you?' + +"And so I left him, and made my way to the library. As I passed through +the billiard-room, Mr. McConachan, who was knocking the balls about, +asked me if I had seen his cousin, and I told him Sir David was outside +on the lawn by the gun-room door. + +"Lord Ashiel--my father--was waiting for me, and he came to meet me and +kissed me tenderly. We were both very much agitated: I was still feeling +the effects of my escape from drowning, and he, poor dear, was weak and +ill. In short, neither of us was in a fit state to meet the situation +calmly; and, if my tears flowed, they were not the only ones that were +shed. For a few moments we cried like babies, in each other's arms, and +then I pulled myself together, for I knew how bad it was for his health +to get into this nervous state. Mr. Gimblet, I needn't tell you all the +conversation that followed between us. He told me that you know the whole +story, that you are the one person in the world in whom he had confided; +so it is unnecessary for me to repeat what he said of his marriage to my +mother, of her death, and of his resolve never willingly to look upon me, +the baby who had taken her from him. He told me also of the years that +had intervened between that day when he had shuffled off his +responsibilities on to Mrs. Meredith, and the day, not long ago, when he +at last decided to hunt out his daughter. + +"He told me of his fears that she should prove to be none other than +Julia Romaninov, and of how, in desperation, he had applied to you for +help, and of how you had discovered my existence. + +"He said he had never really doubted from the moment he first set eyes on +me that I was Juliana's child. But he dared not hint such a thing to me +till he was certain, and anxious though he was to see a likeness between +me and her, or himself, he had not been able to tell himself, truthfully, +that he could really see one, until that day. It was when I was brought +home that afternoon, so white and faint, so changed by my pallor from +what he chose to describe as my usual gay brilliance, that the +resemblance suddenly showed itself. He hardly knew that it was I; it +might have been Juliana that they were carrying. He said there could be +no doubt that I was her daughter; that he for one, required no further +proof; though we should probably get it now it was no longer wanted. Sir +Arthur Byrne might be able to suggest some way of tracing things. Not +that it mattered, for he could not in any case leave me his title, and, +on the other hand, he had full control of his money, which would be mine +before very long. + +"I cried out at that, that he must not say so; that it was not money I +wanted, but a father, affection, friendship. He repeated that all the +same I should have it in course of time. That it was all settled already. +Even before he was certain that I was his own child, he liked me well +enough to make up his mind about that. He asked me if I remembered that +he had stayed at home the other day while the rest of us were on the +hill? He said he had made his will that day, and I was the principal +legatee, though he had not alluded to me in it by my own name. But he +worded it carefully, so that that should make no difference; and though +he believed it was quite clear as it was, he would make it over again, +as soon as he could obtain legal proof of my birth. + +"I supposed I murmured some sort of thanks for his care of my future, and +he went on again, saying that he only wished the title could come to me +too, when he died; but that it would go to Mark, since the little boy his +second wife had given him was dead, and I was a girl. + +"He said he was afraid that Mark might be a little disappointed, for, if +he hadn't found me, Mark and David would have shared his fortune between +them; but they would soon get over it, for they were good lads, +especially Mark; and David would have plenty of money through this very +satisfactory marriage of his. I couldn't help interrupting that money +wasn't everything. I am telling you all these trivial things, Mr. +Gimblet, because you said I was to try and remember everything, however +unimportant." + +"Yes," said Gimblet, "that is what I want. Pray go on." + +"He only smiled when I said that," Juliet resumed, "and said that +different opinions were held on that subject by different people. Then he +went on talking about my future life, and said again how glad he would +always be that he had consulted you, and how grateful he was for what you +had done for him, and that if any trouble cropped up, I was to be sure +and send for you at once. He looked to you to protect my interests, and, +if necessary, to avenge his death. + +"I couldn't think what he meant, and said so; but he only smiled again +and said he hoped there would be no need for it. He said he had some +papers he must send to you to take care of, some papers that were rather +dangerous to their owner, he was afraid, though at the same time they +were a safeguard to him. But he shouldn't like me to have anything to do +with them, or the boys either, and he must get them away from Inverashiel +as soon as he could. In the meantime they were in a safe place where no +one would find them, and he would write to you that night and tell you +how to look for them, just on the chance that something should happen +before he could send them off. His will was with them, too, for the +present, but he would send that up to Findlay & Ince. He wouldn't tell me +where the papers were; he didn't want me to have anything to do with +these tiresome things. + +"He said all this with hesitation; with long pauses between the +sentences. It seemed to me that he would have liked to tell me more, and +I didn't know what to say. Indeed, he seemed to be talking rather to +himself than to me, and I am not sure if he heard me when I said that if +he had any anxiety I should like to share it, if it were possible. +Presently he seemed to take a sudden resolution. He said that there was +no reason, at all events, why he should not explain to me how to find the +papers. He had written directions in cipher once before and given you the +key, but you had lost it, and might do so again. It would be just as well +that I should know about it too, in any case. He had had to think out a +new method, and at present it was known to no one except himself, which +was perhaps not very wise. However, he would send it to you that night, +and would explain it to me at once. But first I must promise him, very +faithfully, never to mention it to anyone, whatever happened, not to let +anyone, except you, ever guess that there was such a thing in existence. + +"I promised solemnly; still he hardly seemed satisfied, and looked at me +very searchingly, while he said he wondered if I were old enough to +understand the importance of this, and if I realized that I was promising +not to tell my nearest or dearest; not my adopted father, Sir Arthur +Byrne, nor my lover, if I had one. That it was a matter of life and +death, that his life was in danger then, and that I would inherit the +risk unless I did as he said. + +"Rather indignant, though completely mystified, I promised again. He +seemed satisfied, and said he would write the whole thing down for me. He +moved from the hearth, where we had been sitting, to the writing-table, +which stands in the middle of the room, in front of the window. He sat +down at it, and I stood a little behind him, looking on as he took a +sheet of notepaper and turned over the pens in the tray in search of a +pencil. The room was very hot; the tufts of peat smouldering in the +grate, and the two lamps, combined with the fumes of Lord Ashiel's cigar +to render the atmosphere oppressive to a person with a violent headache. +I glanced longingly towards the window. It was not entirely hidden by the +heavy curtains which were drawn across it, for they did not quite meet in +the middle, and I could see perfectly well that the window was shut. For +a moment I hesitated, torn between the desire for fresh air and the fear +that my father might feel too cold. He was terribly chilly. I decided to +ask him, and turned to him again as he took up the pencil and examined +the point critically. + +"'Would you mind,' I was beginning; but at that instant a loud report +sounded just outside the window. Lord Ashiel fell forward on to the table +with a low cry, his hand clasped to his ribs. 'Oh, what is it?' I cried, +bending over him; 'you are hurt; you are shot! Oh, what shall I do!' He +was making a great effort to speak, I could see that plainly enough; but +no words would come, and he seemed to be choking. At last he managed to +get out a few words. 'Gimblet,' he gasped, 'the clock--eleven--steps--' +and then with a groan his hand dropped from his side, his head rolled +back upon the table, and a silence followed, more horrible to me than +anything that had gone before. + +"I saw now that his shirt was already soaked with blood; and, as in +terror I called again upon his name, the dreadful truth was borne in upon +me, and I knew that he was dead." + +Juliet's voice failed her; she spoke the last few words in a quavering +whisper, and if Gimblet had looked at her at that moment he would have +beheld a countenance drawn and distorted by horror. + +But he was very much occupied, and did not look up. With a notebook open +on his knee, he was busily writing down what she had said. + +"You are sure of the words?" he asked, as his pencil sped across the +page. "'Gimblet--the clock--eleven--step,' is that it?" + +His matter-of-fact voice soothed and reassured her. This little +grey-haired man, sitting at her side, was somehow a very comfortable +companion to one whose nerves were badly overwrought. Juliet pulled +herself together. + +"Steps," she corrected, and her voice sounded almost natural again. +"Not step." + +"Do you suppose," asked the detective, "that he meant the English word, +steps, or the Russian, steppes?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet, surprised. "I never thought of it. But, Mr. +Gimblet, I have not told anyone but you that he spoke after he was hit. I +thought perhaps that he might have wished those last words of his to be +kept private." + +"Quite right," said Gimblet approvingly. "He did right to trust your +discretion. And now, please, go on," he added, putting down his pencil; +"what happened next?" + +And Juliet answered him in a tone as calm as his own: + +"I think I must have fainted." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +"The next thing I remember, was finding myself lying on the floor, and, +when I tried to get up, seeing everything in the room swinging about me +like the swinging boats at a fair. I don't know how long I had been +unconscious, but when, at last, I managed to stand up, and clinging, +faint and giddy, to the back of a chair, looked again at the motionless +figure that sprawled across the writing-table, there was a great pool of +blood on the polished oak of the floor beneath it, which grew slowly +broader, as drop after drop dripped down to swell it. With a great effort +I conquered my faintness, and staggered out of the room and down the +long passage. + +"In the billiard-room Mr. McConachan was still practising his game. He +must have been making a break, for I remember hearing him speak, as I +opened the door. 'Twenty-seven,' he said aloud. My voice wouldn't come, +and I stood holding on to the doorpost, while he, with his back to me, +went on potting the red. + +"'That you, Miss Byrne?' he said, without looking round. Then, as I +didn't answer, he glanced up and saw by my face, I suppose, that +something was very wrong. He came quickly to me, his cue in his hand. +'What's the matter?' he said. 'Do you feel ill?' 'Lord Ashiel is dead,' I +said; 'in the library. Some one shot him. Didn't you hear?' 'Dead?' he +cried; 'Uncle Douglas shot! Do you know what you're saying! I heard a +shot, it is true, five minutes ago, but surely that was the keeper +shooting an owl or something.' + +"I shook my head. 'He is dead,' I repeated dully. He looked at me, still +incredulous, and then darted forward and caught me by the arm. 'Here, sit +down,' he said, and half pushed, half led me to a chair. I saw him run to +the bell and tug violently at the rope. Then I believe I fainted again. + +"I think that is all there is to tell you, Mr. Gimblet. You know already +that the murderer got clear away, and the next morning footmarks were +found outside the window which proved to have been made by Sir David +Southern. I was so idiotic, when I was questioned, as to mention having +spoken to him outside the gun-room door, and to repeat, incidentally, +that he had said he had been cleaning his rifle. I never dreamt that +anyone could be so mad as to suspect him. But they looked at the rifle, +and found that it was dirty, so that it must have been discharged again +since I saw him. And it appears he did not join in the search for the +murderer, and was not seen until it was all over. And so they arrested +him and took him away. No amount of evidence could ever make me believe +for a moment that he had a hand in this dreadful thing, but oh, Mr. +Gimblet, I see only too well how black it looks against him. What shall I +do if you, too, now that I have told you everything, think he did it? You +don't, do you?" + +"My dear young lady," said the detective. "I really can't give you an +opinion at present. There are a score of points I must investigate, a +dozen other people besides yourself whom I must question, before I can +form any kind of conclusion. I hope that Sir David Southern may prove to +be a much wronged man. But beyond that I can't go, just at present; and I +shouldn't build too much on my help if I were you. I'm not infallible; +far from it. And I certainly can't prove him innocent if he is guilty." + +He stood up, shaking the sand out of his clothes. + +"Let us go on, up to the castle," he said. + +The gates were near at hand; in silence they breasted the steep incline +of the drive, which wound and zigzagged up between high banks covered +with rhododendron and bracken, and grown over with trees. After a quarter +of a mile these gave place to an abrupt, grass covered slope, whose top +had been smoothed and levelled by the hand of man, and from which on the +far side rose the castle of Inverashiel, its stout and ancient framework +disguised and masked by the modern addition to the building which faced +the approach; a mass of gabled and turreted stonework in the worst style +of nineteenth century architecture which in Scotland often took on a +shape and semblance even more fantastically repulsive than it assumed in +the south. The great tower that formed the principal remaining portion of +the old building could just be discerned over the top of the flaring +façade, but the nature of the site was such that most of the ancient +fortress was invisible from that part of the grounds. Juliet stopped at +the turn of the road. + +"I will leave you here," she said, "you will not want me, I suppose? +After you have finished, will you come to Lady Ruth Worsfold's house, and +tell me what you think? It is just past the station turning; you will +easily find your way, though the house is hidden by the trees. Your +luggage will be there already, as Lady Ruth is going to put you up." + +Mr. Mark McConachan, or rather Lord Ashiel, as he had now become, was in +the act of ending a solitary meal, when Gimblet was announced. He went +to meet the detective, forcing to his trouble-lined face a smile of +welcome that lit up the large melancholy eyes with an expression few +people could resist. + +"I thought it was another of those newspaper fellows, but, thank +goodness, I believe they're all gone now," he said. "I am exceedingly +glad to see you, Mr. Gimblet. I should myself have asked you to come to +our aid, but I found that Miss Byrne had been before me. I suppose you +have seen her?" + +"Yes," said Gimblet. "She met me at the station. I'm afraid I'm rather +late on the scene. I hear that the Glasgow police have come and gone, +taking with them the author of the crime." + +"It is a dreadful business altogether," returned young Ashiel. "I don't +know which part of it is the worst. There's my uncle dead, shot down like +a rat by some cold-blooded scoundrel; and now my cousin David, poor chap, +in jail, and under charge of murder. It seems impossible to believe it of +him, and yet, what is one to believe? One can only suppose that he must +have been off his head if he did it. But have you had lunch, Mr. Gimblet? +Sit down and have something to eat first of all; you can ask me any +questions you wish while you are eating." + +And he insisted on Gimblet's doing as he suggested. + +"The household is naturally a bit disorganized," he said when the +servants had left the room and the detective was busy with some cold +grouse. "I had a cold lunch myself to save trouble; would you rather +have something hot? I expect that a chop or something could be produced, +if you are cold after your journey." + +Gimblet assured him that he could like nothing better than what he +already had. + +"You have had Macross up here, haven't you?" he asked. "It is really +disappointing to find the whole thing over before I arrive. I am afraid +there is nothing left for me to do." + +Mark looked at him quickly. Was it possible he accepted Macross's verdict +without inquiring further himself? + +"We are hoping you will undo what has been done," he said. "I look to you +to get my cousin out of prison. Surely there must be some other +explanation than that he did it. I simply won't believe it." + +"If there is any other explanation," said Gimblet, "I will try and +find it; but the affair looks bad against Sir David Southern from what +I can hear." + +"Why should he have shot through the window?" said Ashiel. "They were +both in the same house. Why should my cousin go into the garden, when +he had nothing to do but to open the library door and shoot, if he +wanted to?" + +"Oh," said Gimblet, "ordinary caution would suggest the garden. He did +not know perhaps, whether his uncle would be alone; and as a matter of +fact, he was not, was he?" + +"No, Miss Byrne was with him. By Jove," said Mark, bending forward to +light a cigarette, "I shall never forget the fright it gave me when I +saw her face. She looked as if--oh, she looked perfectly ghastly! I was +in the billiard-room when she came in, as white as a sheet, and stood +there without speaking for a minute, while I imagined every sort of +catastrophe except the real one. And all the time I kept thinking it +would turn out to be nothing really, as likely as not; women will look +hideously frightened and upset if they cut their finger, or see a rat, +or think they hear burglars. One never knows. And then at last she got +out a few words, 'Lord Ashiel has been shot,' or something of the sort, +and fainted." + +"What did you do?" asked Gimblet. + +"Well, I had to see to her, you know. I couldn't very well leave her in +that state, could I? I hung on to the bell for all I was worth, and the +butler and footmen came running. I told them to look after the young lady +and to call her maid, and then I ran off to the library, followed by old +Blanston, the butler. You know what we found there. My poor old uncle, +dead as a door nail; a hole in the window where the bullet came in, and +the floor around him all covered with blood. Ugh!" Mark shuddered, "it +was horrid. We only stayed to make sure he was dead, and then we left him +as we had found him and rushed back to rouse the rest of the household, +and to start a chase after the murderer. Of course the first person I +looked for was David Southern, but he wasn't to be found, so I and three +menservants ran out at once with sticks and lanterns, and hunted all over +the grounds without seeing or hearing anything or anyone. The hall boy +had been sent down to fetch up the stablemen and chauffeur, and to rout +out some of the gardeners and anyone else he could find, so that we were +a decently large party, and I don't think there was an inch of ground we +didn't go over, of all that lies within the policies. The murderer, +however, had plenty of time to get right away, and as it was hopeless to +scour the whole country side in that darkness--for it was as black as +your hat--I decided, after an hour of groping about in the shrubberies, +that we must leave off and wait for daylight." + +"What time was it when you abandoned the hunt?" asked Gimblet. + +"It was past midnight. I didn't see that any good could be done by +sitting up all night. On the contrary, I thought it important that we +should get some sleep while we could, so as to be fresher for the chase +when daylight came. At this time of the year it gets light fairly early, +so I sent every one to bed, except two of the ghillies, whom I told to +row across the loch to Crianan and fetch the doctor and police, which I +suppose I ought to have thought of before. Then I went to bed myself." + +"And when did Sir David Southern turn up?" asked Gimblet. + +"Oh, he appeared soon after we started to beat the policies. I hadn't +time then to ask him where he'd been, and he was as keen on catching +the murderer as anyone. Of course it never occurred to me to +cross-question him." + +"Naturally. Please go on with your narrative." + +"Well, we slept, to speak for myself, for three or four hours, and then +James and Andrew came back with the people I had sent for. And now, Mr. +Gimblet, I come to a strange thing, a thing I've been careful not to +mention to anyone but you, though I'm afraid it's bound to come out at +the trial. When Blanston and I went out of the library, we locked the +door behind us, but when I opened it again, to let in the doctor and the +police, my uncle's body had been moved." + +"Moved? How?" Gimblet repeated after him. + +"Oh, not far, but it had been touched by some one, I am ready to swear, +though I said nothing about it at the time. When we first found him, he +was lying forward on the table with one arm under his head and the other +hanging beside him. When I went in for the second time he was sitting +sideways in his chair with his head and arm in quite a different place. +Instead of being in the middle, on the blotting-pad, they were further to +the right, on the bare polished wood." + +Gimblet looked at him keenly. + +"You are perfectly certain of this?" he said. + +"Absolutely. Besides, you can ask Miss Byrne and Blanston. They both saw +him as he was at first. And the police and Dr. Duncan can tell you what +his position was when they went into the room. I said nothing about it +to any of them, because I thought at once that it must be David who had +been there." + +"Why did you think that?" + +"Because he knew where the key was. I took it out of my pocket when we +were alone in the smoking-room before going up to bed, and asked him what +I should do with it. + +"'Oh, put it in a drawer,' he said, pointing to the writing-table, and I +put it there, as he suggested. Of course I see now that some one else may +have found the key in that drawer, but at first it did look as if David +must, for some reason, have taken it, and been in the library, after I'd +gone to bed." + +"It seems very unlikely that anyone else would have hit on the place +where you had put it," said Gimblet reflectively. "And if they had +done so, would they have recognized the key? Is the library key +peculiar in any way?" + +"It is rather an uncommon pattern," said Mark. "It is very old and +strong. I think anyone who knew the key would have recognized it +all right." + +"It is hardly likely that anyone would have found it if they had had to +search all through the house for it in the middle of the night," +commented Gimblet. "Is there no other way of getting into the library?" + +"No, there is only one door." + +"How about the window? It was broken; could not anyone have put in a +hand, or raised the sash?" + +"I don't think anyone could have got in. It isn't a sash window. There +are stone mullions and small leaded casements in the old part of the +castle where the library is, and I doubt if anyone larger than a child +could squeeze through; in fact, a child couldn't; there are iron bars +down the middle, which make it too narrow." + +"H'm," murmured Gimblet. "I should like to have a look at them. And what +was the doctor's report?" + +"He said that the injuries to the heart were such that death must have +been instantaneous, or practically so." + +"Did anything else come out?" + +"Nothing, except the evidence against poor old David, I'm sorry to say." + +"You haven't told me that yet," said Gimblet. "Go on from when the police +arrived on the scene." + +"As soon as it was daylight we started off again on our search. But right +at the beginning of it, they came upon the footsteps." + +"Ah, where were they?" + +"The flower-bed outside the library window showed them plainly; the +ground beyond that was mossy, and there were no other marks. We divided +into two parties, one going west down the side of the loch, and the other +north and east over the hills. Till ten o'clock or later we beat the +country, searching behind every rock, and going through the woods and +bracken in a close line. But we saw no sign of a stranger, and came back +at last, dead beat, for food and a rest. When we got back we found that +the policeman left in charge had been nosing about, and whiling away his +time by collecting the boots of every one in the house and fitting them +to the footprints on the flower-bed. As bad luck would have it, David's +shooting-boots exactly fitted the marks." + +"His shooting-boots?" said Gimblet. "He wouldn't be wearing +shooting-boots after dinner." + +"That's what he said himself, and there seems no imaginable reason why he +should have worn them, unless--" Mark hesitated for a moment, and then +went on in a tone perhaps rather too positive to carry complete +conviction to a critical ear. "Of course not. He can't have put them on +after dinner. The idea is ludicrous. He must have made those footmarks +earlier in the day." + +"Is that what he himself says?" asked the detective. He had finished +eating, and was leaning back in his chair with that air of far-off +contemplation which those best acquainted with him knew was +habitually his expression when his attention and interest were more +than usually roused. + +"No," admitted Mark regretfully. "He doesn't. He sticks to it that he'd +never been near the flower-bed, with boots, or without them; it's my +belief his memory has been affected by the shock of all this. And he +would insist on talking to the police, though they warned him that +what he said might be used against him. I did all I could to stop him, +but it was no good. It really looked as if he was doing his best to +incriminate himself." + +"How was that? What else did he say?" + +"You see," said Mark, "when the Crianan man had got hold of the boots +that matched the footprints, he was no end excited by his success. +Pleased to death with himself, he was. And he was as keen as mustard on +following up his rotten clue. The next thing he did was to want a look at +David's guns. Of course we didn't make any objection to that, though if +I'd known--well, it's no earthly thinking of that now. So off we all +marched in procession to the gun-room, and it didn't take long to see +that the only one of the whole lot there that hadn't been cleaned since +it was last fired was the Mannlicher David had shot his stag with the day +before. The silly ass of a constable took it up and squinted through it +as solemn as a judge, and then he just handed it to my cousin, and 'What +have you to say to this, Sir David?' says he. Infernal cheek! 'I shot it +off yesterday, and haven't had time to clean it since,' said David, and +I, for one, could have sworn he was speaking the truth. Why not, indeed? +There was nothing improbable about it. But the dickens of the thing was +that while we were all out of the house, and he had the place to himself, +the policeman had routed out poor Miss Byrne and badgered her for an +account of all that had happened the evening before; and she, without a +thought of doing harm to any of us--I'm convinced she's as sorry for it +now as I am myself--had mentioned incidentally that David had told her, +when she saw him half an hour before the murder, that he'd just been +cleaning his rifle. She'd told me so, too, as far as that goes, when she +passed through the billiard-room on her way to the library. I happened to +ask her if she knew what he was up to." + +"Decidedly awkward for Sir David," said Gimblet meditatively, "but +after all, some one else might have fired off the rifle after he had +cleaned it." + +Mark shook his head gloomily. + +"There are difficulties about that," he said. "It happens that David is +very fussy about his guns, always cleans them himself, you know, and +won't let another soul touch 'em. And though he keeps them in the gunroom +like the rest of us, he's got his own particular glass-fronted cupboard +which he keeps the key of himself. My uncle and I share one between us, +and generally leave the key in the lock, so that the keeper can get at +the guns, which we never bother to clean ourselves. Not so David. Ever +since we were boys he's had his own private cupboard, and no one but +himself has ever been allowed to open it. We always spent our holidays +here, and my uncle let us behave as if we were at our own house. David +took out the key for the sergeant to use, and when he was asked if anyone +else could have got at the rifle, he replied that it was impossible, as +the key had been in his pocket the whole time, except for an hour or two +while he was asleep, when it had lain on the table by his bedside." + +"Did he deny having told Miss Byrne he had cleaned the rifle?" +asked Gimblet. + +"Yes; he said he hadn't told her so. It was all very unpleasant, and the +police sergeant was as suspicious as you like, by this time. 'What were +you doing when the alarm was given?' he asked David. 'I was out in the +grounds,' said David, and that was rather a facer for the rest of us, I +must confess. He went on to say that he had fancied he saw some one +hanging about at the edge of the lawn--which is the opposite side of the +house from the library--and gone out to make sure, but he had found no +one, though he hunted about for nearly an hour, till he saw lights +approaching and fell in with our party of searchers. He said that it was +then he first heard what had happened." + +Gimblet nodded his head thoughtfully. + +"Miss Byrne said she saw him start off to look for some one," he +remarked. + +"Yes," said Mark eagerly, "there's no doubt he saw a man lurking in the +darkness. And it was dark too," he added, "never saw such a black night +in my life; I must say it beats me how he could have seen anyone. But his +eyes were always rather more useful than mine," he concluded hastily. + +"The police, however, seem to have thought it improbable," said Gimblet, +"since they arrested your cousin for the murder." + +"Stupid brutes!" said Mark viciously. "No, they would have it it was +impossible he should have seen anyone. And what clinched it was the +unlucky fact that David and my uncle had had a violent row the day +before. My uncle shot David's dog; I must say I think it was uncalled +for, and poor David was absurdly fond of the beast. He felt very savage +about it, and all the ghillies heard what he said to Uncle Douglas." + +"What did he say?" + +"Oh, a lot of rot. He lost his temper. The idiotic thing he said was, +that he'd a good mind to shoot _him_ and see how he liked it. Pure +temper, you know. I don't believe David would hurt a hair of his head." + +"Well, it was decidedly an indiscreet remark." + +"It was imbecile. And of course the police heard all about it from the +servants and keepers, and it fitted in only too well with all the rest +about the footmarks and his absence from the house at the time, and the +rifle and everything. By the by, the bullet was a soft-nosed one which +fitted David's rifle; but for that matter it fitted mine--which is a .355 +Mannlicher like his--or a dozen others on the loch side. It's a very +common weapon on a Scotch forest. But taking one thing with another there +was a good deal of evidence against him, so they made up their minds he +had done it; and Macross, when he arrived from Glasgow with his +myrmidons, agreed with the local idiots, and took him off. I'm certain +there must be a mistake somewhere, but so far it seems jolly hard to hit +on it. I hope you'll put your finger on the spot." + +"I hope so," said Gimblet, but his voice was full of doubt. "It's hard to +see how anyone else could have used his rifle after he cleaned it, since +he admits that he locked it up and kept the key on him. Yes," he murmured +to himself, "the rifle speaks very eloquently. What other interpretation +can be put on these facts? I'm sure you must see that yourself," he went +on, glancing up at Mark, who was feeling in his pocket for another +cigarette. "Sir David told Miss Byrne he had cleaned his rifle; he told +the police he then locked it up and that the key had been in his +possession ever since. But the rifle was found to have been fired again +since he had cleaned it. His only explanation was to contradict what he +had previously said to Miss Byrne. Do those facts appear to you to leave +any possible loophole of doubt as to his guilt?" + +Mark struck a match and lighted his cigarette before he answered. When +at length he did so his reluctance was very plain, and his voice full +of regret. + +"Poor old chap," he said. "I'm afraid he must have done it in some fit of +madness. As you say, there is no other imaginable alternative." + +Gimblet nodded philosophically. + +"Is there anything else?" he asked. + +Mark hesitated. + +"There's a letter which arrived for Uncle Douglas this morning," he said, +"which you may think worth looking at. I daresay it's of no importance, +but it struck me as rather odd." + +He took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to the detective, who +opened it and read as follows: + +"Si Milord ne rend pas ce qu'il ne doit pas garder, le coup de foudre lui +tombera sur la tête." + +There was no signature, nor any date. + +Gimblet turned the sheet over thoughtfully. The message was typewritten +on a piece of thin foreign paper; the postmark on the envelope was Paris, +and the stamps French. He folded it again and replaced it in its cover. + +"It seems the usual threatening anonymous communication," he observed. +"Have you any idea who it's from?" + +Mark shook his head. + +"None," he confessed. "It looks, though, as if my uncle had in his +possession something belonging to the writer, doesn't it? Don't you +think it might have something to do with the murder?" + +"I don't see why the murderer should send a threatening letter after the +deed was done," said the detective. "Still less could he have posted it +in Paris on the very day the crime was committed." + +"No, that's true enough," Mark admitted reluctantly. + +"Has any suspicious looking person been seen about this place, this +summer? Any foreigner, for instance?" asked the detective. + +"No; no," Mark replied. "I should have heard of it for certain if there +had been. It would have been an event, down here." + +Gimblet dropped the subject. + +"If I may," he said. "I will keep this. It may lead to something," +he added, tucking the letter away in an inside pocket. "That's all, +I suppose?" + +Mark was silent for a minute. He seemed to be thinking. + +"That's all I know about the murder," he said at last, "but there are +plenty of complications apart from that. I suppose Miss Byrne told you +that my uncle electrified us all by saying she was his daughter, only an +hour or so before he died?" + +Gimblet nodded. "Yes," he said, "she told me." + +"It makes it very awkward for me," said Mark. "I want to do the right +thing, but I'm hanged if I know what I ought to do. You see, my uncle +used to say that he'd left his property between me and David; he never +made any secret of it, and as a matter of fact I've had a communication +from his London lawyers, telling me they have a very old will, made when +I was a small boy, long before the birth of his son, and that everything +is left to me. There were reasons why he may have thought David would be +provided for--he was engaged to marry a very rich American, but she +dropped him yesterday like a red-hot coal as soon as it began to look as +if he'd be suspected. She's gone now, I'm glad to say. As a matter of +fact, if David can only be cleared of this horrible charge, I shall +insist on dividing my inheritance with him. That is, if I can't get Miss +Byrne to take it, or Miss McConachan, as I ought to call her now." + +"Lord Ashiel could leave his money where he liked, couldn't he?" +Gimblet inquired. + +"Yes, he could, but he would naturally have left it to his daughter, if +she really was his daughter. In fact, Miss McConachan says he told her he +had done so, but I haven't come across the will so far, though I had a +good hunt through his papers this morning; Blanston and the housekeeper, +who say they witnessed some document which may have been a will, have no +idea where it is. Of course, my uncle may have intended to say that he +was going to make one, and Miss McConachan may have misunderstood him, +but she seems to think he had some secret hiding-place of his own, and I +hope to goodness you'll be able to hit on it, if he had. I can't stand +the idea of profiting by a lost will, and I'd far rather simply hand over +the money than bother to look for this missing paper." + +"Oh, I daresay it will turn up," said Gimblet. "You haven't had much time +to find it yet." + +"My uncle was a very methodical man. Everything is in its place. You wait +till you see his papers! If he made a will he must have hidden it +somewhere where we shall never dream of looking for it. It's just waste +of time hunting about, and I shall have another try at persuading my new +cousin to let me make over everything to her." + +"It is not every young man in your position who would part so readily +with a large fortune," observed Gimblet. + +But Mark awkwardly deprecated his approving words. + +"Oh," he said, "I'm sure any decent chap would do the same in my place." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +"And now," said Gimblet, "may I visit the scene of the crime?" + +Mark took him first to his uncle's bedroom; a room austere in its +simplicity, with bare white-washed walls and uncarpeted floor. No one +could have hidden a sheet of paper in that room, thought the detective, +as he gazed round it, after he had looked, with a feeling akin to +guilt, on the features of the dead peer. He had not known how to +protect this man from the dreadful fate that had struck him down from a +direction so utterly unexpected, and he held himself, in a way, +responsible for his death. + +Then young Ashiel led him away, down a wide corridor into the +billiard-room, and so into another passage, at the end of which a door of +stout and time-darkened oak gave access to the library. It creaked +noisily on its hinges, as he pushed it open and ushered Gimblet in. They +stepped into a square room, comfortably furnished, with deep arm-chairs, +and a large chippendale writing-table which stood at right angles to the +bow window, so placed that anyone writing at it should have the light +upon his left. It was rather a dark room, the walls being lined with +books from floor to ceiling, except at two points: opposite the window an +alcove, panelled in ancient oak, appeared in the wall; and above the +fireplace, opposite the door, the wall was panelled in the same manner +and covered by an oil painting, representing Lord Ashiel's grandmother. +The polished boards were unconcealed by any rug or carpet, and reflected +a little of the light from the window. An ominous discoloration near the +writing-table showed plainly upon them. + +In the glass of the mullioned casement was the small round hole made by +the fatal bullet. + +Gimblet glanced at the bureau on which the writing materials were set out +in perfect order, and could not conceal his annoyance. + +"Everything has been moved, I see," he said. "Why couldn't they leave it +as it was for a few hours longer?" + +"Nothing was touched till after the police had gone," said Mark. "I +confess I did not think it necessary to leave things alone once they were +out of the house. Not only have the housemaids been at work in here, but +I spent most of the morning here myself, going through the papers in that +bureau. Will it matter much?" He spoke with evident dismay. + +"Never mind," said Gimblet, "I suppose Macross's people photographed +everything, and I can get copies from them, I have no doubt. By the by, +what did Sir David Southern say about having been in the room while you +were in bed? Did he admit it; and did he say why he moved the body?" + +"He said he'd not been near the place," replied Mark, looking more +perplexed and worried than ever. "I can't understand it at all," he +added. "Why should he deny it to me?" + +Gimblet opened a drawer in the bureau. Papers filled it, tied together in +bundles and neatly docketed. They seemed to be receipted bills. He +glanced at the pigeon-holes, and opened one or two more drawers. +Everywhere the most fastidious order reigned. + +"You have been through all these?" he asked. + +"Yes, but there is a cupboard full in the smoking-room. I thought of +looking into those this afternoon." + +"It would be a good plan," Gimblet agreed. "Don't let me keep you," And +as the young man still lingered, "I prefer," he confessed, "to do my +work alone. If you will kindly get me a shooting-boot of Sir David +Southern's, I shall do better if I am left to myself." + +"If that is really the case," said Mark, "I have no choice but to leave +you. I admit I should have liked to see your methods, but if I should be +a hindrance--" + +Gimblet did not deny it, and Mark departed to fetch the boots. + +"This is not the identical pair," he said when he returned. "The police +took those; but these come from the same maker and are nearly the same, +so Blanston tells me." + +"Ah, yes, Blanston," said Gimblet. "I must see him presently. Thanks +very much." + +Left alone, Gimblet examined the window, opening one of the small-paned +casements, and measuring the space between the mullions and the central +bars of iron. Satisfied as to the impossibility of any ordinary-sized +person passing through those apertures, he took one more look round, and +then with a swift movement drew each of the heavy curtains across the +bay. They did not quite meet in the middle, as Juliet had observed. Then +he made his way out into the garden through the door just outside, at the +end of the passage which led from the billiard-room to the library. + +The library was at the far end of the oldest portion of Inverashiel +Castle. To Gimblet, examining it from the outside, it looked as if the +room had been hewn out of the solid walls of the ancient fortress; for +beyond the mullioned, seventeenth-century window, the wall turned sharply +to the left and was continued with scarce a loophole in the stupendous +blocks of its surface for a distance of fifty yards or so, where it was +succeeded by the lower, less heavy battlements of the old out-works. In +the angle formed by the turn and immediately opposite the window of the +library, a long flower-bed, planted with standard and other rose trees, +with violas growing sparsely in between, stretched its blossoming length, +and continued up to the actual stones of the library wall. At the farther +end of it, a thick hedge of holly bordered on the roses at right angles +to the end of the battlements; while the lawn on his left was spangled +with geometrically shaped beds showing elaborate arrangements of +heliotrope, ageratum, calceolarias, and other bedding-out plants. + +Gimblet walked slowly along the lawn at the edge of the bed, his eyes on +the black peaty mould, where it was visible among the flowers. About +twenty yards from the hedge, he stopped with a muffled exclamation. The +bed in front of him was covered with footprints of all shapes and sizes; +but plainly distinguishable among the rest were the neat nail-encrusted +marks which matched the boot he held in his hand. He put it down on the +ground and carefully made an imprint with it in the soil, beside the +existing footmarks. It was easy to single out its fellows. + +"Two extra nails," murmured Gimblet to himself, "but otherwise, the same. +Probably made on the same last." + +Stepping cautiously in the places where his predecessors had walked, he +followed the tracks that had betrayed Sir David Southern. They were +numerous and distinct; he counted fourteen of each separate foot. First +Sir David would seem to have walked straight across the bed, then +returned and taken up his position near the middle. He was not contented +with that, it seemed, for he had walked backwards five or six paces and +then moved sideways again till he was exactly opposite the opening +between the curtains. Here the ground was trampled down as if he had +several times shifted slightly from one place to another. Whether or not +he was exactly in line with the writing-table Gimblet could not see, as +its position was hidden in the obscurity behind the drawn curtains. It +would want a light there to prove that, thought Gimblet; still there was +no reason to doubt that it was so. There were four or five more +footmarks leading back to the lawn, and over these Gimblet stooped with +particular interest. + +With a tape measure, which he took from his pocket, he measured the +distances between the prints, entering the various figures in his +notebook, beside carefully drawn diagrams. Then he picked his way to the +edge of the lawn, and stood a moment considering. + +Apparently he was not satisfied, for presently he retraced his steps +delicately to the middle of the bed, till he was once more just behind +the place where the earth was trodden down. After pausing there an +instant, he turned once more, and ran quickly back to the grass, without +this time troubling himself to step in the chain of footprints used +previously by the police. But he had not even yet finished; and was soon +crouching down again, with the tape measure in one hand and the notebook +in the other, poring over the evidence preserved so carefully by the +impartial soil. + +At last he got up, put his measure back in his pocket, and walked slowly +towards the hedge. He had nearly reached it when something at his feet +arrested his attention. He bent over it curiously. + +Near the edge of the grass and parallel to it, there was an indentation a +little over an inch wide and about the same depth. It extended in a +straight line for perhaps nine inches, and what could have caused it was +a puzzle to Gimblet. The turf was unbroken, and it looked as if an +oblong, narrow, heavy object had rested there, sinking a little into the +ground so as to leave this strange mark. Gimblet rubbed his forehead +pensively, as he looked at it. + +Suddenly as his introspective gaze wandered unconsciously over the ground +before him, his attention was arrested by a second mark of the same +perplexing shape, which he could see behind a rose-bush, more than +half-way across the bed. Stepping as near the hedge as he could, the +detective proceeded to examine this duplicate of the riddle. It seemed +absolutely the same, though deeper, as was natural on the soft mould, and +he found, by measuring, that it lay exactly parallel to the other. What +could it be, he asked himself. A moment later, still another and yet +stranger impression caught his eye. It was about the same width, but not +more than half as long, and rounded off at each end to an oval. It was +situated about a foot from the deep indentation and rather farther from +the holly hedge. A tall standard rose-tree, covered with blossoms of the +white Frau Karl Drouski rose, grew near it, interposing between it and +the house. + +Gimblet measured it with painstaking precision; then with the help of +his measurements, he made a life-size diagram of it on the page of his +notebook, and studied it with an expression of annoyance. He had seldom +felt more at a loss to explain anything. At length he turned and went +back towards the grass. + +"What a track I leave," he thought to himself, looking down ruefully at +his own footprints. "What I want is--" He stopped abruptly as a sudden +idea struck him; then a look of relief stole slowly over his face, and he +permitted himself a gratified smile, "To be sure!" he said, and seemed to +dismiss the subject from his mind. + +Indeed, he turned his back upon the rose-bed, and strolled away by the +side of the hedge, which was of tall and wide proportions, providing a +spiky, impenetrable defence against observation, from the outside, of the +rectangular enclosed garden. Half-way along it he came upon an arched +opening. Passing through this, he found himself in an outer thicket, and +immediately upon his right hand beheld a small shed, which stood back, +modest and unassuming, in a leafy undergrowth of rhododendrons. + +Gimblet pushed open the door and stepped inside. + +The place was evidently a tool-house, used by the gardeners for storing +their implements. Rakes, spades, forks and hoes leant against the walls; +a shelf held a quantity of odds and ends: trowels, seedsmen's catalogues, +a pot of paint, a bundle of wooden labels, the rose of a watering-can, +and a dozen other small objects. On the floor were piled boxes and empty +cases; flowerpots stood beside a bag which bore the name of a patent +fertilizer; a small hand mowing-machine blocked the entrance; and a +plank, too long to lie flat on the ground, had been propped slantwise +between the floor and the roof. Bunches of bass hung from nails above the +shelf; and on the wall opposite, a coloured advertisement, representing +phloxes of so fierce an intensity of hue that nature was put to the +blush, had been tacked by some admirer of Art. + +Five minutes later, when Gimblet emerged once more into the open, he +carried in one hand a garden rake. With this he proceeded to thread his +way through the shrubbery, keeping close to the line of the holly hedge. +When he thought he had gone about fifty yards, he lay down and peered +under the leaves. The hedge was rather thinner at the bottom; and, by +carefully pushing aside a little of the glossy, prickly foliage, he was +able to make out that the end of the rose-bed he had lately examined was +separated from him now only by the dividing barrier of the hedge. With +the rake still in his hand, he drew himself slowly forward, gingerly +introducing his head and arms under the holly, till he was prevented +from going farther by the close growing trunks of the trees that formed +the hedge. + +It took some manoeuvring to insert the head of the rake through the +fence, but he did it at last, and found a gap which his arms would pass +also. Between, and under the lowest fringe of leaves on the farther side, +he could see the track of his own footsteps, where he had walked on the +bed. They were all, by an effort, within reach of his rake, and he +stealthily effaced them. He could not see whether the garden was still +untenanted, or whether the peculiar phenomenon of a rake moving without +human assistance was being observed by anyone from the castle. He +fervently hoped that it was not: he did not wish the attention of anyone +else to be called to the puzzling marks that had mystified him; and, as +the only window which looked into the garden was that of the library, he +thought there was a good chance that there was no one in sight. + +Cautiously and almost silently he worked his way back, and replaced the +rake in the tool-house where he had found it. Then he took the small +oil-can used for oiling the mowing-machine, and concealing it under his +coat made towards the house. The little garden was still lonely and +deserted as he walked quickly over the lawn and in at the passage door. + +The library was empty as he had left it, and his first act was to draw +back the curtains to their former positions on either side of the window. +Then he went to the door, and, with a glance to right and left along the +passage, and an ear bent for any approaching footstep, he quickly and +effectually oiled the hinges and lock, so that the door closed +noiselessly and without protest. When he was quite satisfied on this +point, he shut it gently, and took back the oil-can to the shed. + +"Now," said he to himself, "for the gun-room." + +He took up Sir David Southern's shooting-boots, which he had left in the +tool-house during his last proceedings, and made his way through the +billiard-room into the main corridor beyond. On his right, through an +open door, he peeped into a large room, obviously the drawing-room, and +saw that it looked on to the front of the house. The room wore a forlorn +aspect; no one, apparently, had taken the trouble to put it straight +since the night of the tragedy. The blinds had been drawn down, but the +furniture seemed awry as if chairs had been pushed back hastily, a little +card table still displayed a game of patience half set out, and even the +dead flowers in the glasses had not been thrown away. + +The air was stuffy in the extreme, and Gimblet, with a disgusted sniff, +pulled aside one of the blinds and threw open the window. But all at once +a thought seemed to strike him. For a moment he stood irresolute, then he +slowly closed the casement again, but without latching it, and after +frowning at it thoughtfully walked away. He went back into the hall. + +Opposite, across the corridor, rose the main staircase, wide and +imposing; on each side of it a smaller passage led away at right angles +to the entrance, the right-hand one giving access to rooms in the new +front of the castle, one of which he knew to be the dining-room. He +listened for a minute outside a door beyond it, and heard the sound of +rustling papers; the smell of tobacco came to him through the key-hole. +It was plain that here was the smoking-room, and that the new Lord Ashiel +was at that moment engaged in it, and deep in his uncle's papers. + +The little detective, as he had said, preferred to work without an +audience when he could, so he left Mark to his search, and stole silently +away down the passage. + +He passed two more rooms, and paused at the last door, opposite the foot +of a winding stair. + +This, from what Juliet had said, must be the door of the gun-room. + +The door opened readily at his touch, and he stepped inside and shut it +behind him. + +It was a small bare room, with one large deal table in the middle of it. +Gun-cases and wooden cartridge-boxes were ranged on the linoleum-covered +floor, and three glass-fronted gun-cabinets were hung upon the walls. +One, the smallest of these, was of a different wood from the others, and +bore in black letters the initials D. S. + +Three or four guns were ranged in it: two 12-bore shot-guns, an air-gun, +and a little 20-bore. Another rack was empty; no doubt it had held the +Mannlicher rifle, which the police had carried away to use as evidence +in their case for the prosecution. The door was locked and there was no +sign of a key. + +Gimblet turned to the other cupboards. + +There were more weapons here, and a few minutes' examination showed him +that, as Mark had said, he and his uncle were less particular as to where +their guns were kept, for the first two that the detective glanced at +bore Lord Ashiel's initial, and the next was an old air-gun with M. McC. +engraved on a silver disk at the stock. + +Side by side were the rifles used by the uncle and nephew for stalking, +Gimblet knew from Mark that the Mannlicher was his, while Lord Ashiel had +apparently used a Mauser or Ross sporting rifle, as there was one of each +in the case. + +Gimblet lifted down the Mannlicher and laid it on the table. This, then, +was the kind of weapon with which the deed had been done. It was a .355 +Mannlicher Schonauer sporting weapon of the latest pattern. He opened it +and examined the mechanism, which he soon grasped. He squinted down the +glistening tunnel of the barrel and even closely scrutinized the +workmanship of the exterior, repressing a shudder at the meretricious +design of the chasing on the lock, and passing his fingers caressingly +over the wood of which the stock was made. It shone with a rich bloom, as +smooth and even as polished marble, except at the butt end which was +criss-crossed roughly to prevent slipping; but wood in any shape has a +homely friendly feeling, as different from any the polisher can impart to +a piece of cold stone as the forests, where it once stood, upright and +lofty, are from the inhospitable rocks on the peaks above them. + +These unpractical reflections flitted through the detective's mind, +together with others of a less fantastic nature, as he put the rifle back +in the rack he had taken it from. He closed the glass doors of the +cabinet, leaving them unlocked, as he had found them. Then, going back to +the table, he took an empty pill-box from his pocket, and with the utmost +care swept into it a trace of dust from off the bare deal top. + +There was barely enough to darken the cardboard at the bottom of the box, +but he looked at it, before putting on the lid, with an expression of +some satisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Gimblet left the gun-room quietly; and after some more exploring +discovered the way to the back premises. + +In the pantry he found Blanston, whom he invited to follow him to the +deserted billiard-room for a few minutes' conversation. + +"You know," he told him, "Miss Byrne and your new young master want me to +examine the evidence that Sir David Southern is the author of this +terrible crime." + +"I'm sure I wish, sir," said the man, "that you could prove he never did +it. A very nice young gentleman, sir, Sir David has always been; it seems +dreadful to think of him lifting his hand against his uncle. I'm sure it +ought to be a warning to us all to keep our tempers, but of course it was +very hard on Sir David to have his dog shot before his very eyes." + +"No doubt," agreed Gimblet. "You weren't there when it happened, I +suppose?" + +"No, sir, but I heard about it from one of the keepers, and Sir David was +very much put out about it, so he says; and I quite believe it, seeing +how fond he was of the poor creature. Always had it to sleep in his room, +he did, sir, though it was rather an offensive animal to the nose, to my +way of thinking. But these young gentlemen what are always smoking +cigarettes get to lose their sense of smell, I've often noticed that, +sir. Oh, I understand he was very angry indeed, sir, but I should hardly +have thought he would go so far as to take his uncle's life. Knowing him, +as I have done, from a child, I may say I shouldn't hardly have thought +it of him, sir." + +"Life is full of surprises," said Gimblet, "and you never know for +certain what anyone may not do; but, tell me, you were the first on the +scene of the crime, weren't you?" + +"Hardly that, sir. Miss Byrne was with his lordship at the time." + +"Yes, yes, of course. But you saw him shortly after the shot was fired. +Did you hear the report?" + +"No, sir. The hall is quite away from the tower, and so is the +housekeeper's room; and the walls are very thick. We were just finishing +supper, which was very late that night on account of the gentlemen coming +in late from stalking, and one thing and another. I'm rather surprised +none of us heard it, sir." + +"I daresay there was a good deal of noise going on," said Gimblet. "How +many of you are there in the servants' quarters?" + +"Counting the chauffeur and the hall boy," replied Blanston, "and +including the visitors' maids, who are gone now, we were sixteen servants +in the house that night. I am afraid there may have been rather a noise +going on." + +"Were you all there?" asked Gimblet. "Had no one left since the beginning +of supper?" + +"No one had gone out of the room or the hall since supper commenced," +Blanston assured him. "We were all very glad of that afterwards, as it +prevented any of us being suspected, sir. Though in point of fact I was +saying only last night, when the second footman dropped the pudding just +as he was bringing it into the room, that we could really have spared him +better than what we could Sir David, sir; but of course it's natural for +the household to be feeling a bit jumpy till after the funeral to-morrow. +When that's over I shan't listen to no more excuses." + +"Quite so," said Gimblet. "What was the first intimation you got that +there was anything wrong?" + +"About half-past ten the billiard-room bell rang very loud, in the +passage outside the hall. Before it had stopped, and while I was calling +to George, the first footman, to hurry up and answer it, there came +another peal, and then another and another. I thought something must be +wrong, so I ran out of the room and upstairs with the others. When we got +to the billiard-room there was Miss Byrne fainting on a chair, and Mr. +McConachan beside her, looking very upset like. 'There's been an accident +or worse,' he says, 'to his lordship. Come on, Blanston, and let's see +what it is. And you others look after Miss Byrne. Fetch her maid; fetch +Lady Ruth.' + +"And with that he makes for the library door, at a run, with me +following him close, though I was a bit puffed with coming upstairs so +fast. Just as we came to the library door, he turns and says to me, with +his hand on the knob, 'From what Miss Byrne says, Blanston, I'm afraid +it's murder.' And before I could more than gasp he had the door open, +and we were in the room. + +"There was his poor lordship lying forward on the table, his head on the +blotting-book, and one arm hanging down beside him. Quite dead, he was, +sir, and his blood all on the floor, poor gentleman. We left him as we +found him, and went back. + +"Mr. McConachan locked the door and put the key in his pocket. 'No one +must go in there till the police come,' he says. 'But in the meantime we +must get what men we can together, and see if the brute who did this +isn't lurking about the grounds. It will be something if we can catch +him, and avenge my poor uncle,' he said." + +Gimblet considered for a moment. + +"Are you sure you remember the position you found the body in?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," replied Blanston, in some surprise. "It was like I told you. +His head on the blotting-book and one arm with it. He must have fallen +straight forward on to the table." + +"Thank you," said Gimblet. "One more question. I hear you witnessed a +will for Lord Ashiel a day or two before he died?" + +"Yes, sir--I and Mrs. Parsons, the housekeeper." + +"How did you know it was the will?" + +"We didn't exactly know it was, sir, but afterwards, when it came out his +lordship had told Miss Byrne he had made one, we thought it must have +been that." + +"I see," said Gimblet. "Thank you. That is all I wanted to know." + +He sent for the other servants and interrogated them one by one, but +without adding anything fresh to what he had already learned. + +He went thoughtfully away and sought out Mark in the smoking-room, where +he found him surrounded by packets of papers, which lay in heaps upon +the floor and tables. + +"There's a frightful lot to look through," said the young man +despondently, looking up from his self-imposed task. "I haven't found +anything interesting yet. How did you get on? Do you think those +footmarks can possibly be anyone's but David's?" + +"The boot you gave me fits them too well to admit of doubt, I'm afraid," +said Gimblet. And as the other made a half-gesture of despair, "You must +give me more time," he said; "I may find some clue in the course of the +next two or three days. By the by, is your cousin a short man?" + +"No," said Mark, "he's about my height. Why do you ask?" + +"Oh, I had an idea," said Gimblet evasively. "But if he's as tall as you, +I had better begin again. I think I'll take a little stroll through the +grounds," he added, "and then back to Lady Ruth Worsfold's house, and get +a bath and a change." + +"I shall see you at dinner-time," said Ashiel. "I am dining at the +cottage. Au revoir till then." + +Gimblet went out of the front door, and proceeded to make a tour of the +Castle buildings. + +Turning to his left round the front of the house, he passed the gun-room +door, and went down a short path, which led to the level of the servants' +quarters. These were built on the slope of the hill, so that what was a +basement in the front of the house was level with the ground at the back. + +Here more remains of the old fortress were to be seen. The various +outbuildings that straggled down towards the loch had all once formed +part of old block-houses or outlying towers; and, as the path descended +farther down the hill, the detective found himself walking round the +precipitous rock from which the single great tower still standing--the +one in whose massive shell the room had been cut which was now the +library--dominated the scene from every side. + +It had been built at the very edge of the hill which here fell almost +sheer to the level of the lake, and the old McConachans had no doubt +chosen their site for its unscalable position. Indeed, the place must +always have been impregnable from that side, the rock offering no +foothold to a goat till within twenty feet of the base of the tower, +where the surface was broken and uneven, and had, in places, been built +up with solid masonry. In the crevices up there, seeds had germinated and +grown to tall plants and bushes. Ivy hung about the face of the +escarpment like a scarf, and in one place a good-sized tree, a beech, had +established itself firmly upon a ledge and leant forward over the path +below in a manner that turned the beholder giddy. Its great roots had not +been able to grow to their full girth within the cracks and crannies of +the rocks; some of them had pushed their way in through the gaps in the +masonry, and the others curled and twisted in mid air, twining and +interlacing in an outspread canopy. + +Beyond the tower ran the battlemented wall of the enclosed garden, its +foundations draped in the thrifty vegetation of the rocks. + +At Gimblet's feet, on the other side of the path, brawled a burn, +hurrying on its way to the loch, and he followed its course slowly down +to the place where it mingled with the deep waters. A little beyond he +saw the point of a fir-covered peninsula, and wandered on under the +trees till he came to the end of it; there he sat down to think over what +he had heard and seen that afternoon. The wild beauty of the place +soothed and delighted him, and he felt lazily in his pocket for a +chocolate. + +Below him, grey lichen-grown rocks jutted into the loch in tumbled, +broken masses, piled heedlessly one on the other, as if some troll of +the mountain had begun in play to make a causeway for himself. The great +stones, so old, so fiercely strong, stood knee-deep in the waters, over +which they seemed to brood with so patient and indifferent a dignity +that human life and affairs took on an aspect very small and +inconsiderable. They were like monstrous philosophers, he thought, +oblivious alike to time and to the cold waves that lapped their feet; +their heads crowned here and there with pines as with scattered locks, +the little tufts of heather and fern and grasses, that clung to them +wherever root hold could be found, all the clothing they wore against +the bitter blasts of the winds. + +While he sat there a breeze got up and ruffled the loch; the ripples +danced and sparkled like a cinematograph, and waves threw themselves +among the rocks with loud gurglings and splashings. The air was suddenly +full of the noise and hurry of the waters. He got up and went to the end +of the peninsula. In spite of the dancing light upon the surface and the +merry sounds of the ripples, the water, he could see, was deep and dark; +a little way out a pale smooth stone rose a few feet above the level of +it, its top draped in a velvet green shawl of moss. A fat sea-gull sat +there; nor did it move when he appeared. + +A little bay ran in between the rocks, its shore spread with grey sand, +smooth and trackless. At least so Gimblet imagined it at first, as his +eye roved casually over the beach. Then suddenly, with a smothered +ejaculation, he leaped down from his perch of observation, and made his +way to the margin of the water. + +There, scored in the sand, was a deep furrow, reaching to within a foot +of the waves, where it stopped as if it had been wiped out from a slate +with a damp sponge. Gimblet had no doubt what it was. A boat had been +beached here, and that lately. A glance at the stones surrounding the +bay showed him that the water was falling, for in quiet little pools, +within the outer breakwater of rocks, a damp line showed on the granite +a full quarter of an inch above the water. By a rapid calculation of the +time it would take for that watermark to dry, the detective was able to +form some idea of the rate at which the loch was falling, and he thought +he could judge the slope of the beach sufficiently well to calculate +about how long it was since the track in the sand had reached to the +brink of the waves. + +It was a rough guess, but, if he were right, then a boat had landed in +that bay some forty-two hours ago. But there were other traces, besides, +the tracks of him who had brought the boat ashore. From where Gimblet +stood, a double row of footprints, going and returning, showed plainly +between the water and the stones to which the sand quickly gave place. +They were the tracks left by large boots with singularly pointed toes, +and with no nails on the soles. Emphatically not boots such as any of the +men of those parts would be likely to wear. + +Gimblet bent over the sand. + +When he rose once more and stood erect upon the beach, he saw under the +shadow of the pines the figure of a tall thin man with a lean face and +straggling reddish moustache, who was watching him with an eye plainly +suspicious. He was dressed in knickerbockers and coat of rough tweed of a +large checked pattern, and carried a spy-glass slung over his back. The +detective went to him at once. + +"Are you employed on the Inverashiel estate?" he asked civilly. + +"I'm Duncan McGregor, his lordship's head keeper," was the reply, given +in the cold tones of one accosted by an intruder. + +Gimblet hastened to introduce himself and to explain his presence, and +McGregor condescended to thaw. + +"I should be very much obliged," said Gimblet, "if you would take a look +at the sands where you saw me standing. I'd like to know your opinion on +some marks that are there." + +The keeper strode down to the beach. + +"A boat will have been here," he pronounced after a rapid scrutiny. + +"Lately?" asked Gimblet. + +He saw the man's eyes go, as his own had done, to the watermarks on +the rocks. + +"No sae vary long ago," he said, "I'm thinkin' it will hae been the nicht +before lairst that she came here." + +"Ah," said Gimblet, "I'm glad you agree with me. That's what I thought +myself. Do boats often come ashore on this beach?" + +McGregor considered. + +"It's the first time I ever h'ard of onybody doin' the like," he said at +last. "The landin' stage is awa' at the ether side o' the p'int; it's aye +there they land. There's nae a man in a' this glen would come in here, +unless it whar for some special reason. It's no' a vary grand place tae +bring a boat in. The rocks are narrow at the mouth." + +"Do strangers often come to these parts?" + +"There are no strangers come to Inverashiel," said the keeper. "The +high road runs at the ether side o' the loch through Crianan, and the +tramps and motors go over it, but never hae I known one o' that kind on +our shore." + +Gimblet observed with some amusement that the man spoke of motors and +tramps as of varieties of the same breed; but all he said was: + +"Could you make inquiries as to whether anyone on the estate happens to +have brought a boat in here during the last week? I should be glad if you +could do so without mentioning my name, or letting anyone think it is +important." + +He felt he could trust the discretion of this taciturn Highlander. + +"I'll that, sir," was the reply. + +And Gimblet could see, in spite of the man's unchanging countenance, that +he was pleased at this mark of confidence in him. + +"Could you take me to the head gardener's house?" he asked, abruptly +changing the subject. "I should rather like a talk with him." + +McGregor conducted him down the road to the lodge. + +"It's in here whar Angus Malcolm lives," he remarked laconically. "Good +evening, sir." + +He turned and strode away over the hillside, and Gimblet knocked at the +door. It was opened by the gardener, and he had a glimpse through the +open doorway of a family at tea. + +"I'm sorry I disturbed you," he said. "I will look in again another day. +Lord Ashiel referred me to you for the name of a rose I asked about, but +it will do to-morrow." + +The gardener assured him that his tea could wait, but Gimblet would not +detain him. + +"I shall no doubt see you up in the garden to-morrow," he said. "The roses +in that long bed outside the library are very fine, and I am interested +in their culture. I wonder they do so well in this peaty soil." + +"Na fie, man, they get on splendid here," said Malcolm. He liked nothing +better than to talk about his flowers, but, being a Highlander, resented +any suggestion that his native earth was not the best possible for no +matter what purpose. "We just gie them a good dressin' doon wie manure +ilka year." + +"Do you use any patent fertilizer?" Gimblet asked. + +"Oh, just a clean oot wie a grain o' basic slag noo and than," said the +gardener. "And I just gie them some lime ilka time I think the ground is +needin' it." + +"Well, the result is very good," said the detective. "By the way, have +you been working on that bed lately? I picked this up among the violas. +Did you happen to drop it?" + +He took from his pocket a small paper notebook, and held it out +interrogatively. + +"Na, I hinna dropped it," answered the gardener. "It micht have been some +one fay the castel. I hinna been near that rose-bed for fower or five +days. And it couldna hae been lying there afore the rain." + +Indeed, the little book showed no trace of damp on its green cover. + +"I asked in the castle, but no one claimed it," said Gimblet. "Perhaps +it belongs to one of your men?" + +"There's been naebody been workin' there this week. So it disna belong +tae neen o' the gair'ners, if it's there ye fund't," repeated Malcolm. +"There's been nae work deen on that bed for the last fortnicht or mair. I +was thinkin' o' sendin' a loon ower't wie a hoe in a day or twa. Ye see, +wie the murrder it's been impossible tae get ony work done; apairt fay +that we've been busy wie the fruit and ether things." + +"I didn't notice any weeds," said Gimblet. "But I won't keep you any +longer, now. Perhaps to-morrow afternoon I may see you in the garden, and +if so I shall get you to tell me the name of that rose." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Juliet failed to extract much comfort from Gimblet when, about six +o'clock, she met him coming up through the garden to Inverashiel Cottage. + +All the afternoon she had possessed her soul in what patience she could +muster, which was not a great deal. Still, by dint of repeating to +herself that she must give the detective time to study the facts, and +opportunity to verify them at his leisure and in his own way, she had +managed to get through the long inactive hours, and to force herself not +to dwell upon the vision of David in prison, which, do as she would, was +ever before her eyes. + +Events had followed one another so fast during the last few days that her +mind was dulled, as by a succession of rapid blows, and she was hardly +conscious of anything beyond the unbearable pain caused by the cumulative +shocks she had undergone. + +First had come the heart-rending knowledge that David loved her; +heart-rending only because he was bound to Miss Tarver, for, if it had +not been for that paralyzing obstacle, she knew she would have gladly +followed him to the ends of the earth. Indeed, in spite of everything, +his betrayal of his feelings towards her had filled her with a joy that +almost counterbalanced the hopeless misery to which, on her more +completely realizing the situation, it gradually gave place. + +Then had come the swift physical disaster from which she had barely +escaped with her life. She had not had time to recover from this when, a +few hours later, she had been called upon to face the emotions and +agitations aroused by the news of her relationship to Lord Ashiel, and +the history of her birth and parentage. In the midst of this excitement +had come the sudden tragedy of which she had been a witness, and which +had overwhelmed and prostrated her with grief and horror. Next day she +had been obliged to undergo the ordeal of being cross-questioned by the +police, and close upon that had come the final catastrophe of David's +arrest and departure. This last shock so overshadowed all the rest of her +misfortunes that it stimulated her to action, and she had herself run +most of the way to the post office two miles down the road, to send the +telegram of appeal to Gimblet. + +Once that was dispatched, hope revived a little in her heart. + +Lord Ashiel, her father, had told her to send for the detective if she +were in trouble. Well, she was in trouble; she had sent for him; he would +come, and somehow he would find a way of putting straight this hideous +nightmare in which she found herself living. How happy, in comparison, +had been her life in Belgium, in the household of her adopted father and +stepmother! She could have found it in her heart to wish she had never +left their roof; but that would have involved never making the +acquaintance of David, a possibility she could not contemplate. + +Even now the remembrance of the rapidity with which Miss Tarver had +packed her traps, renounced her betrothed and all his works, and fled +from the scene of disaster by the first available train, did much to +cheer her in the midst of all her depression. + +It was not, however, until some time after Lady Ruth Worsfold had asked +her to stay with her for the present, and she had removed herself and her +belongings to the cottage, that she realized how impossible it was for +her to make good her position as Lord Ashiel's daughter and heir. She had +his word for it, and that was enough for her; but she understood, as soon +as it occurred to her, that more would be required by the law before she +could claim either the name or the inheritance which should be hers. + +In the meantime, though touched by the generosity of the new Lord Ashiel, +who offered to waive his rights in her favour, and indeed suggested other +plans for enabling her to remain at the castle as its owner, she felt +that what he proposed was absolutely impossible, and while she thanked +him, declined firmly to do anything of the sort. + +At the back of her mind was the conviction that the will her father had +spoken of would come to light. It would surely be found, if not by +herself, then by Gimblet. She acceded to Mark's request that she should +join him in looking through his uncle's papers. They went over those in +the library together before she left the house. + +Now that Gimblet had come back from the castle, where he had spent half +the day, he must have good news for her, she felt persuaded. But to all +her questions he would only reply that he had nothing definite to tell +her, and that she must wait till to-morrow or even longer. Indeed, she +thought he seemed anxious to get away from her, and asked at once if he +might see his room. + +"I want a bath more than anything," he said. And then, taking pity on her +distress, "I wouldn't worry myself too much about Sir David's safety if I +were you," he added, looking at her with a very kind, friendly light in +his eyes. But as she exclaimed joyfully and pressed him to be more +explicit, his look changed to one of admonition, and he held a finger to +his lips. "Not a word to a living soul, whoever it may be," he cautioned +her, "and be careful not to show any hope you may be so optimistic as to +feel," he added, smiling, "or you may ruin the whole thing. This is a +very dark and dangerous affair, and the less it is spoken about, even +between friends, the better." + +"Mayn't I even tell Lady Ruth?" she asked. "She is very anxious, I know." + +"Better not," he warned her. "It may be better for Sir David in the +long-run, if his friends think him guilty a few days longer. It will be +wisest if you let it appear that even you can hardly continue to cling +to the idea of his innocence. You can be trusted to act a part where +such great issues are involved, can you not? More may depend on it than +you think." + +"I'll be silent as the grave," she cried. "As the grave," she repeated +more soberly, and turned away, reproaching herself silently, since in her +anxiety for David her sorrow for her father had been a moment forgotten. + +When Gimblet came down again, clean and refreshed, he found no one but +his hostess, Lady Ruth Worsfold. + +Lady Ruth's hair was white, in appearance she was short and squat, and +she had a curiously disconnected habit of conversation, but for all that +she was a person of great discernment, and uncommonly wide awake. She +sided staunchly with Juliet in her belief in David's innocence. + +"Never," she said, "will I credit such a thing of the lad. You may say +what you like, Mr. Gimblet, you can prove till you're black in the +face that he murdered every soul in the house, it won't make any +difference to me." + +"Who do you think did do it, Lady Ruth?" Gimblet asked. + +"What do I know? An escaped lunatic, one of the keepers, the under +housemaid, anyone you like. What does it matter? It wasn't David, even +though his namesake did kill Goliath, and I always disliked the name, +having suffered from a Biblical one myself. I said to his mother when he +was born. 'For goodness' sake give the poor child a name he won't be +expected to live up to. Just fancy how his friends will hate to be known +as Jonathans, let alone thingamy's wife. You're laying up a scandal for +your son,' I told her, and if my words haven't come true it's more thanks +to him than to his parents. A nice pink and white baby he was, poor boy. +There's just one good side to this dreadful affair," she went on without +a pause, "and that is that the young lady with the dollars whom he was to +have married, and hated the sight of, has thrown him over. The first +least little breath of suspicion was enough for her, and the moment he +was downright accused she was off. And he's well rid of her, dollars and +all. An Englishman of his birth and looks doesn't need to go to Chicago +for a wife." + +"Was Sir David in need of money?" asked Gimblet. + +"He hasn't got a penny," said Lady Ruth. "Not a red cent, as that +terrible young woman put it. His father left everything to the +moneylenders, so to speak, and David couldn't bear to see his mother +poverty-stricken. He did it entirely for her sake--got engaged, I +mean--but I don't think he'd have been such a self-sacrificing son if +he'd met Miss Juliet Byrne a little earlier in the day." + +"Indeed!" said Gimblet. "I thought Miss Byrne seemed very much worried +about his arrest." + +"Worried? Poor child, she's the ghost of what she was a few days ago. +Half-drowned, too, when it happened, which made it worse for her." + +"She must have had a narrow escape," Gimblet remarked. "What was the name +of the man who pulled her out of the river?" + +"Andy Campbell. He had been stalking with Mark McConachan." + +"Was young Lord Ashiel with him?" + +"No, he was on ahead. He saw Juliet in the distance, just going up to the +waterfall, but he seems to have taken her for Miss Romaninov, which is +odd, because they aren't in the least like one another, one being tall +and the other short, in the first place, and one fair and the other dark +in the second. He can't have looked very carefully. However, he was very +positive about it till they both assured him that Julia Romaninov had +turned and gone home some time before she had reached the top pool. And I +certainly should have in her place. It doesn't amuse me scrambling over +rocks and scratching my legs in bramble bushes. The path Andy came by +goes along high above the water for half a mile. I hate walking on a +height myself. And for most of that distance the river is not in sight. +If he hadn't been thirsty and come down to the water-side for a drink at +a spring near by, he would never have seen Miss Byrne floating down the +stream, and she would have been in the loch pretty soon. It just shows +how much better it is to drink water than whisky." + +"It was lucky he did," said Gimblet. "Does the path pass in sight of the +pool she fell into?" + +"No. The banks are high there, and you can't see down into the pool +unless you go to the very edge of the precipice. I did it once, to look +at the waterfall, and I very nearly joined it. It's a nasty giddy place, +though why one should feel inclined to throw oneself down I can't +imagine; but it seems a natural instinct, and it's certainly easier to go +down than up." + +"It appears almost miraculous that she wasn't drowned," said Gimblet. +"She certainly can have been in no fit state to bear the events that +followed." + +"No, indeed. She has lost everything: father, family and lover at one +blow. You know Lord Ashiel said she was his daughter, and told her he'd +made a will leaving everything to her. For that matter the lawyers say he +didn't--not that I should ever believe anything a lawyer said. They +always mean something you wouldn't expect from their words. They do it, I +believe, to keep in practice for trials, you know, where they have to +make the witnesses say what they don't mean, poor things. And what I +shall have put into my mouth by them, if I'm called as a witness against +poor David, doesn't bear thinking of. But the Lord knows what Ashiel did +with the will, and, as I was saying, it can't be found." + +"So I heard," said Gimblet "You talk of being called as a witness, Lady +Ruth. Do you know anything about the case? Where were you when the shot +was fired?" + +"Oh no," she said, "I shouldn't have anything to tell, but I don't +suppose that will matter. They'll twist and turn my words till I find +myself saying I saw him do it with my own eyes. My poor dear husband, +when I first met him, was an eminent Q.C., as you may know, Mr. Gimblet, +so I have a very good idea what they're like. I refused him point-blank +when he proposed, but he proved to me in three minutes that I'd really +accepted him; and it was the same thing ever after. A wonderfully +brilliant man, though slightly trying at times, especially in church, +where he always snored so unnecessarily loud--or so it seemed to me. I +often think deafness has its compensations, though I'm sure I ought to be +thankful at my age that my hearing is still so acute. However, I didn't +hear the shot the other night, but the castle walls are thick even in +that detestable modern addition, and besides, Julia Romaninov has got +such a tremendously powerful voice,'' + +"Were you talking to her?" + +"Oh dear no! I was playing patience, and she was singing, while Miss +Tarver murdered the accompaniment. We little thought at the time that +some one else was murdering poor Ashiel while we were sitting there in +peace. I must say that girl sings remarkably well, and it was a pity +there was no one who could play for her. Though it wasn't for want of +practice on Miss Tarver's part. The moment we were out of the +dining-room she would sit down at the piano, and they would neither of +them stop till bedtime." + +"Had they both been playing and singing all that evening?" + +"Yes, they hadn't ceased for a moment, and I found it prevented the Demon +from coming out, as I couldn't help counting in time with the music. It +was all right when it was one, two, three, but common time muddled it +dreadfully, though now I come to think of it, Julia was not actually in +the room when we heard the bad news. She'd gone upstairs to look for a +song or something. Of course there's no legal proof that Juliet really is +his child," Lady Ruth continued; "she admits that he was rather vague +about it, fancied a resemblance, in fact. Not that I or anyone else had +any notion he had been married as a young man, but that's a thing he +would be likely to be right about. I must say Mark has behaved extremely +well about it, even quixotically. He wanted her to take his inheritance, +and when she refused--and of course she couldn't decently do otherwise-- +I'm blessed if he didn't ask her to marry him." + +Gimblet looked up with more interest than he had yet shown. + +"Do you mean to say he proposed that, merely as a way out of the +difficulty?" + +"Well, more or less. I don't say he isn't attracted by the pretty face of +her, as much as his cousin was; privately I think he is, but I don't +really know. Anyhow, it certainly would be a very good solution; but it +was tactless of him to suggest it with David at the foot of the gallows, +poor boy." + +"She didn't tell me that," murmured Gimblet. + +At that moment Juliet came into the room, and they talked of other +things. + +"I hear the post is gone," Gimblet said presently. "I particularly wanted to catch it. I suppose there is no means of posting a letter now?" + +The last train had gone south by that time, however, so there was nothing +to be done till the next day. + +He retired again to his room and gave himself up to his correspondence. + +First a long letter to Macross in Glasgow, begging for the loan of prints +of the photographs taken by the police during their visit, together with +any details they might see fit to impart as to their observations and +conclusions. "I have arrived so late on the scene that you have left me +nothing to do," he wrote deceitfully. "But for the interest of the case I +should like to have a look at the photographs." + +He did not expect to get much help from Macross. + +Then he took from his pocket the pill-box in which he had stored the dust +so carefully collected in the gunroom. He wrapped it carefully in paper, +and addressed the small parcel to an expert analyst in Edinburgh. He +wrote one more letter, and then went downstairs again. + +The dressing-bell sounded as he opened his door, and at the foot of the +staircase he met the two ladies on their way to dress. + +"Dinner is at eight, Mr. Gimblet," Lady Ruth told him. + +"I was just coming to find you," Gimblet answered her. "I want to ask if +you would mind my not coming down? I am subject to very bad headaches +after a long journey; and, as I want particularly to be up early +to-morrow, I think the best thing I can do is to go straight to bed and +sleep it off. It is poor sort of behaviour for a detective, I am aware, +but I hope you will forgive it." + +"You must certainly go to bed if you feel inclined to," said Lady Ruth; +"but you will have some dinner in your room, will you not? They shall +bring you up the menu." + +"No, really, thanks, I shall be better without anything. I know how to +treat these heads of mine by now, I assure you, and I won't have anything +to eat till to-morrow morning. The only thing I need is quiet and sleep. +If you will be so very kind as to give orders that I shall not be +disturbed...." + +"Of course, of course," said his hostess, full of concern. "And you must +let me give you an excellent remedy for headaches. It was given me years +ago by dear old Sir Ronald Tompkins, that famous specialist, you know, +who always ordered every one to roll on the floor after meals, and I +invariably keep a bottle by me." + +And she hurried off to fetch it. + +Gimblet accepted it gratefully, and as he passed a hand across his aching +brow said he felt sure it would do him good. + +Once again within his own room, however, the detective's headache seemed +to have miraculously vanished, and he showed himself in no hurry to go to +bed. Instead, having locked the door and drawn down the blind, he sat +down in an arm-chair and gave himself up to reflection. Mentally he +rehearsed the facts of the case as far as they were known to him, and was +obliged to admit that he found several of them very puzzling. + +There were other problems, too, not directly connected with the murder, +of which he could not at present make head or tail. For instance, where +was he to find the documents which he knew it was Lord Ashiel's wish he +should take charge of. He had promised that he would do so, and the +recollection of his failure to guard the first thing the dead peer had +entrusted him with made him the more determined that he would carry out +the remainder of his promise. But how was he to begin his search? He had +so little to go on, and he dared not hint to anyone what he wished to +find. Yet, if he delayed, it was possible that young Ashiel would come +across the papers in his hunt for his uncle's will, and Gimblet felt +there was danger in their falling into the hands of anyone but himself. + +He took out his notebook and studied the dying words of his unfortunate +client. + +"Gimblet--the clock--eleven--steps." Or was it steppes? + +Considering that he had lived in dread of a blow which should descend on +him out of Russia, the last seemed the more likely. + +There was the strange circumstance of the body's being found by the +police in a position differing from that described by those who first saw +it. Young Ashiel, Juliet and the butler all agreed that it had fallen +forward on to the blotting-book in the middle of the table; but Mark had +told him that on his return with the police the attitude had been +changed. Had he been mistaken? Macross's photographs would show. But if +not, and the murdered man had really shifted his position, what did it +prove? That they had been wrong in thinking him dead? The doctor's +evidence was that the wound he had received must have been instantly +fatal, or almost instantly. Then some one must have moved the body, and +who but David knew where the key of the room had been put away? But why +should David have moved him? + +Then there was the letter which had come two days after the murder; the +letter written in French and posted in Paris, but probably not written by +a Frenchman, and so timed as to reach its destination too late. Was it +intentionally delayed, or would Lord Ashiel's death come as an entire +surprise to the writer? It certainly would, if the police were right, and +Sir David Southern guilty of his uncle's death. + +But was he guilty? Gimblet thought not. + +These and other questions occupied the detective's mind so completely +that half an hour passed like a flash, and it was only when the noise of +the dinner-bell broke in upon his meditations that he roused himself and +pulled out his watch. Then he sat upright, and listened. + +His room was above the drawing-room, and he could hear Lady Ruth's clear, +rather high voice mingling with the deep tones of a man's, in a confused, +murmuring duet which after a few moments died away and was followed by +the distant sound of a closing door. + +It was not difficult to deduce from these sounds that Lord Ashiel had +arrived, and that the little party of three had gone in to dinner. + +It was half an hour more before Gimblet rose, and walked quietly over to +the window. He drew the blind cautiously aside and looked out. Already +the days were growing shorter, and the little house, embowered in trees, +and shut in by a tall hill from the western sky, was nearly completely +engulfed in darkness. Below him, on the right, he could just discern the +top of the porch, and beyond it a faint glow of light rose from the +window of the dining-room. + +It did not need a very remarkable degree of activity to clamber from the +window to the porch, and so down to the ground. To Gimblet it was as easy +as going downstairs. In two minutes he was stealing away under the trees +in the direction of Inverashiel Castle. + +"The worst of this Highland air," he said to himself as he walked along, +"is that it makes one so fearfully hungry, even here on the West Coast. I +could have done very nicely with my dinner. But such is life. And it's +lucky I am not entirely without provisions." + +So saying, he took a box of chocolates from his pocket and began to +demolish the contents. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +By the time he reached the castle, the night was dark indeed. He +approached it by the path along the burn, and felt his way cautiously up +the steep zigzags of the hill, and past the servants' quarters, where a +dog barked and gave him an uneasy minute till he found that it was tied +up, and that the noise which issued from a brilliantly lighted +window--which he guessed to be the servants' hall--did not cease or +diminish on account of it. + +There were no other lights to be seen, and he edged his way round to the +front of the house, which loomed very black and mysterious against the +liquid darkness of the moonless sky. A little wind had risen, and the +sound of a million leaves rustling gently on the trees of the woods +around was added to the distant murmur of the burn, so that the night +seemed full of noises, and every bush alive and watching. + +Keeping on the grass, and with every precaution of silence, Gimblet crept +along till he thought he was outside the drawing-room. + +It did not take him long to find the window he had left unlatched that +afternoon, but it was an anxious moment till he made sure that no one had +noticed it and that it was yet unfastened. If a careful housemaid had +discovered it and shut it, he would have to begin housebreaking in +earnest. Luckily it opened easily at his touch, and he lost no time in +climbing in, though it was rather a tight squeeze through the narrow +imitation Gothic mullions, and he was thankful there were no bars as in +the library. + +He had more than once during his career found himself obliged to enter +other people's houses in this unceremonious, not to say burglarious +fashion. But it was always an exciting experience; and his heart beat a +trifle faster than usual as he stood motionless by the window, straining +his ears for the sound of any movement on the part of the household. +Nothing stirred, however, and by the help of an occasional gleam from his +pocket electric torch Gimblet made his way to the door, and through the +deserted house to the distant passage leading to the old tower. Once +inside the library he breathed more freely, and when, after holding his +breath for some minutes, he had made certain that the absolute silence of +the place continued unbroken by any suspicion of noise, he felt safer +still. His first act was to draw the curtains, and to fasten them +together in the middle with a large safety-pin he had brought for the +purpose. Then, secure from observation, he switched on his torch, placed +it on the table with its back to the window, and set about what he had +come to do. + +As he had not failed to observe, earlier in the day, the book-lined walls +of the library were broken, opposite the window, by a panelled alcove +where a small table stood, beyond which, against the wall, was a very +large and tall grandfather's clock of black and gold lacquer, in +imitation of the Chinese designs so popular in the eighteenth century. + +Among Lord Ashiel's last words, "The clock" had been uttered immediately +after the detective's own name. No doubt they formed part of a message he +wished to convey; and, though they might refer to any clock in or out of +the house, it seemed to Gimblet worth while to begin his investigations +with the one nearest at hand, and he turned his attention to it without +loss of time. + +Gimblet was a connoisseur of the antique, and a few minutes' examination +proved to him that this was a genuine old clock, untouched by the +restorer's hand, and in an excellent state of preservation. The works +appeared all right as far as he could make out, but through the narrow +half-moon of glass, so often inserted in the cases of old clocks for the +purpose of displaying the pendulum, that article was not to be seen, and +he found that it was missing from inside the case, as were also the +weights, so that it was impossible to set it going. There was one odd +thing about it, which the detective had already remarked: it was firmly +fixed to the wall by large screws, and he thought that there must be some +opening through the back into a receptacle contrived in the panelling +behind it. The case was so large that he was able to get inside it, and +examine inch by inch the wood of the interior, which was lacquered a +plain black. + +But his most careful tappings and testings could discover no hidden +spring, nor, even by the help of the electric torch--which he passed all +over the smooth surfaces of the walls--could he discern the slightest +join or crack. Could there be a hiding place up among the wheels of the +motionless works? His utmost endeavours could discover none. The clock +was fully eight feet high, but with the help of a stool, which he put +inside on the floor of the case, he was able to explore even the topmost +corners. All to no purpose. + +Presently he abandoned that field of research, replaced the stool whence +he had taken it, and gave his attention to the surrounding walls. He +examined each panel with the most painstaking care, but could find +nothing. There was no sign of secret drawer or cupboard anywhere. + +It was disappointing, and he drew back, baffled for the moment + +"The clock--eleven--steps." + +What was the connection between those broken words? + +If eleven o'clock had anything to do with the answer to the riddle, it +could not refer to this particular clock, which pointed unwaveringly to +thirteen minutes past four. Could it be possible that at eleven there +appeared some change in its countenance? Was it controlled by some +invisible mechanism? Well, if so, he would witness the transformation, +but such a solution did not seem likely. Was there no other meaning +applicable to the words? He would try the last ones and assume that +eleven steps from somewhere, the clock, probably, would bring him to the +hiding-place where the precious papers had been deposited. + +Placing his heel against the bottom of the black-and-gold case, he walked +forward for eleven paces, which brought him right into the bow of the +window. Here he bent down, and, with the torch in one hand, and a small +magnifying lens that he was never without in the other, searched the +floor eagerly for some join in the boards, which should denote the edge +of a trap-door or an opening of some sort. + +He could find none. + +Again and again he tried, till at last he had examined the whole flooring +of the embrasure of the window. + +No other part of the room was wide enough to allow him to take eleven +steps, and he reluctantly came to the conclusion that he must be on the +wrong tack. + +There seemed no more to do but to wait till eleven should strike, in the +faint hope that something would happen then; and Gimblet sat down in one +of the large arm-chairs and prepared for an hour's lonely vigil. He put +his lamp in his pocket and sat in the dark, for he had an uneasy feeling +that Mark might return from the cottage and catch him pursuing his +investigations in a way which might not appeal to the average +householder. True, it seemed unlikely that anyone would come so late to +that side of the castle; but one never knew, and the thought of being +caught at his housebreaking added to the irritation produced by the +failure of his search. + +"The clock--eleven--steppes." What had Lord Ashiel been trying to say? +Why in the world had he put off writing till so late? These and like +questions Gimblet asked himself fretfully, as he waited, curled in a deep +arm-chair among the black shapes of furniture which loomed around him, +indefinite and almost invisible, even to eyes accustomed to the darkness, +as his now were. + +Suddenly he raised his head and listened, holding his breath in strained +attention. He had caught the sound of distant footsteps. + +In an instant he was up and had leapt to the window, where his fingers +fumbled with the safety-pin that held the curtains together. No tell-tale +mark of his presence must be left. + +But where should he hide? The sounds were becoming more distinct every +second; no escape seemed possible. There was no help for it, and he was +bound to be discovered; he must put as good a face on it as he could +contrive. The person approaching might, after all, not come into the +library, but go back again along the passage. It might only be some one +coming to see that the door to the garden was properly bolted. + +These thoughts flashed through the detective's mind so quickly as to +be practically simultaneous, and then almost at the same moment he +realized that the footsteps did not come from the passage at all, but +from under the room he was waiting in. In a flash he had grasped the +full significance of this unexpected fact, and was tiptoeing across +to the door. + +The handle turned noiselessly in his fingers, thanks to the precaution he +had taken of oiling it, and he slipped outside. + +In the dark and empty passage he took to his heels and ran swiftly back +to the drawing-room, nor paused till he was outside on the lawn once +more. There he hung for an instant in the wind; bearings must be taken, +the nearest way to the enclosed garden decided on, any dangerous reefs +that lay on the way steered clear of. Then he was off again on the new +tack. This led him round to the back of the holly hedge, and the arched +opening by the gardeners' tool-shed. + +He turned in under it and sped silently over the turf, till he found +himself outside the door to the old tower. From the library window a +narrow shaft of light was issuing out on to the flower-bed. + +Gimblet took off his coat and threw it on to the bed. He put a foot upon +one sleeve, and, stooping down, spread the other out in front of him as +far as it would go. Then he stepped upon that one and twisted the coat +round under him to repeat the process. In this way he arrived under the +window without leaving any imprint of his boots upon the soft earth. Once +there he raised himself cautiously and peered into the room. + +By the writing-table, and so close to him that he could almost have +touched her if they had not been separated by the glass, stood a +young woman. + +She held a little electric lantern, much like his own, in her left hand, +while with the other she turned over the leaves of a bundle of papers. An +open drawer in the writing-table betrayed whence they had been taken; and +she was so entirely engrossed in what she was about that the detective +felt little fear of being noticed by her, concealed as he was in the +outer darkness. + +He saw that she was short and slight, with a beautiful little head set +gracefully upon her upright slender figure. Her expression was proud and +self-contained, but the large dark eyes that glowed beneath long black +lashes were in themselves striking evidence of a passionate nature +sternly repressed, and an eloquent contradiction to the firm, tightly +compressed lips. Here, thought Gimblet, was a nature which might pursue +its object with cold and calculating tenacity, and then at the last +moment let the prize slip through its fingers at some sudden call upon +the emotions. + +For the time being her thoughts were evidently fixed upon her present +purpose, to the exclusion of all considerations such as might have been +expected to obtrude themselves upon the mind of a young girl engaged in a +nocturnal raid. The dark solitude, the lateness of the hour, the +surreptitious manner of her entry into the room, all these, which might +well have occasioned some degree of nervousness in the coolest of +housebreakers, appeared to produce, in her, nothing of the sort. As +calmly as if she were sitting by her own bedside, she examined the +documents in Lord Ashiel's bureau, sorting and folding the contents of +one drawer after another as if it were the most commonplace thing in the +world to go over other people's private papers in the dead of night. + +And what was she looking for? + +Gimblet felt no doubt on that subject. This could surely be no other than +Julia, the adopted daughter of Countess Romaninov, whom Lord Ashiel had +for so long supposed to be his daughter. In some way or other she must +have discovered the problematic relationship, and now she was hunting for +proof of her birth, or perhaps for the will which should deprive her of +her inheritance. It was even possible that the dead peer had been +mistaken, and that Julia was indeed his daughter and not unaware of the +fact. But what was she doing here, and where did she come from? Surely +Juliet had told him that all the guests had left the castle. + +Gimblet had never seen her before; but, as he watched her slow +deliberate movements and quick intelligent eyes, he had an odd feeling +that they were already acquainted. She reminded him of some one; how, he +couldn't say. Perhaps it was the features, perhaps merely the +expression, but if they had never previously met, at least he must have +seen some one she resembled. Rack his brains as he might, he could not +remember who it was. He put the thought aside. Sooner or later the +recollection would come to him. + +The night was a warm one, and Gimblet felt no need for his coat, though +he was a little uneasy lest his white shirt should show up against the +dark background if she should chance to look out. Behind him the trees in +the wood stirred noisily and untiringly in the wind, and from time to +time an owl cried out of the gloom; but no sound from within the castle +reached his ears throughout the long hour during which he stood watching +while deftly and methodically the young lady in the library went about +her business. He wondered if this girl, who stealthily, in the night, by +the gleam of a pocket lantern, was engaged in such questionable +employment, were unwarrantably ransacking the belongings of her former +host, or believed herself to be exercising a daughter's right in going +over the papers of a dead parent. + +The time came when the last paper was examined, the last drawer quietly +pushed back into its place; then, with every sign of disappointment, she +slowly rose, and taking up her torch made the tour of the room as if +debating whether she had not left some corner unexplored. But the library +was scantily furnished, apart from the books that lined the walls, and +though she drew more than one volume from its place, and thrust a hand +into the back of the shelf, it was with a dispirited air. Soon, with a +glance at her watch, she abandoned the search, and slowly and +hesitatingly moved in the direction of the door and laid her fingers upon +the handle. + +She did not turn it, however, but stood irresolute, her eyes on the +floor. After a moment of indecision, the detective saw her mouth compress +firmly, and with a quick movement of the head, as if she were shaking +herself free from some persistent and troublesome thought, she turned +and walked deliberately towards the alcove at the end of the room. + +"Now," thought Gimblet, "we shall see where the secret door is +concealed." + +Judge of his surprise and excitement, when the girl stopped before the +tall case of the lacquered clock and, opening it, stepped inside and drew +the door to behind her. For five minutes, with nose pressed to the pane +of the window, the detective waited, expecting her to reappear; then an +idea struck him, and he clapped his hand against his leg in his +exasperation at not having guessed before. + +He turned immediately, and using the same precautions as before made +good his retreat, and returned by way of the drawing-room window to +the library. + +All was silent there, and the empty room displayed no sign of its +nocturnal visitors. Gimblet did not hesitate. He went straight to the +clock and pulled open the door. The black interior was as empty and bare +as when he had previously examined it, but he betrayed neither +astonishment nor doubt as to his next action. + +Stooping down he ran his hand over the painted wooden flooring. As he +expected, his fingers encountered a small knob in one of the corners, +and he had no sooner pressed it when the whole bottom of the case fell +suddenly away beneath his touch. As he stretched down the hand that held +the electric torch, the light fell upon an open trap-door and the +topmost step of a narrow flight of stairs, which descended into the +thickness of the wall. + +Gimblet stepped into the case, and lowered himself quickly through the +hole at the bottom. + +The stairs proved to be but a short flight, ending in a low passage, +which wound away through the wall of the ancient building. The +detective felt little doubt that it led to another concealed opening in +some distant part of the castle. But he had other things to think of +for the moment. + +"The clock--eleven--steps." The meaning of Lord Ashiel's dying words was, +he thought, plain enough now. + +Running up the stairs again, he descended more slowly, counting the +treads as he went. + +There were fifteen. + +Gimblet bent down and held his torch so that the light fell bright upon +the eleventh step. + +It presented identically the same appearance as the rest, the rough-hewn +stone dipping slightly in the middle as if many feet had trodden it in +the course of the centuries which had elapsed since it was first placed +there, but in every respect the worn surface resembled those of the steps +above and below it, as far as Gimblet could see. + +He tapped it, and it gave forth the same sound as its neighbours. Then he +lowered the torch and ran its beams along the front of the step; high up, +under the overhanging edge of the tread above it, it seemed as if there +were a flaw or crack in the stone. He knocked upon it, and it gave back a +different sound to the stone around it. + +Clearly it was wood, not stone, though so cleverly painted to imitate its +surroundings that it was a thousand to one against anyone ever noticing +it; and yes, there was a little circular depression in the middle of it. +Gimblet's thumb pressed heavily against the place, and immediately there +was a click, and a long narrow drawer flew out. + +In it lay a single sheet of paper, and Gimblet's fingers shook with +excitement as he drew it forth. + +A moment's pause while he perused the writing upon it, and then the +exultation on his face dwindled away. He could perceive no meaning in +these apparently random sentences. + +"Remember that where there's a way there's a will. Face curiosity and +take the bull by the horn." + +Was this the cipher, of which he had never received the key? The papers +he had hoped to find must be hidden elsewhere. No doubt in some place +whose whereabouts was indicated, if he could only understand it, by the +incomprehensible message he held. + +He stared at it for some minutes in an endeavour to find the translation; +then, reflecting that this was neither the time nor place for deciphering +cryptograms, he placed it carefully in an inner pocket, and after a hasty +exploration of the passage beyond which did not reveal anything +interesting except from an archaeological point of view, he thoughtfully +mounted to the room above. + +Closing the trap-door, and making sure that everything in the library was +left as he had found it, Gimblet made his exit from the castle in the +same manner as he had entered it, and groped his silent way home through +the darkness. + +A convenient creeper made it easy to climb on to the porch of Lady Ruth's +house, now wrapped in peaceful slumber; and so in at his own window once +more. The noise of the wind, which had now freshened to the strength of +half a gale, drowned any sound of his return, and he lost no time in +getting to bed and to sleep. The puzzle must keep till to-morrow. It was +one of Gimblet's rules to take proper rest when it was at all possible, +for he knew that his work suffered if he came to it physically exhausted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Gimblet was up early next morning, refreshed by a sound and +dreamless sleep. + +For two hours before breakfast he wrestled with the cryptic message on +the sheet of paper, trying first one way and then another of solving the +riddle it presented, but still finding no solution. He was silent and +preoccupied during the morning meal, replying to inquiries as to his +headache, alternately, with obvious inattention and exaggerated +gratitude. Neither of the ladies spoke much, however, and his +absent-mindedness passed almost unnoticed. + +Lord Ashiel was to be buried that day. Before they left the dining-room +sombre figures could be seen striding along the high road towards +Inverashiel: inhabitants of the scattered villages, and people from the +neighbouring estates, hurrying to show their respect to the dead peer for +the last time. + +The tragic circumstances of the murder had aroused great excitement all +over the countryside, and a large gathering assembled at the little +island at the head of the loch, where the McConachans had left their +bones since the early days of the youth of the race. + +From the surrounding glens, from distant hills and valleys, and even from +far-away Edinburgh and Oban, came McConachans, to render their final +tribute to the head of the clan. It was surprising to see how large was +the muster; for the most part a company of tall, thin men, with lean +faces and drooping wisps of moustache. + +To a mournful dirge on the pipes, Ashiel was laid in his rocky grave, and +the throng of black-garmented people was ferried back the way it had +come. Gimblet, wrapped to the ears in a thick overcoat, and with a silk +scarf wound high round his neck, shivered in the cold air, for the wind +had veered to the north, and the first breath of the Arctic winter was +already carried on it. The waters of the loch had turned a slaty black; +little angry waves broke incessantly over its surface; and inky black +clouds were gathering slowly on the distant horizon. It looked as if the +fine weather were at an end; as if Nature herself were mourning angrily +at the wanton destruction of her child. The pity and regret Gimblet had +felt, as he stood by the murdered man's grave, suddenly turned to a +feeling of rage, both with himself and with the victim of the crime. + +Why in the world had he not managed to guard against a danger of whose +imminence he had had full warning? And why in the name of everything that +was imbecile had Lord Ashiel, who knew much better than anyone else how +real the danger was, chosen to sit at a lighted window, and offer so +tempting a target to his enemy? + +Suddenly, in the midst of his musings, a sound fell on the detective's +ear; a voice he had heard before, low and musical, and curiously +resonant. He looked in the direction from which it came and saw two +people standing together, a little apart, in the crowd of those waiting +at the water's edge for a craft to carry them ashore. There were only two +or three boats; and, though the ghillies bent to their oars with a will, +every one could not cross the narrow channel which divided the island +from the mainland at one and the same time. A group had already formed on +the beach of those who were not the first to get away, and among these +were the two figures that had attracted Gimblet's attention. + +They were two ladies, who stood watching the boats, which had landed +their passengers and were now returning empty. + +The nearest to him, a tall woman of ample proportions, was visibly +affected by the ceremony she had just witnessed, and dabbed from time to +time at her eyes with a handkerchief. + +But it was her companion who interested him. She was short and slender; +her slightness accentuated by the long dress of black cloth and the small +plain hat of the same colour which she wore. A thick black veil hung down +over her face and obscured it from his view, but about her general +appearance there was something strangely familiar. In a moment Gimblet +knew what it was, and where he had seen her before. He had caught sight, +in her hand, of a little bag of striped black satin with purple pansies +embroidered at intervals upon it. Just such a bag had lain upon the table +of his flat in Whitehall a few weeks ago, on the day when its owner had +stolen the envelope entrusted to him by Lord Ashiel. + +"It is she," breathed the detective, "the widow!" + +And for one wild moment he was on the point of accosting her and +demanding his missing letter. Wiser counsels prevailed, however, and he +moved away to the other side of the small group of mourners gathered on +the stony beach. + +When he ventured to look at her again, it was over the shoulder of a +stalwart Highlander, whose large frame effectually concealed all of the +little detective except his hat and eyes. A further surprise was in store +for him. The lady had lifted her veil and displayed the features of the +girl he had watched in the library on the preceding night. + +Gimblet had seen enough. He turned away, and found Juliet at his elbow. + +She would have passed him by, absorbed in her sorrow for the father she +had found and lost in the space of one short hour, but he laid her hand +upon her arm. + +"Tell me," he begged, "who are those two ladies waiting for the boat?" + +Juliet's eyes followed the direction of his own. + +"Those," she said, "are Mrs. Clutsam and Miss Julia Romaninov." + +"Ah," Gimblet murmured. "They were among your fellow-guests at the +castle, weren't they?" + +"Yes." + +Juliet's reply was short and a little cold. She could not understand why +the detective should choose this moment to question her on trivial +details. It showed, she considered, a lamentable lack of tact, and +involuntarily she resented it. + +"But surely you told me that every one had left Inverashiel," persisted +Gimblet, unabashed. + +He seemed absurdly eager for the information. No doubt, Juliet reflected +bitterly, he admired Julia. Most men would. + +"Mrs. Clutsam lives in another small house of my father's, near here," +she replied stiffly. "She asked Miss Romaninov to stay with her for a +few days till she could arrange where to go to. This disaster naturally +upset every one's plans." + +"She has a beautiful face," said Gimblet. "Who would think--" he +murmured, and stopped abruptly. + +"Perhaps you would like me to introduce you?" + +Juliet spoke with lofty indifference, but the dismay in Gimblet's tone as +he answered disarmed her. + +"On no account," he cried, "the last thing! Besides, for that matter," he +added truthfully, "we have met before." + +"Then you will have the pleasure of renewing your acquaintance," Juliet +suggested mischievously. Gimblet had shown himself so genuinely aghast +that her resentful suspicions had vanished. + +"I expect to have an opportunity of doing so," he agreed seriously. "That +young lady," he went on in a low, confidential tone, "played a trick on +me that I find it hard to forgive. I look forward, with some +satisfaction, to the day when the laugh will be on my side. I admit I +ought to be above such paltry considerations, but, what would you? I +don't think I am. But please don't mention my presence to her, or her +friend. I imagine she has not so far heard of it." + +"I won't if you don't like," said Juliet. "I don't suppose I shall +see them to speak to. But why do you feel so sure she doesn't know +you are here?" + +"Oh, how should she?" Gimblet returned evasively. "I don't suppose my +presence would appear worth commenting upon to anyone but yourself or +Lord Ashiel, unless Lady Ruth should mention it." + +"I don't think she will," said Juliet. "She said she could not speak to +anyone to-day, and she and Mark have gone off together in his own boat. +I said I would walk home." + +"Won't you drive with me?" Gimblet suggested. + +He had hired a "machine" from the distant village of Inverlegan to carry +him to and from the funeral. But Juliet preferred to walk, finding in +physical exercise the only relief she could obtain from the aching +trouble that oppressed and sickened her. + +Gimblet drove back alone to the cottage. He had much to occupy his +thoughts. + +Once back in his room he turned his mind to the writing on the +sheet of paper. + +"Remember that where there's a way there's a will. Face curiosity and +take the bull by the horn." + +The message, as Gimblet read it, was as puzzling as if it had been +completely in cipher. + +If certain of the words possessed some arbitrary meaning to which the key +promised by Lord Ashiel would have furnished the solution, there seemed +little hope of understanding the message until the key was found. The +word "way," for instance, might stand for another that had been +previously decided on, and if rightly construed probably indicated the +place where the papers were concealed. "Will," "face," "curiosity," +"bull" and "horn" were likely to represent other very different words, or +perhaps even whole sentences. + +Without the key it was hopeless to search along that line; such search +must end, as it would begin, in conjecture only. He would see if anything +more promising could be arrived at by taking the message as it was and +assuming that all the words bore the meaning usually attributed to them. +For more than an hour Gimblet racked his brains to read sense into the +senseless phrases, and at the end of that time was no wiser than at the +beginning. + +"Where there's a way there's a will." Was it by accident or design that +the order in which the words way and will were placed was different from +the one commonly assigned to them? Had Lord Ashiel made a mistake in +arranging the message? Or did the "will" refer to his will and testament? +If so, why should he take so roundabout a way of designating it? +Doubtless because something more important than the will was involved; +indeed, if anything was clear, from the ambiguous sentence and the +precaution that Ashiel had taken that though it fell into the hands of +his enemies it should convey nothing to them, it was that he considered +the mystification of the uninitiated a matter of transcendental +importance. It was plain he contemplated the possibility of the Nihilists +knowing where to look for his message; and at the thought Gimblet shifted +uneasily in his chair, remembering his first encounter with their +representative. + +"Face curiosity and take the bull by the horn." Perhaps those words, as +they stood, contained some underlying sense, which at present it was hard +to read in them. What it was, seemed impossible to guess. To take the +bull by the horn, is a common enough expression, and might represent no +more than a piece of advice to act boldly; on the whole that was not +likely, for would anyone wind up such a carefully veiled communication +with so trite and everyday a saying, or finish such an obscure message +with so ordinary a sentiment? + +"Face curiosity," however, was perhaps a direction how to proceed. The +only trouble was to know what in the world it meant! + +Whose curiosity was to be faced? The behaviour of members of a Nihilist +society could hardly be said to be impelled by that motive. Gimblet could +not see that anyone else had shown any symptom of it. Had "curiosity," +then, some other meaning? + +The detective, as has been said, was an amateur of the antique. When not +at work, a great part of his time was passed in the neighbourhood of +curiosity shops, and the merchandise they dealt in immediately occurred +to him in connection with the word. + +Did the dead man refer to some peculiarity of the ancient keep? Was +there, perhaps, the figure or picture of a bull within the castle whose +horn pointed to the ultimate place of concealment? It would have seemed, +Gimblet thought, that the hidden receptacle in the secret stair was +difficult enough to find; but the reason the papers were not placed in +there was plain to him after a minute's reflection. It was doubtless +because they were too bulky to be contained in the shallow drawer. At all +events, there was certainly another hiding-place; and, on the whole, the +best plan seemed to be to see if the castle could produce any curiosity +that would offer a solution of the problem. + +To the castle, accordingly, he went, and asked to see Lord Ashiel. He was +shown into the smoking-room, where Mark was kneeling on the hearth-rug +surrounded by piles of folded and docketed papers. The door of a small +cupboard in the wall beside the fireplace stood open, revealing a row of +deep shelves stacked with the same neat packets. + +"Still hunting for the will, you see," he said, looking up as Gimblet +entered, "I'm beginning to give up hope of finding it, but it's a mercy +to have something to do these days." + +"Rather a tedious job, isn't it?" said the detective, looking down at the +musty tape-bound bundles. + +"Well, it gives one rather a kink in the back after a time," Mark +admitted. "But I shan't feel easy in my mind till I've looked through +everything, and I'm getting a very useful idea of the estate accounts in +the meantime. It _is_ rather a long business, but I'm getting on with it, +slow but sure. There are such a fearful lot." + +"Are all these cupboards full of papers?" Gimblet asked, looking round +him at the numerous little doors in the panelling. + +"Stuffed with them, every blessed one of them," Mark replied rather +gloomily. "And the worst of it is, I'm pretty certain they're nothing but +these dusty old bills and letters. But there's nowhere else to look, and +I know he kept nearly everything here." + +Gimblet sauntered round the room, pulling open the drawers and peeping in +at the piles of documents. + +"What an accumulation!" he remarked. "None of these cupboards are locked, +I see," he added. + +"No, he never locked anything up," said Mark. "I've heard him boast he +never used a key. Do you know, if one had time to read them, I believe +some of these old letters might be rather amusing. It looked as if my +grandfather and his fathers had kept every single one that ever was +written to them. I've just come across one from Raeburn, the painter, and +I saw another, a quarter of an hour ago, from Lord Clive." + +"Really," said Gimblet eagerly, "which cupboard were they in? I should +like to see them immensely some time." + +"They were in this one," said Mark, pointing to the shelves +opposite him. + +Gimblet stood facing it, and looked hopefully round him in all directions +for anything like a bull. There was nothing, however, to suggest such an +animal, and he reflected that interesting though these old letters might +be it would be going rather far to refer to them as curiosities. Suddenly +an idea struck him. + +"I suppose you haven't come across anything concerning a Papal Bull?" +he inquired. + +"No," said Mark, looking up in surprise. "It's not very likely I should, +you know." + +"No, I suppose not," said Gimblet. "Still, you old families did get hold +of all sorts of odd things sometimes, and your uncle was a bit of a +collector, wasn't he?" + +"Uncle Douglas," said Mark, "not he! He didn't care a bit for that kind +of thing. You can see in the drawing-room the sort of horrors he used to +buy. He was thoroughly early Victorian in his tastes, and ought to have +been born fifty years sooner than he was." + +"Dear me," said Gimblet. "I don't know why I thought he was rather by way +of being a connoisseur. Well, well, I mustn't waste any more time. I +wanted to ask you if you would mind my going all over the house. I may +see something suggestive. Who knows? At present I have only examined the +library and your uncle's bedroom." + +"By all means," said Mark. "Blanston will show you anything you want to +see. Oh, by the by, you like to be alone, don't you? I was forgetting. +Well, go anywhere you like; and good luck to your hunting!" + +On a writing-table in one of the bedrooms, Gimblet found a paper-weight +in the bronze shape of a Spanish toro, head down, tail brandishing, a +fine emblem of goaded rage. But there was nothing promising about the +round mahogany table on which it stood: no drawer, secret or otherwise +could all his measurings and tappings discover; the animal, when lifted +up by the horn and dangled before the detective's critical eye, +proclaimed itself modern and of no artistic merit. It was like a hundred +others to be had in any Spanish town, and by no expanding of terms could +it be considered a curiosity. + +Except for this one more than doubtful find, he drew the whole house +absolutely blank. There were very few specimens of ancient work in the +castle, which like so many other old houses had been stripped of +everything interesting it contained in the middle of the nineteenth +century, and entirely refurnished and redecorated in the worst possible +taste. With the exception of some family portraits, the lacquered clock +in the library was the one genuine survival of the Victorian holocaust, +and though Gimblet passed nearly half an hour in contemplating it he +could not see any way of connecting it with a bull, nor was he a whit the +wiser when he finally turned his back on it than he had been at the +beginning. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Blanston, to whom he appealed, could give no useful information. Yes, +some of the plate was old, but that was all at the bank in London. Mrs. +Haviland, his lordship's sister, had liked it on the table when his +lordship entertained in his London house, and it had not been carried +backwards and forwards to Scotland since her ladyship's death. + +He knew of nothing resembling a bull in his lordship's possession, unless +it was the picture of cows that hung in the drawing-room opposite the one +of the dead stag. + +Gimblet had already exhausted the possibilities of that highly varnished +oil-painting, and he went forth from the house in a state of deep +dejection. + +As he descended the drive he heard his name called, and looking back +perceived the short, sturdy figure of Lady Ruth hurrying down the road +behind him. + +"If you are going back to the cottage, Mr. Gimblet," she panted, "let us +walk together. I ran after you when I saw your hat go past the window, +for I couldn't stand those frowsty old papers of Mark's any longer." + +Gimblet waited till she came up, still talking, although considerably out +of breath. + +"We will go by the road, if you don't mind," she said, "the lochside is +rather rough for me. I have been paying a visit of charity, and very hard +work it is paying visits in the country when you don't keep a conveyance +of any kind, and I really can't afford even a donkey. You see the +Judge's income died with him, poor dear, in spite of those foolish +sayings about not being able to take your money with you to the better +land, where I am sure one would want it just as much as anywhere else, +for the better life you lead, the more expensive it is. No one could be +generous, or charitable, or unselfish, with nothing to give up or to give +away. That's only common sense, and I always say that common sense is +such a help when called upon to face problems of a religious kind. + +"My uncle was a bishop and a very learned theologian, I assure you; but +he always held that it was impious to apply plain common sense to matters +so far above us, and that is why he and my poor husband were never on +speaking terms; not from any fault of the Judge's, who had been trained +to think about logic and all that kind of thing which is so useful to +people at the Bar. + +"But it takes all sorts to make a world, as he often used to say to +himself, and if every one was exactly alike one would feel almost as +solitary as if the whole earth was empty and void, while, as for virtues +and good qualities, they would automatically cease to exist, so that a +really good man would simply long to go to hell and have some opportunity +to show his goodness. That always seemed very reasonable to me, but I am +just telling you what my husband used to say, because I really don't know +much about these things, and he was such a clever man, and what he said +was always listened to with great interest and respect at the Old Bailey. +If it hadn't been, of course he would have cleared the court. + +"But as I was telling you, his money went with him, though I know he +always meant to insure his life, which is such a boring thing to think of +when a man has many calls on his purse. And so, I live, as you see, in a +very quiet way up here, and sometimes get down to the South for a month +or six weeks in the winter, where I have many kind friends. But I find +the hills rather trying to my legs as time goes on, and I don't very +often walk as far as I have to-day. Still charity, as they say, covers a +multitude of miles, and I really thought it my duty to come and see how +poor Mark was bearing up all alone at Inverashiel. I was afraid he would +be terribly unhappy, poor boy, so soon after the funeral, and Juliet +Byrne having refused him, and everything. Though of course he can't be +pitied for inheriting Inverashiel, such a lovely place, is it not? And +quantities of property in the coal district, you know, besides. He is +really a very lucky young man." + +"It is indeed a most beautiful country," Gimblet observed, as Lady +Ruth's breath gave out completely, and she stopped by the roadside to +regain it. He was deep in thought, and glad to escape the necessity of +frequent speech. + +"Yes," she said, as they moved slowly on, "I had a delightful walk here, +and found him much more cheerful than I had feared. It is such a good +thing he has all those papers to look over. It is everything, at a time +like this, to have an occupation. It is so dreadful to think of dear +David with absolutely nothing to do in that horrid cell. I wonder if they +allow him to smoke, or to keep a tame mouse, which I remember reading is +such a comfort to prisoners. I do hope, Mr. Gimblet, that you will soon +be able to get him out of it." + +Before Gimblet could reply, the silence was broken by the rumble of +wheels; and a farmer's cart came up behind them, driven by a thin man +in a black coat, who had evidently attended the funeral earlier in the +day. The road, at the point they had reached, was beginning to ascend; +and the stout pony between the shafts slowed resolutely to a walk as he +leant against the collar. The man lifted his hat as Lady Ruth wished +him good day. + +"I saw you at the funeral, Angus McConachan," she said. "A sad business. +A terrible business." And she shook her head mournfully. + +The farmer stopped the willing pony. + +"That it is, my leddy," he assented. "It's a black day indeed, when the +heed o' a clan is struck doon by are o' his ain bleed. It's a great peety +that the lad would ha' forgot what he owed to his salt. But I'm thinkin' +they'll be hangin' him afore the year's oot." + +"Oh, Angus," cried Lady Ruth, in horrified tones, "don't talk in that +dreadful way. I'm quite, quite sure Sir David never had any part in the +thing. It's all a mistake, and this gentleman here is going to find out +who really fired the shot." + +"Well, I hope ye'll be richt, my leddy," was all the farmer would commit +himself to, as he gathered up the reins. Then he hesitated, looking down +on the hot, flushed countenance of the lady in the road beneath him. "If +yer leddyship will be tackin' a seat in the machine," he hazarded, "it'll +maybe save ye the trail up the brae." + +Lady Ruth accepted the suggestion with great content. She was getting +very tired, and was finding the walk more exhausting than she had +bargained for. She lost no time in climbing up beside Angus, and the fat +pony was induced to continue its reluctant progress. + +Near the top of the hill the road forked into two branches, that which +led to the right continuing parallel with the loch, whilst the other +diverged over the hill towards Auchtermuchty, a town some fifteen miles +distant. The stout pony unhesitatingly took the turning to the left. + +The farmer looked at Lady Ruth inquiringly. + +"Will ye get doon here, my leddy?" he asked; "or will ye drive on as far +as the sheepfold? It will be shorter for ye tae walk doon fay there, by +the burn and the Green Way." + +"I should like to do that;" said Lady Ruth, "if you don't mind taking me +so far. Perhaps you would give Mr. Gimblet a lift too, now that we're on +top of the hill?" + +The man readily consented, and Gimblet, who was following on foot, was +called and informed of the proposed change of route. He scrambled into +the back of the cart and they rattled along the upper road, the stout +pony no doubt wearing a very aggrieved expression under its blinkers. + +When another mile had been traversed, they were put down at a place where +a rough track led down across the moor by the side of an old stone +sheepfold. + +The cart jogged off to the sound of a chorus of thanks, and Lady Ruth and +Gimblet started down the heather-grown path. They rounded the corners of +the deserted fold, and walked on into the golden mist of sunset which +spread in front of them, enveloping and dazzling. The clouds of the +morning had rolled silently away to the horizon, the wind had dropped to +a mere capful; and the midges were abroad in their hosts, rejoicing in +the improvement in the weather. + +"I don't believe it's going to rain after all," said Lady Ruth. "The sun +looks rather too red, perhaps, to be quite safe, though it _is_ supposed +to be the shepherd's delight. I can only say that, if he was delighted +with the result of some of the red sunsets we get up here, he'd be easily +pleased, and for my part I'm never surprised at anything. These midges +are past belief, aren't they?" + +They were, Gimblet agreed heartily. He gathered a handful of fern and +tried to keep them at bay, but they were persevering and ubiquitous. Soon +the path led them away from the open moor, and into the wood of birches +and young oaks which clung to the side of the hill. A little farther, and +Gimblet heard the distant gurgling of a burn; presently they were picking +their way between moss-covered boulders on the edge of a rocky gully. +Great tufts of ferns dotted the steep pitch of the bank below; the stream +that clattered among the stones at the bottom shone very cool and shadowy +under the alders; and a clearing on the other side revealed, over the +receding woods, the broken hill-tops of a blue horizon. + +The path wound gradually downward to the waterside, and in a little while +they crossed it by means of a row of stepping-stones over which Lady Ruth +passed as boldly as her companion. + +Another hundred yards of shade, and they came out into a long narrow +glen, carpeted with short springy turf, and bordered, as by an avenue, +with trees knee-deep in bracken. The rectangular shape and enclosed +nature of the glade came as a surprise in the midst of the wild +woodlands. The place had more the air of forming part of pleasure grounds +near to the haunts of man, and the eye wandered instinctively in search +of a house. The effect of artificiality was increased by a large piece of +statuary representing a figure carved in stone and standing upon a high +oblong pediment, which stood a little distance down the glen. + +Gimblet did not repress his feeling of astonishment. + +"What a strange place!" he exclaimed. "Who would have expected to +find this lawn tucked away in the woods. Or is there a house +somewhere at hand?" + +"No," Lady Ruth answered, "there is nothing nearer than my cottage half a +mile away; and this short grass and flat piece of ground are entirely +natural. Nothing has been touched, except here and there a tree cut out +to keep the borders straight. The late Lady Ashiel, the wife of my +unfortunate cousin, was very fond of this place. Although it is farther, +she always walked round by it when she came to see me at the cottage. +That absurd statue was put up last year as a sort of memorial to her--a +most unsuitable one to my mind, she being a chilly sort of woman, poor +dear, who always shivered if she saw so much as a hen moulting. I'm sure +it would distress her terribly if she knew that poor creature over there +had to stand in the glen in all weathers, year in and year out, with only +a rag to cover her. And a stone rag at that, which is a cold material at +the best. Yes, this is only the beginning of a track which runs for miles +across the hills to the South. It is so green that you can always make it +out from the heights, and there are all sorts of legends about it. It is +supposed to be the road over which the clans drove back the cattle they +captured in the old days when they were always raiding each other. They +have a name for it In the Gaelic, which means the Green Way." + +"The Green Way," Gimblet repeated mechanically. For a moment his brain +revolved with wild imaginings. + +"Yes," repeated Lady Ruth. "Sometimes they call it 'The Way,' for short. +It is a favourite place for picnics from Crianan. My cousin used to allow +them to come here, and the place is generally made hideous with +egg-shells and paper and old bottles. One of the gardeners comes and +tidies things up once a week in the summer. People are so absolutely +without consciences." + +"Is there a bull here?" cried Gimblet. He was quivering with excitement. + +"Goodness gracious, I hope not!" said Lady Ruth. "Do you see any cattle? +I can't bear those long-horned Highlanders!" + +"No," said Gimblet. "I thought perhaps--But what is the statue? The +design, surely, is rather a strange one for the place." + +"Most extraordinary," assented Lady Ruth. "He got it in Italy and had it +sent the whole way by sea. It took all the king's horses and all the +king's men to get it up here, I can tell you. And, as I say, nothing +less apropos can one possibly imagine. That poor thin female with such +very scanty clothing is hardly a cheerful object on a Scotch winter's +day, and as for those little naked imps they would make anyone shiver, +even in August." + +They had drawn near the sculptured group. It consisted of the slightly +draped figure of a girl, bending over an open box, or casket, from which +a crowd of small creatures, apparently, as Lady Ruth had said, imps or +fairies, were scrambling and leaping forth. + +Gimblet gazed at it intently, as if he had never seen a statue +before. In a moment his face cleared and he turned to Lady Ruth with +burning eyes. + +"It is Pandora," he cried. "Curiosity! Pandora and her box. Is it +not Pandora?" + +Lady Ruth stared at him amazed. + +"I believe it is," she said, "that or something of the sort. I'm not very +well up in mythology." + +"Of course it is," cried Gimblet. "Face curiosity! And here's the bull, +or I'll eat my microscope," he added, advancing to the side of the group +and laying a hand upon the pedestal. + +Lady Ruth followed his gaze with some concern. She was beginning to doubt +his sanity. But there, sure enough, beneath his pointing finger, she +perceived a row of carved heads: the heads of bulls, garlanded in the +Roman manner, and forming a kind of cornice round the top of the great +rectangular stone stand. + +Gimblet glanced to right and left, up the glen and down it. There was no +one to be seen. The sun had fallen by this time beneath the rim of the +hills; a greyness of twilight was spread over the whole scene, and under +the trees the dusk of night was already silently ousting the day. He +turned once more to Lady Ruth. + +"Lady Ruth," he said, "can you keep a secret?" + +"My husband trusted me," she replied. "He was judicious as well as +judicial." + +"I am sure I may follow his example," Gimblet said, after looking at her +fixedly for a moment. "So I will tell you that I believe I am on the +point of discovering Lord Ashiel's missing will--and not that alone. +Somewhere, concealed probably within a few feet of where we are standing, +we may hope to find other and far more important documents, involving, +perhaps, not only the welfare of one or two individuals but that of +kings and nations. Apart from that, and to speak of what most immediately +concerns us at present, I am convinced that within this stone will be +found the true clue to the author of the murder." + +"You don't say so," gasped Lady Ruth, her round eyes rounder than ever. + +"I found some directions in the handwriting of the murdered man," went on +Gimblet, "which I could not understand at first. But their meaning is +plain enough now. 'Take the bull by the horn,' he says. Well, here are +the bulls, and I shall soon know which is the horn." + +He walked round to the front of the statue, so that he faced the stooping +figure of Pandora, and laid his hand upon one of the curved and +projecting horns of the left-hand bull. Nothing happened, and he tried +the next. There were seven heads in all along the face of the great block, +and he tested six of them without perceiving anything unusual. Was it +possible that he was mistaken, and that, after all, the words of the +message did not refer to the statue? + +When he grasped the first horn of the last head, the hand that did so was +shaking with excitement and suspense. It seemed, like the rest, to +possess no attribute other than mere decoration. And yet, and yet--surely +he had missed some vital point. He would go over them again. There +remained, however, the last horn, and as he took hold of it with a +premonitory dread of disappointment, he felt that it was loose in its +socket, and that he could by an effort turn it completely over. With a +triumphant cry he twisted it round, and at the same moment Lady Ruth +started back with an exclamation of alarm. + +She was standing where he had left her, and was nearly knocked down by +the great slab of stone which, as Gimblet turned the horn of the bull, +swung sharply out from the end of the pediment, till it hung like a door +invitingly open and disclosing a hollow chamber within the stone. + +Within the opening, on the floor at the far end, stood a large tin +despatch-box. + +The door was a good eighteen inches wide; plenty of room for Gimblet to +climb in, swollen with exultation though he might be. In less than three +seconds he had scrambled through the aperture and was stooping over the +box. It seemed to be locked, but a key lay on the top of the lid. He lost +no time in inserting it, and in a moment threw open the case and saw that +it was full of papers. + +Suddenly there was another cry from Lady Ruth as, for no apparent cause +and without the slightest warning, the stone door slammed itself back +into position, and he was left a prisoner in the total darkness of the +vault. He groped his way to the doorway and pushed against it with all +his strength. He might as well have tried to move the side of a mountain. +But, after an interval long enough for him to have time to become +seriously uneasy, the door flew open again, and the agitated countenance +of Lady Ruth welcomed him to the outside world. + +"Do get out quick," she cried. "If it does it again while you're half in +and half out, you'll be cracked in two as neatly as a walnut." + +Gimblet hurried out, clutching the precious box. No sooner was he safely +standing on the turf than the door shut again with a violence that gave +Pandora the appearance of shaking with convulsions of silent merriment. + +"I wasn't sure how it opened," said Lady Ruth, "but I tried all the horns +and got it right at last. How lucky I was with you!" + +"Yes, indeed," said Gimblet. "I am very thankful you were." + +They twisted the horn again, and stood together to watch the recurring +phenomenon of the closing door. + +"It must be worked by clockwork," the detective said, and taking out his +watch he timed the interval that elapsed between the opening and +shutting. "It stays open for thirty seconds," he remarked after two or +three experiments. "No doubt the mechanism is concealed in the thickness +of the stone. At all events it seems to be in good working order." + +Squatting on the grass, he opened the tin box, and examined the papers +with which it was filled. A glance showed him that they were what he +expected, and he replaced the box where he had found it, while Lady Ruth +manipulated the horn of the bull. + +"I have no right to the papers," he explained to her, as they walked +homeward in the gathering dusk. "It would be more satisfactory if a +magistrate were present at the official opening of the statue, and I will +see what can be done about that to-morrow. In the meantime, and +considering that we have been interfering with other people's property, I +shall be much obliged if you will keep our discovery secret." + +And talking in low, earnest tones, he explained to her more fully all +that was likely to be implied by the papers they had unearthed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +With her white paint and her scarlet smokestack, the _Inverashiel_--one +of the two small steamers that during the summer months plied up and +down the loch, and incidentally carried on communication between +Inverashiel and Crianan--was a picturesque addition to the landscape, +as she approached the wooden landing-stage that stood half a mile below +the promontory on which the castle was built. It was the morning of +Friday, the day following the funeral, and clouds were settling slowly +down on to the tops and shoulders of the hills in spite of the +brilliant sunset of the previous evening. The loch lay dark and still, +its surface wore an oily, treacherous look; every detail of the +_Inverashiel's_ tub-like shape was reflected and beautifully distorted +in the water, which broke in long low waves from her bows as she +swerved round to come alongside the pier. + +As the few passengers who were waiting for her crossed the short gangway, +a shower burst over the loch and in a few minutes had driven every one +into the little cabin, except the two or three men who constituted the +officers and crew of the steamer. One of these was in the act of +slackening the rope by which the boat had been warped alongside, when a +running, gesticulating figure appeared in the distance, shouting to them +to wait for him. + +Waited for accordingly he was; and in a few minutes Gimblet, rather out +of breath after his run, hurried on board, and with a word of apology and +thanks to the obliging skipper turned, like the other passengers, towards +the shelter of the cabin. + +With his hand on the knob of the door he hesitated. Through the glass top +he had just caught sight of a figure that seemed familiar. He had seen +that tweed before; the short girl with her back to him was wearing the +dress in which he had seen her on the Wednesday night, searching among +Lord Ashiel's papers in the library at the castle. It was Julia Romaninov +beyond a doubt, and Gimblet drew back quickly and took up his position +behind the funnels on the after-deck. In spite of the rain he remained +there until the boat reached Crianan, leaning against the rail with his +collar turned up and his soft felt hat pulled down over his ears, so that +little of him was visible except the tip of his nose. + +His mind, always active, was busier than usual as he watched the +ripples roll away in endless succession from the sides of the +_Inverashiel_--which looked so strangely less white on closer +inspection--or followed the smooth soaring movements of the gulls that +swooped and circled around her, as she puffed and panted on her way +across the black, taciturn waters. + +As they drew near to Crianan he concealed himself still more carefully +behind a pile of crates, and not till Miss Romaninov had left the steamer +did he emerge from his hiding-place and step warily off the boat. + +The young lady was still in sight, making her way up the steep pitch of +the main street, and the detective followed her discreetly, loitering +before shop windows, as if fascinated by the display of Scottish +homespuns, or samples of Royal Stewart tartan, and taking an +extraordinary interest in fishing-tackle and trout-flies. + +But, though the girl looked back more than once, the little man in the +ulster who was so intent on picking his way between the puddles did +not apparently provide her with any food for suspicion; and she made +no attempt to see who was so carefully sheltered beneath the umbrella +he carried. + +At last they left the cobble-stones of the little town and emerged upon +the high road, which here ran across the open moorland. + +It was difficult now to continue the pursuit unobserved: and Gimblet +became absorbed in the contemplation of an enormous cairngorm, which was +masquerading as an article of personal adornment in the window of the +last outlying shop. + +From this position--not without its embarrassments, since a couple of +barefooted children came instantly to the door, where they stood and +stared at him unblinkingly--he saw the Russian advancing at a rapid pace +across the moor; and, look where he would, could perceive no means of +keeping up with her unobserved upon the bare side of the hill. + +Just as he decided that the distance separating them had increased to an +extent which warranted his continuing the chase, he joyfully saw her +slacken her pace, and at the same moment a man, who must have been +sitting behind a boulder beside the road, rose to his feet out of the +heather, and came forward to meet her. For ten long minutes they stood +talking, driving poor Gimblet to the desperate expedient of entering the +shop and demanding a closer acquaintance with the cairngorm. It is +humiliating to relate that he recoiled before it when it was placed in +his hand, and nearly fled again into the road. However, he pulled himself +together and held the proud proprietress, a gaunt, grey-haired woman with +knitting-needles ever clicking in her dexterous hands, in conversation +upon the theme of its unique beauties until the subject was exhausted to +the point of collapse. + +Every other minute he must stroll to the door and take a look up and down +the road. A friend, he explained, had promised to meet him in that place; +and though the shopwoman plainly doubted his veracity, and kept a sharp +eye that he did not take to his heels with the cairngorm, she did not go +so far as to suggest his removing himself from the zone of temptation. + +At last, when for the twentieth time he put his nose round the doorpost, +he saw that the pair had separated, and were walking in opposite +directions, the girl continuing on her way, while the man returned to the +town. He was, indeed, not a hundred yards off. + +Gimblet plunged once more into the shop, and fastened upon some pencils +with a zeal not very convincing after his disappointing vacillation over +the brooch. The gaunt woman cheered up, however, when he bought the first +seventeen she offered him, and, the stock being exhausted, finished by +purchasing a piece of india-rubber, a stylographic pen, and a penny paper +of pins, which she pressed upon him as particularly suited to his needs +and charged him fourpence for. + +By the time he issued forth into the open air, his pockets full of +packages, the stranger had passed the shop and was turning the corner of +the next house. To him, now, Gimblet devoted his powers of shadowing. + +There was no great difficulty about it. The man walked straight before +him, looking neither to the right nor to the left, and as he strode along +the wet roads Gimblet noted with satisfaction the long, narrow, pointed +footprints that were deeply impressed in the muddy places. He had no +doubt they were the same as those he had noticed on the beach on the day +of his arrival at Inverashiel. + +The stranger turned into the Crianan Hotel, which stands on the lake +front, fifty yards from the landing-place of the loch steamers. Gimblet +passed the door without pausing and went down to the loch, where he +mingled with the boatmen and loafers who congregated by the waterside. + +He kept, however, a strict eye on the door of the hotel, and after a +quarter of an hour saw the object of his attentions emerge with +fishing-rod and basket, and cross the road directly towards him. Gimblet +had not been able to see his face before, but now he had a good look as +he passed close beside him. + +He was a tall, fair man, evidently a foreigner, but with nothing very +striking about his appearance. A pointed yellow beard hid the lower part +of his face, and, for the rest, his nose was short, his eyes blue and +close together, and his forehead high and narrow. He looked closely at +Gimblet as he went by, and for a moment the eyes of the two men met, both +equally inscrutable and unflinching; then the stranger glanced aside and +strode on to where a small boat lay moored. The detective turned his back +while the fair man got in and pushed off into the loch. + +"Gentleman going fishing?" he remarked to a man who lounged hard by upon +the causeway. + +"He's axtra fond o' the feeshin'," was the reply, "for a' that he's a +foreign shentleman." + +Waiting till the boat had become a distant speck on the face of the +waters, Gimblet made his way into the inn and entered into conversation +with the landlord, on the pretext of engaging rooms for a friend. The +landlord was sorry, but the house was full. + +"If ye wanted them in a fortnicht's time," he said, "ye could hae the +hale hotel; but tae the end o' the holidays we're foll up. Folks tak' +their rooms a month in advance; they come here for the fishin' on the +loch, and because my hoose is the maist comfortable in the Hielands." + +"Indeed, I can well believe that," Gimblet assured him. "I suppose you +get a lot of tourists passing through, though, Americans, for instance?" + +"We hardly ever hae a room tae tak' them in. No, I seldom hae an American +bidin' here; they maistly gang doon the loch," said the innkeeper. + +"I thought," said Gimblet, "that was a foreign-looking man whom I saw a +little while ago, coming out of the hotel." + +"We hae ae gintleman bidin' here wha belongs tae foreign pairts," the +landlord admitted. "A Polish gintleman, he is, Count Pretovsky, a vary +nice gintleman. I couldna just cae him a tourist. He's vary keen on the +fishin' and was up here for it last year as well. He has his ain boat and +is aye on the water trailin' aefter the salmon." + +"A great many sporting foreigners come to our island nowadays," Gimblet +remarked. "Does he get many fish?" + +"Oh, it's a grand place for salmon," said the inn-keeper with obvious +pride. "And there's troots tac. And pike, mair's the peety," he added. + +"Dear me," said Gimblet, "just what my friend wants. I'm sorry you +can't take him in. I must tell him to write in good time next year if +he wants a room." + +As he parted from the landlord upon the doorstep of the Crianan Hotel, +the _Rob Roy_--the second of the two loch steamers--was edging away from +the pier, under a cloud of black smoke from her funnel The rain had +stopped; the passengers were scattered on the deck, and in the bows of +the vessel the detective caught sight of Julia Romaninov's tweed-clad +form. She was leaning against the rail, and gazing at a distant part of +the loch where a black speck, which might represent a rowing boat, could +faintly be discerned. She had come back, then, from her moorland walk. It +was as Gimblet had expected; and, though he chafed at the delay, he +regretted less than he would have otherwise that he could not catch the +_Rob Roy_. + +The _Inverashiel_ would be due on her homeward trip in a couple of hours' +time, and meanwhile he had other business that must be attended to. + +He went first to the post office, where he registered and posted to +Scotland Yard a packet he had brought with him. Then, after asking +his way of the sociable landlord of the hotel, he proceeded to the +police station, a single-storied stone building standing at the end +of a side street. + +Here he made himself known to the inspector, and imparted information +which made that personage open his eyes considerably wider than was +his custom. + +"If you will bring one of your men, and come with me yourself," said +Gimblet, at the conclusion of the interview, "I think I shall be able to +convince you that a mistake has been made. In the meantime there will be +no harm done by a watch being kept on the foreign gentleman who is at +this moment trolling for salmon on the loch." + +The inspector agreed; and when the _Inverashiel_ started, an hour later, +on her voyage down the loch, she carried the two policemen on her deck, +as well as the most notorious detective she was ever likely to have the +privilege of conveying. + +It was nearly three o'clock when they landed on the Inverashiel pier. + +The weather, which for the last few hours had looked like clearing, had +now turned definitely to rain; clouds had descended on the hills, and the +trees in the valleys stooped and dripped in the saturated, mist-laden +air. Gimblet conducted the men to the cottage, where Lady Ruth anxiously +awaited them. + +"If you don't mind their staying here," he suggested to her, "while I go +up to the castle and consult Lord Ashiel about a magistrate, it will be +most convenient, on account of the distance." + +"By all means," said Lady Ruth. "I feel safer with them. I expect you +will find Miss Byrne up there. She has not come in to lunch, and I think +she probably met Mark and went to lunch at the castle. She ought to know +better than to go to lunch alone with a young man, and I am just +wondering if she has changed her mind and accepted him after all. Girls +are kittle cattle, but I've got quite fond of that one, and I hope she's +not forgotten poor David so soon. I really am feeling anxious about her." + +"I daresay she has only walked farther than she intended," said Gimblet, +"or perhaps she came to a burn or some place she couldn't get over, and +has had to go round a mile or two. Depend on it, that's what's happened. +But I promise you that if she is at the castle I will bring her back when +I return." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +Behind the shrubberies, which lay at the back of the holly hedge that +surrounded the little enclosed garden outside the library, beyond the +end of the battlements, and reached by a disused footpath, a great tree +stood upon the edge of the steep hillside and thrust its sweeping +branches over the void. + +Its trunk was grey and moss-grown; moss carpeted the ground between its +protruding roots, but the bracken and heather held back, and left a +half-circle beneath it, untenanted by their kind. It would seem that all +vegetation fears to venture beneath the shade of the beech; and for the +most part it stands solitary, shunned by other growing things except +moss, which creeps undaunted where its more vigorous brothers lack the +courage to establish themselves. + +Here came Juliet that morning. + +A week ago, David Southern had shown her the path to the tree. It had +been a favourite haunt of his when he was a boy, he told her. It was a +private chamber to which he resorted on the rare occasions when he was +disposed to solitude; when something had gone wrong with his world he had +been used to retire there with his dog, or, more seldom, a book. There he +had been accustomed to lie, his back supported by the tree, and hold +forth to the dog upon the troubles and difficulties of life and the +general crookedness of things; or, if a book were his companion, he +would gaze out, between the pages, at distant Crianan clinging faintly to +the knees of Ben Ghusy, and watch the swift change of passing cloud and +hanging curtain of mist upon the faces of the hills and loch. + +It had been a place all his own; secret from every one, even from Mark, +his companion during all those holidays that he had spent at Inverashiel. +Somehow, David told Juliet--and it was a confidence he had seldom before +imparted to anyone--he had never quite managed to hit it off with Mark. +He couldn't say why, exactly. No doubt it was his own fault; but there +was no accounting for one's likes and dislikes. + +And with quick regret at having betrayed his carefully suppressed +feelings in regard to his cousin, David had laughed apologetically, and +spoken of other things. + +Here, then, just as the steamer _Rob Roy_ was drawing close to the wooden +landing-stage at the edge of the loch, with Julia Romaninov still +standing in the bows; here, because she had once been to this place with +him, because without her he had so often sat upon these mossy roots, came +Juliet to dream of her love. + +Like him, she seated herself against the tree trunk at the giddy brink of +the precipitous rock; like him, her eyes rested on the smooth waters +below her, or on the far-away misty distance where Crianan slumbered; +but, unlike him, her eyes, as they looked, were filled with tears. Where +was he now? Oh, David, poor unjustly treated David! In what narrow cell, +lighted only by a high, iron-barred window--for so the scene shaped +itself in her mind--with uncovered floor of stone, bare walls and a bench +to lie on, was the man she loved wearing away his days under the burden +of so frightful an accusation? + +For the thousandth time Juliet's blood boiled within her at the +thought, and she grew hot with anger and indignant scorn. That anyone +should have dared to suspect him! Why were such fools, such wicked, +evil-working imbeciles as the police allowed to exist for one moment +upon the face of the globe? But no doubt they had some hidden motive in +arresting him, for it was quite incredible that they really imagined he +had committed this appalling crime. She could not understand their +motive, to be sure, but without doubt there must have been some reason +which was not clear to her. + +Oh, David, David! Was he thinking of her, as she was thinking of him? Did +he know, by instinct, that she would be doing all that could be done to +bring about his release? But was she? Again her mind was filled with the +disquieting question, was there nothing that might be done, that she was +leaving undone? Had she forgotten something, neglected something? She was +sure Gimblet did not believe David to be guilty, but was he certain of +being able to prove his innocence? He did not seem to have discovered +much at present. + +Suddenly, in the midst of her distress, she smiled to herself. + +At least Miss Tarver had shown herself in her true colours, and was no +more to be considered. Juliet felt that she could almost forgive her for +her readiness to believe the worst. It was dreadful, yes, and shameful +that anyone else should think for a moment that David could be capable of +such a deed, but in Miss Tarver, perhaps, the thought had not been +inexcusable. On the whole, it was so nice of her to break the engagement +that she might be forgiven the ridiculous reason she had advanced for +doing it. Of course, Juliet assured herself, it was a mere pretext, +because _no_ one could possibly believe it. And in this manner she +continued to reiterate her conviction that the suspicions entertained of +her lover were all assumed for some darkly obscure purpose. + +So the morning wore away. A shower or two passed down the valley, but +under the thick tent of the beech leaves she scarcely felt it. She was, +besides, dressed for bad weather; and the grey and mournful face of the +day was in harmony with her mood. + +There was something comforting in this high perch. She seemed more aloof +from the troubles and despair of the last few days than she had imagined +possible. There was a calm, a remoteness, about the grey mountains, +disappearing and reappearing from behind their screen of cloud but +unchanged and unmoved by what went on around and among them, that was in +some way reassuring. + +The burn that ran at the bottom of the hill on which she sat, hurrying +down to the loch in such turbulent foaming haste, she was able to +compare, with a sad smile, to herself. The loch, she thought, was wide +and impassive as justice, which did not allow itself to be influenced by +the emotions. The burn would get down just the same without so much +turmoil and fuss; and she would see David's name cleared, equally surely, +if she waited calmly on events, instead of burning her heart out in +hopeless impatience and anxiety. + +As she gazed, with some such thoughts as these, down to the stream +that splashed on its way below her, her attention was caught by a +movement in the bushes half-way down the steep slope at the top of +which she was sitting. + +The day was windless and no leaf moved on any tree. There must be some +animal among the shrubs that covered the embankment, some large animal, +since its movements caused so much commotion; for, as she watched, first +one bush and then another stirred and bent and was shaken as if by +something thrusting its way through the dense growth. + +What could it be? A sheep, perhaps; there were many of them on the +hillsides. This must be one that had strayed far from the rest. And yet +would a sheep make so much stir? Juliet drew back a little behind the +trunk of the beech-tree. Could it be a deer? She could not hear any sound +of the creature's advance, for the air was full of the clamour of the +burn, but she could trace the direction of its progress by shaking leaves +and swinging boughs. It seemed to be gradually mounting the slope. + +Suddenly a head emerged from the waving mass of a rhododendron, and with +astonishment Juliet saw that it was that of Julia Romaninov. + +Her first impulse was to lean forward and call her, but as she did so the +cry died unheard upon her lips. For the manner of Julia's advance struck +her as very odd. The girl was bending nearly double, and moving with a +caution that seemed very strange and unnecessary. What was the matter? +Was she stalking something? Crouching as she was in the bushes, she would +not be seen by anyone on the path below. Did she not want to be seen? It +looked more and more like it. But why in the world should Julia creep +along as if she feared to be observed? Where was she going, and why? + +Suddenly Juliet came to a quick decision: she would find out what Julia +Romaninov was doing. + +She backed hurriedly into the bracken, and made her way slowly and +cautiously around the clearing under the beech-tree to the edge of the +hill again, keeping under cover of the fern and heather. When she peered +over, Julia had disappeared from view beneath the rhododendrons. + +For a minute Juliet's eyes searched the side of the slope below. Then she +drew back her head quickly, for she had caught sight of another bush +shaking uneasily a little way beyond the gap in which she had had her +first glimpse of the cause of the disturbance. Cowering low in the +bracken she crept along the top, keeping a foot or two from the edge, +where the rock fell nearly perpendicularly for a few yards before its +angle changed to the comparatively gradual, though actually steep slope +of the hill which Julia was climbing. + +From time to time she looked cautiously between clumps of fern or heath, +to make sure that she was keeping level with her unconscious quarry. + +The front of the hill swung round in a bold curve till it reached the +castle; and it soon became evident that, if both girls continued to +advance along the lines they were following, they would converge at a +point where the end of the battlemented wall met the great holly hedge +that formed two sides of the garden enclosure. + +Juliet perceived this when she was not more than a dozen yards from the +corner, and dropped at full length to the soft ground, at a spot where +she could see between the stalks and under the leaves, and yet herself +remain concealed. She had not long to wait. In a minute, Julia's face +appeared over the brow of the hill. She pulled herself up by a young fir +sapling that hung over the brink, and stood for a moment, flushed and +panting after her long climb. She was dressed in a greenish tweed, which +blended with the woodland surroundings, and her shoulder was turned to +the place where Juliet lay wondering whether she would be discovered. + +Fronting them, the end of the little turret, with which the wall of the +old fortress now came to a sudden termination, could be seen rearing its +grey stones above the dark glossy foliage of the hedge, which grew here +with peculiar vigour and continued to the extreme edge of the cliff, and +even farther. + +What was Juliet's surprise to see Julia, when she had found her breath, +and taken one quick look round as if to satisfy herself she was +unobserved, suddenly cast herself down, in her turn, upon the damp earth, +and inserting her head beneath the prickly barricade of the holly leaves, +begin to crawl and wriggle forward until she had completely disappeared +under it. What in the world could she be doing? + +Minutes passed, and she did not reappear. Juliet waited, her nerves +stretched in expectation, but nothing happened. Overhead little birds, +tomtits and creepers, played about the bark of the fir-trees; a robin +came and looked at her consideringly, with a bright sensible eye; from +two hundred feet below, the murmur of the burn rose constant and +insistent; but no other sound broke the stillness, nor was there any sign +of human life upon the top of the cliff. + +At last the girl could stand it no longer. Her patience was exhausted. +Curiosity urged her like a goad; and, if she had not much expectation of +making any important discovery, she was at least determined to solve the +mystery that now perplexed her. + +Without more ado she got to her feet, and ran to the holly hedge. There, +throwing herself down once more, she parted the leaves with a cautious +hand, and followed the path taken by the Russian. + +The hedge was old and very thick, more than three yards in width at this +end of it. In the middle, the trunks of the trees that formed it rose in +a close-growing, impassable barrier; but just opposite the place where +Julia had vanished Juliet found that there was a gap, caused, perhaps, by +the death in earlier days of one of the trees, or, as she afterwards +thought more likely, by the intentional omission or destruction of one of +the young plants. It was a narrow opening, but she managed to wriggle +through it. + +On the other side, progress was bounded by the wall, whose massive +granite blocks presented a smooth unbroken surface. Where, then, had +Julia gone? The branches did not grow low on this, as on the outer side +of the hedge, and there was room to stand, though not to stand upright. +Stooping uncomfortably, the girl looked about her, and saw in the soft +brown earth the plain print of many footsteps, both going and coming, +between the place where she crouched and the end of the wall. She looked +behind her, and there were no marks. Clearly, Julia had gone to the end; +but what then? The corner of the wall was at the very edge of the +precipice; from what she remembered to have seen from below, the rock +was too sheer to offer any foothold; besides why, having just climbed to +the summit should anyone immediately descend again, and by such an +extraordinary route? While these thoughts followed one another in her +mind, Juliet had advanced along the track of the footsteps, and clinging +tightly to the trunk of the last holly bush she leant forward and looked +down. + +As she thought, the descent was impossible: the rock fell away at her +feet, sheer and smooth; there was no path there that a cat could take. It +made her giddy to look, and she drew back hurriedly. + +Where, then, could Julia have gone? Not to the left, that was certain, +for then she would have emerged again into view. To the right? That +seemed impossible. Still, Juliet leant forward again, and peered round +the corner of the wall. + +There, not more than a couple of feet away, was a small opening, less +than eighteen inches wide by about a yard in height. Hidden by the +overhanging end of the hedge, it would be invisible from below. Here was +the road Julia had taken. + +Juliet did not hesitate. She could reach the aperture easily, and it +would have been the simplest thing in the world to climb into it, but +for the yawning chasm beneath. Holding firmly to the friendly holly, and +resisting, with an effort, the temptation to look down, she swung +herself bravely over the edge and scrambled into the hole with a gasp of +relief. It was, after all, not very difficult. She found herself +standing within the entrance of a narrow passage built into the +thickness of the wall. Beside the opening through which she had come, a +little door of oak, grey with age and strengthened with rusty bars and +cross-pieces of iron, drooped upon its one remaining hinge. Two huge +slabs of stone leaning near it, against the wall, showed how it had +been the custom in former centuries to fortify the entrance still more +effectively in time of danger. + +Juliet did not wait to examine these fragments, interesting though they +might be to archaeologists, but hurried down the passage as quickly as +she could in the darkness that filled it, feeling her way with an +outstretched hand upon the stones on either side. As her eyes became +accustomed to the obscurity, she saw that though the way was dark it was +yet not entirely so: a gloomy light penetrated at intervals through +ivy-covered loopholes pierced in the thickness of the outer wall; and she +imagined bygone McConachans pouring boiling oil or other hospitable +greeting through those slits on to the heads of their neighbours. But +surely, she reflected, no one would ever have attacked the castle from +that side, where the precipice already offered an impregnable defence; +the passage must have been used as a means of communication with the +outer world, or, perhaps, as a last resort, for the purpose of escape by +the beleaguered forces. + +After fifty yards or so of comparatively easy progress, the shafts of +twilight from the loopholes ceased to permeate the murky darkness in +which she walked, and she was obliged to go more slowly, and to feel her +way dubiously by the touch of hands and feet. + +The floor appeared to her to be sloping away beneath her, and as she +advanced the descent became more and more rapid, till she could hardly +keep her feet. She went very gingerly, with a vague fear lest the path +should stop unexpectedly, and she herself step into space. + +Presently she found herself once more upon level ground, when another +difficulty confronted her: the walls came suddenly to an end. Feeling +cautiously about her in the darkness, she made out that she had come to a +point where another passage crossed the one she was following, a sort of +cross-road in this unknown country of shade and stone. Here, then, were +three possible routes to take, and no means of knowing which of them +Julia Romaninov had gone by. + +After a little hesitation, she decided to keep straight on. It would at +all events be easier to return if she did, and she would be less likely +to make a mistake and lose her way. So on she stumbled; and who shall say +that Fate had not a hand in this chance decision? + +Though the distance she had traversed was inconsiderable, the darkness +and uncertainty made it appear to her immense, and each moment she +expected to come upon the Russian girl. At every other step she paused +and listened, but no sound met her ears except a slight, regular, +thudding noise, which she presently discovered, with something of a +shock, to be the beating of her own heart. The sound of her progress was +almost inaudible. As the day was damp, she was wearing goloshes, and her +small, rubber-shod feet fell upon the stone floor with a gentle patter +that was scarcely perceptible. + +At last she nearly fell over the first step of a flight of stairs. + +She mounted them one by one with every precaution her fears could +suggest. For by now the first enthusiasm of the chase had worn off, and +the solitude and darkness of this strange place had worked upon her +nerves till she was terrified of she knew not what, and ready to scream +at a touch. + +Already she bitterly regretted having started out upon this enterprise +of spying. Why had she not gone and reported what she had seen to Mr. +Gimblet? That surely would have been the obvious, the sensible course. It +was, she reflected, a course still open to her; and in another moment she +would have turned and taken it, but even as the thought crossed her mind +she was aware that the darkness was sensibly decreased, and in another +second she had risen into comparative daylight. As she stood still, +debating what she should do, and taking in all that could now be +distinguished of her surroundings, she saw that the stairs ended in an +open trap-door, leading to a high, black-lined shaft like the inside of a +chimney, in which, some two feet above the trap, an odd, narrow curve of +glass acted as a window, and admitted a very small quantity of light. A +streak of light seemed to come also from the wall beside it. + +Juliet drew herself cautiously up, till her head was in the chimney, and +her eyes level with the slip of glass. + +With a sudden shock of surprise she saw that she was looking into the +room which, above all others, she had so much cause to remember ever +having entered. + +It was, indeed, the library of the castle, and she was looking at it from +the inside of that clock into which Gimblet had once before seen Julia +Romaninov vanish. + +The curtains were drawn in the room, but after the absolute blackness of +the stone corridors the semi-dusk looked nearly as bright as full +daylight to Juliet, and she had no difficulty in distinguishing that +there was but one person in the library, and that person Julia. + +She was standing by a bookshelf at the far end, near the window, and +seemed to be methodically engaged in an examination of the books. Juliet +saw her take out first one, then another, musty, leather-bound volume, +shake it, turn over the leaves, and put it back in its place after +groping with her hand at the back of the shelf. Plainly she was hunting +for something. But for what? She had no business where she was, in any +case, and Juliet's indignation gathered and swelled within her as she +watched this unwarrantable intrusion. + +She would confront the girl and ask her what she meant by such behaviour. +But how to get into the library? + +Looking about her, she saw that the streak of light in the wall beside +her came through a perpendicular crack which might well be the edge of a +little door. + +She pushed gently and the wood yielded to her fingers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Later on in the afternoon, when Gimblet arrived at the castle, he was +immediately shown into the presence of Lord Ashiel, who was pacing the +smoking-room restlessly, a cigarette between his teeth. He looked pale +and haggard, the strain of the last few days had evidently been too +much for him. + +Gimblet greeted him sympathetically. + +"You have not found your uncle's will, I can see," he began, "and you are +fretting at the idea of keeping his daughter out of her fortune. But set +your mind at rest; we shall be able to put that right. Is she here, by +the way?" he added, remembering Lady Ruth's anxiety. + +"Here, of course not! What do you mean?" cried Mark, stopping suddenly +in his walk. + +"Well, I was sure she was not," Gimblet replied, "but I promised to ask. +Lady Ruth is rather upset because Miss Byrne did not come in to lunch. I +told her she had probably gone for a longer walk than had been her +intention," he added soothingly, for Mark was looking at him with a +disturbed expression. + +He seemed relieved, however, by the detective's suggestion. + +"Yes, no doubt, that would be the reason," he murmured, lighting a fresh +cigarette, and throwing himself down in an easy-chair, with his hands +clasped behind his head. "No, I haven't found any will, and there's not +a corner left that I haven't turned inside out. I suppose he never really +made it. Just talked about it, probably, as people are so fond of doing. +And now I'm at a loose end; all alone in this big house with no one to +speak to and nothing to do with myself. It's a beast of a day, or I +should go out and try for a salmon, in self-defence. To-morrow I shall go +South. And you, have you found out anything new about the murder yet?" + +"I have found out one thing which you will be glad to hear," said +Gimblet, "and that is the place where the missing will is concealed." + +"What!" cried Mark, leaping to his feet. "Where is it? What does it say? +Give it to me!" + +"I haven't got it," Gimblet told him. "I don't know what it says, but I +know where to look for it. It is in the statue your uncle put up on the +track known as the Green Way. I have found a memorandum of his which sets +the matter beyond a doubt." + +And he related at length the story of the half-sheet of paper with the +mysterious writing, and of how he had learnt by accident of the manner in +which the statue fitted in with the obscure directions, omitting nothing +except the fact that he had already acted on the information so far as to +make certain of the actual existence of the tin box, and saying that he +should prefer the papers to be brought to light in the presence of a +magistrate. + +"I believe there are other documents there besides the will," he said, +without troubling to explain what excellent reasons he had for such a +belief. "I understood from your uncle that there might be some of an +almost international importance. In case any dispute should subsequently +arise about them, I wish to have more than one reliable witness to their +being found. Can you send a man over to the lodge at Glenkliquart, and +ask General Tenby to come back with him. I am told that he is a +magistrate." + +Gimblet did not think it necessary to relate how he had obtained +possession of the sheet of paper bearing the injunction to "face +curiosity." His adventures on that night savoured too strongly of +house-breaking to be drawn attention to. + +"Your uncle must have posted it to me in London the day before he died," +he said mendaciously. "It was forwarded here, and at first I could make +neither head nor tail of it." + +"Why didn't you tell me?" Mark asked impatiently. "And yet," he added +reflecting, "I might not have seen to what it referred. Yes, of course I +will send over for General Tenby. He can't come for three or four hours, +though, which will make it rather late. Are you sure we had not better +open the thing sooner? The bull's horn at the south-east corner turns +like a key, you say? Suppose some one else finds that out and makes off +with whatever may be hidden there." + +"I am absolutely sure we needn't fear anything of the sort, because I +have the best of reasons for being positive that no one has the slightest +inkling of the secret," Gimblet assured him. "There is a whole gang of +scoundrels after the document of which your uncle told me, who are ready +to spend any money, or risk any penalty, in order to obtain it. They will +not be deterred even by having to pay for it with their lives. You may be +quite sure that if anyone had suspected where it was concealed, it would +not have been allowed to remain there, and we should find the _cache_ +empty. But we may safely argue that they have not found it, since in that +case they certainly would not hang about the neighbourhood." + +"Do you mean to say," cried Mark, "that you think there are any of +these Nihilist people lurking about? That letter which came for +Uncle Douglas--the letter from Paris--I guessed it meant something +of the sort." + +"There is a foreigner staying at Crianan," said Gimblet, "whom I have +every reason to suspect. More than that, there has been a Russian in your +very midst who, I am afraid, you will be shocked to hear, is hand in +glove with him." + +"Whom do you mean?" exclaimed Mark, "not--not Julia Romaninov?" It seemed +to the detective that he winced as he uttered the name of the girl. +Silently Gimblet bowed his head, and for a minute the two men stood +without a word. "Then," stammered Mark, "you think that she--that +she--Oh," he cried, "I can hardly believe that!" + +Gimblet did not reply, but after a few moments walked over to the +writing-table and spread out a piece of notepaper. He kept his back +turned towards the young man, who seemed thankful for an opportunity to +recover his composure. + +His face was still working nervously, however, when at length the +detective turned and held out a pen towards him. + +"Will you not write at once to General Tenby?" he suggested. + +Mark sat down before the blotting-pad. + +"He will be at home," he said mechanically. "This weather will have +driven them in early if they have been shooting." + +The note was written and dispatched by a groom on horseback, and then +Gimblet bade au revoir to his host at the door of the castle. + +"I will go back to the cottage," he said; "I have an accumulation of +correspondence that absolutely must be attended to, and I do not think +there is anything to be done up here before General Tenby comes. Once we +have the Nihilist papers in our hands I have a little plan by which I +think our birds may be trapped. Will you meet me at the cottage at +half-past six? The General will have to pass it on the way to +Inverashiel, and we can stop him as he goes by." + +"It will be about seven o'clock, I expect," said Mark, "when he gets down +from Glenkliquart. I'll be with you before he is. The Lord knows how I +shall get through the time till he comes. I loathe writing letters, but +this afternoon I'm dashed if I don't almost envy you and your +correspondence." + +"I know it is the waiting that tells on one," Gimblet said, his voice +full of kindly sympathy. "What you want is to get right away from this +place. Its associations must be horrible to you. No one could really be +astonished if you never set foot in it again." + +Mark laughed rather bitterly. + +"That's just what I feel like," he said shortly. "My uncle killed; my +cousin arrested; my friend accused. Miss Byrne refusing to let me behave +decently to her about the money. Oh well," he pulled himself up, and +spoke in a more guarded tone, "one gets used to everything in time, no +doubt, but just at present, I'm afraid, I am rather depressing company. +See you later." + +They went their ways, Gimblet going forth into the drenching rain which +was now falling down the road, through the soaking woodlands to the +cottage, where the Crianan policemen still smoked their pipes +undisturbed. Lady Ruth met him at the gate, running down in her +waterproof when she saw him approaching. + +"Where is Juliet?" she cried. "Wasn't she at Inverashiel?" + +"Hasn't she come back?" asked Gimblet, answering her question by another. + +"No sign of her. What can have happened? Mr. Gimblet, I am really getting +dreadfully anxious. She must have gone on to the hills and lost her way +in the mist." + +"She is sure to get back in time," Gimblet tried to reassure her, though +he himself was beginning to wonder at the girl's absence. "Perhaps," he +added, "she is at Mrs. Clutsam's. I daresay that's the truth of it." + +"She can't be there," Lady Ruth answered. "Mrs. Clutsam told me she was +going out all day, to-day, to visit her husband's sister who is staying +somewhere twenty miles from here on the Oban road, and longing, of +course, to hear all about the murder at first hand. Relations are so +exacting, and if they are relations-in-law they become positive Shylocks. +Juliet may have gone to the lodge though, all the same, and stayed to +keep the Romaninov girl company." + +She seemed to be satisfied with this explanation; and Gimblet had tea +with her, and then went to write his letters. + +Soon after six one of the policemen went down to the high road to lie in +wait for General Tenby, and about twenty minutes past the hour wheels +rattled on the gravel of the short carriage-drive, and the General drove +up to the door. He was a tall, soldierly-looking man of between fifty and +sixty, with a red face and a keen blue eye, and a precise, jerky manner. + +"Ah, Lady Ruth! Glad to see you bearing up so well under these tragic +circumstances," he said, shaking hands with that lady, who came to the +door to welcome him. "Poor Ashiel ought to have had shutters to his +windows. Dreadful mistake, no shutters: lets in draughts and colds in the +head, if nothing worse. These old houses are all the same. No safety in +them from anything. Young McConachan wrote me an urgent note to come +over. Don't quite see what for, but here I am. Eh? What do you say? Oh, +detective from London, is it? How d'ye do? Perhaps you can tell me what +the programme is?" + +"Young Lord Ashiel promised to meet us here at half-past six," Gimblet +told him. "We expect to put our hands on some important documents, and I +was anxious you should be present." + +"Quite unnecessary. Absolutely ridiculous. Still, here I am. May as well +come along." + +The General went on talking to Lady Ruth, but after a few minutes the +inspector from Crianan sent in to ask if he could speak to him, and they +retired together to Lady Ruth's little private sitting-room, where they +remained closeted for some time. While the old soldier was listening to +what the policeman had to tell him, Gimblet began to show signs of +restlessness. He went to the door and looked about him. The weather was +clearing, the clouds breaking and scudding fast before a wind which had +arisen in the North; a tinge of blue showed here and there in the +interstices between them, while a veil of mist that trailed after them +shone faintly orange in the rays of the hidden sun. + +Gimblet went back and sat down in the drawing-room with the _Scotsman_ in +his hand. He put it down after a few minutes, however, and began +fidgeting about the room. Then he went and conferred with the second of +the two policemen, and as he was talking to him the General and the +inspector reappeared. + +"I think," said Gimblet, coming towards them, "that we will not wait any +longer for Lord Ashiel." + +General Tenby, staring at him with rather a strange expression, +nevertheless silently assented, and the four men started on their walk to +the green way. + +As they went up the glen a ray of sunshine emerged from between the +flying clouds, and fell upon the statue at the end of the enclosed glade. +Away to the right their eyes could follow the track of a distant shower; +and as they went a rainbow curved across the sky, stretching from hill to +hill like some great monumental arch set up for the celestial armies to +march under on their return from the conquest of the earth. + +"That statue," Gimblet remarked to the General, who walked beside him, +"is a specimen of the worst modern Italian sculpture. The figure of +Pandora is modelled like a sack of potatoes; the composition is weak and +unsatisfactory; and the pediment on which the whole group is poised large +enough to support three others of the same size." + +The General grunted. + +"I always understood that the late Lord Ashiel knew what he was +about," he said stiffly. "He told me himself that it cost him a great +deal of money." + +Gimblet sighed. He could not help feeling that it was a pity Lord Ashiel +had not earlier fallen into the habit of consulting him. + +Still, he was bound to admit that though the stone group, regarded as +a work of art, was altogether deplorable, the general effect of the +erection, in its rectangular setting of forest, was excellent. The +whole scene was one of peaceful and romantic beauty. Poets might have +sat themselves down in that moist and shining spot; and, forgetful of +the possibilities of rheumatism, found their muse inspiring beyond +the ordinary. + +Gimblet was at heart something of a poet, but he felt no inclination to +communicate the feelings which the place and hour aroused in him to any +of his companions; and it was in a silence which had in it something +dimly foreboding that the party drew near to the statue. + +In silence, Gimblet approached the great block of stone and laid his hand +upon the projecting horn of the bull. Equally silently the two policemen +had taken up positions at the end of the pedestal; the General stood +behind them, alert and interested. + +After a swift glance, which took in all these details, Gimblet turned the +horn round in its socket. + +The hidden door swung open, and there was a sound of muttered +exclamations from the police and a loud oath from the General. Gimblet +sprang round the corner of the pedestal, and there, as he expected, +cowering in the mouth of the disclosed cavity, and looking, in his fury +of fear and mortification, for all the world like some trapped vermin, +crouched Lord Ashiel, glaring at his liberators with a rage that was +hardly sane. + +Beyond him, on the floor at the back, they could see the tin dispatch +box standing open and empty. + +The two policemen, acting on instructions previously given them, made one +simultaneous grab at the young man and dragged him into the open with +several seconds to spare before the door slammed to again, in obedience +to the invisible mechanism that controlled it. They set him on his legs +on the wet turf, and stood, one on each side of him, a retaining hand +still resting on either arm. + +For a moment Mark gazed from the General to the detective, his eyes full +of hatred. Then he controlled himself with an effort, and when he spoke +it was with a forced lightness of manner. + +"I have to thank you for letting me out," he said. "The air in there was +getting terrible." He paused, and filled his lungs ostentatiously, but +no one answered him. Losing something of his assumed calmness, he went +on, uneasily: "I just thought I'd come along and see if there was any +truth in Mr. Gimblet's story; and I was quite right to doubt it, since +there isn't. He's not quite as clever as he thinks, for he was as +positive as you like that my uncle's will was hidden here, but as a +matter of fact it's not, as I was taking the trouble to make sure when +that cursed statue shut me in. There's nothing in it of any sort except +an empty tin box." + +"There's nothing in it now," said Gimblet, speaking for the first time, +"because I had no doubt you meant to destroy the will if you found it, so +I removed it to a safe place last night. As for the other papers, I have +sent them to London, where they will be still safer. I knew you would +give yourself away by coming here. That's why I told you the secret of +the bull's horn." + +Mark's face was dreadful to see. He made a menacing step forward as if +he would throw himself upon the detective. But the strong right hands of +Inspector Cameron and Police Constable Fraser tightened on his arms and +restrained his further action. He seemed for the first time to be +conscious of their presence. + +"Leave go of my arm," he shouted. "What the devil do you mean by putting +your dirty hands on me?" + +"My lord," said the inspector, "you had better come quietly. I am here to +arrest you for the murder of your uncle, Lord Ashiel, and I warn you that +anything you say may be used against you." + +"Are you going to arrest the whole family?" scoffed Mark. "Where's your +warrant, man?" + +"I have it here, my lord," replied the inspector, fumbling in his pocket +for the paper the astonished General had signed when the inspector had +imparted to him, in Lady Ruth's little sitting-room, the information he +had received from Mr. Gimblet. + +As Inspector Cameron fumbled, the young man, with a sudden jerk which +found them unprepared, threw off the hold upon his arms and leaped aside. + +As he did so, he plunged his hand into his pocket and drew forth a +little phial. + +"You shall never take me alive," he cried, and lifted it to his lips. + +"Stop him!" shouted Gimblet. + +Throwing his whole weight upon the uplifted arm, he forced the phial away +from Mark's already open mouth; the other men rushed to his assistance, +and between them the frustrated would-be suicide was overpowered, and +held firmly while the inspector fastened a pair of handcuffs over his +wrists. When it was done he raised his pinioned hands, as well as he +could, and shook them furiously at Gimblet. + +"It's you I have to thank for this," he shouted. "Curse you, you +eavesdropping spy. But there are surprises in store for you, my friend. +You've got me, it seems, and you say you've got the will. You'll find it +more difficult to lay your hands on the heiress!" + +The words and still more the triumphant tone in which they were uttered +cast a chill upon them all. + +"What do you mean?" cried Gimblet. + +But not another syllable could be got out of the prisoner; and the +inspector, besides, protested against questions being addressed to him. + +With all the elation over his capture taken out of him, and with a mind +full of brooding anxiety, Gimblet hurried on ahead of the returning +party, and burst in upon Lady Ruth with eager inquiries. + +But Juliet had not returned. + +How was anyone to know that she had that morning made her way into the +secret passage of the old tower, and watched through the slip of glass in +the case of the clock what Julia Romaninov was doing in the library? + +But leaving Gimblet and Lady Ruth to organize a search for her, we will +return to Juliet in her hiding-place and see what was the end of her +adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +When Juliet, incensed and indignant at the Russian's behaviour, +discovered the door in the clock and was on the point of opening it +and making her presence known, a noise of steps in the passage made +her pause. As she listened, there was the sound of a key turning in +the lock, the library door was thrown suddenly open, and Mark stepped +into the room. + +Juliet saw Julia's expression as she sprang round to face the newcomer. +She saw it change, swift as lightning, from a look of horrified dismay to +one of sudden transforming tenderness, as the girl recognized the +intruder, that the hand already in the act of pushing open the door of +the clock fell inert and limp to her side, and if she had been able to +move she would have lost no time in retreating. She knew instinctively +that she was seeing a secret laid bare which she had no right to spy +upon. And yet, though her impulse was to fly from the place in +embarrassment and confusion, something stronger than her natural +discretion and delicacy held her where she stood. For Julia had not come +here for the purpose of meeting Mark. She had come with a purpose less +personal: something, Juliet felt convinced, that was in some way vaguely +discreditable, and at the same time menacing. It could be for no harmless +reason that she had taken this secret, dangerous way into the castle. + +And so Juliet kept her ground, blushing at her role of spy, and averting +her eyes as Julia dropped the book she was holding and ran forward to +meet Mark, with that tell-tale look upon her face. + +But Mark did not show the same pleasure. He stood, holding the handle of +the door, which he had closed gently behind him, and looking with a +certain sternness at the girl. + +"Julia," he said, "you here! What are you doing?" + +"Oh, Mark," she cried, not answering his question, "aren't you glad to +see me? It is so long, oh, it is so long since I saw you!" + +She threw her arms round his neck with a happy laugh, and drew his face +down to hers. + +"Darling! darling!" she murmured. "How can we live without each other for +one single day!" + +She spoke in a low, soft voice. To Juliet, to whom every purling syllable +was painfully audible, it sounded cooingly, like the voice of doves. + +To the surprise of the girl to whom Mark had proposed marriage two days +before, when she ventured to peep through her spy window, Mark's arms +were round Julia and he was kissing her ardently. + +But after a moment he released himself gently. + +"You haven't told me, dear," he said, "what you are doing here." + +His voice held a note of authority before which Julia's assurance +vanished. + +"I--I wasn't doing anything," she muttered. + +"Julia!" he remonstrated. + +"Well," she said, with some show of defiance, "I suppose anyone may take +a book from the library." + +"Of course," he said, "you may take anything of mine you want. Still, as +you are not staying in the house--In short, it seems to me that the +more obvious course would have been to have said something to me about +it; and besides," he added, struck by a sudden thought, "how in the world +did you get in? The door was locked, and the key is on the outside." + +"Oh, if you're going to make such a fuss about nothing," she exclaimed +petulantly, her toe beginning to tap the boards, "it's not worth +explaining anything to you." She turned away and walked towards the +fireplace. + +"I'm not making a fuss," Mark said quietly, "but you must tell me, Julia, +what you are doing here, and how you came. To speak plainly, I don't +believe you came for a book." + +"If you don't believe me, what's the good of my saying anything?" she +retorted. "Oh, how horrid you are to-day, Mark. I don't believe you love +me a bit, any more." And leaning her head against the mantelpiece, she +burst into tears. + +"You know it isn't that, Julia," he said, looking at her fixedly. "Don't +cry, there's a dear, good girl. You know that I love you. Why, you're the +only thing in the whole world that I really want. But you must tell me +how you came here. Tell me," he repeated, taking her hands from her face, +and forcing her to look at him, "what you want in the library. Tell me, +Julia, I want to know." + +She seemed to struggle to keep silence, but to be unable to resist his +questioning eyes. + +"I suppose I must tell you," she murmured; "it's not that I don't want +to. But they would kill me if they knew. Oh, Mark, I ought not to tell +you, but how can I keep anything secret from my beloved? Swear to me +that you will never repeat it, or try to hinder me in what I have to do?" + +He bent and kissed her. + +"Julia," he said, "can't you trust me?" + +"I do, I do," she cried. "While you love me, I trust you. But if you left +off, what then? That is the nightmare that haunts me. Mark, Mark, what +would become of me if you were to change towards me?" + +He kissed her again, murmuring reassuring words that did not reach +Juliet's ears. "So tell me now," he ended, "what you were doing here." + +"Mark," she said nervously, "you know where my childhood was passed?" + +"In St. Petersburg," he replied wonderingly. + +"Yes, in Petersburg. And you know how things are there. It is so +different from your England, my England. For I am English really, Mark, +although that thought always seems so strange to me; since during so many +years I believed myself to be a Russian. I am the daughter of English +parents; my father was a very respectable London plumber of the name of +Harsden, whose business went to the bad and who died, leaving my mother +to face ruin and starvation with a family of five small children, of whom +I was the last. When a lady who took an interest in the parish in which +we lived suggested that a friend of hers should adopt one of the +children, my mother was only too thankful to accept the proposal, and I +was the one from whom she chose to be parted. I have never seen her +since, but she is still alive, and I send her money from time to time. + +"The lady who adopted me was Countess Romaninov, and I believed +myself her child till a day or two before she died, when she told me, +to my lasting regret, the true story of my origin. But I was brought +up a Russian, and I shall never feel myself to be English. Somehow the +soil you live on in your childhood seems to get into your bones, as +you say here. It is true that I speak your language easily, but it was +Russian that my baby lips first learned. My sympathies, my point of +view, my friends, all except yourself, are Russian. And I have one +essentially Russian attribute, I am a member of what you would call a +Nihilist society." + +Mark interrupted her with an interjection of surprise, but she nodded her +head defiantly, and continued: + +"All my life, all my private ends and desires must be governed by the +needs of my country. First and foremost I exist that the rule of the +Tyrant may be abolished, and the Slav be free to work out his own +salvation; he shall be saved from the fate that now overwhelms and +crushes him; dragged bodily from under the heel of the oppressor. I am +not the only one. We are many who think as one mind. And the day is not +far distant when our sacrifices shall bear fruit. Ah, Mark, what a great +cause, what a noble purpose, is this of ours! Perhaps I shall be able to +convert you, to fire your cold British blood with my enthusiasm?" + +She stopped and looked at him inquiringly. But he made no reply, and +after a moment she continued, placing her hand fondly upon his shoulder +as she spoke. + +"Our plan is to terrify the rulers into submission. We must not shrink +from killing, and killing suddenly and unexpectedly, till they abandon +the wickedness of their ways. They must never know what it is to feel +safe. And we see to it that they do not. Death waits for them at the +street corner, on their travels, at their own doorsteps. They never know +at what moment the bomb may not be thrown, or the pistol fired. It is +sad that explosives are so unreliable. There are many difficulties. You +would not believe the obstacles that we find placed in our path at every +turning. And for those who are suspected there is Siberia, and the +mines. But it is worth it. It is worth anything to feel that one is +working and risking all for one's country, and one's fellow-countrymen. +It is an honour to belong to a band of such noble men and women. But now +and then one is admitted who turns out to be unworthy. Yes, even such a +cause as ours has traitors to contend with. And your uncle, Lord Ashiel, +was one of them." + +"What," said Mark incredulously, "Uncle Douglas a Nihilist? Nonsense. +It's impossible." + +"He was, really. For he joined the 'Friends of Man' when he was at the +British Embassy at Petersburg long years ago; and no sooner had he been +initiated than he turned round and denounced the society and all its +works. Worse still, he declared his intention of hindering it from +carrying out its programme. He would have been got rid of there and +then, but as ill-luck would have it he had, by an unheard-of chain of +accidents, become possessed of an important document belonging to the +society. It was, indeed, a list of the principal people on the executive +committee that fell into his hands, and he took the precaution of +sending it to England, with instructions that if anything happened to +him it should be forwarded to the Russian Police, before he made known +his ridiculous objections to our programme. Here, as you will +understand, was a most impossible situation with which there was +apparently no means of coping. + +"For years that one man hampered and frustrated our entire organization. +He was practically able to dictate his own terms, for he announced his +intention of publishing the list of names if we carried out any important +project, and no device could be contrived to stop his being as good as +his word. The tyrant has walked unscathed except by mere private +enterprise, and the government we could have caused to crumble to the +ground has flourished and continued to work evil as before. We have been +crippled, paralysed in every direction. It was only last year that there +seemed reason to think that Lord Ashiel had removed the document from the +Bank of England where it had for so long been guarded, and there appeared +to be a possibility that he now kept it in his own house. If that were +so, there seemed a good chance of getting hold of it, and how proud I am, +Mark, to think that it was I who was chosen to make the attempt! + +"I came to England with the best introductions into society, and had no +difficulty in making friends with your aunt and obtaining an invitation +to stay here. Last year I did not succeed in gaining any information. +Your uncle, for some reason, seemed rather to avoid me, and I did not +make any headway towards gaining his confidence. I never could be sure if +he suspected me. This year there was a question of replacing me by some +one else, but it was judged that Lord Ashiel's suspicions would be +certainly awakened by the appearance of another Russian, so, in the hope +that I was not associated in his mind with the people to which he had +behaved so basely, I was ordered to try again. + +"A member of the society, who occupies a high and responsible position on +the council, accompanied me to the neighbourhood, and from time to time I +report to him and receive his advice and instructions. He stays in +Crianan, so that I have some one within reach to go to for advice. At +least, so I am officially informed, but I know very well he is really +there to keep watch on me, for it is not the habit of the society to +trust its members more than is unavoidable. If it is possible, I go once +a week to Crianan and make my report, but I can't always manage to go, +and then he rows across the loch after dark and I go out and meet him. He +was to come on the night of the murder, and my first thought when I heard +of it was that he might be caught in the shrubberies and mistaken for the +murderer. But it appears that he had already taken alarm, and I am +thankful to say he was able to escape in good time." + +"So David really did see some one wandering about that night," Mark +commented thoughtfully. "Ah, Julia, if you'd told me all this earlier +everything might have been different. Poor old David need never have been +dragged into it at all." + +She looked at him a moment, as if puzzled, and then continued her story. + +"It was thought that I might be able to bring about your uncle's death by +some means that should have all the appearance of an accident, and so +perhaps not involve action on the part of those who hold the +document--that is, if it should prove not to be in his own keeping--for +he had always assured the council that no decisive step would be taken +except as a retort to signs of violence on our part, whether directed +towards himself or others. + +"I have not been able to find any trace of the list. I thought I had it +one day in London, when I followed Lord Ashiel to a detective's office, +and managed to gain possession of an envelope given him by Lord Ashiel, +but as far as I could make out it contained nothing of any importance. It +was a bitter disappointment. You can imagine the consternation into which +we were thrown by the murder. It seemed certain that his death would be +attributed to our organization, and if anyone held the list for him it +would be published immediately. Four days have passed, however, and my +superior has received a cable saying that so far all is well. It looks +more and more as if the list had been kept here, but I have hunted +everywhere and found nothing. Oh, I have searched without ceasing since +the moment I heard of his death! I came here even on the very night of +the murder, and moved the body with my own hands in order to get at the +bureau drawers. There is a secret way into the room through that old +clock there, which leads into the grounds; I found it long ago, one day +when I was exploring outside in the shrubberies. I have often been here, +and searched, and searched again. Do you know anything of this document, +Mark? If you do, I beg and implore you to give it to me. Otherwise I +cannot answer for your life; and, as for our marriage, that is out of the +question unless I am successful in my undertaking." + +It may be imagined with what amazement and growing horror Juliet listened +to this avowal. That Julia, the girl with whom she had associated on +terms of easy familiarity which had been near to becoming something like +intimacy in the close contact and companionship of a country-house life, +that this girl, an honoured guest in Lord Ashiel's house, should have +gained her footing there for her own treacherous ends, or at the bidding +of a band of political assassins! Juliet could scarcely believe her ears +as she heard the calm, indifferent tone in which Julia spoke of the +drawbacks to "getting rid" of Lord Ashiel, and of the contemplated +"accident" which was to have befallen him. She would have fled from where +she stood, if mingled fear and curiosity to hear more had not rooted her +to the spot. Her alarm was tempered by the presence of Mark. If this girl +should discover her hiding there and show signs of the violence that +might be expected from such a character, Mark would be there to protect +her. She could trust him to know how to deal with the Russian, whose true +nature must now be apparent to him. + +But Mark, to her astonishment, had not drawn away from Julia with the +repugnance and disgust that were to be expected. Instead, he was looking +at her, strangely, indeed, but almost eagerly. + +"It was you, then, who moved the body! To think that I never guessed!" he +murmured, half to himself. "If I had known, I might have spared myself +the trouble to--" Then more loudly he reproached his companion. + +"And you have never said a word to me! Oh, Julia, you didn't trust me." +He shook his head at her mournfully. + +"Trust you!" she retorted. "Did you trust me? But I would have trusted +you," she added, gazing fondly into his eyes, "if I had dared risk the +punishment that will surely be meted out to me if it is known I have done +so. You don't know how rigid the rules of our society are. But you +haven't told me yet if you have the list." + +"Not I," he said. "I never heard of its existence. I suppose that +anonymous letter that came addressed to Uncle Douglas after his death had +something to do with that." + +"Did a letter come from Paris? They sent them to him from time to time. +It prevented his suspecting me. But you will give me the list if you find +it, won't you? It means everything to me." + +"Of course I will," he promised. "It is no earthly good to me, so far as +I know. But you, when you were looking for it, did you, among all the +papers you examined, ever come across such a thing as a will?" + +"No, never," she replied. "Mrs. Clutsam told me it could not be found. +You may be sure, if I had discovered one which did not leave you +everything, I should have destroyed it." + +"Dear little Julia!" Mark drew her to him and kissed her. "How sweet you +are. There is no one like you!" + +"Really? Do you really love me, Mark?" + +"Darling, of course I do." + +"Will you always? Are you quite, quite sure that I am the one girl in all +the world for you, as you are the one man for me?" + +"Darling, you are the only one in the world I have ever so much as +looked at." + +"Would you never, never forget me, or marry anyone else, no matter what +happened?" + +"Never," he assured her, "never." + +She sighed contentedly. + +"What should I do if you forgot me, Mark? I should die. But," she added +in a different tone, "I think I should kill you first!" + +Mark laughed a little uneasily. + +"Hush, hush," he said, "you mustn't talk so much about killing. A minute +ago you were talking of killing my poor old uncle. If I took you +seriously what should I think? It is lucky I love you as I do, otherwise +doesn't it occur to you that it might get you into trouble to talk in +this wild way?" + +"You can take me as seriously as you like," she answered gravely. "I am +serious enough, God knows. But I shouldn't talk about it, even to you, if +I didn't _know_ it was safe. You see, I know you are like me." + +"Like you? I'm dashed if I am! How do you mean? I am like you?" + +She looked at him squarely, and nodded. + +"Yes," she said, "you are like me. You would not hesitate to kill if you +thought it necessary. You think just the same as me on that subject. Only +you have gone farther than I have--yet." + +"Julia," he cried, "what do you mean?" + +"I mean that I know all about you, Mark," she replied gravely. "I know +what you think you have kept secret from me. I know it was you who killed +your uncle." + +With a muffled cry Mark shook himself free, and sprang away from her. + +"What are you saying?" he whispered hoarsely. "You are mad, girl! But I +won't have such lies uttered, I won't have it, I tell you." + +With terrified amazement Juliet saw his face change, become ugly, +distorted. But Julia showed no sign of alarm. + +"Why get so excited?" she asked calmly. "What does it matter? Do you +imagine I would betray you? I, who would sell my soul for you! I know you +did it. It is no use keeping up this pretence of innocence to me, who had +more right to kill him than you. Why shouldn't you kill who you wish? But +don't say you didn't do it. It is foolish. I saw you." + +"It is a lie. You can't have seen me," Mark declared again, but with less +assurance. "You were in the drawing-room all the time. Lady Ruth and +Maisie Tarver both said so. The drawing-room doesn't even look out on the +garden. There is no room that does, except the library, and you weren't +there then, anyhow." + +"I didn't see you fire the shot," said Julia, "but I saw you afterwards +when you went to put back your rifle in the gun-room. I told you that +after the first search in the grounds was over, and everyone had gone +up to bed, I slipped out of the house by the door near the gunroom, and +came round to the library to see if Lord Ashiel had carried the list on +him. When I came back, I let myself in quietly by the door which I had +left unbolted, and had just got half-way up the back stairs when I +heard footsteps in the passage below, and crouched down behind the +banisters. I saw you come along the passage, carrying an electric +lantern in one hand and your rifle in the other. I saw you look round +anxiously before opening the gun-room door and going in. When you had +vanished, I hurried on up to my room, for it was not the time or place +to tell you what I had seen, but I left a crack of my door open, and +after rather a long while saw you pass along the passage to your own +room; this time without your gun. I knew, of course, that you had been +cleaning it and putting it away." + +She spoke with the indifference with which one may refer to a regrettable +but incontrovertible fact, and Mark seemed to feel it useless to deny +what she said. + +"You had no right to spy on me," he exclaimed angrily when she had done. + +"Oh, Mark," she cried, dismayed, "I wasn't spying. It was the merest +accident. And I think it's horrid of you to mind my knowing. Why didn't +you tell me all about it before. I might have helped you, I'm sure." + +But he would have none of her endearments, and threw off the hand she +laid upon his arm with a rough gesture. + +"Mark, oh, Mark," she wailed, "don't be angry with me! You know I can't +bear it. I can bear anything but that. Don't, don't be angry with me." + +She had but one thought; it was for him, and he who ran might read it +shining in the depths of her great eyes. After a few minutes of sulking, +Mark relented. + +"No one could be angry with you for long, Julia," he declared. + +Instantly she was once more all smiles. + +"Don't ever be angry with me again," she urged, her hands in his. "And +now that you have forgiven me, tell me all about it. What made you do +such a dreadful thing, Mark? You must have had some good reason, I know. +I never would doubt that." + +"There's nothing much to tell," he said unwillingly. "I had a good +reason, yes. I must have money. It is for your sake, darling, that I must +get it. I can't marry you without it. I hadn't meant to kill him, if I +could get it without. He was ill, and had left his fortune to me. I +thought I should get it in time, by letting Nature take her course. It +was that or ruin, and I really had to do it for your sake, darling. I +didn't want to hurt the old boy. Why should I? It's not a pleasant thing +to have to do. But I had no choice--there was no other way of getting +enough money, and I simply had to get it. It was his life or mine. You +don't understand. I can't explain. It just had to be done, and there's an +end of it. Everything was going wrong. That girl, that Byrne girl, I +imagined he was going to marry her. You know we all did. That would have +spoilt everything. At first I thought she could be got out of the way, +but she seemed to bear a charmed life." + +"What?" cried Julia, "did you try to kill her too?" + +"Why, if anyone had to be got rid of," he admitted defiantly, "it seemed +better to go for a stranger, like her, than for my own uncle. Come, you +must see that, surely! She was nothing to me, and, anyhow, my hand was +forced. It's very hard that I should have been put in such a position. +I'm the last person to do harm to a fly, but one must think of oneself." + +Since it was no use denying the murder, he seemed to find some sort of +satisfaction in telling Julia of his other crimes. And yet, though he +tried hard to speak with an affectation of indifference, it was plain +that he kept a watchful eye upon his listener, and was ready to fasten +resentfully upon the first sign of horror, or even disapproval. For all +his efforts, the tone of his disclosures was at once swaggering and +suspicious; but he need have had no anxiety as to the spirit in which +they would be received. It was clear that Julia brought to his judgment +no remembrance of ordinary human standards of conduct. To her he was +above such criticisms, as the Immortals might be supposed to be above +the rules that applied to dwellers upon earth. What he did was right in +her eyes, because he did it, and she admired his brutality, as she adored +the rest of him, whole-heartedly, without reservation. + +"I had a shot at her," he went on, "one day on the moor when she was with +David; but I missed her. It was a rotten shot. I can't think how I came +to do it. Then when she fell into the river--I saw her standing by it as +I came home from stalking.... I had walked on ahead, and where the path +runs along above the waterfall pool I happened to go to the edge and look +over. There she was on a stone right at the edge, by the deepest part. It +looked as if she'd been put there on purpose, and I should have been a +fool to miss such a chance. It's no good going against fate. As a matter +of fact I thought I'd got her sitting this time. I caught up the nearest +piece of rock and dropped it down on her. That was a good shot, though I +say it, but it hit her on the shoulder instead of the head as luck would +have it, which was bad luck for me. However, in she went, and I thought +all was well and lost no time in getting away from the place. If it +hadn't been for that meddling fool Andy!... Well, then, at dinner, Uncle +Douglas came out with the news that she was his daughter, not his +intended, and everything looked worse than ever. Afterwards when she went +to talk to him in the library, and passed through the billiard-room where +I was knocking the balls about and feeling pretty savage, I can tell you, +I happened, by a fluke, to ask her if she knew where David was. She said +he'd gone into the garden. + +"Then I saw my chance, and it seemed too good to miss. Why should I let +my inheritance be stolen from me? I ran off to the gun-room for a gun. I +meant to take David's rifle, but I found he hadn't cleaned it, so I left +it alone and took mine, as the thing was really too important to risk +using a strange gun unless it was absolutely necessary, and his is a +little shorter in the stock than I like. I nipped back and let myself out +of the passage door into the enclosed garden. It was a black night, +though I knew my way blindfolded about there. But the curtains of the +library were drawn, and I couldn't see between them without stepping on +the flower bed. I knew too much to leave my footmarks all over them, but +I had to get on to the bed to have a chance of getting a shot. So I got +the long plank the gardeners use to avoid stepping on the flower beds +when they're bedding out, from the tool-house behind the holly hedge +where I knew it was kept, and put it down near the hedge. It is held up +clear of the ground by two cross pieces of wood, one at each end, you +know, so there would be no marks left to identify me by. + +"When I walked to the end of the plank, I could see straight into the +middle of the room; but they must have been sitting near the fire, for no +one was in sight. I could see the writing bureau and the chair in front +of it, and dimly in the back of the room I could make out the face of the +clock, but that was all. + +"Well, I stood there for what seemed a long while. You've no idea how +cramping it is to stand on a narrow plank with no room to take a step +forward or back, for long at a time. And I don't mind telling you I got a +bit jumpy, waiting there. If anyone chanced to come along, what could I +say by way of explanation? I couldn't think of anything the least likely +to wash. And somehow, in the dark, one begins to imagine things. I saw +David coming at me across the lawn every other minute. And it seemed so +hideously likely that he should come. I knew he was somewhere out in the +grounds. By Jove, if he had, he'd have got the bullet instead of Uncle +Douglas! But he didn't come. Those beastly shadows and shapes and +whisperings and rustlings that seemed to be all round me, hiding in the +night, turned out to be nothing after all. But when I didn't fancy him at +my elbow, I imagined he was in the gunroom, wondering where the dickens +my rifle had got to. + +"Oh, I had a happy half-hour among the roses, I tell you! A rifle is a +heavy thing too. I leant it up against a rose-bush and tried to sit down +on the plank, but it wouldn't do, and I saw I must bear it standing, or +Uncle Douglas might cross in front of the slit between the curtains +without my having time to get a shot. You must remember I'd been on the +hill all day, so that I was very stiff to begin with. It got so bad that +I began to think it was hardly worth the candle at last--and it's a +wonder I didn't miss him clean--when, just as I was on the point of +giving the whole thing up and going in again, he came suddenly into my +field of vision, and actually sat down at the table. + +"I took a careful aim and fired. I saw him fall forward, and then I +jumped off the plank and hurled it back under the hedge before I ran for +the house. I had left the door ajar, and I just stayed to close it, and +then darted into the empty billiard-room and thrust my rifle under a +sofa. It was a quick bit of work. I had counted on Juliet Byrne waiting a +moment or two to see if she could do anything to help him before she +roused the house, or it roused itself, and she was rather longer than I +expected. I don't mind owning I got into a panic when minutes passed and +no one appeared, and I began to think I must have missed the old boy +altogether. I was within an ace of going to make certain, when the door +opened and in she came. Oh well, you know all the rest. That silly old +ass, David, was still mooning about in the garden, thinking of her, I +suppose, which was very lucky for me." + +Julia had listened with absorbed interest. + +"I think it is wonderful," she said, "that you should have gone through +all that for my sake. I shall always try to deserve it, my dear. Was it +all, all for me, that you did it, truly?" + +"Yes," Mark assured her, gruffly monosyllabic. + +"But how was it," she asked caressingly, "that Sir David's footprints +were found all over the rose-bed. What was he doing there?" + +"That was an afterthought," Mark admitted. "It was a tophole idea. After +every one had gone upstairs, I crept down and got my Mannlicher from +where I had hidden it, and took it to the gun-room, where I cleaned it +and put it in its usual place. It was lucky for me that David had left +his weapon dirty. It was jolly unlike him to do it. I was thinking what a +good thing it was, and how well things looked like turning out--for I +thought I could manage the girl if she was able to prove that she really +was a McConachan--and it struck me I ought to be able to contrive that +the business should look a bit blacker against poor old David. Every one +knew he'd had a row with Uncle Douglas about his beastly dog, and if I +could only manufacture a little more evidence against him I knew I should +be pretty safe, one way and another. I was going back to the garden to +put by the gardener's plank, when I thought of using his boots. It didn't +take long to find them among all the boots used that day by the +household, which were ranged in a row in the place where they clean them +in the back premises. His bootmakers' name was in them. I took them, and +when I got to the garden door I put them on, and went out and trampled +about among the roses till I was pretty sure that even the blindest +country bobby couldn't fail to notice the tracks I'd left, though of +course I couldn't see them myself in the dark. Then I got the plank out +of the hedge and put it away where I'd found it. After that, I took the +boots back, and went to bed; and very glad I was to get there. Now you've +heard the whole story." + +"How clever you are," murmured the girl. "There's no one like you," she +said, "no one." Mark smiled rather fatuously. He evidently shared her +opinion that his brains were something slightly out of the way. "And +everything happened just as you'd planned," she went on admiringly. "They +suspected Sir David from the first. I should have, myself, if I hadn't +known it was you who had done it." + +"Yes," said Mark, "they suspected him, the silly idiots! They might have +known he hasn't the initiative to do a thing like that. And the girl +can't prove her relationship to Uncle Douglas, just as I expected. I +thought there might be some difficulty about that. But I wish I could +find the will he made in her favour. I should feel safer then, for she +told me he said he'd worded it so that she should get the money whether +she was proved his daughter or not. And who knows what other mad clauses +he may have put in it. Lately, for some reason I could never make out, I +felt sure he had changed towards me. He let fall a hint one day that his +legacies to me were conditional on my good behaviour. I don't feel easy +about it at all. Some one must have been telling him things--poisoning +his mind. But I've hunted high and low, and found nothing. I'm sick of +looking over musty old bills." + +"Oh, we shall find it between us now," said Julia hopefully. "I wish I +had some idea where the list I want is, though," she added. + +"There's that detective, too," pursued Mark. "That fellow Gimblet. I'm +rather fed up with him. Not that he seems any use at his work, though +he's supposed to be rather first-class at it, I believe." + +"Gimblet! Is that who it is? Mrs. Clutsam told me a London detective +was here, but I didn't know who it was. I have met him before, and +found him very easy to manage. I don't think you need be afraid of +anything he may do." + +"I shall be glad when he's off the place, anyhow," said Mark. + +"I shall be glad when the whole business is over and forgotten," Julia +rejoined. "I wish we could be married at once, Mark darling. But why +can't it be given out that we are engaged. I don't understand why we +should keep it a secret now. I can't stand seeing so little of you as I +have these last few days." + +"Be patient, darling, wait just a little longer. There are reasons, as I +have told you. I must get my financial affairs straight, for one thing, +before I allow you to tie yourself to me. Suppose I turn out to be a +beggar? I couldn't let you marry me then, you know." + +"Mark!" Julia's voice was full of reproach. "You know perfectly well how +little I care about your money. I would be only too glad to marry you if +you hadn't a penny. But perhaps you mean that if you were poor you +wouldn't want to burden yourself with a wife?" + +"You know how I adore you, Julia. How can you suggest such a thing? I +couldn't even dream of a life without you. You show how little you know +me. But, believe me, it is wisest to wait a short time longer before we +are publicly engaged. You must take my word for it, and not made me +unhappy by imagining such cruel things. Come, let us look for this list +of yours. What were you doing--searching among the books?" + +"Yes," said she, rising, as he went towards a bookshelf, and following +him. "I thought it might be hidden between the leaves of one of these old +volumes. One reads of such things." + +"I wonder," he said absently. "The will, too, may be here. Is there a +Bible anywhere? I believe that's a favourite place of concealment. Then, +when the heir is virtuous and reads his Bible, he gets the legacy, you +know; while, if he isn't, he doesn't. A sort of poetic justice is meted +out. If I find it in that way I shall take it as a sign that I am really +the virtuous one and that Heaven absolves me from all blame." + +He spoke mockingly, but Julia answered very seriously: + +"Of course you ought to have it; and if I don't blame you, why should +anyone else?" + +"Well," he said after a pause, "at all events I mean to get it, whether +or no, if I have to pull down every stone of the place. That reminds me," +he added, "where is the secret entrance you use? Through this old clock? +Who would have thought it?" + +In a moment Juliet realized that she was going to be caught. She had +been so absorbed in listening to the dreadful revelations that had been +made during the last half-hour that not till now had she considered how +dangerous was her position. + +As he spoke, Mark threw open the door of the clock case. Too late, she +turned to fly; he caught her by the arm and, with a stifled oath, dragged +her into the room. + +"How long have you been there?" he cried, and fell to swearing horribly; +while Julia stood by, not speaking, but looking at Juliet with an +expression which frightened her more than all his violence. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +It did not occur to Juliet to deny that she had overheard their talk. She +had been found in the act of spying on them, and it was inconceivable +that they should believe she had not done so. Besides, she was raging at +the thought of what she had heard, and her anger gave her a courage she +might otherwise have found it hard to maintain. + +"I have been there all the time," she declared stoutly. "I heard all you +said, you wicked, wicked man. A murderer! Oh, how horrible it all is!" + +Julia laid a hand on Mark's arm. + +"She will tell what she knows," she said, trembling. + +"She shall not," Mark stammered furiously. He seemed to be half +suffocating with rage. "She shall not go unless she swears to say +nothing. Swear it, I say!" + +He seized Juliet by the shoulder and shook her violently to emphasize +his words. + +"I won't swear anything of the kind," she retorted, trying to break from +his grasp. "Do you suppose you can kill me, too, without being found out? +There is a detective here now, and Sir David Southern is not at hand to +lay the blame on. You coward! How dare you touch me!" + +The truth of her words seemed to strike home to Mark, for he left go of +her suddenly, and stood, biting his nails and scowling, the picture of +irresolution and malignance. + +Juliet lost no time in following up any advantage she might have gained. + +"I can't help knowing that you care for him," she said, addressing +herself to Julia, "though I wouldn't have listened to that part if I +could have helped it. But how can you? How can you? I can't understand +how you can feel as you do about killing people, but at least if you did +such a thing you would imagine it was for the good of your country, while +this man thinks of nothing but his own selfish ends. Money, that is all +he wants! How can you condone such a crime as his? To kill Lord Ashiel, +that good, kind man who had treated him like a son all his life, who did +everything for him. And just for the sake of money! It's not even as if +he wanted it really. He's not starving. He had everything, in reason, +that he wanted. If he needed more, urgently, I believe he had only to +tell his uncle, and it would have been given to him. Oh, it is beyond all +words! He must be a fiend." + +Indignation choked her. She spoke in bursts of trembling anger, her words +sounding tamely in her own ears. All she could say seemed commonplace and +inadequate beside the knowledge that this man was her father's murderer. + +Even Julia, indifferent to every aspect of the case that did not touch +upon her relations with her lover, was shaken by the scornful disgust +with which the broken sentences were poured forth; and, if her +infatuation for Mark was too complete to allow her to consider any +action of his unjustifiable, still she realized, perhaps for the +first time, the feelings with which other people would view the thing +that he had done. + +"You don't understand him," she faltered. "He didn't want money for +himself alone. It was for me he did it. He was too proud to ask me to +marry a poor man. You could never understand his love for me. How can I +blame him? How many men would run such risks for the girl they loved? I +am proud, yes proud, to be loved like that!" + +"You believe his lies," Juliet cried contemptuously. "You believe he +loves you so much? Why it is not two days since he came to me and asked +me to marry him." + +"What!" Julia spoke in a panting whisper. Her face had suddenly lost +every particle of colour. "Say it's not true," she begged, turning +miserably to the man. + +He made an effort to deny the charge. + +"Of course. Not a word of truth in it. Damned nonsense," he blustered. + +But his eyes fell before Juliet's scornful gaze, and Julia was not +deceived. + +"It can't be true, oh, it can't," she moaned. "No man could be so vile." + +"No other man could," Juliet amended. In spite of herself she was sorry +for the girl, whose stricken face showed plainly the anguish she was +undergoing. "Forget him, Julia; he is not worthy to tie your shoe-lace. +He came to me after they had taken David away, and asked me first if I +would take his inheritance even though I couldn't prove my birth, which +he must have known perfectly that I should never dream of doing, and then +proposed I should marry him, saying that he was very fond of me, and that +in that way justice would be done as regards Lord Ashiel's money, +however things turned out for me. I thought it honourable and generous at +the time, and so did Lady Ruth when I told her--oh yes, she knows about +it and can tell you it is true--but now I see that all he wanted was to +be on the safe side, and, if I had accepted him and had turned out to +have no claim upon his uncle's fortune, he would have broken the +engagement on some easy pretext. Can you deny it?" she demanded of Mark. + +But he could not face her, though he made an effort again to +brazen it out. + +Every word she had spoken seemed to strike Julia like a blow. She shrank +quivering away, and threw herself down on to a chair, her face hidden in +her hands. Juliet went to her and touched her gently on the shoulder. + +"Don't think of him any more," she said. "Presently you will hate +yourself for having cared for a murderer. Just now, I know, your love for +him makes you gloss over his crimes, but when you are yourself you will +see how odious they are. Poor Julia, I hate to hurt you so, but it is +better, isn't it, that you should know? You will forget this madness. He +is not worth your wasting another thought on. Think how shamefully he has +deceived you. Think of all his lying words, of how he told you he had +never looked at another woman." + +Julia raised her head and showed a face, white as chalk, in which the +great brown eyes seemed to burn like fires of hatred. + +"Yes," she said in a hard, even voice. "I am thinking of it. I shall not +forget him. No. Instead, I shall think of him day and night, be sure of +that. I shall laugh as I think of him; laugh at the thought of him in +his place in the dock, or in his prison cell. I shall laugh when I give +my evidence against him, and most of all I shall laugh on the day when he +is hanged. If his grave is to be found, I shall dance upon it. Oh, it +will be a merry day for me, that day when the cord is tightened round his +false neck!" + +She went near to Mark, and hissed the last words into his face, leaning +forward, with one hand on her own throat. But he seemed to shrink less +before her vindictive passion than he had under the colder scorn of +Juliet's denunciations. + +"Come, Juliet," said Julia, calming herself a little, although hate was +still blazing in her eyes, "let us leave this place. We must send for +the police." + +"Julia," said Mark, stepping forward, and speaking with some of his +former assurance, "you condemn me unheard. Why should you believe this +girl before me? It is not like you, Julia. It is not like the girl I +love. For I do love you, darling, in spite of what you may think; and, +till a few moments ago, I thought you loved me too. But I see now what +your love is. One whiff of suspicion, one word of accusation, and without +proof or evidence you condemn me, and your so-called affection +disappears. Julia, I think you have broken my heart." + +Juliet gave vent to a derisive sound which can only be called a snort; +but it was plain that his words, and more especially the manner of sad +yet tender reproach in which they were uttered, were not without their +effect on the other girl. Her eyes wavered uneasily; she twisted and tore +at her handkerchief. + +"I have heard what you have to say," she murmured. "I saw that you could +not deny what Juliet told me." + +"I did deny it. But what is the use of talking to you when you are in +such a state? You are determined beforehand to disbelieve me. And I have +no wish to justify myself to Miss Byrne, though I am willing to swallow +my pride and do so to you." + +"Well," she said after a moment's hesitation, "justify yourself if you +can. No one shall say I would not listen. God knows I shall be glad +enough if you can clear yourself." + +"To begin with," said Mark, "I admit that, superficially, there is truth +in what you have heard. But only superficially, for the person I deceived +was not yourself but this young lady. I certainly, as she suggests, never +had the slightest intention of marrying her. For one thing I was +absolutely certain she would refuse me, but it seemed a good +precautionary move to make what might appear a generous proposal, and at +the same time get a sort of mandate from the possible heiress herself to +stick to my uncle's fortune. You may be sure I should never have given it +up, in any case, but it is as well to keep up appearances. The business +was only a move in the game I am playing, and no more affects the +sincerity of my love for you than any of the social equivocations we all +find necessary from time to time. I love you, Julia, and you alone. How +can you doubt it? I love you so much that I am willing to overlook your +want of confidence in me, and to forgive the cruel things you said just +now. Darling, how can I tell you, before a third person, what I feel for +you? You are everything to me; and, if you no longer love me, I don't +care what happens. Give me up to the police if you like. The gallows is +as good a place as another, without your love." + +Long before he had finished, all traces of resentment had vanished. When +he ceased speaking, she gave in completely, and threw herself upon his +breast, sobbing passionately, and begging his forgiveness for having +doubted him for an instant, while he soothed and comforted her in a low +tone. Juliet did not know what to do or which way to look. The two stood +between her and the door, and she felt an absurd awkwardness about trying +to pass them. Was it likely she would be allowed to go out free to +denounce them? She was afraid of trying. + +At last Julia was calm again, and there came a silence, during which the +pair glanced at Juliet and then at each other. + +"What's to be done?" Julia asked at length, and then suddenly, without +waiting for an answer, "I have an idea, Mark, that will save you. If her +mouth can be stopped for a time, will you be able to get clear away?" + +"I shall have to try, I suppose," he replied, with a trace of his former +sulkiness. "To think that everything should miscarry because of a slip +of a girl!" + +"You had better go to Glasgow and get on board some ship there which will +take you to a place of safety. I shall have to stay behind till the +matter of the list is settled one way or the other. But then, when I have +reported to my superiors, I can join you, and we can begin life together +in some far-off country. I shall be as happy in one place as in another +with you, Mark; are you sure you will be, too, with only me?" + +Mark hastened to reassure her on that point, but his tone as he said it +did not carry conviction to Juliet. Julia, however, seemed satisfied. + +"Miss Byrne can choose," she continued. "Either she swears not to say a +word till we are both safe away, or else we can shut her in the dungeon +of the castle. I know where it is, in the wall of this tower. She will +never be found there, and I can take her food from time to time till I am +ready to join you. Isn't that a good plan?" + +Mark considered. + +"I don't think we will give her the option of swearing not to tell," he +said presently. + +"As if I would ever promise such a thing!" Juliet interrupted, indignant. + +"But," he went on, ignoring this outburst, "otherwise I think your idea +is good. Where is this dungeon? We may be disturbed at any minute, and +enough time has been wasted already." + +"I will go first and show the way," said Julia. "I have an electric +torch," and she stepped into the clock and lowered herself through the +trap-door. + +Mark motioned to Juliet to follow. + +"Ladies first," he said with a sneer. + +Juliet turned and made a dash for the door. + +"I won't go! I won't! I won't!" she cried desperately, though in her +heart she knew she could not resist if he chose to use force. Perhaps if +she screamed, some one would hear. Oh, where was Gimblet? Why did he +leave her to the mercy of these people? "Help! Help!" She lifted up her +voice and shrieked as loud as she could. + +With a vicious scowl Mark sprang upon her, and clapped a hand over her +mouth. Then, as she still continued to produce muffled sounds of +distress, he stuffed his handkerchief in between her teeth and, lifting +her bodily in his arms, thrust her before him into the clock, and +pushed her roughly down the hidden stair. Half-way down she lost her +footing, and fell to the bottom, where Julia was standing with her +little lamp in her hand. + +Mark was following close behind, and between them they picked her up and +hurried her, limping and bruised, along the narrow passage. She was +allowed to take the handkerchief out of her mouth, for no cry could +penetrate the immense thickness of these blocks of stone. At the point +where there was a break to right and left in the walls of the passage, +Julia came to a standstill. + +"Here it is," she said, turning her light on to the opening in the wall +on the left-hand side. "The door is gone, so you will have to fetch +something to block it up with." + +It seemed to be a small, cell-like chamber, built into the side of the +tower. It may have contained a dozen cubic yards of space, and had +neither door nor window. + +"There are some slabs of stone at the end of the passage," said Julia. +"They are heavy, but you are strong, you will be able to bring them. We +must leave a little space at the top of the door to admit some air, and +for me to pass food through to our prisoner." She laughed with a feverish +merriment. "It will be like feeding the animals at the Zoo," she said. + +Mark signified his approval by a nod. + +"And is this the way?" he asked, turning round and starting off in the +opposite direction. + +"No, no!" Julie cried, laying a detaining hand upon his arm. "I don't +know what there is down there. I think it is a well. See, you are on the +very edge." + +She cast the light on to a round dark opening in the ground some six feet +in front of and below them. From where they stood the floor began to +slant suddenly and steeply downward, so that if Mark had taken another +step, it looked as if nothing could have prevented his sliding down into +the gaping circle of blackness at the bottom. + +Julia shuddered violently. + +"Oh," she cried, "if you had gone over! Come away, do come away!" + +"It's a funny sort of well," he said, "Looks to me like something else. +Did you ever hear of _oubliettes_, Julia?" + +Juliet, as she heard him, grew white with terror. + +"Julia, Julia," she cried, "you won't let him throw me down there?" + +"No, no," said Julia. "He would not. There is no reason.... Mark," she +urged, "come away from here." + +But he only laughed shortly. + +"Don't be so hysterical," he said, and continued to bend his gaze upon +the hole at the bottom of the slope. It seemed to have a sort of +fascination for him. Finally he picked a piece of loose mortar from the +wall and threw it down into the gap. A second later there was a dull +sound which might have been a splash. "Perhaps it is a well after all. +Did you think it sounded as if it had fallen into water?" + +"Yes," said Julia, "I am sure it did. Do come away. I hate being here." + +And indeed she was shivering from head to foot, and not Juliet herself +seemed more anxious to leave the place. + +"Just one more shot," said Mark. "Here, Julia, stoop down, and roll that +bit of stone slowly down the slope, while I hold on to our prisoner. We +shall hear better that way. Give me your lamp." + +Anxious to satisfy him, Julia picked up the fragment he had knocked +from the rough wall, and stooping down stretched out her hand to set the +stone in motion. But, as she did so, Mark loosened his grip on Juliet, +and bending quickly behind this poor girl who loved him seized her by +the shoulders and threw her forward on to her face. The steep pitch of +the floor finished what the impetus given by his onslaught had begun. +Julia shot head first down the slope, and disappeared into the black +chasm of the well. + +One long agonized scream came up to them out of the darkness, and rolled +its echoes through the lonely passages. + +Then the distant sound of a splash; and silence. + +Back against the wall, Juliet cowered, her whole body shaken by great +sobs. She was petrified with terror of this fiendish man, but her fears +for herself gave way before the horror of what she had seen. + +"Oh, what have you done, what have you done?" she wept. + +Mark tried to summon up a jeering smile. The lantern threw no light upon +his white and twitching face. + +"You don't suppose I meant to let her go free, after the taste she gave +me of her temper?" he asked, in a voice he could not keep from shaking a +little. "Do you suppose I like having to do these things? You women have +never the slightest sense of common justice. The whole thing is perfectly +beastly to me. But how could I live with a girl who would be ready to +threaten me with the gallows every time she got out of bed wrong foot +first? It's not fair to blame me for other people's faults." + +He spoke querulously, with the air of a much-injured man. Though Juliet +was beyond any coherent reply, he seemed afraid of meeting her eyes, and +looked resolutely away from her, his glance shifting and wavering from +the walls to the floor, from the floor to the stones of the low roof; up, +down, and sideways, but never resting on her. At last, as if drawn there +irresistibly and against his will, they fell once more on the dark circle +of the mouth of the pit, and he started back, shuddering violently. + +"As if I hadn't enough to bear without being saddled with hideous +memories for the rest of my life!" he cried with bitter irritability. "If +you had an ounce of common fairness in your composition you would admit I +could do no less. Why, any day she might have got jealous, or something, +and flown into a passion again, and denounced me to the police. Besides, +I have no wish to be obliged to fly the country. Why should I? She was +the only person who knew the truth; except you. That is why you must +follow her." + +"No, no!" cried Juliet despairingly, but without avail, for her feeble +strength could offer him no effective opposition, and he thrust her +easily on to the slope. She felt instinctively that at that angle the +merest push would make her lose her balance, and sank quickly to her +knees, catching him round the ankle with one hand, and clinging +desperately. + +He swore furiously, and bent down to unclasp her fingers from his leg. +Then he flung her hand away from him; and cut off from all assistance she +began instantly to slide backwards, slowly but irresistibly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Juliet dug her nails into the cracks of the stone floor with all the +energy of despair, but in a moment her feet were over the edge of the pit +and she was falling. Her fingers gripped the edge with a fierce tenacity, +and for some minutes she hung there, minutes that seemed longer than all +the rest of her life put together. + +And so she hung, her knees drawn up in a frantic effort to pull herself +out of the depths, till her muscles refused any longer to contract, and +she felt herself gradually straightening out and growing, it seemed, +heavier and heavier, till she knew that in one more second her fingers +would slip from their hold, and all would be over. + +But as she dropped into a straight position, and wearily abandoned her +efforts to raise herself, one of her feet suddenly touched some firm +substance beneath it. Something narrow it was, for the other foot as +yet still hung in space, but some blessed solid thing on which it was +possible to stand. As, with a feeling of thankfulness and relief such +as she had never before experienced, she allowed her weight to rest on +it and found that it did not give, she felt a sharp blow on the +knuckles of her left hand, which made her withdraw it quickly and lean +against the wall to steady herself. Mark was throwing stones at her +fingers to make her leave go sooner. Another missed her narrowly, and +shot over her head. + +She drew down her right hand, and still leaning against the wall felt +about with her other foot for a support. + +She soon found it, a little farther back it seemed than the first +foothold; but more experimental investigation showed that it was really +part of the same object. There appeared, indeed, to be several of them +about, all near to the wall, so that it was plain that poor Julia, as she +shot over the brink, had fallen outside, and beyond them. What the bars +were that she seemed to be standing on, Juliet could not at first +imagine, and it was not till Mark, growing tired of waiting for a splash +that never came, reached the conclusion that his ears had deceived him, +and took himself and Julia's lantern off to other spheres of usefulness, +that she perceived that a faint light penetrated into the upper part of +the pit. When her eyes had become accustomed to it, she was able to make +out that she was perched upon a portion of the roots of a tree, which had +grown in through holes in the wall. + +Three great roots there were, curling into and across the shaft of the +pit and disappearing down into the darkness below, where Juliet did not +dare to look. + +She managed, with great caution, to stoop down and catch hold of the +highest of the roots, and so to settle herself in a fairly comfortable +position, sitting on the middle root of the three, with her feet on the +lowest, and her back against the top one. + +"They might have been made on purpose," she told herself, her naturally +high spirits and brave young optimism coming nobly to her rescue again. + +And she set herself to try and enlarge one of the holes in the wall; but +she could not make much perceptible difference there. What it had taken +centuries, and the growth of a great tree to effect, could not be much +improved on in an hour by one young girl, however strong the necessity +that urged her. + +By the time she had exhausted her efforts and must needs lean back and +rest awhile, the biggest hole was just wide enough to put her hand +through, and she saw no prospect of enlarging it further. + +Through it she could see a corner of the loch and the grey foot of Ben +Ghusy, but that was all. It showed, however, on which side of the tower +she was, and she remembered the great beech that clung to the precipice +below the place where the foundations of the castle sprang from the rock. +At least she had always imagined it was below the foundations, but now +she knew better. + +She thrust her hand out and waved it, but did not dare leave it there. +The terror Mark had instilled in her was too recent and too real. If she +put out her hand, he would see it, and perhaps shoot it off; or at least +know that he had failed to kill her as yet. Better he should think her +dead, like poor Julia. But was Julia really dead? + +She leant over and called down into the darkness: + +"Julia! Julia!" + +But no answer came, although she waited, holding her breath, and called +again and again. + +Then she had fallen into the water? She must be drowned even if the fall +did not kill her. Poor, misguided Julia. Better dead, after all, thought +Juliet, with eyes full of tears, than alive, and at the mercy of that +terrible man. What disillusionments must have come to her sooner or +later; final disillusionings that could not be explained away. How +horrible to find that the man you loved was like that. Nothing else in +the world could be so appalling. Yes, Julia was better dead. As Juliet +thought of the dreadful manner in which death had come to the unfortunate +girl, she forgot her faults, forgot her strange views upon the +justifiability of taking human life, forgot even that she had approved of +Lord Ashiel's assassination and contemplated bringing about his death +herself, and remembered only the frightful nature of her punishment. + +And while she sat there, clinging precariously to the twisted roots of +the beech tree, Juliet's tears streamed down into the watery grave. + +Hours passed, and darkness fell upon the world without. In the patch of +loch that was visible to her, she could see a star mirrored; it cheered +her somehow. What there was comforting about it she could not have said, +but in some way it seemed to be an emblem of her hopes. She wedged +herself tightly between the roots, laid her head down upon the uppermost +of them, and, such is the adaptability of youth and health, slept on her +dangerous perch like a bird upon a bough. + +With the day she awoke, stiff and hungry. How long would it be before she +was found? She felt braver under this new stimulus of hunger and more +ready to risk detection by Mark. After all, he could hardly get at her +here, and someone else might see her if she signalled. She took off her +shoes and stockings and pushed them through the hole in the wall, then +her handkerchief, and finally the white blouse she wore was taken off and +thrust out between the stones. She kept her hold upon one of the sleeves, +and wedged it down between the wall and the beech root, so that the +blouse might hang out on the face of the rock like a flag and catch the +attention of some passer-by. From time to time, too, she squeezed her +hand through the gap and fluttered her fingers backward and forward. She +knew that the path by the burn ran below, and it was used constantly by +the ghillies and by the household. Only of course so early in the morning +there was not likely to be anyone about. And she remembered with a +sinking heart that people seldom look up as they walk. + +Yet in the course of the day some one would surely see it. She sternly +refused to allow herself to expect an immediate rescue. She would not, +she told herself, begin to get really anxious about it till evening. It +would be long to wait, of course. She looked at the little watch which +Sir Arthur had given her on her last birthday. It was six o'clock. She +must be patient. + +But in spite of all her forced cheerfulness the time passed terribly +slowly. She found an old letter in her pocket, and a pencil, with which +she scrawled painstaking directions for her rescue. She would push it +through the hole, she thought, if she heard any sound of voices above the +clamour of the burn. After that there remained nothing more to do, and +the hours seemed to creep along more and more slowly, till each second +seemed like a minute and each minute an hour. She tried to divert herself +by repeating poetry, and doing imaginary sums; and it was about eleven +o'clock, when she was in the middle of the dates of the Kings of England, +that she heard Gimblet's voice hailing her in a shout from below. + +It was not till after her rescue, not till after she was given safely +over to the affectionate ministrations of Lady Ruth, that Juliet gave +way under the strain to which she had been subjected, and broke down +altogether. + +Up till that moment, the urgency of her own danger had prevented her from +feeling as acutely as she would have in other circumstances the terrible +fate of the Russian girl; but, as soon as she herself was safe, the full +horror of it settled upon her mind till thought became an agony. She was +shaken by alternate fits of shuddering and weeping, until Lady Ruth, who +had a scathing contempt for doctors, was on the point of sending for one. + +The arrival of Sir Arthur, an hour or so after her release, did much to +calm her. He had started post haste from Belgium as soon as he heard of +the tragedy, which was not till three days after it had occurred, and had +spent the long journey in incessant self-reproach that he had ever +allowed Juliet to go alone among these murderous strangers. The sight of +his familiar face was full of comfort to the distracted girl; and the +knowledge that Mark was arrested and powerless to harm her, with the +gladsome news that David was free again, combined to soothe her nerves +and restore her self-control. + +The fear of one cousin began to give place insensibly to the dread lest +the other should find her red-eyed and woe-begone; and soon the +importance of looking her best when David should return occupied her mind +almost to the exclusion of the terrors she had experienced. Thus does the +emotion of love monopolize the attention of those it possesses, so that +individuals may fall thick around him and the surface of the earth be +convulsed with the strife of nations, and still your lover will walk +almost unconscious among such catastrophes, except in so much as they +affect himself or the object of his affections. + +But not yet was Juliet to see David. His mother's health had broken +down under the distress and worry of the accusation brought against +him, and it was to her side that he hurried as soon as he was released +from prison. + +While Lady Ruth carried Juliet off at once to the cottage, there to be +comforted, fed, made much of and put to bed, Gimblet and the men who had +assisted him in the work of rescue stayed behind in the walls of the +tower, to rig up, with ropes and buckets, an apparatus by which to +descend to that lowest depth of the _oubliette_ where poor Julia's body +must be lying. + +They had little hope of finding her alive; nor did they do so. She was +floating, face downwards, in the water at the bottom of the pit. + +In a grim, wrathful silence the men raised the poor lifeless body, +and with some difficulty brought it back to the light of day. When +the gruesome business was done, Gimblet returned to the cottage, +tired out with his night's work; for, like all the men on the place, +he had been scouring the moors since the previous evening, when +Mark's derisive words had first sent them, hot foot, to assure +themselves of Juliet's whereabouts. As he reached the cottage, the +daily post bag was being handed in, and among his letters was one +from the colonel of Mark's regiment: + +"MY DEAR SIR," it ran, "I have sent you a wire in answer to your letter +received to-day, since in view of what you say I see that it is necessary +to disclose what I hoped, for the sake of the regiment, to continue to +keep secret. But if, as you tell me, the innocence and even the life of +Sir David Southern is involved, and you have such good reason to +consider McConachan the man guilty of his uncle's death, it becomes my +duty to put aside my private feelings and to confess to you that I am +unable to look upon Mark McConachan as entirely above suspicion. When he +was a subaltern in the regiment I have the honour to command, he was a +source of grave worry and trouble to me. + +"From the day he joined I had misgivings, and, though his good looks, +lively spirits, and recklessness with money made him popular with others +of his age, I soon discovered that his moral sense was practically +nonexistent, and considered him a very undesirable addition to our ranks. +Still, I hoped he might improve, and for a year or two nothing occurred +to force me to take serious notice of his behaviour. Unknown to me, +however, he took to gambling very heavily, and must have lost a great +deal more than he could afford, for he appears to have got deep in the +clutches of moneylenders long before I heard anything about it. So +desperate did his financial affairs become, that shortly before he left +the regiment he was actually driven to forging the name of a brother +officer, a rich young man, with whom he was on very friendly terms. The +large amount for which the cheque was drawn drew the attention of the +bankers to it, and in spite of the extreme skill with which, I am told, +the signature had been counterfeited, the forgery was detected, and the +matter was brought before me. + +"The victim of the fraud was as anxious as myself to avoid a public +scandal, and it was arranged that nothing should be done for a year, to +give time to McConachan to refund the money; if, however, he failed to do +so within that time, there would be nothing for it but to make the matter +public. These terms were agreed on and McConachan was told to send in his +papers at once. + +"The year allowed is now drawing to a close, and the money has not been +forthcoming, so that there is no doubt that Mark McConachan's need of +obtaining a large amount is extremely pressing. My knowledge of his +character obliges me to add that I consider him one of the few men I ever +knew whom I could imagine going to almost any length to provide himself +with what he so urgently requires. + +"Please consider this letter confidential unless you obtain actual proof +of his guilt.--I am, sir, yours faithfully, + +"T. G. URSFORD, + +"Colonel commanding 31st Lancers." + +Gimblet put the letter away with the other items of evidence of Mark's +guilt: the telegram from the analyst in Edinburgh, the measurements of +the footprints on the rose-bed, and of those other marks near the hedge +by which he had at first been mystified. It was another thread in the +thin cord that, like the silken line Ariadne gave to Theseus, had led him +to come successfully out of the bewildering labyrinth into which the +investigation of the crime had beguiled him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +It was after dinner that night, as he sat in the little drawing-room of +the cottage with Lady Ruth and Sir Arthur, that his hostess asked him to +explain to them how he had contrived to detect the way in which the +murder had been committed. + +"You promised to tell me all about it," Lady Ruth reminded him, "if I +would keep silent about your finding the papers in the statue." + +"Tell us the whole thing from the beginning," Sir Arthur urged him. + +"I will willingly tell you anything that may interest you," Gimblet +consented readily. "Every one enjoys talking about their work to +sympathetic listeners such as yourselves. It is a bad thing to start on a +case with a preconceived idea, and I can't deny that when I first came +here I was very near having an _idée fixe_ as to the origin of the crime. +I tried to deceive myself into thinking that I kept an open mind on the +subject; but I don't think I ever really doubted for a minute that the +Nihilist society to which Lord Ashiel had formerly belonged was +responsible for the murder. Even after my conversation with the new peer, +which showed me that things looked blacker against Sir David Southern +than I had expected, I was far from convinced that he was guilty, though +I was obliged to admit that there was some ground for the conclusion come +to by the police. + +"But what was the evidence against him? Sir David was known to have +quarrelled with his uncle; he had even been heard to say he had a good +mind to shoot him. But that was more than twenty-four hours previous to +the crime, and the words were uttered in a moment of anger, when he +probably said the first thing that came into his head. Was he likely to +have hugged his rage in silence for the hours that followed, and then to +have walked out into the garden and shot his uncle in cold blood and +without further warning? It did not appear to me probable, but then I did +not know the young man. + +"He was not to be found when the deed was discovered, and a hunt +instituted for the murderer. Well, he had an answer to that which fitted +in with my own theory. He said he saw some one hanging about the grounds, +and went to look for him. But it was said that the night was so dark as +to make it improbable that anyone should have been seen, even if there +had been anyone to see. That cut both ways, to my mind. For it would +account for the intruder making his escape undiscovered. + +"Then there was the matter of the rifle, which he had told Miss Byrne he +had cleaned that evening, in which case it had certainly been fired since +then. He owned that he had locked it up and that the key never left his +possession afterwards, but now denied that he had told the young lady +that he had cleaned it. I asked young Lord Ashiel if he could put any +possible interpretation on these facts except the one accepted by the +police, and he replied that he could not. That, for the first time, made +me wonder if he were really anxious to believe his cousin innocent. For I +could put quite different interpretations on them myself. + +"In the first place, though it was possible that Sir David lied in +making his second statement to the effect that he had not said he had +cleaned his rifle, it was equally possible that the first statement that +he _had_ cleaned it was not strictly accurate. For some reason, which he +did not care to divulge, he might have told Miss Byrne he had been +cleaning his gun when he had been really doing something entirely +different. But had he told her he had cleaned it? His words, as repeated +by her to me, were, 'I went in there to clean my rifle,' but not, 'I have +been cleaning my rifle,' which would be another thing altogether, he +probably had not yet begun cleaning it when he heard Miss Byrne coming +and went out to speak to her; it is possible some feeling akin to shyness +might make him reluctant to confess this afterwards in public. Indeed I +now feel quite sure that this is the explanation of the matter. Later on, +when I questioned her again, she did not appear certain which of the two +forms of words he had used; but there was, at all events, a considerable +doubt. There were other possibilities also. Some one might possess a +duplicate key to the gun-cabinet. It seemed to me impossible that none of +these considerations should have occurred to young Ashiel, if he were +really reluctant to believe in Sir David's guilt. But at the same time I +remembered the almost incredible lack of reasoning powers shown by most +members of the public where a deed of violence has been committed, and +knowing that there is nothing so improbable that it will not find a host +of ready believers, I did not attach much importance to the circumstance +until later. + +"Still on the whole, after talking to young Lord Ashiel, I felt more +disposed to believe that there might be some truth in the accusation +that had been made than I had previously thought likely. But on that +point I reserved my opinion till I should have had an opportunity of +examining the scene of the tragedy for myself. So I prevailed upon the +new owner of the castle to leave me alone--which he was the more ready to +do since he had urgent need to be first in examining some papers of his +uncle's which were in another room--and proceeded to make a cast round +the garden from which the shot had been fired, in the hope of lighting +upon some trifle which had escaped the notice of Macross. + +"It was when I came upon the footprints in the rose-bed which had done so +much to prove the guilt of Sir David Southern in the eyes of his +accusers, that I began to be certain of his innocence; and a very little +examination convinced me absolutely that whoever had shot Lord Ashiel it +was not his youngest nephew. For the tracks on the flower-bed left no +room for doubt. + +"It is true they corresponded exactly with the shooting-boots Sir David +had been wearing on the day the crime was committed. I had provided +myself with a pair that I was assured was exactly like those particular +boots which fitted the tracks and which the police had taken away with +them, and I found that there was indeed no difference, except for the +matter of an extra nail or two on the soles. There was no doubt that Sir +David's boots had made those impressions, but to my mind there was +equally no doubt that Sir David had not been in them when they made them. +For the track which was so plainly distinguishable on the soft mould of +the flower-bed had certain peculiarities which I could hardly overlook. + +"There was first a row of footmarks leading from the lawn to the middle +of the bed; then more marks as if the wearer of the boots had moved from +one position to another hard by; and finally, a track leading back again +to the mossy lawn at the side. Now all this was well enough till it came +to the last row of footsteps, those which led off the bed, and which had +presumably been taken after the fatal shot was fired. But was it +conceivable that a man who had that moment committed a cold-blooded +murder should leave the scene of his crime with the same slow, deliberate +footsteps with which he had approached it? Surely not. + +"And yet this is what the wearer of the boots had done. The imprints, as +they advanced towards the lawn, were deep and well defined from toe to +heel. Not only that, but they were, if anything, closer together than +those which preceded them. Now a man, running, leaves a deeper impression +of his toe than he does of his heel, and his steps are much farther apart +in proportion to his increase in speed. I, myself, ran from the middle of +the bed, to the lawn, alongside of the footmarks of the soi-disant +murderer, and though I am a short man, while Sir David's legs are +reported long, I left only two footprints to his five. To me it was as +certain as if I had seen it happen that the wearer of the boots trampled +his way off the rose-bed as slowly as he had trampled on. Those +footprints had been made by some one who was determined they should be +seen, not by some one whose only thought was to get away from the place; +not, in short, by a man who had that moment fired a murderous shot +through the darkness. The tracks had undoubtedly been made as a blind and +with the intention of diverting suspicion to the wrong man probably after +the deed itself was done. + +"I was satisfied, then, that the shot had not been fired from this +particular part of the rose-bed, and I proceeded to search for other +footprints farther down the bed. I did not feel much hope of being +successful, since, if our man had had the forethought to leave so many +traces of some one else's presence, it was unlikely he would have +neglected to ensure that his own should be absent. And as I expected, I +found none. + +"But at the end of the garden, where it is bounded by the holly hedge, I +came across something which puzzled me. There were two narrow depressions +on the flower-bed, about an inch wide by less than a foot long. They were +parallel to each other, and at right angles to the hedge, and separated +by a distance of six or seven feet. Near one, which was almost in the +middle of the bed, was another mark which I could not understand. It was +only a few inches long and, in shape, a narrow oval. I could not at first +imagine what any of them represented, and it was only quite suddenly, as +I was giving it up and going away, that the truth flashed across my mind. +I had been looking regretfully at the track I myself had left by the side +of the hedge on my way to and from the middle of the bed. + +"'What I want,' I said to myself, 'is one of those planks raised off +the ground by two little supports, one at each end, that gardeners use +to avoid stepping on the beds when they are going through the process +of bedding out,' And even as I said it, I realized that the same idea +had occurred to some one else, and that the marks I had been examining +might have been made by just such a contrivance as the one I was +thinking of. A short search showed me the plank itself, kept in a +tool-house conveniently near the spot, and, with a rake taken from the +same place, I seized the opportunity of raking out my own footmarks +from the rose-bed. + +"And now who could this be who had so carefully manufactured a false +scent, and so cleverly avoided being himself suspected? My previous +theory, that some envoy of the Nihilists had been lurking in the +neighbourhood, seemed not to meet the new conditions. For how could a +mere stranger have gained possession of the misleading boots, or how +returned them to their proper place? And how, for that matter, could a +stranger have obtained the use of Sir David's rifle, if his rifle had +indeed been used? + +"That brought me to consider again whether after all there was any proof +that his rifle had been used by anyone. Supposing, as I saw no reason to +doubt, he spoke the truth when he said that Miss Byrne had misunderstood +him and that he had not cleaned the weapon since coming in from stalking, +was I driven back on the theory that some one possessed a duplicate key +to the case where the guns were kept? Not in the least. The shot might +have been fired from a rifle that had never, at any time, been within the +walls of the castle. Certainly, the bullet fitted Sir David's Mannlicher +rifle, but that, as young Lord Ashiel said himself, was equally true of +his own rifle, or probably of a dozen others in the neighbouring forests, +since a sporting Mannlicher is a weapon in common use in the Highlands. + +"The shot, then, might well have been fired by my hypothetical Russian as +far as the rifle was concerned; but he would have found it difficult to +borrow Sir David's boots, and it seemed unlikely that any stranger would +not only have dared to do so, but afterwards have had the audacity to +return them. No, on the whole the footmarks seemed to clear the +character of the Russian nation from any reasonable suspicion of being +directly concerned in the crime. + +"And yet, in spite of reason, I could not help feeling that the Society +of the Friends of Man must be at the bottom of the whole thing in some +way I had not yet fathomed. I made every inquiry as to whether any +foreigner had visited the castle or been seen in the neighbourhood, but +the only strangers among the visitors had been Miss Julia Romaninov and +Miss Juliet Byrne's French maid, both of whose alibis appeared so far +unimpeachable. I had it on Lady Ruth's authority that Miss Romaninov had +been in the drawing-room with the other ladies at the time of the murder, +and all the servants were at supper in the servants' hall. Otherwise I +should have been inclined to look on Julia Romaninov with a suspicious +eye, as being the only Russian I knew to be on the spot. The last word +the dying man had been able to pronounce, too, was, according to Miss +Byrne, 'steps' which might very well have been intended for steppes, and +have some connection with the enemies he dreaded. + +"With these considerations running in my mind, I made my way to the +gun-room, not indeed with much expectation of its having anything to +tell me, but as part of the day's work of inspection, which must not be +shirked. I took down young Ashiel's rifle to examine. He had told me it +was of the same description as his cousin's, and I was not very +familiar with the make. It was owing to my wish to see for myself with +what kind of weapon the deed had been done that a very important clue +fell into my hands. + +"As I put the rifle down on the bare deal table which forms the +principal piece of furniture in the gun-room, I saw a grain of something +dark, which looked like earth, fall off the butt end on to the boards +beneath. I picked up the rifle, and looked closely at the butt; it was +criss-crossed with small cuts, as they sometimes are, with the idea of +preventing them from slipping, and in the cuts some dust, or earth, +seemed, as I expected, to be adhering. I knocked the rifle upon the +table, and a little shower fell from it. Except for the first grain, it +might have been nothing but the ordinary dust of disuse, but I could not +help thinking it was of a darker hue than the accumulations of years +generally take upon themselves, and, further, I knew that the rifle had +lately been used for stalking. It was, moreover, specklessly clean in +every other part. I felt certain it had been leant upon the ground at no +distant date; and I remembered the mark I had not been able to account +for at the foot of the rose-bush, near the place where the plank had been +used and, as I was persuaded, the cowardly shot actually fired. If a gun +had been leant up against the large standard rose that grew there, it +would have left just such a mark upon the soft ground. + +"All this, of course, was a mere surmise, and rather wild at that, but +the deer forests of Scotland are not muddy, whatever else they may be, +and I felt an unreasoning conviction that the rifle had not accumulated +dust while engaged upon its legitimate business on the mountain tops. The +peaty moorland soil on which the castle stood would hardly be the best +thing in the world for rose-trees, I imagined, and it seemed not too much +to hope that some other kind of earth might be artificially mingled with +it. I carefully collected the dust in a pill-box, and promised myself to +lose no time in obtaining the opinion of an expert analyst, as to +whether or no some trace of patent fertilizer, or other chemical, could +not be traced in it. + +"It was now for the first time that suspicion of young Lord Ashiel began +to oust my theory of the Nihilist society's responsibility for the +murder. He had, as I remembered, struck me as taking his cousin's guilt +for granted with somewhat unnecessary alacrity. His rifle, I already +believed, perhaps in my turn with needless alacrity, had fired the fatal +bullet, and it seemed perfectly possible that it was his finger that +pressed upon the trigger. He was, I knew, in the billiard-room, and +alone, both before and after the murder was committed. It would have been +quite easy for him to fetch his rifle, place the gardener's plank in +position, fire his shot and return to the house, provided Miss Byrne did +not rush immediately from the room. He knew her to be a brave girl and +not likely to fly without making some attempt at offering assistance. +But, if she had rushed from the spot and met the murderer outside the +library door, it would be simple enough to convey the impression that he +had heard the shot, and that he was either dashing to their help, or +making for the garden in the attempt to catch the villain red handed. The +rifle was the only thing likely to provoke an awkward question, but he +could have dropped it in the dark and returned for it afterwards without +much fear of detection. As it happened, he thought it safer to risk +carrying it indoors, and hid it under the billiard-room sofa till he had +a chance to clean it and take it to the gun-room, as we now know. + +"You can imagine the scene: Lord Ashiel falling forward upon the +writing-table under the light of the lamp; the scoundrel leaping from +his post upon the plank, but not so quickly that he did not see the +girl throw herself on her knees at the side of the fallen man. I can +fancy the frenzied haste with which McConachan thrust the plank into the +hedge and ran like a deer towards the door, which he had no doubt left +open. I imagine him, then, tiptoeing to the door of the library and +bending to listen, every nerve astretch. What he heard, no doubt +reassured him; it may have been the voice of the girl calling upon her +father, or it may have been the thud of her body falling upon the floor +when she fainted. Perhaps, even, he may have stayed outside long enough +to see her sink to the ground. Then he would steal back, shut the door +as gently as he had opened it, and not breathe again till he found +himself in the empty billiard-room, his tell-tale rifle still in his +hand. No doubt he wished he had left it in the hedge at that moment, for +he must have opened the billiard-room door with most lively +apprehensions. Supposing the shot had been heard, and the household was +rushing to the scene of the disaster? Supposing he opened the door to +find the room full of people demanding an explanation of himself and his +weapon? What explanation had he ready, I wonder? It must have taken all +his nerve to turn the handle of the door.... + +"But no one can deny the man his full share of courage and decision. + +"I felt more and more sure that in some such manner the crime had been +gone about; and yet there were many complications, and more than once it +seemed as if my convictions had been too hastily formed. Later that same +afternoon I found, upon the sand of a little bay below the castle, marks +that told me as plainly as they told one of the keepers who joined me +there that a strange man had landed from a boat on the night of the +murder, and even, if our calculations were right, not far off the very +hour in which the deed was done. From the tracks left by his boots, which +were large and without nails and extraordinarily pointed for those of a +man, I felt sure that here one had landed who was no native of these +parts, and the theory of the unknown Russian seemed to take on new life +and vigour. The tracks, as we now know, were no doubt those of the member +of the Society of the Friends of Man who was living at Crianan, and who +hoped to have word with Julia Romaninov. It was no doubt he whom Sir +David saw lurking in the grounds, and it is natural to suppose that when +he perceived himself to be observed he retreated to his boat and made +off, abandoning his proposed meeting for that night. + +"I was to be further bewildered before my first day of investigation +came to an end. Young Lord Ashiel had spent the day in searching for the +will; and, if my inward certainty that he himself would prove to be the +guilty man should turn out to be right, I could very well understand +that he was anxious to find it. For, from what his uncle had said to +Miss Byrne, it seemed possible that he had so worded his last will and +testament, that whoever succeeded to the great fortune he had to +bequeath, it might not be Mark McConachan. But the will was not to be +found, and there was no doubt to whose interest it was that it should +never be found; so that I felt pretty sure that, if the successor to the +title were once able to lay his hands on it, no one else would ever do +so. However, he hadn't found it yet, or the search would not be +continued with such unmistakable ardour. + +"Now I had a fancy myself to have a look for the will. I took the last +words of the dead man to be an effort to indicate how I was to do so, and +I had no idea of prosecuting my search under the eye of his nephew. Young +Ashiel was to dine at the cottage here, with Lady Ruth; so I excused +myself under pretence of a headache from appearing at dinner, and hurried +back to the castle as soon as I could do so unobserved. I got in by a +window which I had purposely left open, and made my way to the library. +The words that Lord Ashiel, as he lay dying, had managed to stammer out +to his daughter, were only five. 'Gimblet--the clock--eleven--steps.' I +had decided to take the clock in the library as the starting-point of +investigation. He might, of course, have referred to any other clock, but +only one could be dealt with at a time, and a beginning must be made +somewhere. Moreover, I had noticed a curious feature about that +particular timepiece. It was clamped to the wall, which struck me as very +suggestive; and I thought it quite likely I should be able to discover +some kind of secret drawer concealed within, or behind, the tall black +lacquered case, where the will and other papers of which Lord Ashiel had +told me might be hidden. But in spite of my best efforts I came across +nothing of the kind. + +"I then examined the floor of the room at spots on its surface which were +at a distance of about eleven steps from the clock, in the hope of +finding some opening between the oak boards; but all to no purpose. I +began to think that by some specially contrived mechanism the +hiding-place might only be discernible at eleven o'clock, and though the +idea seemed farfetched, I don't like to leave any possibility untested, +so I sat down to wait till the hour should strike. + +"While I was waiting, I suddenly heard footsteps which appeared to come +from inside the wall of the room, or from below the floor. I concluded +instantly that there was a secret passage within the walls although I had +failed to find the entrance, so I left the library quickly and quietly, +and made my way to the garden, from which I was able to look back into +the room through the window. By the time I took up my post of observation +the person I had heard approaching had entered. To my surprise it was a +young lady about whom I seemed to recognize something vaguely familiar, +but whom I was not aware of ever having seen before. She was occupied in +examining the papers in Lord Ashiel's writing bureau, and after watching +her for some time, I concluded that she must be Julia Romaninov; partly +from certain foreign ways and gestures which she displayed, and partly +from her present employment, as I knew of no one else who was interested +in the papers of the dead man. I imagined that she knew of the possible +relationship which Lord Ashiel supposed might exist between himself and +her, and that she was searching for evidence of her birth. Whether she +was staying at the castle, which I was told all visitors had left, or +whether, like myself, she had made her way into it from outside, was a +question I could not then determine, though the next day I discovered +that she was stopping with Mrs. Clutsam at the fishing lodge, near by. + +"The fact of her being still in the neighbourhood, the business I found +her engaged upon--an unusual one, to put it mildly, for a young girl--and +the hour, at which she had chosen to go about it, all gave me much food +for thought, and I felt sure she could tell me news of the stranger who +had landed in the bay and who wore such uncommonly pointed boots. When I +recognized in her, on the following day, a young person who had, a few +weeks previously, made me the victim of a barefaced and audacious +robbery, I could no longer doubt that she and the unknown boatman were in +league together; and, since no Englishman would be likely to wear boots +so excessively pointed at the toes, I did not hesitate to conclude that +they were both members of the Society of the Friends of Man, a conclusion +which became a certainty when I subsequently saw them together. This +discovery rather shook my belief in the guilt of young Ashiel, although I +had an inward conviction that in spite of everything he would turn out to +be the murderer. Still, I was after the Nihilist brotherhood as well, and +I determined if possible to put a spoke in the wheel of that association +when I had finished with the first and most important business. + +"In the meantime, as I stood in the dark garden, watching the girl +ransack the private papers of her dead host, I felt no fear of her +finding what she was looking for. Lord Ashiel had convinced me that he +would hide his secret affairs more carefully than that; and, as I +expected, the time came when she gave up the search and departed the way +she had come. And that way, to my astonishment, was through the +grandfather's clock I had spent so much time in examining. No sooner had +she gone than I returned to the library, where I soon discovered that the +hidden entrance lay through the one part of the clock I had not +investigated. A trap in the floor could be opened by turning a small +knob, and I found beneath it the top of that flight of stairs which we +now know leads out to the door under the battlements. There were fifteen +steps in the flight, and my first idea was to examine the eleventh one of +them. I was rewarded by the discovery of a concealed drawer, which in its +turn disclosed a single sheet of paper. + +"On it were written some words that I could not at first understand, but +of which finally, by good luck, and with your help, Lady Ruth, I was able +to decipher the meaning. They referred, in an obscure and veiled fashion, +to the great statue erected by Lord Ashiel in that glen of which his wife +had been so fond; where the beginning of the track used by the cattle +drivers and robbers of old, which is known as the Green Way, leads up +over the hills to the south. Guided by Lady Ruth, I found on the pedestal +of the statue a spring, which has only to be pressed when a door in one +end of the erection swings open, and discloses the hollow chamber in the +middle of the pedestal. At the far end of the cavity was the tin box, of +which the key lay temptingly on the top. I lost no time in springing +towards it, for here I felt sure was all I wanted to find, but as I +inserted the key in the lock the door slammed to behind me and I found +myself shut in the dark interior of the pedestal. Luckily Lady Ruth was +with me, and quickly let me out. I found that the door was controlled by +an elaborate piece of clockwork, which is set in motion by the pressure +upon the floor of the feet of any intruder, causing the door to shut +almost immediately behind him. But for you, Lady Ruth, I should be there +now. But the incident gave me an idea. + +"I returned to the cottage with the papers, and found two telegrams. One +was from the analyst in Edinburgh to whom I had sent the grains of dust +collected in the gun-room, saying that among other ingredients lime was +very predominant. Now there is no lime in a peaty soil such as this, and +the gardener, to whom I talked of soils and manures, with an air of +wisdom which I hope deceived him, told me that the rose-bed outside the +library had received a strong dressing of it. There was also, said the +report, traces of steel and phosphates, of which there is a combination +known as basic slag, which the gardener had mentioned as being +occasionally used. I considered that it was tolerably certain, therefore, +that young Ashiel's rifle had been the weapon the imprint of whose butt +was still discernible on the bed when I went over it. + +"The second telegram contained an answer from the colonel of his +regiment, to whom I had written asking if there was anything in the +record of Mark McConachan which would make it appear conceivable that he +was badly in need of money, and likely to go to extreme lengths to obtain +it. I had told the colonel as much about the case as I then knew, and +pointed out that the life or death of a man whom I had strong reason to +think innocent might depend upon his withholding nothing he might know +which could possibly bear upon the matter. The telegram I received in +reply was short but emphatic. 'Record very bad,' it said, 'am writing,' +This was enough for me. I went over to Crianan, saw the police, and +imparted my conclusions to the local inspector. I then proposed that a +little trap should be laid, into which, if he were not guilty and had no +intention of destroying his uncle's will, there was no reason to imagine +young Lord Ashiel would step. The inspector consented, and I returned, +with himself and two of his men, to Inverashiel. You know how successful +was the ruse I indulged in. I simply went to the young man, and told him +I had discovered the place where his uncle had put his will and other +valuable papers. I explained to him where it was and how the pedestal +could be opened, but I said nothing about its shutting again. Neither, I +am afraid, did I confess that I had already visited the statue and taken +away the documents. I said, on the contrary, that I preferred not to +touch the contents except in the presence of a magistrate, and suggested +he should send a note to General Tenby at Glenkliquart to ask him to come +over and be present when we removed the papers. This he did, and I then +left him after he had promised to join us at the cottage in a couple of +hours. I knew very well where we should find him at the end of those +hours; and, as I expected, he was caught by the clockwork machinery of +the pedestal door." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +Sir Arthur Byrne took his adopted daughter back to Belgium on the +following day, since, although she would have to return to England to +give evidence against Mark in due course, some time must elapse before +his trial came on, and he judged it best to remove her as far as possible +from a place whose associations must always be painful. + +Then ensued a series of weary long weeks for Juliet, in which she had no +trouble in convincing herself that David had forgotten her. She heard +nothing from him directly, though indirectly news of him filtered through +in letters they received from Lady Ruth and Gimblet. He had not, it +appeared, taken his cousin's guilt as proved so readily as Mark had +affected to do in his own case, refusing absolutely to hear a word of the +evidence against him, and maintaining that the whole thing was a mistake +as colossal as it was ghastly. + +Only when he was persuaded unwillingly, but finally, that it was Juliet's +word which he must doubt if he were to continue to believe in Mark's +innocence, did he give in, and sorrowfully acknowledged himself +convinced. + +All this Lady Ruth wrote to the girl, together with the fact that Sir +David was still in attendance on his mother, now happily recovering from +the nervous shock she had sustained. + +From Gimblet, and from Messrs. Findlay & Ince, they heard that by the +will which the detective had found all Lord Ashiel's money and estate +were left to the adopted daughter of Sir Arthur Byrne, known hitherto as +Juliet Byrne, with a suggestion that she should provide for his nephews +to the extent she should think fit. + +The will, though not technically worded, was perfectly good and legal, +and Juliet could have all the money she was likely to want for the +present by accepting the offer of an advance which the lawyers begged to +be allowed to make. + +Gimblet wrote, further, that the list of names of members of the Nihilist +society entitled the "Friends of Man" which he had discovered at the same +time as the will and, contrary to Lord Ashiel's wishes, sent off by +registered post to Scotland Yard, had been communicated to the heads of +the police in Russia and the other European countries in which many of +those designated were now scattered, with the result that a large number +of arrests had been quietly made, and the society practically wiped out. +The foreign guest of the Crianan Hotel was still at large. The name of +Count Pretovsky was not on the list and nothing could be proved against +him. He had moved on to another hotel farther west, where he was lying +very low and continuing to practise the gentle art of the fisherman. A +member of the Russian secret police was on his way to Scotland, however, +and it was likely that Count Pretovsky would be recognized as one of the +persons on Lord Ashiel's list who were as yet unaccounted for. + +Gimblet told them, besides, that he had succeeded in finding the widow of +the respectable plumber named Harsden, whom Julia had mentioned as being +her father. Mrs. Harsden corroborated the story, and said that it was +certainly the Countess Romaninov to whom Mrs. Meredith had consigned the +little girl they had given her. + +Widely distributed advertisements also brought to light the nurses of the +two children; both the nurse who had taken Julia out to Russia and the +woman who had been with Mrs. Meredith when she took over the charge of +the McConachan baby, quickly claiming the reward that was offered for +their discovery. There was no longer any room for doubt that Juliet Byrne +was the same person as Juliana McConachan, or that Julia Romaninov had +begun life as little Judy Harsden. + +All this scarcely sufficed to rouse Juliet from the apathy into which she +had fallen. To her it seemed incredible to think with what excitement and +delight such news would have filled her a few months earlier. + +Now, since David plainly no longer cared for her, nothing mattered any +longer. Her depression was put down to the shock she had suffered, and +efforts were made to feed her up and coddle her, which she +ungratefully resented. + +She had nothing in life to look forward to now, so she told herself, +except the horrible ordeal of the trial which she would be obliged +to attend. + +It was in the dejection now becoming habitual to her, that she sat idly +one fine October morning in her little sitting-room at the consulate. She +had refused to play tennis with her stepsisters, not because she had +anything else to do, but because nothing was worth doing any more, and +because it was less trouble to sit and gaze mournfully through the open +window at the yellow leaves of the poplar in the garden, as from time to +time one of them fluttered down through the still air. + +How unspeakably sad it was, she thought to herself, this slow falling of +the leaves, like the gradual but persistent loss of our hopes and +illusions, which eventually make each human dweller in this world of +change feel as bare and forlorn as the leafless winter trees. + +On a branch a few feet away, a robin perched, and after looking at her +critically for a few moments lifted up its voice in cheerful song. + +But she took no heed of it, and continued to brood over her sorrows. + +All men were faithless. With them, it was out of sight, out of mind, and +she would assuredly never, never believe in one again. The best thing +she could do, she decided, was to put away all thought of such things, +and forget the man whom she had once been so vain as to imagine really +cared for her. + +And just as she told herself for the hundredth time that she had given up +all hope and had resigned herself to the rôle of broken-hearted maiden, +the door opened, and David was shown in. + +By good luck, she was alone. Lady Byrne was not yet down, and her +stepsisters were out; so there was no one to see her blushes and add to +her embarrassment. + +In the surprise of seeing him, all her presence of mind vanished, leaving +her speechless and trembling with agitation. + +For his part, David approached her with a confusion as obvious as her +own. + +"Juliet," he stammered as soon as they were left alone together, "I know +I oughtn't to have come, but I simply couldn't keep away." + +"Why oughtn't you to have come?" was all she could ask foolishly. + +"Because I know you can't want to see me," said the absurd young man, +"though I do think you liked me pretty well before, didn't you? when +Maisie Tarver tied my tongue; or ought to have, I'm afraid I should say. +But she had enough sense to drop me when I was arrested. She couldn't +stand a man arrested for murder any more than you or anyone else could?" + +He said the last words with an air of shamefaced interrogation. + +"Why," said Juliet, who was being carried off her feet on the top of a +rapturous flood, "what nonsense! You were as innocent as I was. What +would it matter if you were arrested twenty times!" + +"Well, I shouldn't care to be, myself," said David, without apparently +deriving much satisfaction from such a suggestion. "Once is enough for +me. And anyway," he added inconsequently, "you can't very well marry a +fellow who is first cousin to a man who's as good as hanged already!" + +"Oh, David, David," cried Juliet; "as if that mattered! But who do +you suppose I am--don't you know that he's my first cousin just as he +is yours?" + +"By Jingo," said David, "I never thought of that, somehow. Then +we're both in the same boat!" And he stepped forward and caught her +by the hands. + +"Yes, David," she said, as he drew her to him tenderly, "both in the same +boat. And what can be nicer than that?" + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Ashiel Mystery, by Mrs. Charles Bryce + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASHIEL MYSTERY *** + +***** This file should be named 9746-8.txt or 9746-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/7/4/9746/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and PG +Distributed Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/9746-8.zip b/9746-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a87b64d --- /dev/null +++ b/9746-8.zip diff --git a/9746.txt b/9746.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cf10e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/9746.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9437 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ashiel Mystery, by Mrs. Charles Bryce + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ashiel Mystery + A Detective Story + +Author: Mrs. Charles Bryce + +Posting Date: November 3, 2011 [EBook #9746] +Release Date: January, 2006 +First Posted: October 14, 2003 +[Last updated: September 30, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASHIEL MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and PG +Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ASHIEL MYSTERY + A DETECTIVE STORY + + + BY MRS. CHARLES BRYCE + + + + +_"It is the difficulty of the Police Romance, that the reader is always a +man of such vastly greater ingenuity than the writer._" + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +When Sir Arthur Byrne fell ill, after three summers at his post in the +little consulate that overlooked the lonely waters of the Black Sea, he +applied for sick leave. Having obtained it, he hurried home to scatter +guineas in Harley Street; for he felt all the uneasy doubts as to his +future which a strong man who has never in his life known what it is to +have a headache is apt to experience at the first symptom that all is not +well. Outwardly, he pretended to make light of the matter. + +"Drains, that's what it is," he would say to some of the passengers to +whom he confided the altered state of his health on board the boat which +carried him to Constantinople. "As soon as I get back to a civilized +sewage system I shall be myself again. These Eastern towns are all right +for Orientals; and what is your Muscovite but an Oriental, in all +essentials of hygiene? But they play the deuce with a European who has +grown up in a country where people still indulge in a sense of smell." + +And if anyone ventured to sympathize with him, or to express regret at +his illness, he would snub him fiercely. But for all that he felt +convinced, in his own mind, that he had been attacked by some fatal +disease. He became melancholy and depressed; and, if he did not spend his +days in drawing up his last will and testament, it was because such a +proceeding--in view of the state of his banking account--would have +partaken of the nature of a farce. Having a sense of humour, he was +little disposed, just then, to any action whose comic side he could not +conveniently ignore. + +When he arrived in London, however, he was relieved to find that the +specialists whom he consulted, while they mostly gave him his money's +worth of polite interest, did not display any anxiety as to his +condition. One of them, indeed, went so far as to mention a long name, +and to suggest that an operation for appendicitis would be likely to do +no harm; but, on being cross-examined, confessed that he saw no reason to +suspect anything wrong with Sir Arthur's appendix; so that the young man +left the consulting-room in some indignation. + +He remembered, as soon as the door had closed behind him, that he had +forgotten to ask the meaning of the long name; and, being reluctant to +set eyes again on the doctor who had mystified him with it, went to +another and demanded to know what such a term might signify. + +"Is--is it--dangerous?" he stammered, trying in vain to appear +indifferent. + +Sir Ronald Tompkins, F.R.C.S., etc. etc., let slip a smile; and then, +remembering his reputation, changed it to a look of grave sympathy. + +"No," he murmured, "no, no. There is no danger. I should say, no +immediate danger. Still you did right, quite right, in coming to me. +Taken in time, and in the proper way, this delicacy of yours will, I have +no hesitation in saying, give way to treatment. I assure you, my dear Sir +Arthur, that I have cured many worse cases than yours. I will write you +out a little prescription. Just a little pill, perfectly pleasant to the +taste, which you must swallow when you feel this alarming depression and +lack of appetite of which you complain; and I am confident that we shall +soon notice an improvement. Above all, my dear Sir, no worry; no anxiety. +Lead a quiet, open-air life; play golf; avoid bathing in cold water; +avoid soup, potatoes, puddings and alcohol; and come and see me again +this day fortnight. Thank you, yes, two guineas. _Good_-bye." + +He pressed Sir Arthur's hand, and shepherded him out of the room. + +His patient departed, impressed, soothed and comforted. + +After the two weeks had passed, and feeling decidedly better, he +returned. + +Sir Ronald on this occasion was absolutely cheerful. He expressed himself +astonished at the improvement, and enthusiastic on the subject of the +excellence of his own advice. He then broke to Sir Arthur the fact that +he was about to take his annual holiday. He was starting for Norway the +next day, and should not be back for six weeks. + +"But what shall I do while you are away?" cried his patient, aghast. + +"You have advanced beyond my utmost expectations," replied the doctor, +"and the best thing for you now will be to go out to Vichy, and take a +course of the waters there. I should have recommended this in any case. +My intended departure makes no difference. Let me earnestly advise you to +start for France to-morrow." + +Sir Arthur had by this time developed a blind faith in Sir Ronald +Tompkins and did not dream of ignoring his suggestion. He threw over all +the engagements he had made since arriving in England; packed his trunks +once more; and, if he did not actually leave the country until two or +three days later, it was only because he was not able to get a sleeping +berth on the night express at such short notice. + +The end of the week saw him installed at Vichy, the most assiduous and +conscientious of all the water drinkers assembled there. + +It was on the veranda of his hotel that he made the acquaintance of +Mrs. Meredith. + +She was twenty-five, rich, beautiful and a widow, her husband having been +accidentally killed within a few months of their marriage. After a year +or so of mourning she had recovered her spirits, and led a gay life in +English society, where she was very much in request. + +Sir Arthur had seen few attractive women of late, the ladies of Baku +being inclined to run to fat and diamonds, and he thought Lena Meredith +the most lovely and the most wonderful creature that ever stepped out of +a fairy tale. + +From the very moment he set eyes on her he was her devoted slave, and +after the first few days a more constant attendant than any shadow--for +shadows at best are mere fair-weather comrades. He seldom saw the lady +alone, for she had with her a small child, not yet a year old, of which +she was, as it seemed to Sir Arthur, inordinately fond; and whether she +were sitting under the trees in the garden of the hotel, or driving +slowly along the dusty roads--as was her habit each afternoon--the baby +and its nurse were always with her, and by their presence put an +effective check to the personalities in which he was longing to indulge. +It would have taken more than a baby to discourage Sir Arthur, however: +he cheerfully included the little girl in his attentions; and, as time +went on, became known to the other invalids in the place by the nickname +of "the Nursemaid." + +Mrs. Meredith took his homage as a matter of course. She was used to +admiration, though she was not one of those women to whom it is +indispensable. She considered it one of the luxuries of life, and held +that it is more becoming than diamonds and a better protection against +the weather than the most expensive furs. At first she looked upon the +obviously stricken state of Sir Arthur with amusement, combined with a +good deal of gratification that some one should have arisen to entertain +her in this dull health resort; but gradually, as the weeks passed, her +point of view underwent a change. Whether it was the boredom of the cure, +or whether she was touched by the unselfish devotion of her admirer, or +whether it was due merely to the accident that Sir Arthur was an +uncommonly good-looking young man and so little conscious of the fact, +from one cause or another she began to feel for him a friendliness which +grew quickly more pronounced; so that at the end of a month, when he +found her, for the first time walking alone by the lake, and proposed to +her inside the first two minutes of their encounter, she accepted him +almost as promptly, and with very nearly as much enthusiasm. + +"I want to talk to you about the child, little Juliet," she said, a day +or two later. "Or rather, though I want to talk about her, perhaps I had +better not, for I can tell you almost nothing that concerns her." + +"My dear," said Sir Arthur, "you needn't tell me anything, if you +don't like." + +"But that's just the tiresome part," she returned, "I should like you to +know everything, and yet I must not let you know. She is not mine, of +course, but beyond that her parentage must remain a secret, even from +you. Yet this I may say: she is the child of a friend of mine, and there +is no scandal attached to her birth, but I have taken all responsibility +as to her future. Are you, Arthur, also prepared to adopt her?" + +"Darling, I will adopt dozens of them, if you like," said her infatuated +betrothed. "Juliet is a little dear, and I am very glad we shall always +have her." + +In England, the news of Lena Meredith's engagement caused a flutter of +excitement and disappointment. It had been hoped that she would make a +great match, and she received many letters from members of her family and +friends, pointing out the deplorable manner in which she was throwing +herself away on an impecunious young baronet who occupied an obscure +position in the Consular Service. She was begged to remember that the +Duke of Dachet had seemed distinctly smitten when he was introduced to +her at the end of the last season; and told that if she would not +consider her own interests it was unnecessary that she should forget +those of her younger unmarried sisters. + +At shooting lodges in the North, and in country houses in the South, +young men were observed to receive the tidings with pained surprise. +More than one of them had given Mrs. Meredith credit for better taste +when it came to choosing a second husband; more than one of them had +felt, indeed, that she was the only woman in the world with an eye +discerning enough to appreciate his own valuable qualities at their true +worth. Could the fact be that she had overlooked those rare gifts? For a +week or so depression sat in many a heart unaccustomed to its presence; +and young ladies, in search of a husband, found, here and there, that +one turned to them whom they had all but given up as hopelessly +indifferent to their charms. + +Unconcerned by the lack of enthusiasm aroused by her decision, Lena +Meredith married Sir Arthur Byrne, and in the course of a few months +departed with him to his post on the Black Sea; where the baby Juliet and +her nurse formed an important part of the consular household. + +The years passed happily. Sir Arthur was moved and promoted from one +little port to another a trifle more frequented by the ships of his +country, and after a year or so to yet another still larger; so that, +while nothing was too good for Juliet in the eyes of her adopted mother, +and to a lesser extent in those of her father, it happened that she knew +remarkably little of her own land, though few girls were more familiar +with those of other nations. Nor were their wanderings confined to +Europe: Africa saw them, and the southern continent of America; and it +was in that far country that the happy days came to an end, for poor Lady +Byrne caught cold one bitter Argentine day, and died of pneumonia before +the week was out. + +Sir Arthur was heart-broken. He packed Juliet off to a convent school +near Buenos Ayres, and shut himself up in his consulate, refusing to meet +those who would have offered their sympathy, and going from his room to +his office, and back again, like a man in a dream. + +Not for more than a year did Juliet see again the only friend she had now +left in the world; and it was then she heard for the first time that he +was not really her father, and that the woman she had called "Mother" had +had no right to that name. She was fifteen years old when this blow fell +on her; and she had not yet reached her sixteenth birthday when Sir +Arthur was transferred back to Europe. + +"Your home must always be with me, Juliet," he had said, when he broke to +her his ignorance of her origin. "I have only you left now." + +But though he was kind, and even affectionate to her, he showed no real +anxiety for her society. She was sent to a school in Switzerland as soon +as they landed in Europe; and, while she used to fancy that at the +beginning of the holidays he was glad to see her return, she was much +more firmly convinced that at the end of them he was at least equally +pleased to see her depart. + +She was nineteen before he realized that she could not be kept at school +for ever; and when he considered the situation, and saw himself, a man +scarcely over forty, saddled with a grown-up girl, who was neither his +own daughter nor that of the woman he had loved, and to whom he had sworn +to care for the child as if she were indeed his own, it must be admitted +that his heart failed him. It was not that he had any aversion to Juliet +herself. He had been fond of the child, and he liked the girl. It was the +awkwardness of his position that filled him with a kind of despair. + +"If only somebody would marry her!" he thought, as he sat opposite to her +at the dinner-table, on the night that she returned for the last time +from school. + +The thought cheered him. Juliet, he noticed for the first time, had +become singularly pretty. He engaged a severe Frenchwoman of mature age +as chaperon, and made spasmodic attempts to take his adopted daughter +into such society as the Belgian port, where he was consul at this time, +could afford. + +It was not a large society; nor did eligible young men figure in it in +any quantity. Those there were, were foreigners, to whom the question of +a _dot_ must be satisfactorily solved before the idea of matrimony would +so much as occur to them. + +Juliet had no money. Lady Byrne had left her fortune to her husband, and +rash speculations on his part had reduced it to a meagre amount, which he +felt no inclination to part with. Two or three years went by, and she +received no proposals. Sir Arthur's hopes of seeing her provided for grew +faint, and he could imagine no way out of his difficulties. He himself +spent his leave in England, but he never took the girl with him on those +holidays. He had no wish to be called on to explain her presence to such +of his friends as might not remember his wife's whim; and, though she +passed as his daughter abroad, she could not do that at home. + +Juliet, for her part, was not very well content. She could hardly avoid +knowing that she was looked on as an incubus, and she saw that her +father, as she called him, dreaded to be questioned as to their +relationship. She lived a simple life; rode and played tennis with young +Belgians of her own age; read, worked, went to such dances and +entertainments as were given in the little town, and did not, on the +whole, waste much time puzzling over the mystery that surrounded her +childhood. But when her friends asked her why she never went to England +with Sir Arthur, she did not know what answer to make, and worried +herself in secret about it. + +Why did he not take her? Because he was ashamed of her? But why was he +ashamed? Her mother--she always thought of Lady Byrne by that name--had +said she was the daughter of a friend of hers. So that she must at least +be the child of people of good family. Was not that enough? + +She was already twenty-three when Sir Arthur married again. The lady was +an American: Mrs. Clarency Butcher, a good-looking widow of about +thirty-five, with three little girls, of whom the eldest was fifteen. She +had not the enormous wealth which is often one of her countrywomen's most +pleasing attributes, but she was moderately well off and came of a good +Colonial family. Having lived for several years in England, she had grown +to prefer the King's English to the President's, and had dropped, almost +completely, the accent of her native country. She was extremely well +educated, and talked three other languages with equal correctness, her +first husband having been attached to various European legations. +Altogether, she was a charming and attractive woman, and there were many +who envied Sir Arthur for the second time in his life. + +It was not, perhaps, her fault that she did not take very kindly to +Juliet. The girl resented the place once occupied by her dead mother +being filled by any newcomer; and was not, it is to be feared, at +sufficient pains to hide her feelings on the point. And the second Lady +Byrne was hardly to be blamed if she remembered that in a few years she +would have three daughters of her own to take out, and felt that a fourth +was almost too much of a good thing. + +Besides, there was no getting over the fact that she was no relation +whatever, and was on the other hand a considerable drain on the family +resources, all of which Lady Byrne felt entirely equal to disbursing +alone and unassisted. Finally, her presence led to disagreements between +Sir Arthur and his wife. + +The day came on which Lady Byrne could not resist drawing Juliet's +attention to her unfortunate circumstances. In a heated moment, induced +by the girl's refusal to meet her half-way when she was conscious of +having made an unusual effort to be friendly, she pointed out to Juliet +that it would be more becoming in her to show some gratitude to people on +whose charity she was living, and on whom she had absolutely no claim of +blood at all. + +The interview ended by Juliet flying to Sir Arthur, and begging, while +she wept on his shoulder, to be allowed to go away and work for her +living; though where and how she proposed to do this she did not specify. + +Sir Arthur had a bad quarter of an hour. His conscience, the knowledge of +the extent to which he shared his second wife's feelings, the remembrance +of the vows he had made on the subject to his first wife, these and the +old, if not very strong, affection he had for Juliet, combined to stir +in him feelings of compunction which showed themselves in an outburst of +irritability. He scolded Juliet; he blamed his wife. + +"Why," he asked them both, "can two women not live in the same house +without quarrelling? Is it impossible for a wretched man ever to have a +moment's peace?" + +In the end, he worked himself into such a passion that Lady Byrne and +Juliet were driven to a reconciliation, and found themselves defending +each other against his reproaches. + +After this they got on better together. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +One hot summer day, a few months after the marriage, Juliet, returning to +the consulate after a morning spent in very active exercise upon a tennis +court, was met on the doorstep by Dora, the youngest of the Clarency +Butchers, who was awaiting her approach in a high state of excitement. + +"Hurry up, Juliet," she cried, as soon as she could make herself +heard. "You'll never guess what there is for you. Something you don't +often get!" + +"What is it?" said Juliet, coming up the steps. + +"Guess!" + +"A present?" + +"No; at least I suppose not; but there may be one inside." + +"Inside? Oh, then it's a parcel?" asked Juliet good-humouredly. + +She felt a mild curiosity, tempered by the knowledge that many things +provided a thrill for the ten-year-old Dora, which she, from the advanced +age of twenty-three, could not look upon as particularly exciting. + +"No, not a parcel," cried Dora, dancing round her. "It's a letter. +There now!" + +"Then why do you say it's something I don't often get?" asked Juliet +suspiciously; "I often get letters. It's an invitation to the Gertignes' +dance, I expect." + +"No, no, it isn't. It's a letter from England. You don't often get one +from there, now, do you? You never did before since we've been here. I +always examine your letters, you know," said Dora, "to see if they look +as if they came from young men. So does Margaret. We think it's time you +got engaged." + +Margaret was the next sister. + +"It's very good of you to take such an interest in my fate," Juliet +replied, as she pulled off her gloves and went to the side-table for the +letter. As a matter of fact she was a good deal excited now; for what the +child said was true enough. She might even have gone further, and said +that she had never had a letter from England, except while Sir Arthur was +there on leave. + +It was a large envelope, addressed in a clerk's handwriting, and she came +to the conclusion, as she tore it open, that it must be an advertisement +from some shop. + + +"DEAR MADAM,--We shall esteem it a favour if you can make it convenient +to call upon us one day next week, upon a matter of business connected +with a member of your family. It is impossible to give you further +details in a letter; but if you will grant us the interview we venture to +ask, we may go so far as to say that there appears to us to be a +reasonable probability of the result being of advantage to yourself. +Trusting that you will let us have an immediate reply, in which you will +kindly name the day and hour when we may expect to see you.--We are, +yours faithfully, + +"FINDLAY & INCE, _Solicitors_." + +The address was a street in Holborn. + +Juliet read the letter through, and straightway read it through again, +with a beating heart. What did it mean? Was it possible she was going to +find her own family at last? + +She was recalled to the present by the voice of Dora, whom she now +perceived to be reading the letter over her shoulder with +unblushing interest. + +"Say," said Dora, "isn't it exciting? 'Something to your advantage!' Just +what they put in the agony column when they leave you a fortune. I bet +your long-lost uncle in the West has kicked the bucket, and left you all +his ill-gotten gains. Mark my words. You'll come back from England a +lovely heiress. I do wish the others would come in. There's no one in the +house, except Sir Arthur." + +"Where is he?" said Juliet, putting the sheet of paper back into the +envelope and slipping it under her waistband. "You know, Dora, it's not +at all a nice thing to read other people's letters. I wonder you aren't +ashamed of yourself. I'm surprised at you." + +"I shouldn't have read it if you'd been quicker about telling me what was +in it," retorted Dora. "It's not at all a nice thing to put temptation in +the way of a little girl like me. Do you suppose I'm made of cast iron?" + +She departed with an injured air, and Juliet went to look for the consul. + +"What is it?" he asked, as she put the envelope into his hand. "A letter +you want me to read? Not a proposal, eh?" He smiled at her as he unfolded +the large sheet of office paper. + +"Hullo, what's this?" + +He read it through carefully. + +"Why, Juliet," he said, when he had finished, "this is very interesting, +isn't it? It looks as if you were going to find out something about +yourself, doesn't it? After all these years! Well, well." + +"You think I must go, then," she said a little doubtfully. + +"Go? Of course I should go, if I were you. Why not?" + +"You don't think it is a hoax?" + +"No, no; I see no reason to suppose such a thing. I know the firm of +Findlay & Ince quite well by name and reputation." + +"Oh, I hope they will tell me who I am!" cried Juliet. "Have you no idea +at all, father?" + +"No, my dear, you know I have not. Besides, I promised Lena I would never +ask. You are the child of a friend of hers. That is all I know. I think +she scarcely realized how hard it would be for you not to know more when +you grew up. I often think that if she had lived she would have told you +before now." + +"If you promised her not to ask, I won't ask either," said Juliet +loyally. "But I hope they'll tell me. It will be different, won't it, if +they tell me without my asking?" + +"I think you might ask," said Sir Arthur. "It is absurd that you should +be bound by a promise that I made. And you may be sure of one thing. Your +asking, or your not asking, won't make any odds to Findlay & Ince. If +they mean to tell you, they will; and, if they don't, you're not likely +to get it out of them." + +"And when shall I go?" cried Juliet. "They say they want me to answer +immediately, you know." + +"Oh well, I don't know. In a few days. You will hardly be ready to start +to-morrow, will you?" + +"I could be ready, easily," said Juliet. + +"You're in a great hurry to get away from us," said Sir Arthur, with a +rather uneasy laugh. + +"Not from you." Juliet put her arm through his. "I could never find +another father half as nice as the one I've got. But you could do very +well without so many daughters, you know." She smiled at him mockingly. +"You're like the old woman who lived in a shoe. You ought to set up a +school for young ladies." + +"I don't believe I shall be able to get on without my eldest daughter," +he replied, half-serious. "Still I think it would be better for you if +your real parents have decided to own up to you. At all events, if they +do not turn out desirable, I shall still be here, I hope; so I don't see +how you can lose anything by taking this chance of finding out what you +can about them." + +At this point Lady Byrne came into the room, and the news had to be +retold for her benefit; the letter was produced again, and she joined +heartily in the excitement it had caused. + +"You had better start on Monday," she said to Juliet. "That will give you +two days to pack, and to write to an hotel for rooms. Are you going to +take her, Arthur?" she added, turning to her husband. + +"I would, like a shot," he replied, "but I can't possibly get away next +week. I've got a lot of work on hand just now. I suppose, my dear," he +suggested doubtfully, "that you wouldn't be able to run over with her?" + +Lady Byrne declared that it was impossible for her to do so: she had +engagements, she said, for every day of the following week, which it was +out of the question to break. Had Sir Arthur forgotten that they +themselves were having large dinner-parties on Tuesday and Friday? What +she would do without Juliet to help her in preparing for them, she did +not know, but at least it was obvious that some one must be there to +receive his guests. No, Juliet would have to go alone. She was really old +enough to be trusted by herself for three days, and there was no need, +that she could see, for her to be away longer. + +"She can go on Monday, see the lawyers on Tuesday, and come back on +Wednesday," said Lady Byrne. "The helplessness of young girls is the one +thing I disapprove of in your European system of education. It is much +better that they should learn to manage their own affairs; and Juliet is +not such a ninny as you seem to think." + +"I shall be perfectly all right by myself," Juliet protested. + +Sir Arthur did not like it. + +"Supposing she is detained in London," he said. + +"What should detain her," demanded his wife, "unless it is the discovery +of her parents? And, if she finds them, I presume they will be capable of +looking after her. In any case, she can write, or cable to us when she +has seen the solicitors, and it is no use providing for contingencies +that will probably never arise." + +So at last it was decided. A letter was written and dispatched to Messrs. +Findlay & Ince, saying that Miss Byrne would have pleasure in calling +upon them at twelve o'clock on the following Tuesday; and Juliet busied +herself in preparations for her journey. + +On Monday morning she left Ostend, in the company of her maid. + +It was a glorious August day. On shore the heat was intense, and it was a +relief to get out of the stifling carriages of the crowded boat train, +and to breathe the gentle air from the sea that met them as they crossed +the gangway on to the steamer. Juliet enjoyed every moment of the +journey; and would have been sorry when the crossing was over if she had +not been so eager to set foot upon her native soil. + +She leant upon the rail in the bows of the ship, watching the white +cliffs grow taller and more distinct, and felt that now indeed she +understood the emotions with which the heart of the exile is said to +swell at the sight of his own land. She wondered if the sight of their +country moved other passengers on the boat as she herself was moved, and +made timid advances to a lady who was standing near her, in her need of +some companion with whom to share her feeling. + +"Have you been away from England a long time," she asked her. + +"I have been abroad during a considerable period," replied the person she +addressed, a stern-looking Scotchwoman who did not appear anxious to +enter into conversation. + +From her severe demeanour Juliet imagined she might be a governess going +for a holiday. + +"You must be glad to be going home," she ventured. + +"It's a far cry north to my home," said the Scotchwoman, thawing +slightly. "I'm fearing I will not be seeing it this summer. I'll be +stopping in the south with some friends. The journey north is awful' +expensive." + +"I'm sorry you aren't going home," Juliet sympathized, "but it will be +nice to see the English faces at Dover, won't it? There may even be a +Scotchman among the porters, you know, by some chance." + +"No fear," said her neighbour gloomily. "They'll be local men, I have +nae doubt. Though whether they are English or Scots," she added, "I'll +have to give them saxpence instead of a fifty-centime bit; which is one +of the bonniest things you see on the Continent, to my way of thinking." + +Juliet could get no enthusiasm out of her; and, look which way she might, +she could not see any reflection on the faces of those around her of the +emotions which stirred in her own breast. It had been a rough crossing, +in spite of the cloudless sky and broiling sunshine, and most of the +passengers had been laid low by the rolling of the vessel. They displayed +anxiety enough to reach land; but, as far as she could see, what land it +was they reached was a matter of indifference to them. No doubt, she +thought, when the ship stopped and they felt better, they would be more +disposed to a sentimentality like hers. + +She found her maid--who had been one of the most sea-sick of those +aboard--and assisted her ashore, put her into a carriage and +ministered to her wants with the help of a tea-basket containing the +delicious novelty of English bread and butter. In half an hour's time +they were steaming hurriedly towards London. She was to lodge at a +small hotel in Jermyn Street; and on that first evening even this +seemed perfect to her. The badness of the cooking was a thing she +refused to notice; and the astonishing hills and valleys of the bed +caused in her no sensation beyond that of surprise. She was young, +strong and healthy, and there was no reason that trifling discomforts +of this kind should affect her enjoyment. To the shortcomings of the +bed, indeed, she shut her eyes in more senses than one, for she was +asleep three minutes after her head touched the pillow, nor did she +wake till her maid roused her the next morning. + +She got up at once and looked out of the window. It was a fine day again; +over the roofs of the houses opposite she could see a blue streak of sky. +Already the air had lost the touch of freshness which comes, even to +London in August, during the first hours of the morning; and the heat in +the low-ceilinged room on the third floor which Juliet occupied for the +sake of economy, was oppressive in spite of the small sash windows being +opened to their utmost capacity. But Juliet only laughed to herself with +pleasure at the brilliancy of the day. She felt that the weather was +playing up to the occasion, as became this important morning of her life. +For that it was important she did not doubt. She was going to hear +tremendous news that day; make wonderful discoveries about her birth; +hear undreamt-of things. Of this she felt absolutely convinced, and it +would not have astonished her to find herself claimed as daughter by any +of the reigning families of Europe. She was prepared for anything, or so +she said to herself, however astounding; and, that being so, she was +excited in proportion. Anyone could have told her that, by this attitude +of mind towards the future, she was laying up for herself disappointment +at the least, if not the bitterest disillusions; but there was no one to +throw cold water on her hopes, and she filled the air with castles of +every style of architecture that her fancy suggested, without any +hindrance from doubt or misgiving. + +She dressed quickly, in the gayest humour, but with even more care than +she usually bestowed upon her appearance; a subject to which she always +gave the fullest attention. + +"Which dress will Mademoiselle wear?" the maid asked her. + +"Why, my prettiest, naturally," she replied. + +"What, the white one that Mademoiselle wore for the marriage of Monsieur, +her papa?" inquired Therese, scandalized at the idea of such a precious +garment being put on before breakfast. + +"That very one," Juliet assured her, undaunted; and was arrayed in it, in +spite of obvious disapproval. + +After breakfast they went out, and, inquiring their way to Bond Street, +flattened their noses against the shop windows to their mutual +satisfaction. + +They had it almost to themselves, for there were not many people left in +that part of London; but more than one head was turned to gaze at the +pretty girl in the garden-party dress, who stood transfixed before shop +after shop. This amusement lasted till half-past eleven, when they +returned to the hotel for Juliet to give the final pats to her hair, and +to retilt her hat to an angle possibly more becoming, before she started +to keep her appointment with the solicitors. The next twenty minutes were +spent in cross-examining the hotel porter as to the time it would take to +drive to her destination, and, having decided to start at ten minutes to +twelve, in wondering whether the quarter of an hour which had still to +elapse would ever come to an end. + +At three minutes to twelve she rang the bell of the office of Messrs. +Findlay & Ince. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +A gloomy little clerk climbed down from a high stool where he sat +writing, and opened the door. + +"Oh yes, Miss Juliet Byrne," he said when Juliet had told him her name. +"Mr. Findlay is expecting you. Will you walk upstairs, Miss Byrne, +please. I think you have an appointment for twelve o'clock? This way, if +you please." + +He led the way up a steep and narrow flight of stairs, which rose out of +the black shadows at the end of the passage. + +"Ladies find these stairs rather dark, I'm afraid," he remarked +pleasantly, as he held open a door and ushered Juliet and her maid into +an empty room. "Will you kindly wait here," he continued. "Mr. Findlay is +engaged for the moment. You are a leetle before your time, I believe." He +pulled out his watch and examined it closely. "Not _quite_ the hour yet," +he repeated, and closed it with a snap. "But Mr. Findlay will see you as +soon as he is disengaged." + +With a flourish of his handkerchief he withdrew, shutting the door +behind him. + +Juliet sat down on a hard chair covered with green leather, and told her +maid to take another. Her spirits were damped. The sight of Mr. Nicol, as +the clerk was named, often had that effect upon persons who saw him for +the first time; indeed he was found to be a very useful check on +troublesome clients, who arrived full of determination to have their own +way, and were often so cowed by their preliminary interview with Nicol as +to feel it a privilege and a relief subsequently to be bullied by Mr. +Ince, or persuaded by Mr. Findlay into the belief that what they had +previously decided on was the last thing advisable to do. + +Mr. Findlay frequently remarked to Mr. Ince, when his partner's easily +roused temper was more highly tried than usual by some imbecile mistake +of the clerk's, that Nicol might have faults as a clerk and as a man, but +that, as a buffer, he was the nearest approach to perfection obtainable +in this world of makeshifts. + +To which Mr. Ince would reply with point and fluency that fenders could +be had by the dozen from any shipping warehouse, at a lower cost than one +week's salary of Nicol's would represent, and would be far more efficient +in the office. Still he did not suggest dismissing the man. + +Juliet, as she sat and looked round the musty little waiting-room, felt +that here was an end of her dreams of the resplendent family she was to +find pining to take her to its heart. She felt certain that she could +never have any feelings in common with people who could employ a firm of +solicitors which in its turn was served by the man who had received her. +Romance and the clerk could never, she thought, meet under one roof. And +such a roof! The room in which she sat was so dark, so gloomy, so bare +and cheerless, that Juliet began to wonder whether she would not have +been wiser not to have come. This was not a place, surely, which fond +parents would choose for a long-deferred meeting with their child, after +years of separation. She walked to the window, but the only view was of a +blank wall, and that so close that she could have touched it by leaning +out. No wonder the room was dark, even at midday in August. The walls +were lined with bookshelves, where heavy volumes, all dealing with the +same subject, that of law, stood shoulder to shoulder in stout bindings +of brown leather. + +There was a fireplace of cracked and dirty marble with an engraving hung +over it, representing the coronation of Queen Victoria. A gas stove +occupied the grate, and a gas bracket stuck out from the wall on either +side of the picture. + +On the small round mahogany table that stood in the middle of the room +lay a Bible, and a copy of the _St. James's Gazette_, which was dated a +week back. Juliet took it up and read an account of a cricket match +without much enthusiasm. Then she flung it down and wandered about the +room once more; but she had exhausted all its possibilities; and though +she took a volume entitled _Causes Celebres_ from the shelf, and turned +its pages hopefully, she put it back with a grimace at its dullness and a +sort of surprise at finding anything drier than the cricket. + +She had waited half an hour, when the door opened and the face of Nicol +was introduced round the corner of it. + +"Will you please come this way," he said. + +Telling her maid to stay where she was, Juliet followed him. He opened +the other door on the landing, and announced her in a loud voice as, with +a quickened pulse, she passed him, and entered the room. + +There were two men standing by the hearth. One of them came forward to +receive her. + +"How do you do, Miss Byrne," he said; "I am glad you were able to come. +I am Jeremy Findlay, at your service." + +Mr. Findlay was a man of moderate height, with a long pointed nose which +he was in the habit of putting down to within an inch or two of his desk +when he was looking for any particular paper, for he was very short +sighted. It rather conveyed the impression that he was poking about with +it, and that he hunted for questionable clauses or illegalities in a +document, much as a pig might hunt for truffles in a wood. For the rest, +he was middle-aged, with hair nearly white, and small grey whiskers. He +beamed at Juliet through gold-rimmed eyeglasses. + +"Let me introduce my friend," he said, mumbling something. + +Juliet did not catch the name, but she supposed that this was Mr. Ince. + +The other man stepped forward and shook hands, but said nothing. He was a +thin, pallid creature, rather above the average height, and had the +drooping shoulders of a scholar. His face, which was long and narrow, +looked pale and emaciated, and though his blue eyes had a kindly twinkle +it seemed to Juliet that they burned with a feverish brightness. His nose +was long and slightly hooked, and beneath it the mouth was hidden by a +heavy red moustache; while his hair, though not of so bright a colour, +had a reddish tinge about it. He appeared to be about fifty years of age, +but this was due to a look of tiredness habitual to his expression, and, +in part, to actual bad health. In reality he was younger. + +"Pray take this chair, Miss Byrne," Mr. Findlay was saying. "We are +anxious to have a little conversation with you. I am sure you quite +understand that we should not have asked you to come all the way from +Belgium unless your presence was of considerable importance. How +important it is I really hardly know myself, but I repeat that I would +not have urged you to take so long a journey if I had not had serious +reason to think that it was desirable for your own sake that you should +do so. I may say at once that the matter is a family one; but before +going further I must ask your permission to put one or two questions to +you, which I hope you will believe are not prompted by any feeling of +idle curiosity on my part." + +He paused, and Juliet murmured some words of acquiescence. Mr. Findlay +took off his eyeglasses, glared at them, replaced them, and ran his nose +over the surface of the papers on his writing-table. + +"Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed triumphantly, pouncing on a folded sheet +and lifting it to his eyes. "Just a few notes," he explained. + +"We wrote you care of Sir Arthur Byrne," he resumed; "are you a member of +his family?" + +Here was a disturbing question for Juliet. She had imagined, until this +instant, that she was on the point of being told who her family was, and +now this man was asking for information from her. Tears of disappointment +would not be kept from her eyes. + +"I am a member of Sir Arthur's household," she stammered. + +"Are you not his daughter, then?" asked Mr. Findlay. + +"No, I am not really," Juliet replied. + +"Then may I ask what relation you are to him?" said the lawyer. + +"I am his adopted daughter," said Juliet. "I have always called him +'Father.'" + +"Are you not any relation at all?" pursued Mr. Findlay. + +"I believe not." + +"Then, Miss Byrne, I hope you will not think it an impertinent question +if I ask, who are you?" + +"I don't know," acknowledged poor Juliet. "I was hoping you would tell me +that. I thought, I imagined, that that was why you sent for me." + +"You astonish me," said Mr. Findlay. "Do you mean to say that your family +has never made any attempt to communicate with you?" + +"No, never." + +"And that Sir Arthur Byrne has never told you anything as to your birth? +Surely you must have questioned him about it?" + +"He has told me all he knows," said Juliet, "but that amounts to +nothing." + +"Indeed; that is very strange. He must have had dealings with the people +you were with before he adopted you. He must at least know their name?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. "He doesn't know either, I am sure. It +wasn't Sir Arthur who adopted me. It was the lady he married. A Mrs. +Meredith. She is dead." + +"But he must have heard about you from her," insisted Mr. Findlay. "He +would not have taken a child into his household without knowing anything +at all about it." + +"His wife told him that I was the daughter of a friend of hers, and +begged him not to ask her any more about me. He was very devoted to her, +and he did as she wished. He has been most kind to me; but I am sure he +would be as glad as I should be to discover my relations. I am dreadfully +disappointed that you don't know anything about them. We all thought I +was going to find my family at last." + +Juliet's voice quavered a little. She had built too much on this +interview. + +"I am really extremely sorry not to be able to give you any information," +Mr. Findlay said. + +He turned towards the other man with an interrogative glance, and was met +by a nod of the head, at which he leant back in his chair, crossed his +legs and folded his hands upon them, with the expression of some one who +has played his part in the game, and now retires in favour of another +competitor. The pale man moved his chair a little forward and took up the +conversation. + +"Are you really quite certain that Sir Arthur Byrne has told you all +he knows?" he said earnestly, fixing on Juliet a look at once grave +and eager. + +"Yes," she answered. "I can see that he is as puzzled as I am. And he +would be glad enough to find a way to get rid of me," she added bitterly. + +"I thought you said you were attached to him," said the stranger in +surprise, "and that he had been very kind to you?" + +"Yes," said Juliet, "he has, and I am as fond of him as possible. But he +has three stepdaughters now; he has married again, you know. And he is +not very well off. I am a great expense, besides being an extra girl. I +don't blame him for thinking I am one too many." + +There was a long pause, during which Juliet was conscious of being +closely scrutinized. + +"I think I may be able to give you news of your family," said the pale +man unexpectedly. "That is, if you are the person I think you are +likely to be." + +"Oh," exclaimed Juliet, "can you really?" + +"Well, it is possible," admitted the other. "I can't say for +certain yet." + +"Oh, do, do tell me!" cried the girl. + +"Out of the question, at present," he replied firmly. "I must first +satisfy myself as to whose child you are, and on that point you appear +able to give me no assistance. You must wait till I can find out +something further about this matter of your adoption. And even then," +he added, "it is not certain if I can tell you. You must understand +that, though certain family secrets have been placed in my possession, +it does not depend upon myself whether or not I shall ultimately reveal +them to you." + +Juliet's face fell for a moment, but she refused to allow herself to be +discouraged. + +"There is a chance for me, anyhow!" she exclaimed. "How I hope you +will be allowed to tell me in the end! But why," she went on, turning +to Mr. Findlay, "did you make me think you knew nothing at all about +me. I suppose the family secrets your partner speaks of are the +secrets of my family?" + +"My dear young lady," said Mr. Findlay, "Lord Ashiel is not my partner. +On the contrary, he is an old client of ours, and it was at his request +that we wrote to you as we did. We know no more about your affairs than +you have told us yourself." + +"Oh," murmured Juliet, confused at her mistake. "I thought you were Mr. +Ince," she apologized; "I am so sorry." + +"Not very flattering to poor Ince I'm afraid," said Lord Ashiel, smiling +at her. "He's ten years younger than I am, I'm sorry to say, and I would +change places with him very willingly. Now, if you had mistaken me for +Nicol, that undertaker clerk of Findlay's, who always looks as if he's +been burying his grandmother, I should have been decidedly hurt. What in +the world do you keep that fellow in the office for, Findlay? To frighten +away custom?" + +Mr. Findlay laughed. + +"He's a more useful person than you imagine," he said. "Though I must say +Ince agrees with you, and is always at me about the poor man. Some day I +hope you will both see his sterling qualities." + +"I am afraid you must think I have given you a great deal of trouble for +very little reason," Lord Ashiel said to Juliet. "But perhaps there will +be more result than at present can seem clear to you. I may go so far as +to say that I hope so most sincerely. But, if the secret of which I spoke +just now is ever to be confided to you, it will be necessary for you and +me to know each other a little better. I have a proposal to make to you, +which I fear you may think our acquaintance rather too short and +unconventional to justify." + +He paused with a trace of embarrassment, and Juliet wondered what could +be coming. + +"It is not convenient for me to stay in London just now," he went on +after a minute, "and I am sure you must find it very disagreeable at this +time of the year; and yet it is very important that I should see more of +you. It is, in fact, part of the conditions under which I may be able to +reveal these family secrets of yours to you. That is to say, if they +should turn out to be indeed yours. I came up from the Highlands last +night. I have a place on the West Coast, where at this moment I have a +party of people staying with me for shooting. My sister is entertaining +them in my absence, but I must get back to my duties of host. What I want +to suggest is that you should pay us a visit at Inverashiel." + +"Thank you very much," said Juliet doubtfully. "I should love to, but--I +don't know whether my father would allow me." + +"Your father?" exclaimed Lord Ashiel and Mr. Findlay in one breath. + +"Sir Arthur Byrne, I mean," she corrected herself. + +"You might telegraph to him," urged Lord Ashiel. "And I, myself, will +write. You might mention my sister to him. I think he used to know her. +Mrs. John Haviland. But, indeed, it is very important that you should +come, more important than you think, perhaps." + +He seemed extraordinarily anxious, now, lest she should refuse. + +"Perhaps," suggested Mr. Findlay, "Miss Byrne would like to think over +the idea, and let you know later in the day." + +"A very good plan," said Lord Ashiel. "Yes, of course you would like to +think it over. Will you telephone to me at the Carlton after lunch? +Thanks so much. Good-bye for the present." + +He seized his hat and stick and darted to the door. "You talk to her, +Findlay!" he cried, and disappeared. + +Juliet and Mr. Findlay were left confronting one another. + +"That will be the best plan," the lawyer repeated. "Think it over, Miss +Byrne. I am sure you would enjoy the visit to Scotland. Inverashiel is a +most interesting old place, both historically and for the sake of its +beautiful scenery. A week or two of Highland air could not fail to be of +benefit to your health, even if nothing further came of it, so to speak." + +"I should love it," Juliet said again. "But, Mr. Findlay, I don't know +Lord Ashiel, or hardly know him. How can I go off and stay with someone I +never met before to-day?" + +"The circumstances are unusual," said the lawyer. "I fancy Lord Ashiel is +anxious to lose no time. He is in bad health, poor fellow. I am afraid he +will worry himself a good deal if you cannot make up your mind to go." + +"You see," said Juliet, troubled, "I know nothing about him. I don't know +what my father--I mean, Sir Arthur would say." + +"I am sure your father would have no objection whatever to your making +friends with Lord Ashiel," Mr. Findlay assured her. "He is one of the +most respectable, the most domesticated of peers. Not very cheerful +company, perhaps, but no one in the world can justly say a word against +him in any way. He has had a sad time lately; his wife and only child +died within a month of each other, only two or three years ago. They had +been married quite a short time. Since then, his sister, Mrs. Haviland, +keeps house for him; but he does not entertain much, I am told, except +during the autumn in Scotland. You need have no hesitation in accepting +this invitation, Miss Byrne. I am a married man, and the father of a +family, and I should only be too delighted if one of my daughters had +such an opportunity." + +"Well," said Juliet, "I think I will risk it, and go. I am old enough to +take care of myself, in any case." This she said haughtily, with her nose +in the air. And then, with a sudden drop to her usual manner, she +exclaimed in a tone of gaiety, "What fun it will be!" + +"I am sure you will not regret your decision," repeated Mr. Findlay, as +she got up to go. "You won't forget to let Lord Ashiel know, will you?" + +"No, I will telephone to him at once. But I will telegraph home too, +of course." + +Excitement over this new plan had almost dispelled the earlier +disappointment, and if Juliet's spirits, as she drove back to Jermyn +Street, were not quite as overflowingly high as when she had started +out, they were good enough to make her smile to herself and to every one +she met during the rest of the day, and to hum gay little tunes when no +one was near, and altogether to feel very happy and pleased and +possessed by the conviction that something delightful was about to +happen. She sent off her telegram to Sir Arthur, spending some time over +it, and spoiling a dozen telegraph forms, before she could find +satisfactory words in which to convey her plans with an appearance of +deference to authority. Then she called up the Carlton Hotel on the +telephone, and was much put out when she heard that Lord Ashiel was not +staying there, or even expected. + +It was the hall porter of her hotel who came to the rescue, by +suggesting that she should try the Carlton Club, of which she had never +before heard. + +From the quickness with which Lord Ashiel answered her, he might have +been sitting waiting at the end of the wire, and he expressed great +pleasure at her acceptance of his invitation. Indeed, she could hear from +the tone of his voice that his gratification was no mere empty form. It +was arranged that she should travel down on the following night, Lord +Ashiel promising to engage a sleeping berth for her on the eight o'clock +train. He himself was going North that same evening. He had just been +writing a letter to Sir Arthur Byrne, he told her. He hoped she had some +thick dresses with her; she would want them in Scotland. + +"I am afraid I haven't," she said. "I only expected to stay in London for +a day or two, you know." + +"Well," said the voice at the end of the telephone, "perhaps you can get +a waterproof or something, between this and to-morrow night. I am afraid +I don't know the names of any ladies' tailors, but there are lots about," +he concluded vaguely. + +"I suppose I had better," said Juliet doubtfully. "I wonder if the +shops here will trust me. The fact is, I haven't got very much extra +money. I think perhaps I'd better wait a day or two till I can have +some more sent me." + +"My dear child," came the answer in horrified tones, "you must on no +account put off coming. Of course you are not prepared for all this extra +expense. You must allow me to be your banker. I insist upon it. Your +family, in whose confidence I happen to be, would never forgive me if I +allowed you to continue to be dependent on Sir Arthur Byrne." + +"It is very kind of you," Juliet began. "But suppose I turn out to be +some one different. You know, you said--" + +"If you do, you shall repay me," he replied. "In the meantime I will +send you round a small sum to do your shopping with. Let me see, where +are you staying?" + +An hour later a bank messenger arrived with an envelope containing L100 +in notes. Juliet had never seen so much money in her life, and thought it +far too much. "I shall be sure to lose it," was her first thought. Her +second was to deposit it with the proprietor of the hotel; after which +she felt safer. Then, in huge delight, she sallied forth again with her +maid, the alluring memory of some of the shop windows into which she had +gazed that morning calling to her loudly; she had never thought to look +at those fascinating garments from the other side of the glass. +Intoxicating hours followed, in which a couple of tweed dresses were +purchased that seemed as if they must have been made on purpose for her; +nor were thick walking shoes, and country hats, and other accessories +neglected. By evening her room was strewn with cardboard boxes, and on +Wednesday more were added, so that a trunk to pack them in had to be +bought as well. The shops were very empty; Juliet had the entire +attention of the shop people, and revelled in her purchases. Time flew, +and she was quite sorry, as she drove to Euston on the following evening, +to think that she was leaving this fascinating town of London. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +On Tuesday afternoon, when Juliet, having hung up the telephone through +which she had been conversing with Lord Ashiel, hurried out to see what +Bond Street could provide her with, a little man was sitting writing in a +luxuriously furnished room in a flat in Whitehall. He was small and thin, +and possessed a pair of extraordinarily bright and intelligent brown +eyes, which saw a good deal more of what happened around him than perhaps +any other eyes within a radius of a mile from where he sat. He was, in +other words, observant to a very high degree; and, what was more +remarkable, he knew how to use his powers of observation. There was not a +criminal in the length and breadth of the country who did not wonder +uneasily whether he had really left the scene of his crime as devoid of +clues as he imagined, when he heard that the celebrated detective, +Gimblet, had visited the spot in pursuit of his investigations. + +For this was the man, who, in a few years, had unravelled more apparently +insoluble mysteries, and caused the arrest of more hitherto evasive +scoundrels, than his predecessors had managed to secure in a decade. The +name of Gimblet was known and detested wherever a coiner carried on his +forbidden craft, or a blackmailer concocted his cowardly plans; burglars +and forgers cursed freely when he was mentioned, and there was hardly an +illicit trade in the country which had not suffered at one time or +another from his inquisitive habit of interesting himself in other +people's affairs. Scotland Yard officials were never too proud to call +upon him for help, and many a difficulty he had helped them out of, +though he refused an offer of a regular post in the Criminal +Investigation Department, preferring to be at liberty to choose what +cases he would take up. Above all things he loved the strange and +inexplicable. Gimblet had not always been a detective. Indeed, he often +smiled to himself when he thought of the extraordinary confidence which +the public now elected to repose in him. + +No one was more conscious than himself that he was far from being +infallible; in fact, his admirers appeared to him to be wilfully blind to +that elementary truth; so that when he failed to bring a case to a +successful issue people were apt to show an amount of disappointment that +he, for his part, thought very unreasonable. It was, perhaps, in the +nature of things that the puzzles he solved correctly received so much +more publicity than was given to his mistakes; but he often could not +avoid wishing that less were expected of him, and that his reputation had +not grown so tropically on what he could but consider insufficient +nourishment. + +In early days, after leaving Oxford, he had gone into an architect's +office and had flourished there; till one day an accident had turned his +energies in the direction they had since taken. + +A crime had been committed during the erection of a house he was +building, and, when the police were at a loss to know how to account for +the somewhat peculiar circumstances, the young architect, going his +ordinary rounds of inspection, had seen in a flash that there was +something unusual in the disposal of a portion of the building material; +which observation, with certain deductions following thereon, had led to +the detection and arrest of the criminal. From that time on he had been +more and more drawn to the fascination of tracing events to their +causes, when these appeared connected with deeds of violence and fraud, +till of late years he had completely dropped the study of the carrying +powers of wood and stone for the more interesting lessons to be derived +from the contemplation of the strange vagaries indulged in by his fellow +human beings. + +He kept, however, a strong taste for art and all that appertained to it; +more especially he was devoted to the collection of old and rare +bric-a-brac. There was not a curiosity shop in London that did not know +him, and he was equally happy when he had discovered some dust-hidden +treasure in the back regions of a secondhand furniture shop, or when he +was engaged in running to earth some human vermin who up till then had +lain snug in his own particular back region of crime, straining his ears, +in a mixture of contempt and anxiety, as the sounds of the hunt went by. + +Having finished his letter, Gimblet put his stylo in his pocket, and +turned round to look at the clock. + +"Twenty minutes to four," he said half-aloud. "I wish to goodness people +would keep their appointments punctually, or else not come at all." + +Five more minutes passed, and he got up and went into the hall. + +"Higgs," he called, and his faithful servant and general factotum came +out of the pantry. + +"I am going out," said his master, taking up his straw hat. "If anyone +calls, say I could not wait any longer. Ah, there's the front-door bell. +Just see who it is." + +He retreated to his sitting-room while Higgs went to the door of the +flat. A minute or two later Lord Ashiel was ushered in. + +"I'm very sorry I'm late," said he, as the door closed behind him, "but +you know what kept me." + +"Not the young lady, surely," said Gimblet; "you were to see her at +twelve o'clock this morning, weren't you?" + +"Yes, but she telephoned to me after lunch. By Jove, Gimblet, I believe +you have got hold of the right girl this time." Lord Ashiel's tone was +enthusiastic. "If she turns out to be half as nice as she looks, I shall +be ever grateful to you for routing her out." + +"Indeed, I am very glad to hear it," replied the detective. "And do you +observe a resemblance in her to your family; do you feel satisfied that +she is your daughter?" + +"I can't say I do see much likeness," Lord Ashiel confessed rather +reluctantly. "I thought at one moment, when she smiled, that she was like +her mother; but otherwise she did not strike me as resembling either of +us, I am sorry to say." + +"Did she know her history at all?" asked Gimblet. "Did she claim you +as father?" + +"No, she had never heard of me, as far as I could make out. And she +assured me that Sir Arthur Byrne has no idea whose child she is." + +"That certainly seems very improbable," Gimblet commented. + +"Yes, it does. Still, I feel sure she was speaking the truth. Why, +indeed, should she not do so? It seems that Byrne has married again, and +that his wife has already three daughters of her own; so, as she says, he +would probably be glad enough to get the fourth one off his hands, as +they are not well off." + +"Yes," said Gimblet. "I knew that. No, there seems no reason why Sir +Arthur Byrne should not have told her about you if he knew she was your +child. What is odd, is that he should not have known it." + +"He had promised his first wife not to make any inquiries, it seems," +said Lord Ashiel. + +"Well, he is an uncommon kind of man if he kept that promise," +Gimblet remarked. + +"He was devoted to his first wife, this girl told me," said Lord Ashiel. +"You never knew Lena Meredith, Gimblet, or you would not be surprised +that people kept their promises to her. She was my wife's friend, as I +told you, and I only saw her once, but I don't think I shall ever forget +her. It was just after my wife's death, and I was too heart-broken to +take much notice of anyone, but she was the sort of woman who sticks in +your memory, and I can quite understand a man being infatuated about her, +even to the point of curbing his curiosity for a lifetime on any subject +she wished him to leave alone. I went to see her, you know, about the +baby. I remember, as if it was yesterday, how I told her the whole story. +I told her how I had met Juliana two years before, and how, from the +first, we had both known we should never care for anyone else. I told her +about my old grandfather, from whom I had such great expectations, and +who wouldn't hear of my marrying anyone except the cousin, still in the +schoolroom, whom he had picked out as my future wife. + +"It was his wish that we should be married when I was twenty-five and +the girl eighteen; but I was not yet twenty-two, so that there were at +least three years of grace before he could begin to try and impose his +design upon us. And he was old and ill, and I had heard that the doctors +didn't give him more than a year or two, at most, to live. I thought +that if Juliana and I were married secretly he would die before the +question of my marriage had time to become one of practical politics; +and I persuaded her to agree to a private marriage, which we would +announce to the world as soon as my eccentric old grandfather was safely +out of it. There was no possible obstacle to our marriage except the old +man's domineering temper. Juliana Sandfort was my superior in every +possible sense, worldly or otherwise; but I came of a good family, was +to inherit an old name and title, and a more than sufficient fortune so +long as I kept on the right side of the old Lord, and we both knew that +there was no objection to be feared from her relations or from any other +one of mine. In short, much as she disliked doing things in that +hole-and-corner sort of way, and ashamed as I was at heart of asking her +to, we neither of us could see much actual harm in the idea, and we were +married accordingly at a registry office in London. Everything would +have been well, and all would have gone as we hoped, but for the one +unforeseen and horrible calamity. My wife died six months before my +grandfather, on the day her baby was born." + +Lord Ashiel paused, and sat gazing before him, over Gimblet's shoulder. +There was a look on his face which showed that for the moment he was +blind to the scene that lay in front of him, and that he saw in place of +the bureau which stood opposite to him, and of the Oriental china which +was the detective's special pride, and on which his eyes seemed to be +fixed, some vision of the past which was far more real than the +unsubstantial present. Presently he went on talking in a reflective +undertone: + +"All this I told Mrs. Meredith, and a great deal besides, for I was still +in the first violence of bitter, self-reproachful grief. I wanted to be +rid of the child, the cause of the catastrophe, whom I hated as +vehemently as I had loved its mother, and I begged Mrs. Meredith to help +me to dispose of it in such a fashion that, to me at least, the little +one should be to all intents and purposes as dead as she was. Babies, I +knew, had not a very strong hold on life, and I hoped, as a matter of +fact, that it might really die, but this I did not dare to say aloud. +Mrs. Meredith was kind to me. I remember well how good and sympathetic +she was. She had heard most of the story from Juliana, whose friend she +was, and it was at her house that the child was born. We had confided in +no one else. She sat silently for a while after I had finished what I had +to say, till at last she turned to me and tried to persuade me to alter +my intention of disowning the baby. But I repeated doggedly that unless +she had some alternative way to suggest of getting rid of it, I meant to +leave the little girl at the door of one of the foundling hospitals, and +that I would take her that very night. + +"At length, seeing that I was resolved, she said she thought she could +manage better than that. She had a friend, she said, an elderly Russian +lady, who was a widow and childless. This lady was anxious to adopt a +little English girl, and had lately written to ask her to find her a baby +whom she could bring up as her own child. There was no reason why +Juliana's baby should not be the one. She would write at once and suggest +it. I was greatly relieved at this idea. Although I had been determined +to do as I proposed, whatever opposition I might meet with, my conscience +had not been willing to let me leave my child on a doorstep without +protesting, and, little though I heeded its condemnation, I was glad to +be able to get my own way and at the same time to silence the voice of my +inward critic. + +"The plan seemed simplicity itself. My wife, as I have told you, had no +parents living. Her brothers and sisters, who were all married and +living in different parts of the country, had been led to believe that +her death was the result of an accident. Mrs. Meredith had even managed +to prevail on the doctor to lend himself to this fiction; for, my +grandfather being yet alive, there was still every reason not to declare +our marriage, while there seemed to be none in favour of doing so, and I +shrank from the questionings and scenes which publicity now would not +fail to bring upon me. Before I left Mrs. Meredith we had agreed that +she should at once communicate with her Russian friend, whose name I +refused to let her tell me. + +"I have told you before to-day, Gimblet, of all that has happened since. +How I took passionately to books as a refuge from my sorrow; how, at my +grandfather's suggestion, I had been by way of working for the +Diplomatic Service; of how I now worked in good earnest, and in course +of time, and after my grandfather's death, found myself attached to our +embassy at Petersburg. During the two years I spent there I made the +acquaintance of Countess Romaninov. One day when I was talking to her +she happened to mention that she had once known an English lady, Mrs. +Meredith, and I came to the conclusion that the little girl who lived +with her must be none other than my own child. As you know, I could not +stand living in the same town as she did, and for that, and for other +reasons, I left the Diplomatic Service and returned to England, where I +have lived a quiet life on my place in Scotland ever since. Eight years +ago, as you know, I married for the second time, and after a few years +of comparative happiness, found myself again a widower, my second wife +and her child dying within a few months of each other, when my boy was +only four years old. + +"It is more than a year, now," continued Lord Ashiel, after a pause, +"since the girl Julia Romaninov came to my sister in London, with a +letter of introduction from our ambassador in Russia. It was not until my +sister invited her down to Scotland that I heard anything about her. Not, +in fact, till the day before she arrived, for I always tell my sister to +ask any girls she pleases to Inverashiel, and she very seldom bothers me +about it. You can imagine my feelings when I heard that Julia Romaninov +was expected within a few hours, and had indeed already started from +London. It was too late to try and stop her, and my first impulse was +flight. But on second thoughts I changed my mind, and stayed. Time had +dulled the feelings with which I had contemplated her share in the +tragedy that attended her birth, and I was not without a certain +curiosity to see this young creature for whose existence I was +responsible. + +"I waited; she came; she stayed six weeks. You know the result. My sister +liked her; my nephews, my other guests, every one, except myself, was +charmed with her. And I, for some reason, could never stand the girl. I +told myself over and over again that it was mere prejudice; the remains +of the violent opposition I felt towards her when she was unknown to me; +a survival, unconscious and unwilling, of the hatred I had allowed myself +to nourish for the baby of a day old, which had made it impossible that +she and I should inhabit the same town when she was no more than a child +in pinafores. But I could not reason myself out of my dislike, and it +culminated a few weeks ago when I found that my sister was anxious to +have her with us in the North again this autumn. As you remember, I came +to you, and told you the facts. I made you understand how repulsive it +was to me to think that this girl might be my child, and begged you to +sift the matter as far as was possible, and to find out if there were not +a chance that I was mistaken in thinking it was Countess Romaninov who +had been Lena Meredith's friend." + +"Yes," said Gimblet, "and all I could discover at first was that the two +ladies had indeed been acquainted. It is difficult to get at the truth +when both of them have been dead for so many years, and when you will not +allow me so much as to hint that you feel any interest in the matter. +People are shy of answering questions relating to the private affairs of +their friends when they think they are prompted by idle curiosity, and in +this case it seems very doubtful whether anyone even knows the answers. +But in the course of my inquiries I soon discovered the fact that Mrs. +Meredith herself had adopted a child, and it certainly seems more than +possible that it may have been yours and her friend's. As far as I can +find out, both these young ladies are of about the same age, but no one +seems to know exactly when either of them first appeared on the scene. If +we can only get hold of the nurses! But at present I can find no trace of +them, and you won't let me advertise." + +"Gimblet, I shall be ever grateful to you," repeated Lord Ashiel. "I had +no idea that Mrs. Meredith had adopted a child. I never saw her again, as +I have told you, and only heard vaguely that she had married and was +living abroad. I purposely avoided asking for news of her. I wished to +forget everything that was past. As if that had been possible!" + +"I hoped," said Gimblet, "that you would have seen some strong likeness +in this young lady to yourself, or to your first wife. That would have +clinched the matter to all intents and purposes. But, as things are, I +shouldn't build too much on the hope that she is your daughter. It may +turn out to be the girl adopted by Countess Romaninov." + +"I hope not, I hope not," said Lord Ashiel earnestly. "I have got her to +promise to come to Scotland, and in a few days I may get some definite +clue as to which of them it is. It is a very odd coincidence that both +the girls bear names so much like that of my poor wife's." He paused +reflectively, and then added, "In the meantime you will go on with your +inquiries, will you not?" + +"I will," said Gimblet. "And I hope for better luck." + +A silence followed. Lord Ashiel half rose to go, then sat down again. +Evidently he had something more to say, but hesitated to say it. At +last he spoke: + +"When I was at St. Petersburg, twenty years ago, I was aroused to a +state of excitement and indignation by the social and political evils +which were then so much in evidence to the foreigner who sojourned in the +country of the Czars. I was young and impressionable, impulsive and +unbalanced in my judgments, I am afraid; at all events I resented certain +seeming injustices which came to my notice, and my resentment took a +practical and most foolish form. To be short, I was so ill-advised as to +join a secret society, and have done nothing but regret it ever since." + +"I can well understand your regretting it," said the detective. "People +who join those societies are apt to find themselves let in for a good +deal more than they bargained for." + +"It was so, at all events so far as I am concerned," said Lord Ashiel, "I +had, you may be sure, only the wildest idea of what serious and extremely +unpleasant consequences my unreflecting action would entail. Withdrawal +from these political brotherhoods is to all intents and purposes a +practical impossibility; but, in a sense, I withdrew from all +participation in its affairs as soon as I realized to what an extent the +theories of its leaders, as to the best means to adopt by which to +rectify the injustices we all agreed in deploring, differed from my own +ideas on the subject. And I should not have been able to withdraw, even +in the negative way I did, if accident had not put into my hand a weapon +of defence against the tyranny of the Society." + +Lord Ashiel paused hesitatingly, and Gimblet murmured encouragingly: + +"And that was?" + +"No," said Lord Ashiel, after a moment's silence, "I must not tell you +more. We are, I know, to all appearances, safe from eavesdroppers or +interruption; but, if a word of what I know were to leak out by some +incredible agency, my life would not be worth a day's purchase. As it is, +I am alarmed; I believe these people wish for my death. In fact, there is +no doubt on that subject. But they dare not attempt it openly. I have +told them that if I should die under suspicious circumstances of any +sort, the weapon I spoke of will inevitably be used to avenge my death, +and they know me to be a man of my word. For all these years that threat +has been my safeguard, but now I am beginning to think that they are +trying other means of getting me out of the way." + +"It is a pity," said Gimblet, "that you do not speak to me more openly. I +think it is highly probable, from what I know of the methods resorted to +by Nihilists in general, that you may be in very grave danger. Indeed, I +strongly advise you to report the whole matter to the police." + +"I wish I could tell you everything," said Lord Ashiel, "but even if I +dared, you must remember that I am sworn to secrecy, and I cannot see +that because I have, by doing so, placed myself in some peril, that on +that account I am entitled to break my word. No, I cannot tell you any +more, but in spite of that, I want you to do me a service." + +"I am afraid I can't help you without fuller knowledge," said Gimblet. +"What do you think I can do?" + +"You can do this," said Lord Ashiel. He put his hand in his pocket and +Gimblet heard a crackling of paper. "I am thinking out a hiding-place +for some valuable documents that are in my possession, and when I have +decided on it I will write to you and explain where I have put them, +using a cipher of which the key is enclosed in an envelope I have here +in my pocket, and which I will leave with you when I go. Take charge of +it for me, and in the course of the next week or so I will send you a +cipher letter describing where the papers are concealed. Do not read it +unless the occasion arises. I can trust you not to give way to +curiosity, but if anything happens to me, if I die a violent death, or +equally if I die under the most apparently natural circumstances, I want +you to promise you will investigate those circumstances; and, if +anything should strike you as suspicious in connection with what I have +told you, you will be able to interpret my cipher letter, find the +document I have referred to, and act on the information it contains. +Will you undertake to do this for me?" + +"I will, certainly," Gimblet answered readily, "but I hope the occasion +will not arise. I beg you to break a vow which was extorted from you by +false representations and which cannot be binding on you. Do confide +fully in me; I do not at all like the look of this business." + +"No, no," replied Lord Ashiel, smiling. "You must let me be the judge of +whether my word is binding on me or not. As you say, I hope nothing will +happen to justify my perhaps uncalled-for nervousness. In any case it +will be a great comfort and relief to me to know that, if it does, the +scoundrels will not go unpunished." + +"They shall not do that," said Gimblet fervently. "You can make your mind +easy on that score, at least. But I advise you to send your documents to +the bank. They will be safer there than in any hiding-place you can +contrive." + +"I might want to lay my hand upon them at any moment," said Lord +Ashiel, "and I admit I don't like parting with my only weapon of +defence. Still, I dare say you are right really, and I will think it +over. But mind, I don't want you to take any steps unless you can +satisfy yourself that these people have a hand in my death. Please be +very careful to make certain of that. My health is not good, and grows +worse. I may easily die without their interference; but I suspect that, +if they do get me, they will manage the affair so that it has all the +look of having been caused by the purest misadventure. That is what I +fear. Not exactly murder; certainly no violent open assault. But we are +all liable to suffer from accidents, and what is to prevent my meeting +with a fatal one? That is more the line they will adopt, if, as I +imagine, they have decided on my death." + +"If ever there were a case in which prevention is better than cure," said +Gimblet, "I think you will own that we have it here. If I had some hint +of the quarter from which you expect danger, I might at least suggest +some rudimentary precautions. What kind of 'accident' do you imagine +likely to occur?" + +"That I can't tell," replied Lord Ashiel. "I only know that these enemies +of mine are resourceful people, who are apt to make short work of anyone +whose existence threatens their safety or the success of their designs. I +am, by your help, taking a precaution to ensure that I shall not die +unavenged. They must be taught that murder cannot be committed in this +country with impunity. And I am very careful not to trust myself out of +England. If I crossed the Channel it would be to go to my certain death. +Otherwise I should have gone myself to see Sir Arthur Byrne. But in this +island the man who kills even so unpopular a person as a member of the +House of Lords does not get off with a few years' imprisonment, as he may +in some of the continental countries; and the Nihilists, for the most +part, know that as well as I do." + +Gimblet followed Lord Ashiel into the hall with the intention of showing +him out of the flat, but the sudden sound of the door bell ringing made +him abandon this courtesy and retreat to shelter. + +He did not wish to be denied all possibility of refusing an interview to +some one he might not want to see. + +So it was Higgs who opened the door and ushered out the last visitor, at +the same time admitting the newcomer. + +This proved to be a small, slight woman dressed in deepest black and +wearing the long veil of a widow, who was standing with her back to the +door, apparently watching the rapid descent of the lift which had brought +her to the landing of No. 7. + +She did not move when the door behind her opened, and Lord Ashiel, +emerging from it in a hurry to catch the lift before it vanished, nearly +knocked her down. She gave a startled gasp and stepped hastily to one +side into the dark shadows of the passage as he, muttering an apology, +darted forward to the iron gateway and applied his finger heavily to the +electric bell-push. But the liftboy had caught sight of him with the tail +of his eye, and was already reascending. + +His anxiety allayed, Lord Ashiel turned again to express his regrets to +the lady he had inadvertently collided with, but she had disappeared into +the flat, of which Higgs was even then closing the door. + +Ashiel stepped into the lift and sat down rather wearily on the +leather-covered seat. + +Although, to some extent, the relief of having unburdened his mind of +secrets that had weighed upon it for so many years produced in him a +certain lightness of heart to which he had long been a stranger, yet +the very charm of the impression made upon him by Juliet Byrne, during +his first meeting with her that morning, led him to suspect uneasily +that his hopes of her proving to be his child were due rather to the +pleasure it gave him to anticipate such a possibility than to any more +logical reason. + +He was so entirely engrossed in an honest endeavour to adjust correctly +the balance of probabilities, as to remain unconscious that the lift had +stopped at the ground floor, and it was not until the boy who was in +charge had twice informed him of the fact, that he roused himself with an +effort and left the building. + +Still absorbed in his speculations and anxieties, he walked rapidly away, +and, having narrowly escaped destruction beneath the wheels of more than +one taxi, wandered down Northumberland Avenue on to the Embankment. He +crossed to the farther side, turned mechanically to the right and walked +obliviously on. + +It was not until he came nearly to Westminster Bridge that he remembered +the cipher that he had prepared for Gimblet, and that he had, after all, +finally left without giving it to him. It was still in his pocket, and +the discovery roused him from his abstraction. + +He took a taxi and drove back to the flats. A motor which had been +standing before the door when he had come out was still there when he +returned; so that, thinking it probably belonged to the lady he had met +on the landing, and guessing that if so the detective was still occupied +with her, he did not ask to see him again, but handed the envelope over +to Higgs when he opened the door, with strict injunctions to take it +immediately to his master. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The lady, whose visit to Gimblet dovetailed so neatly with the departure +of his other client on that summer afternoon, was unknown to him. + +He had scarcely re-entered the room and resumed his accustomed seat by +the window when Higgs announced her. + +"A lady to see you, sir." + +The lady was already in the doorway. She must have followed Higgs from +the hall, and now stood, hesitating, on the threshold. + +"What name?" breathed Gimblet; but Higgs only shook his head. + +The detective went forward and spoke to his visitor. + +"Please come in," he said. "Won't you sit down?" + +And he pushed a chair towards her. + +"Thank you," said the lady, taking the seat he offered. "I hope I do not +disturb you; but I have come on business," she added, as the door closed +behind Higgs. + +"Yes?" said Gimblet interrogatively. "You will forgive me, but I didn't +catch your name when my man announced you." + +"He didn't say it," she replied. "I had not told him. I am sure you would +not remember my name, and it is of no consequence at present." + +"As you wish," said the detective. + +But he wondered who this unknown woman could be. When she said he would +not remember her name, did she mean to imply that he had once been +acquainted with it? If so, she was right in thinking that he did not +recognize her now; but, if she did not choose to raise the thick crape +veil that hid her face, she could hardly expect him to do so. + +He wondered whether she kept her veil lowered with the intention of +preventing his recognizing her, or whether in truth she were anxious not +to expose grief-swollen features to an unsympathetic gaze. + +Her voice, which was low and sorrowful, though at the same time curiously +resonant, seemed to suggest that she was in great trouble. She spoke, he +fancied, with a trace of foreign accent. + +For the rest, all that he could tell for certain about her was that she +was short and slender, with small feet, and hands, from which she was now +engaged in deliberately withdrawing a pair of black suede gloves. + +He watched her in silence. He always preferred to let people tell their +stories at their own pace and in their own way, unless they were of those +who plainly needed to be helped out with questions. + +And about this woman there was no suspicion of embarrassment; her whole +demeanour spoke of calmness and self-possession. + +"I believe," she said at last, "that you are a private detective. I come +to ask for your help in a matter of some difficulty. Some papers of the +utmost importance, not only to me but to others, are in the possession of +a person who intends to profit by the information contained in them to do +myself and my friends an irreparable injury. You can imagine how anxious +we are to obtain them from him." + +"Do I understand that this person threatens you with blackmail?" +asked Gimblet. + +The lady hesitated. + +"Something of the kind," she replied after a moment's pause. + +"And you have so far given in to his demands?" + +"Yes," admitted the visitor. "Up till now we have been obliged to +submit." + +"Has he proposed any terms on which he will be willing to return you the +papers?" asked the detective. + +"No," she replied. "I do not think any terms are possible." + +"How did this person obtain possession of the papers?" Gimblet asked +after a moment. "Did he steal them from you?" + +"No." + +"From your friends?" + +She hesitated. + +"No--not exactly." + +"From whom, then?" asked Gimblet in surprise. "I suppose they were yours +in the first place?" + +"He has always had them," she said reluctantly; "but they must not +remain his." + +"Do you mean they are his own?" exclaimed Gimblet. "In that case it is +you who propose to steal them!" + +"No," replied the strange lady calmly. "I want you to do that." + +"I'm sorry," said Gimblet; "that is not in my line of business. I'm +afraid you made a mistake in coming to me. I cannot undertake your +commission." + +"Money is no object; we shall ask you to name your own price," urged +his visitor. + +But the detective shook his head. + +"It is a matter of life and death," she said, and her voice betrayed an +agitation which could not have been inferred from her motionless shrouded +figure. "If you refuse to help me, not one life, but many, will be +endangered." + +"If you can offer me convincing proof of that," said Gimblet, "I might +feel it my duty to help you. I don't say I should, but I might. In any +case I can do nothing unless you are perfectly open and frank with me. +Expect no assistance from me unless you tell me everything, and then only +if I think it right to give it." + +For the first time she showed some signs of confusion. The hand upon her +lap moved restlessly and she turned her head slowly towards the window as +if in search of suitable words. But she did not speak or rise, though she +gradually fidgeted round in her chair till she faced the writing-table; +and so sat, with her head leaning on her hand, in silent consideration. + +It was clear she did not like Gimblet's terms; and after a few minutes +had passed in a silence as awkward as it was suggestive he pushed back +his chair and stood up. He hoped she would take the hint and bring an +unprofitable and embarrassing interview to an end. + +But she did not appear to notice him, and still sat lost in her +own thoughts. + +Suddenly the door opened and Higgs appeared. + +Gimblet looked at him with questioning disapproval. + +It was an inflexible rule of his that when engaged with a client he was +not to be disturbed. + +Higgs, well acquainted with this rule, hovered doubtfully in the +doorway, displaying on the salver he carried the blue, unaddressed +envelope Lord Ashiel had told him to deliver at once. + +"It's a note, sir," he murmured hesitatingly. "The gentleman who was with +you a little while ago came back with it. He asked me to be sure and +bring it in at once." + +He avoided Gimblet's reproachful eye and stammered uneasily: + +"Put it down on that table and go," said the detective. He indicated a +little table by the door, and Higgs hastily placed the letter on it and +fled, with the uncomfortable sensation of having been sternly reproved. + +As a matter of fact Gimblet would have shown more indignation if he +had not at heart felt rather glad of the interruption. His visitor had +decidedly outstayed her welcome; and, though she stirred his curiosity +sufficiently to make him wish he could induce her to raise her veil +and let him see what manner of woman it was who had the effrontery to +come and make him such unblushing proposals, he far more urgently +desired to see the last of her. She was wasting his time and annoying +him into the bargain. + +As the door shut behind the servant he made a step towards her. + +"If, madam, there is nothing else you wish to consult me about," he +began, taking out his watch with some ostentation--"I am a busy man--" + +The lady gave a little laugh, low and musical. + +"I will not detain you longer," she said, also rising from her chair. "I +am afraid I have cut into your afternoon, but you will still have time +for a game if you hurry." + +She laughed again, and moved over to the writing-table, where, among a +litter of papers and writing materials, a couple of golf balls were +acting as letter weights. A putter lay on the chair in front of the desk, +and she took it up and swung it to and fro. + +"A nice club," she remarked. "Where do you play, as a rule? There are so +many good links near London; so convenient. Well, I mustn't keep you." +She laid down the putter and fingered the balls for a moment. "Where have +I put my gloves?" she said then, looking around to collect her +belongings. + +Gimblet was slightly put out at her inference that his plea of business +was merely an excuse to dismiss her in order that he might go off and +play golf. Heaven knew it was no affair of hers whether he played golf +that day or not! But as a matter of fact he had no intention of leaving +the flat that afternoon, and had merely been practising a shot or two on +the carpet after lunch before Lord Ashiel's arrival. Still it was true +that he had made business a pretext for getting rid of her, and this made +the injustice of the widow's further inference ruffle him more than it +might have if she had been entirely in the wrong. He was the most +courteous of men, and that anyone should suspect him of unnecessary +rudeness distressed him. + +He made no reply, however, in spite of the temptation to defend himself; +but stooped to pick up a diminutive black suede glove which his visitor +had dropped when she took up the putter. + +She thanked him and put it on, depositing, while she did so, her other +glove, her handkerchief, sunshade and a small brown-paper parcel upon the +writing-table at her side. + +Gimblet did not appreciate seeing these articles heaped upon his +correspondence. Without any comment he removed them, and stood holding +them silently till she should be ready. + +She took them from him soon, with a little inclination of the head which +he felt was accompanied by a smile of thanks, though through the thick +crape it was impossible to do more than guess at any expression. + +She drew on her other glove and held out her hand again. + +"My purse?" she said. "Will you not give me that too? Where have you put +it? And then I must really go." + +"I haven't seen any purse," said Gimblet. + +"Yes, yes!" she cried. "A black silk bag! It has my purse inside it. I +had it, I am sure." + +She turned quickly back to the chair she had been sitting in, and taking +up the cushion, shook it and peered beneath it. + +"What can I have done with it? All my money is in it." + +Gimblet glanced round the room. He did not remember having noticed any +bag, and he was an observant person. She had probably left it in a cab. +Women were always doing these things. Witness the heaped shelves at +Scotland Yard. + +"Perhaps you put it down in the hall?" he suggested. + +"I am sure I had it when I came in here," she repeated in an agitated +voice. "But it might be worth while just to look in the hall," she added +doubtfully, and moved towards the door. + +Gimblet opened it for her gladly; but she came to a standstill in +the doorway. + +"There is nothing there, you see;" she said dolefully. "Oh, what +shall I do!" + +Gimblet looked over her shoulder. The hall was shadowy, with the +perpetual twilight of the halls of London flats, but he fancied he +could perceive a darker shadow lying beside his hat on the table near +the entrance. + +"Is that it? On the table?" he asked. + +"Where? I don't see anything," murmured the lady; and indeed it was +unlikely that she could distinguish anything in such a light from +behind her veil. + +"On the table by my hat," repeated Gimblet; and as she still did not +move, he made a step forward into the hall. + +Yes, it was her bag, beyond a doubt. A silken thing of black brocade, +embroidered with scattered purple pansies. + +Gimblet picked it up and turned back to his visitor. After a second's +hesitation she had followed him into the hall and was coming towards him, +groping her way rather blindly through the gloom. + +"Oh, thanks, thanks!" she exclaimed. "How stupid of me to have left it +there. Thank you again. My precious bag! I am so glad you have found it." +She took the bag eagerly from him. "I am afraid I have been a nuisance, +and disturbed you to no purpose. You must forgive my mistake. But now I +will not keep you any longer. Good-bye." + +She showed no further disposition to loiter; and Gimblet rang the bell +for the lift and saw her depart with a good deal of satisfaction. + +In spite of her extremely hazy ideas on the subject of other people's +property, there was, he admitted, something attractive about her. Still +he was very glad she had gone. + +He returned to his room, taking up and pocketing Lord Ashiel's envelope +as he passed the little table by the door. + +He did it mechanically, for his mind was occupied with a question which +must be immediately decided. + +Was it, or was it not, worth while to have the woman who had just left +him followed and located, and her identity ascertained? + +Gimblet disliked leaving small problems unsolved, however insignificant +they appeared. On the whole, he thought he might as well find out who she +was, and he turned back into the hall and called for Higgs. + +If she were to be caught sight of again before leaving the house there +was not a moment to lose. But Higgs did not reply, and on Gimblet's +opening the pantry door he found it empty. Unknown to him, the moment the +lady had departed Higgs had gone upstairs to the flat above to have a +word with a friend. + +The detective seized his hat and ran downstairs, but he was too late. + +The widow lady, the porter told him, had gone away two or three minutes +ago in the motor that had been waiting for her. No, he hadn't noticed the +number of the car. Neither had he seen Higgs. + +Gimblet shrugged his shoulders as he went upstairs again. After all, the +matter was of no great consequence. + +The widow was a cool hand, certainly, he thought, to come to him and +propose he should steal for her what she wanted; but the fact of her +having done so made it on the whole improbable that she was a thief, or +she would not have had need of him. She was certainly a person of +questionable principles, and it seemed likely that in one way or another +a theft would be committed through her agency, if not by herself, as +soon as the opportunity presented itself. She was, in fact, a woman on +whom the police might do worse than keep an eye; but, reflected Gimblet, +he was not the police, and the dishonesty of this scheming widow was +really no concern of his. As he reached his door, a postman was leaving +it, and two or three letters had been pushed through the flap. He let +himself in and took them out of the box. They were not of great +importance. A bill, an appeal for a subscription to some charity, a +couple of advertisements and the catalogue of a sale of pictures in +which he was interested. He turned over the leaves slowly, holding the +pamphlet sideways from time to time to look at the photographs which +illustrated some of the principal lots. + +Presently he turned and went back into his room. He sat down in his +favourite arm-chair near the window, where he habitually passed so much +time gazing out on to the smooth surface of the river, and fell to +ruminating on the problem presented by Lord Ashiel's story. + +For a long while he sat on, huddled in the corner of an arm-chair, his +elbows on the arm, his chin resting on his hand, and in his eyes the look +of one who wrestles with obscure and complicated problems of mental +arithmetic. From time to time, but without relaxing his expression of +concentrated effort, he stretched out long artistic fingers to a box on +the table, took from it a chocolate, and transferred it mechanically to +his mouth. He always ate sweets when he had a problem on hand. He was +trying to think of some means by which his client could be protected from +the mysterious danger that threatened him; that it was a very real +danger, Gimblet accepted without question; he had only seen Lord Ashiel +twice in his life, but it was quite enough to make him certain that here +was a man whom it would take a great deal to alarm. This was no boy +crying "wolf" for the sake of making a stir. + +But the more he thought, the more he saw that there was nothing to be +done. A word to the police would suffice, no doubt, to precipitate +matters; for, if the Nihilist Society which threatened Lord Ashiel +contemplated his destruction, a hint that he might be already taking +reciprocal measures would not be likely to make them feel more mercifully +towards him. It was obvious that Ashiel would look with suspicion upon +any Russian who might approach him, but Gimblet determined to write him a +line of warning against foreigners of any description. Still, these +societies sometimes had Englishmen amongst their members, and ways of +enforcing obedience upon their subordinates which made any decision they +might come to as good as carried out almost as soon as it was uttered. + +The detective's cogitations were disturbed by Higgs, who had returned, +and now brought him in some tea. He poured himself out half a cup, which +he filled up with Devonshire cream. He had a peculiar taste in food, and +was the despair of his excellent cook, but on this occasion he ate none +of the cakes and bread and butter she had provided, the chocolates having +rather taken the edge off his appetite. + +From where he sat he could see, through the open window, the broad grey +stretches of the river, with a barge going swiftly down on the tide; +brown sails turned to gleaming copper by the slanting rays from the West. +The hum and rattle of the streets came up to him murmuringly; now and +then a train rumbled over Charing Cross Bridge, and the whistle of +engines shrilled out above the constant low clamour of the town. + +Gimblet leant out of the window and watched the barge negotiate the +bridge. Then he returned to his chair, and taking Lord Ashiel's envelope +out of his pocket looked it over thoughtfully before opening it. He had +no doubts as to what it contained; he had been on the point of reminding +the peer that he had forgotten to give him the key of the cipher he had +spoken of when the widow's ring at the door had driven him to a hurried +retreat, but he had not considered the omission of any particular +significance. His client would certainly discover it and either return to +give him the key, or send it to the flat. + +It would probably be some time before it was required for use here. In +the meantime, thought Gimblet, he would have a look at it before locking +it away in the safe. + +He turned over the envelope. To his surprise, the flap was open and the +glue had obviously never been moistened. + +It was the work of an instant to look inside, but almost quicker came the +conviction that it was useless to do so. + +He was not mistaken. + +The envelope was empty. + +Gimblet stared at it for one moment in blank dismay. Then he strode to +the door and shouted for Higgs. + +"Did you notice," he asked him, "whether the envelope Lord Ashiel gave +you for me was fastened, or was it open as this one is?" + +"Oh no, sir," replied Higgs, "it was sealed up. There was a large patch +of red sealing-wax at the back, with a coronet and some sort of little +picture stamped on it. I can't say I looked at it particularly, but there +may have been a lion or a dog, or some kind of animal. His lordship's +arms, no doubt" + +"You are quite certain about the sealing-wax?" Gimblet repeated slowly. + +"Yes, sir, I am quite certain about that," answered Higgs; and he could +not refrain from adding, "I put down the note on this little table, sir, +as you told me." + +"Thank you. That is all." + +Gimblet's tone was as undisturbed as ever, but inwardly he was seething +with anger and disgust; directed, however, entirely against himself. + +When Higgs had departed he allowed himself the unusual, though quite +inadequate relief of giving the chair on which his last visitor had sat a +violent kick. After that he felt rather more ashamed of himself than +before, if possible, and he sat down and raged at the simple way in which +he had been fooled. + +The widow had taken the envelope, of course. She must have snatched it up +during the few seconds he had turned his back on her in order to step +across the hall and retrieve her bag, and have replaced it at the same +instant with this empty one which she had no doubt taken from his own +writing-table while he stooped beside her to pick up her glove. + +Gimblet fetched one of his own blue envelopes and compared it with the +substitute. Yes, they were alike in every particular. The watermarks were +the same and showed that she had used what she found ready to her hand. + +It seemed, then, that the _coup_ was not premeditated. But why, why, had +he let her escape so easily? If only he had been a little quicker about +following her, and had not wasted time looking for Higgs! She had had +time to get clear away; and he, bungler that he was, had thought it of +little consequence, and had afterwards stood poring over a catalogue in +the hall, having decided that her morals were no business of his. Ass +that he had been! + +Who was she? Probably some one known to Lord Ashiel, or why should she +have wanted his letter? Well, Ashiel must have met her on his way out, +and would in that case at least be able to provide the information as to +who she was. Still, more people might know Ashiel than Ashiel knew, and +it was possible that that hope might fail. No doubt she was a member of +the society the peer had so rashly entangled himself with in the days of +his youth; one of those enemies of whom he had spoken with such grave +apprehension. Had she followed him into the house and forced her way in +on a trumped-up pretext, on the chance of hearing or finding something +that might be useful to her Nihilist friends, or had she known that Lord +Ashiel intended to leave some document in Gimblet's keeping, and come +with the idea, already formed, of stealing it? Such a plan seemed to +partake too much of the nature of a forlorn hope to be likely, but +whether or no she had expected to find that letter, Gimblet could hardly +help admiring the rapidity with which she had possessed herself of it +without wasting an unnecessary moment. + +She must have been safe in the street and away with it, in less than +five minutes from when she first saw it. Oh, she had been quick and +dexterous! And he? He had been a gull, and false to his trust, and +altogether contemptible. What should he say to Lord Ashiel? Why in the +world hadn't he locked up the letter when Higgs brought it in? This was +what came of making red-tape regulations about not being disturbed. After +all, he comforted himself, she would be a good deal disappointed when she +found what she had got. The key to a cipher; that was all. And a key with +nothing to unlock was an unsatisfactory kind of loot to risk prison for. +Evidently she expected something more important; perhaps the very +documents she had invited Gimblet to steal for her, regardless of +expense. This, he thought, was a reassuring sign for Lord Ashiel. For it +was plain they meant to steal the papers, if they could; but not so plain +that they looked to murder as the means by which to gain that end, since +they applied for help from him. + +Gimblet rang up the Carlton Club and asked for his client, but he was not +in, nor did he succeed in communicating with him that afternoon; and when +he rang up the Club for the fifth time after dinner he was told that Lord +Ashiel had already left for Scotland. + +With a groan, and fortifying himself with chocolates, the detective sat +down to write a long and full account of his failure to keep what had +been confided to his care, for the space of one hour. + +In a couple of days he had an answer. Ashiel did not seem much perturbed +at the loss of the cipher. + +"It is a nuisance, of course," he said. "I must think out another, and +will let you have it in a few days before sending you other things. No, I +did not recognize the person I met as I was leaving your rooms. In spite +of what you say as to your belief that theft and not murder is the object +of these people, I am still convinced that my life is aimed at. However, +I think that for the present I have hit on a way of frustrating their +plans. With regard to the other problem you are helping me to solve, I am +seeing a great deal of both the young people, and I believe there can be +no doubt as to the identity of one of them, but I will write to you on +this subject also in a few days' time." + +He sent Gimblet a couple of brace of grouse, which the detective devoured +with great satisfaction, and for the next week no more letters bearing a +Scotch postmark were delivered at the Whitehall flat. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +"Here they come again." + +Lord Ashiel spoke in a voice scarcely above a whisper, and Juliet +crouched low against the peaty wall of the butt. There was an instant's +silence, and then crack, crack, shots sounded from the other end of the +line. Another minute and Lord Ashiel's gun went up; she heard the whirr +of approaching wings before she covered both ears with her hands to +deaden the noise of the explosions she knew were coming. + +Then several guns seemed to go off at once. Bang! bang! bang! Bang! +bang! bang! + +Juliet did not really enjoy grouse-driving, but she tried to appear as if +she did, since every one else seemed to, and at all events there were +intervals between drives when she could be happy in the glory of the +hills and the wild free air of the moors. + +Meanwhile she knelt in her corner of the butt beside her host's big +retriever, and waited. There was a little bunch of heather growing +level with her nose, and she bent forward silently and sniffed at it. +But the honey-sweet scent was drowned for the moment by the smell of +gunpowder and dog. + +Bang! bang! bang! + +Presently Lord Ashiel turned and looked down at her, with a smile. + +"The drivers are close up," he said. "The drive is over." + +They went out of the butt, and she stood watching the dog picking up the +birds Lord Ashiel had shot. He found nineteen, and the loader picked up +three more. Juliet was glad her host shot so well. She thought him a +wonderful man. And how kind he was to her. But she could not help looking +over from time to time to the next butt, round which three other people +were wandering: Sir David Southern, and his loader, and Miss Maisie +Tarver, to whom he was engaged to be married. + +One of Sir David's birds had fallen near his uncle's butt, and presently +he strolled across to look for it, his eyes on the heather as he +zigzagged about, leading his dog by the chain which his uncle insisted on +his using. + +"There is something here," called Juliet. "Yes, it is a dead grouse. Is +this your bird?" + +Sir David came up and took it. + +"That's it," he said. "Thanks very much. How do you like this sort +of thing?" + +He leant against the butt and looked down at her. + +"Oh, it's so lovely here," began Juliet. + +"But you don't like the shooting, eh?" + +"I don't know," Juliet stammered. "I think it's rather cruel." + +"You must remember there wouldn't be any grouse at all if they weren't +shot," he said seriously, "and besides, wild birds don't die comfortably +in their beds if they're not killed by man. A charge of shot is more +merciful than a death from cold and starvation, or even from the attack +of a hawk or any of a bird's other natural enemies. Just think. Wouldn't +you rather have the violent end yourself than the slow, lingering one?" + +"Yes," admitted Juliet, "I would. I believe you're right. But I don't +really much like seeing it happen, all the same." + +"I think you'd get used to it; it's a matter of habit. I believe +everything is a matter of habit, or almost everything. I suppose one gets +used to any kind of horror in time." + +He spoke reflectively; more, or so it seemed to Juliet, as if trying to +convince himself than her; and as he finished speaking, she was conscious +that his eyes, which had never left her face while they were talking, had +done so now, and were fixed on some object or person behind her. She +turned instinctively and saw Miss Maisie Tarver approaching, a brace of +grouse swinging in each hand. + +"I've got them all, right here, David," she informed him, as she came up. +She was a tall dark girl, with the look of breeding which often proves so +confusing to Europeans when they first come in contact with certain of +her countrywomen. "This bird," she added, holding up one which still +fluttered despairingly, "was a runner, but now he won't do any more +running than the colour of my new pink shirt-waist; and that's guaranteed +a fast tint, I guess." + +Juliet looked away, trying not to show her dismay at the struggles of the +wounded bird. + +"Here, give me that bird, Maisie," said David rather abruptly. "I'll +knock it on the head." + +"Oh, I can do that, if it makes Miss Byrne feel badly," Maisie laughed. + +Raising her small foot on to a stone, she began to make ineffectual +attempts to beat the bird's head against her toe. David snatched it from +her unceremoniously, and turned his back while he put an end to the poor +creature's sufferings. His face was very red. When he had killed the bird +he tossed it to Lord Ashiel's loader, and strode away across the heather. + +Maisie looked at Juliet with a laugh. + +"Your English young men are perfectly lovely," she remarked, "and David +is just elegant, I think, or I'd not have gone and engaged myself to be +led to the altar by him; but I can't kind of get used to the British way +of looking at things. It's quite remarkable the manner you people have +of admiring a girl one moment, because she's a good sport, and throwing +fits of disapprobation the next, because she tries to act like she is +one. Why, David looked at me just now as if he'd have taken less than two +cents to put knock-out drops in my next cocktail." + +"Oh," protested Juliet. "I'm sure he didn't mean to. I think his +expression is naturally rather stern." + +"Stern nothing," said Miss Tarver. "When I came up he was looking at you +as if he reckoned he could eat you, shooting-stick and all. Oh, there +aren't any flies on me! I know just what myself and dollars are worth to +Sir David Southern, and I'm beginning to do some calculating on my own +account as to what Sir David Southern is worth to me." + +"Oh, surely you are wrong," cried Juliet. "I am certain Sir David has +never thought about your money. Oh, I feel sure you misjudge him; and you +mustn't talk like that, even in fun!" + +"I don't know," said Miss Tarver doubtfully. "His cousin says David's +really vurry attached to me, but it's the sort of thing one ought to be +able to see for oneself, and I don't seem to feel a really strong +conviction on the subject. As for his thinking of my dollars, I fail to +see how he can help that when he's over head and ears in debt, the way he +is. He told me so himself when he proposed. He put it as a business +proposition. Said his ancient name was up for auction, and did I reckon +it worth my while to make a bid, or words to that effect. There's a +romantic love-story for you. He was the only titled man I'd ever struck +up till a month ago, and I always did think it would be stunning to marry +into an aristocratic British family, so I was pleased to death at the +idea of putting his on its legs again with my dollars. What else could I +do with them anyway? But I believe if I'd met your friend, Lord Ashiel, +before I'd taken the fatal step, I'd have waited to see if he didn't +fancy an Amurrican wife. But of course _he_ doesn't care a hill of beans +whether I'm rich or not. He's got plenty himself, I'm told, and I guess +he'd never have looked at me while you were around, any old way. All the +same I call him a real striking-looking man." + +"Oh, don't talk so loud," implored Juliet. "He'll hear you. He's +quite close." + +"Not he," said Miss Tarver. "He's back of the butt still. And I will say +he is a real high-toned gentleman, and it's my opinion the girl who gets +him will be able to give points to the man who took a piece of waste land +for a bad debt, and struck the richest vein of gold in Colorado on it." + +She looked at Juliet with an insinuating eye. + +"Come along," said Lord Ashiel, as he strolled up to them with a bird +he had been looking for, "we're going on now to the next drive," and +they started off down the hillside, wading deep through the heather to +the track. + +Juliet had been nearly a week at Inverashiel. A week of wet weather which +had sadly interfered with the shooting, but which had thrown the house +party on its own resources and given her plenty of chances to get well +acquainted with the other guests at the castle. They were most of them +related to Lord Ashiel and already well known to each other. The +American, David Southern's fiancee, the half Russian girl, Julia +Romaninov, who had arrived on the same day as Juliet, and Juliet herself, +were the only strangers. Mrs. Haviland, Lord Ashiel's sister, had been +there when she arrived, but had left a day or two later as her husband, +who was in the south, had fallen ill and needed her presence. Her place +as hostess had been taken by Lady Ruth Worsfold, a distant cousin of the +McConachans, who lived in a little house a mile down the loch, which was +given her rent free by Lord Ashiel. Another cousin of his, Mrs. Clutsam, +a young widow, he had also provided this year with a small house on the +estate which was sometimes let to fishing tenants, and she, too, was at +present staying at Inverashiel. + +The guns consisted of Col. Spicer and Sir George Hatch, both well-known +soldiers of between forty and fifty years of age, and Lord Ashiel's two +nephews, David Southern, the son of a widowed sister, and Mark +McConachan, whose father, now dead, had been Lord Ashiel's only brother. +Both were tall, good-looking young men, though there was not even a +family resemblance between the grey-eyed and fairhaired David, with his +smooth-shaven face and slender well-proportioned figure, and his +loose-limbed, rather ungainly cousin, whose appearance of great strength +made up for his lack of grace, and whose large melting brown eyes made +one forget the faults which the hypercritical might have found in the +rest of his face: the rather large nose, and the mouth which was apt too +often to be open except when it closed on the cigarette he was always +smoking. He had been, so Juliet had heard some one say, one of the most +popular men in the cavalry regiment he had lately left on account of its +being ordered to India. + +They were all very nice to Juliet, and she thought them all charming. +Especially, she told herself with unnecessary emphasis, did she think +Miss Maisie Tarver a delightful person; rather strange, possibly, to +European ways and customs and manner of conversation, a very different +type, certainly, from the new Lady Byrne--to whom Juliet was beginning to +feel she had perhaps not hitherto sufficiently done justice--but open as +the day, and with a heart of gold. She even went so far as to defend her +to old Lady Ruth Worsfold, who had lamented one morning when David and +his fiancee had gone out shooting together--for Miss Tarver, though not a +good shot, was fond of ferreting rabbits--that the lad should be throwing +himself away on this young lady from a provincial American town. + +"I forget which, my dear, but it's something to do with chickens, I +believe." They were sitting in the hall, and Lady Ruth looked up from her +embroidery as she spoke, with art interrogative glance towards Mrs. +Clutsam and Julia. + +"Chicago," said Mrs. Clutsam, turning round from the table where she was +writing. "That's where she comes from." + +"Yes, that's it," said Lady Ruth; "the name had slipped my memory. It's +the place where they all kill pigs, isn't it? I've read about it in +Kipling. Her having been brought up to do that accounts for her passion +for wounding rabbits, no doubt. I daresay one has to keep one's hand in. +That reminds me, I will tell the cook not to send up sausages for +breakfast. The poor girl is probably tired of the sight of them, though I +suppose they mean money to her, which is always pleasant. When I had a +poultry farm I used to feel my heart warm at the thought of poor dear +Duncan's bald head. You know, my dear," she went on, turning to Juliet, +"my husband had the misfortune to lose all his hair some years before he +died, though really I don't believe there was a patent hair-wash he +didn't try, till the house fairly reeked of them: but they never did any +good, and he got to look more and more like one of my nice new-laid eggs; +though not so brown of course, for I always kept Wyandots which lay the +most beautiful dark brown ones, like _cafe au lait_" + +"Well, the money will be very useful to poor David," said Mrs. Clutsam, +without turning her head. She was rather annoyed because she had found +that she had written "I am so glad you can kill pigs," instead of "I am +so glad you can come" to some one she had invited to stay with her. + +"There's plenty of money on this side of the duck pond, or whatever they +call it," said Lady Ruth severely. + +And it was then that Juliet had burst in. + +"I am sure Sir David has never given a thought to Miss Tarver's +money," she said. + +"Why not, my dear?" said Lady Ruth, turning upon her mild, surprised +eyes. "He is terribly badly off; it is his duty to marry money; but he +needn't have gone so far for it." + +"I don't believe he would marry for money. He would be above doing such a +thing!" Juliet declared. + +Julia, who had said nothing, stared at her, and laughed softly. She had a +very low, musical laugh. + +"I don't think you understand the position," said Mrs. Clutsam, turning +round at last and laying down her pen with an air of resignation. "David +Southern has inherited a lot of debts from his father, who only died last +year, and he had piled up a good many on his own account before then, +never suspecting that he would not be very well off. But he found the +place mortgaged up to the hilt. There is really nothing between his +mother and starvation, except her brother-in-law Ashiel's charity, and +that is not pleasant for her because she has never been on good terms +with him. It is very important that David should obtain money somehow, +for her sake more than for his own, and I'm sure he feels that deeply. He +is devoted to her." + +"But there are other ways of getting money than by marrying," +Juliet objected. + +"Yes, there are; but they are slow and uncertain, and David can't bear to +see his mother poor. I am sure it was for her sake that he proposed to +Miss Tarver." + +"I think he would have tried some other way first, unless he had been in +love with her," Juliet repeated, flushed and obstinate. + +"Mr. McConachan says Sir David is very fond of Miss Tarver, really," +said Julia, speaking for the first time. She spoke English fluently, but +with a slight foreign accent. "He says his cousin is so reserved that +he conceals his feelings as much as possible, but that, _au fond_, he +adores her." + +There was a short silence; Mrs. Clutsam seemed about to speak, but her +eyes met those of Lady Ruth fixed on her with an expressionless gaze, and +she turned round without a word and took up her discarded pen. + +They were both thinking the same thing. If David concealed his feelings +in the presence of Miss Tarver he was not so successful when he was in +Juliet's neighbourhood. Both women had noticed the change that came over +him when she was in the room. It was not that he did not try to appear +indifferent; he did not talk to her, or seek her society. On the contrary +he seemed to avoid it, and relapsed into silence at her approach. But +both Lady Ruth and Mrs. Clutsam had caught him looking at her when he +thought himself unobserved, and their observations had not left either of +them in any doubt as to how the land lay. + +Sir David Southern might be engaged to marry Miss Tarver, but he had +fallen in love with some one quite different, and some one who was, +moreover, or so they imagined, destined for quite another person. + +For what was Miss Juliet Byrne doing at Inverashiel Castle? + +This was a question which much exercised the minds of Lord Ashiel's +relations and, when she was not present, formed the subject of many +discussions. + +Where had this girl, this extremely pretty and attractive girl, suddenly +appeared from? Well, they all knew, of course, where she really had come +from; but why? Why had Lord Ashiel suddenly sprung her on them like +this? He had not even told Mrs. Haviland that he had invited her until +the day before she arrived. Why this mystery? Where had he met her? How +long had he known her? To a casual question Juliet had replied guardedly +that she had not known him very long, but that he knew her family. +Fervently did she hope that what she said was true. + +One thing, however, seemed certain. No matter how, where, or why, Ashiel +had made friends with Juliet Byrne, he was bent on becoming even better +acquainted. He appeared to be on excellent terms with her already, and +every day saw them grow more familiar, and, on Ashiel's side, almost +affectionate. If he went shooting or fishing Juliet must go too; to her +he addressed his remarks; it was she whom he consulted when he made plans +for the following days. His health was bad, he was subject to terrible +headaches, and if she were not present he grew quickly nervous and +irritable; when she was, he seldom took his eyes off her. He seemed to +watch her, Mrs. Clutsam thought, with a certain expectancy; but also with +a distinct and unmistakable pride. There was little doubt in the mind of +anyone in the house that there would soon be a second Lady Ashiel. + +As the party walked between the butts on that brilliant August day, Miss +Tarver tacked herself on to her host and strode on ahead with him, +keeping up a flow of interminable, drawling inanities, which made him +wonder for the fortieth time what David could see in her. + +The others tailed out after them, followed by dogs and loaders. + +Without knowing how it came about, Juliet found herself walking beside +David; and, as she was not used to the rough going on the hillside, they +insensibly dropped behind the rest of the long, straggling procession. +The way was uphill; Juliet panted and stumbled; and her companion seemed +disinclined to talk. + +They came to a burn, and he gave her his hand to cross from stone to +stone. The burn was high, and one stone was under water, leaving a space +too wide for Juliet to jump. David stepped on to the flooded rock, and +turned to her. + +"I will lift you over here," he said shortly. "Oh, I can wade quite +well," said she. "My shoes are wet already." + +But without more words he put his arms round her, and lifted her over. +When he put her down he found his tongue. + +"If Maisie stands with my uncle at the next drive," he said, "will you +come to my butt?" + +"I should like to," she said. For some reason his tone made her breath +come quickly. + +David stood looking down at her as though considering. + +"I can't go back on my word," he said at last inconsequently. "I shall +have to marry her, if she wants it, I suppose. But I can't bear you to +think that I care for her. I've got to think of other people." + +"You mustn't say that!" she cried. "Oh, you mustn't say that to me!" + +"Why not?" he said, looking at her strangely. "What have I said that +isn't right?" + +"Nothing, I suppose," Juliet faltered. "But--but--Oh," she cried, "if +you don't care for her, you must tell her so, and she will break it off. +Anything would be better than to go on with it!" + +"I think she knows," he answered gloomily. "She won't break it off, +because she wants to be 'my Lady,' It's a business matter, really. And +I'd have to stick to it for my mother's sake, anyhow." + +Juliet could think of nothing to say. "You ought not to marry her," she +stammered again. + +"If I didn't," he began hoarsely--"if she did let me go, I don't suppose +you'd ever care for me enough to marry me? Oh, I know I ought not to say +it," he broke off; "I'm a cad to speak like this. Forgive me, Juliet." + +Juliet's world revolved around her at an unusual pace for the space of a +second. She shut her eyes to steady herself; a mixture of misery and +happiness deprived her of speech or movement. Gradually the misery +predominated and she burst into tears. + +"Forgive me, forgive me," he was saying. He stood before her, looking as +wretched as a man can look. + +"Yes, yes," she sobbed. "Let us forget all about it. You must forget me." + +"You know I can't," he said. "Juliet, Juliet, don't cry. If you cry I +shall be simply obliged to kiss you." And he took a step towards her. + +They were still standing at the edge of the burn, screened from the +track ahead, partly by a little bush of alder which grew beside them, +partly by the winding of the path round the slope of the hill. As David +spoke a rabbit came scampering up to the other side of the bush, and +then, becoming aware of their proximity, turned at right angles and +darted down the bank. It was three or four yards away, and going hard, +when there was a loud report, and the branches of the alder cracked and +rattled. Several little boughs fell to the ground a foot or two away +from the spot on which Juliet stood. Surprise dried her tears and +restored David to his senses. + +"Hi!" he shouted, bounding on to the path, and waving his arms +frantically. "What are you shooting at? Look out, can't you?" + +Fifty yards up the track his Cousin Mark was standing, an open gun in his +hand; a scared ghillie was running towards them down the path beyond. + +"Good heavens, David," Mark ejaculated, "do you mean to say you were in +the burn? I thought you were on ahead! Why in the world did you lag +behind like that? Do you know I might easily have shot you?" + +"Do I know it? You precious near did shoot me, and Miss Byrne, too, I +tell you. If it hadn't been for that alder we should have been bound to +get most of the charge between us. It's not like you to be so careless." + +"I'm frightfully sorry, old man," said Mark, coming up; "it was careless +of me, but I felt sure there was no one back there. I saw that rabbit and +stalked it, meaning to overtake you all afterwards. They walk so +fearfully slow, you know, what with all these ladies, and Uncle Douglas +not feeling very fit. And Miss Byrne here, too! By Jove, I _am_ sorry! +Beastly stupid of me." + +He was plainly agitated, and could hardly blame himself severely enough. +And David, for his part, was not disposed to make light of what had +happened. Perhaps he was glad of a subject on which he could enlarge. + +"It was a rotten shot, too," he mumbled, as they all hurried on after +the others. "You were about four yards behind that rabbit." + +"Absolutely rotten," agreed Mark. "I don't know what's happened to my +shooting. I've hit every bird in the tail to-day, except when I've missed +'em clean, and that's what I've done most of the time. There's something +wrong with my eye altogether. If I don't get better, I shall knock off +shooting--for a few days, anyhow." + +All his usual self-possession seemed to have been shaken out of him by +the thought of the catastrophe he might have caused. Young, good-looking +and popular, he was accustomed to take the pleasure shown in his society +and the admiring approval of his associates, which had always contributed +so much to his comfortable feeling of satisfaction with himself, and +which had invariably strengthened his reluctance to harbour unpleasant +doubts as to his own perfections, as a matter of course; and the +heartiness with which he now cursed himself for a careless and dangerous +fool testified to the fright he had had. + +Even when David, relenting a little, though still reluctant to show +it, grunted surlily, "None of you cavalry soldiers are safe with a +gun." Mark did not, as he would generally have done, deny the +accusation resentfully, but displayed an astonishing meekness, which +proved how clearly he saw himself to be in the wrong. Juliet, who had +sometimes thought him rather selfish--a fault he shared with many +others of his kind, and one perhaps almost unavoidable in attractive +only sons--was touched by his unusual humility, and treated the matter +lightly, doing all she could to cheer him up and restore to him his +good opinion of himself. + +But Mark, while he smiled back gratefully in reply, would not allow her +to persuade him that he was less to blame than he asserted, and he was +still lamenting his carelessness when they came up with the rest of the +party, who were already stationed in the butts. + +Miss Tarver was beside Lord Ashiel, and Mark stopped a minute to relate +how nearly he had been the cause of an accident, although both David and +Juliet, by mutual consent, guessed what he was going to do, and tried to +dissuade him. + +"No need to say anything about it," David mumbled in his ear. + +"No, no, don't, please," Juliet murmured in the other. + +Yet he would not be tempted, and they walked on together in silence, +leaving him to tell the story. + +"I as near as makes no difference peppered David and Miss Byrne just +now," they heard him begin, and then Lord Ashiel's voice broke in in an +angry tone as they passed out of earshot. + +David's loader reported afterwards that that young gentleman and Miss +Byrne, when she waited with him in the butt, seemed to find very +little to talk about. And it was a long wait before any birds came up, +on that beat. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was a few days after this that Gimblet, taking up an evening paper at +the Club, was startled to see a sinister headline of "Murder," +immediately followed by the name of Ashiel. + +"MURDER OF A SCOTCH PEER." +"LORD ASHIEL SHOT DEAD IN HIS OWN HOUSE." +"ESCAPE OF MURDERER." + +"They've got him," he muttered between his teeth as he hastily began to +read the paragraph that followed: + +"News reaches us, as we go to press, of a dastardly crime, involving the +death of Lord Ashiel, which occurred late last night at his residence in +the Highlands of Scotland. Lord Ashiel was sitting quietly in his library +at Inverashiel Castle, when a shot was fired through the window by +someone in the grounds, which wounded his Lordship so severely that death +took place instantaneously. Although the household was immediately +alarmed and a thorough search made through the garden and grounds +surrounding the castle, the murderer contrived to escape. The police are +continuing their search in the neighbourhood, and it is believed that a +very strong clue to the scoundrel has been discovered. Douglas, Lord +Ashiel, was the seventh Baron. He was born in 1869, educated at Eton and +Oxford, and served for some years in the Diplomatic Service. He was a +widower and childless, and is succeeded in the title by his nephew, Mr. +Mark McConachan." + + +There was nothing more. + +Gimblet strode out of the Club and drove to New Scotland Yard. The +Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department was in, and +received him gladly. Gimblet held out the paper he had carried off from +the Club and pointed to the news of the tragedy. + +"Is all this correct?" he asked. + +"Yes, yes, indeed," replied Mr. Beech, the superintendent. "We heard of +it this morning. The Glasgow people have sent their men up, but it will +take them all day to get to the place. Inverashiel is on the West Coast, +and not what one would call easy to get at. They ought to be there about +five o'clock." + +"Who has gone?" asked Gimblet. + +"Macross has gone himself with one or two others. He has taken a +photographer and a finger-print man, and will get to work as soon as he +possibly can. This is a big business. Lord Ashiel is an important person; +apart from his being a Scotch landowner--he owns 90,000 acres of moorland +there--he is connected with half the great families in England. He has a +cousin in the Cabinet; cousins everywhere, in the Foreign Office, in +Parliament, in trade; he has one who owns a newspaper. He is rich; he is +a sleeping partner in some Newcastle iron works, he is part owner of a +small colliery in Yorkshire. Oh, there's going to be a fine to-do about +this case, you bet your life!" + +"I knew him," said Gimblet slowly. "He came to see me a fortnight ago. He +told me he expected an attempt might be made to kill him." + +"The deuce he did!" exclaimed Beech. "Did he say who it was he feared?" + +"Not exactly; but I gathered he had mixed himself up with some secret +society abroad. He refused to give me any explicit information, or to +appeal to you for protection, as I advised him to do. He told me he had +some document in his possession which his enemies were anxious to obtain +from him, and that if they failed to do so by peaceful methods he thought +it likely they might try to get him out of the way; though he added that +he did not anticipate any open assault, but thought it likely he might +die some death that should have all the appearances of being accidental. +He made me promise to take up the case if this should happen." + +"We are always glad of your help, my dear fellow," said Beech. + +"He gave me certain instructions, in the event of my being able to +satisfy myself that his death is the work of his Nihilist friends," said +Gimblet, who thought it unnecessary to mention his disconcerting +experience with the veiled lady, "And contrariwise, if I can make sure +that they have no hand in it, it was his wish that I should then leave +the whole thing alone. So I had better see what I can make of it before I +go into this any further with you." + +"I can't say I agree with that idea," protested the superintendent. +"However, I know you insist on working on your own lines, and that I have +really no influence with you, in spite of the show you make, humbug that +you are! of consulting my opinion. Well, good luck go with you; and let +me know if you hit on anything that escapes our men." + +Gimblet walked back to his flat, his mind full of the tragedy which he +had an uneasy feeling he might, in some way, have averted. How, he hardly +knew. Lord Ashiel could not have lived all his life encircled by a cordon +of police and detectives; and, without such precautions, a man condemned +by Nihilist societies is practically sure to fall a victim to their +excellent organization and disregard for the lives of their own members. + +Still Gimblet had liked the dead peer, and could not get the pale +aristocratic face and tired, feverish blue eyes out of his head. Surely +he might have found some way of preventing this catastrophe. + +He found a telegram at his flat. It was signed Byrne, and ran: + +"Please come immediately to investigate death of Lord Ashiel certain +some mistake." + +It had been sent off at four o'clock that day. + +"Higgs," called Gimblet to his servant, as he filled up the prepaid reply +form, "I am going North to-night, by the eight o'clock from Euston. Pack +me things for a week; country clothes; and put in plenty of chocolate." + +He collected several things he wanted packed, and then retired to his +sitting-room, where he buried himself in an enormous file of typewritten +papers he had borrowed from Scotland Yard, and which related to the +various Nihilists known to be living in England. He had to return them +before he left London, and when he dropped them at the Yard about seven +o'clock, on his way to the station, he learnt that no word had yet come +from the Scotch authorities as to any further developments at +Inverashiel. + +A few minutes past eight he was travelling North as fast as the Scotch +express could carry him. + +It was midday on the following day when he got off the steamer that had +brought him from Crianan, and landed with his luggage on the wooden pier +which displayed, painted on a rough board, the name of Inverashiel. + +One of the deck hands dumped his luggage out on to the side of the loch +and the boat moved on again. + +A track led across the moor, and down it Gimblet saw a farm cart +advancing, driven by a man who shouted as he approached: + +"The young leddy's comin' doon tae meet ye, sir." + +And behind him, on the near skyline, the detective beheld the hurrying +figure of a girl. + +Leaving the man with the cart to grapple with his luggage, which was not +of large dimensions, Gimblet walked to meet Juliet. As they drew near, +she stopped and held out her hand. + +"Mr. Gimblet?" she asked. + +"Yes," he said; "and you are Miss Byrne, are you not?" + +He looked at her keenly as he spoke, noticing that her eyes were red and +swollen, and that her whole bearing was eloquent of sorrow and want of +sleep. She lifted a miserable face to him. + +"Yes," she said. "I am so glad you have come, but it has seemed a long +while. I suppose you couldn't get here before. Do you know all that has +happened?" + +"I know that Lord Ashiel is dead," said the detective. "Hardly more +than that. Will you tell me all there is to tell before we go up to +the castle?" + +"I have left the castle, and am staying with Lady Ruth Worsfold, whose +house you can just see through the trees," she said. "Will you come there +first, or shall we go straight to the castle. It is about a mile through +the woods." + +"Let us walk straight up," said Gimblet. "You can tell me as we go. I +have, as you say, been a long while getting here, but it is fortunate +that the day is fine. I hope it has not rained during the last +thirty-six hours?" + +"I don't know," said the girl. "No; I believe it has been fine. But I +haven't taken much notice what the weather has been like." She was +disappointed and indignant that he should talk in this trivial strain, +when her own heart was nearly bursting, and her every nerve stretched and +tingling. She had pinned all her hopes on the arrival of the famous +detective. + +Gimblet heard the change in her tone. + +"You think I am talking platitudes about the weather," he said quickly, +"and you think I am unsympathetic for your distress; but, believe me, +what I said is very much to the point. If it has not rained the +murderer's footmarks will be very much more easily seen, and that is very +important." + +"You don't know," said Juliet in a voice that trembled ominously. "They +have found plenty of footmarks. The Glasgow detectives said they were +Sir--Sir David Southern's. They found his gun too, not cleaned; and they +say he did it, and they have taken him away, to--to prison." A sob +escaped her, but she controlled herself with a great effort and went on: +"You must prove that he didn't do it. I know he didn't. Anyone who knew +him must know he didn't. Oh you must, you must, find the real murderer!" + +Gimblet was silent for a moment before this appeal. It was difficult to +know what to say. He knew Macross well for a cautious, intelligent +officer; if he had arrested Sir David Southern it seemed pretty certain +that there was good evidence against that gentleman. On the other hand +Lord Ashiel had seemed to think it likely that his death might wear an +appearance calculated to mislead. Still Gimblet had a deep-rooted +prejudice against holding out hopes he could not see a good chance of +fulfilling, and he had so often been appealed to by distracted women to +save their friend and "find the real murderer." + +"Will you not begin at the beginning?" he said at last. "I know how you +came to be staying at Inverashiel, but I know nothing of what has +happened since your arrival, except the bare fact of Lord Ashiel's death. +Tell me every detail you can think of, but, first, who else was staying +at the castle besides yourself? I suppose they have left now?" + +"Yes, they have all gone," said Juliet. "The men went before it all +happened, and the others the next day. There were Lady Ruth Worsfold and +Mrs. Clutsam; they are both cousins of Lord Ashiel's, and he lends them +little houses that belong to him near here, but they were staying at the +castle for a week or two. Then there was Miss Julia Romaninov. She is +half a Russian, and Lord Ashiel's sister, who is away just now, had +invited her. An American girl, Miss Tarver, a great heiress, was there +too. The men were Sir George Hatch and Colonel Spicer, who are cousins of +Lord Ashiel's; and Mr. Mark McConachan and Sir David Southern, who are +his nephews, Mr. McConachan being the son of his dead brother, while Sir +David is his younger sister's child. + +"I have been here a fortnight. The time has gone quickly. Every one was +very nice to me; and, though nothing out of the way happened, it was all +new and delightful, and I enjoyed it very much. Lord Ashiel, especially, +was kindness itself; he was never tired of explaining to me the customs +and traditions of the countryside, and he spared no pains to see that I +was amused and entertained. I was with him most of the time, and grew to +know him very well. I thought him a wonderful man: so clever, so widely +read, so tolerant and sympathetic in his opinions. He was terribly +delicate, though; he had continual headaches, and was so easily tired; +but he told me it was a new thing for him to feel ill; up till a year or +so ago he had always had the best of health. Mrs. Clutsam told me she +thought he had been terribly worried over something; she didn't know what +it was; and of course it is not so very long since his wife and child +died. But he did not strike me as being troubled about anything; his eyes +had a sad expression, and sometimes he looked at me in a wondering sort +of way; but I never saw him appear worried, and he was always cheerful +and lively while I was with him." + +"Was he not equally so with the rest of the party?" asked Gimblet. "Did +he show his likes and dislikes plainly?" + +"I am afraid he did, rather. I think feeling ill and tired made him +irritable, and his temper was very quick. But he was always nice to me." + +"Who wasn't he nice too?" + +"Well, I don't think he liked Miss Romaninov much, In fact, she seemed to +get on his nerves, and sometimes he was so rude to her that I used to +wonder that she stayed. But she is such a quiet, good-tempered little +thing; she never seems to mind anything, and she was really sorry and +upset when he died. And he didn't much like the other girl, Miss Tarver, +but he made an effort, I think, to bear with her for his nephew's sake. +He said to me how glad he was that the boy would be well provided for." + +"Which nephew?" asked Gimblet. "I don't understand. What had Miss Tarver +to do with it?" + +"Sir David Southern was engaged to marry her. She has thrown him over +now," said Juliet, and in spite of herself there was a trace of elation +in her voice. "As soon as Sir David was suspected of the murder she broke +off the engagement." + +"Ah," said Gimblet, stooping to pick a piece of bracken, and waving it +before him to keep at bay the flies, which were buzzing round them in +clouds. He offered another bit silently to his companion, and she took it +absently, without a word. + +"He seemed very fond of Mr. McConachan," she said, "and I think he liked +every one else as well. Yes, I am sure he did, though he did have a +dreadful quarrel with Sir David two days before he was killed; and he was +angry with him once before that." + +"Ah," said Gimblet again. "How was that?" + +"The first time it was my fault, or partly my fault," Juliet went on. "It +was out shooting, and I couldn't go as fast as the others, so I lagged +behind and nearly got shot by accident, as Mr. McConachan thought we were +in front of him. Sir David was with me, and Lord Ashiel was fearfully +angry with him, and said he'd no business to let me get in a place where +I might have been killed. He was rather cross with him for the next few +days, though I told him it was my fault; and then the other day, when Sir +David annoyed him again, there was a frightful row." + +"Was that your fault too?" asked Gimblet with a smile. + +"No, it really wasn't. Sir David had a dog, a retriever, to which he was +devoted, but which Lord Ashiel hated. It was not a well-trained dog, I +must admit, and it used to pay very little attention to its master, +except at meal times, when it became very affectionate, not only to him, +but to every one. The truth is that he spoilt it, and never punished it +when it did wrong, or took any trouble to make it behave better. I heard +that before I arrived there was trouble about it, as it did a lot of +damage in the garden, trampling down the flower-beds, and knocking Lord +Ashiel's favourite plants to pieces--he was very fond of gardening--and +the very first day they went out shooting it ran away for miles, and Sir +David after it, which delayed one of the drives half an hour. His uncle +had been very cross about that, they said, and told Sir David he must +keep it on a chain; but the next day it ate a grouse it was supposed to +be retrieving, and Lord Ashiel was furious, and said that if it did +anything more of the kind he'd have it killed. + +"However, after that, all went well. The dog was kept tightly chained, +and nothing happened till the other day. We were all out on the moors, +waiting in the butts for the last drive to begin. Everything had gone +badly with the shooting that day; the birds all went the wrong way; there +were hardly enough guns for driving, anyhow; there was a high wind, and +the shooting had been shocking; no one had shot well except Mr. +McConachan, who is such a good shot; every one had been wounding their +birds, and that always annoyed Lord Ashiel. He was in a very bad temper, +and though he was not cross with me, I was rather afraid he might be, so +I went and stood with Sir David. Miss Tarver was watching Sir George +Hatch in the next butt, and then came Colonel Spicer, with Mr. McConachan +and Lord Ashiel right at the end of the line. + +"We had been waiting some time, when Sir David whispered to me that the +birds were coming, and crouched down under the wall of the butt. His +loader was kneeling behind him ready to hand him his second gun, with two +cartridges stuck between his fingers to reload the first one. We were all +intent on the grouse, and no one noticed that that wretched dog had +worked his head out of his collar and was roaming about behind us. Just +at that moment a mountain hare came lolloping along the crest of the +hill, and, deceived by the stillness, came to a pause just opposite us +and sat up on its hind legs to brush its whiskers with its paw. Its +toilette didn't last long, however, for by that time the dog had caught +its wind, and with a series of yelps had hurled itself upon it. The hare +was off in a second, and away they went, straight down the line, the dog +making as much noise as a whole pack of hounds as he bounded and leapt +over the thick heather. Sir David started up with an exclamation of +dismay, and I, too, stood up and looked over the top of the butt. +Following the direction of his eyes, I saw clouds of grouse streaming +away to the left, all turning as they came over the hill, and wheeling +away from us towards the north. + +"The drive was absolutely spoilt. The hare and its pursuer had by this +time gone the whole length of the butts, and looked like going till +Christmas. Lord Ashiel had come out into the open, and we saw him put his +gun to his shoulder. The dog gave one last leap, and rolled over before +the report reached our ears. It was a quarter of a mile away from us." + +Juliet paused; she was out of breath; they had been walking fast and were +within sight of the castle gates. The way led along the side of Loch +Ashiel, and the castle rose in front of them on a tall rocky promontory, +which jutted far into the water. + +"Let us rest here a few minutes," said Gimblet. "It is too much to ask +you to talk while we are walking up that hill, and I don't want you to +leave out any details, however unimportant they may appear to you." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +They had reached a place where a wide horseshoe of beach ran down to the +loch. For more than a week there had been no rain to speak of. The season +as a whole had been dry, and the water was very low; tufts of grass +dotted the shore; brambles and young alders were springing up bravely, +determined to make the most of their time. At the back stretched a +meadow, part of which had been cut for hay; the rest of it was so full of +weeds and wild flowers, ragweed, burdock and the red stalks of sorrel, +that it had been left untouched, and filled the foreground with colour. +The grass had gone to seed and turned a rich reddish purple; beneath it +grew wild geraniums whose leaves were already scarlet. Bluebells and +scabious made a haze of mauve, and everywhere the warm, sandy stalks of +the dried grasses shone yellow through the patch. + +They sat down at the edge of the beach and leant back against the +overhanging turf. Opposite to them the little town of Crianan clung to +the steep rocks below Ben Ghusy, the houses looking as if they stood +piled one on top of another in a rough pyramid; and the whole surmounted +by the high walls and tower of the Roman Catholic monastery which +dominated the scene, and always seemed to Juliet to wear a look of stern +defiance, as if it were offering a challenge to that other fortress that +frowned back at it. She could imagine the monks in the old days, standing +on its parapet and daring the Lords of Inverashiel to do their worst. Far +away down the loch lay the hills, scarce more deeply grey than the water; +beyond them more distant tops melted into the sky. The grey ripples +lapped gently on jagged shingle, and a persistent housefly buzzed loudly +round their heads; at that hour there were as yet few midges, and it was +very peaceful, very solitary, very desolate. + +"I don't know," said Juliet, going on with her story where she had left +off, "which was more angry, Lord Ashiel or Sir David. After the first few +minutes, in which they both said things I am sure they regretted +afterwards, neither of them would speak to the other, and it was a very +uncomfortable evening for every one. The next day was better. Colonel +Spicer and Sir George left by the morning train, both going on to shoot +in other parts of Scotland. Mrs. Clutsam went away too; she had some one +coming to stay with her at her own house near by. Both the young men went +stalking on different parts of the forest, and Lord Ashiel and I, with +the two other girls, spent the morning on the loch trolling for salmon; +but we didn't get a rise. + +"In the afternoon I walked up the river with Julia Romaninov; we talked +about our schooldays. She had been at school in Germany, and I in +Switzerland. After a while she got tired and went home, but I went on by +myself, for I had a lot of things to think of, and was glad to be alone. +I came at last to a great pool among the rocks, where the river comes +down in a fall from far above in a cloud of spray and foam. I stood on a +stone at the water's edge and watched the trout rising in the pool. The +river was low and the water very clear. Standing on the rocks above it, +it seemed as if I could see every pebble at the bottom, except where they +were hidden in the ripples which spread away from beneath the fall. The +pool is like the bottom of a well; high rocks rear themselves round it to +a great height; they are veiled in a greenness of fern and moss, and near +the top many trees have found a roothold in the crevices and bend forward +towards each other over the water, as divers poise themselves before +leaping down. Through a narrow opening opposite the fall the river makes +its way onward. As I stood there a stone must have come down from the +heights above. I did not see it, and the noise of the waterfall deadened +any sound of its descent, but suddenly I felt a heavy blow between the +shoulders, and I must have tumbled forward into the pool below. + +"The next thing I remember was looking up into the anxious friendly face +of Andrew Campbell, one of the ghillies at Inverashiel. It seemed to be +hanging above me in the sky, which was the only other thing I could see, +and I wondered vaguely why I saw it upside down. My head was aching +cruelly and I couldn't imagine what was the matter, though I was too weak +and faint to care. To cut my adventure short, Andrew had come to a pool +lower down the river just as I floated into it on top of the current; he +had fished me out, and was now restoring me to life again. I was got back +to the house, how I hardly know, put to bed, and actually wept over by +Lord Ashiel. By the evening I had so far recovered that I was able to +come down to dinner, though I should not have done so if it had not been +for the anxiety of my host, as my head still felt as if it was going to +split. I received many congratulations on my escape, and Lord Ashiel, +when he spoke of it, was so much moved that every one was quite +embarrassed, and I myself was touched beyond expression at the affection +he did not attempt to conceal. He was very silent after that, but in +spite of him dinner that night was a merry meal. Every one was in the +best of spirits, or else assumed them for the time being. We all joked +and laughed over my adventure, and Mr. McConachan said I bore a charmed +life, since I had escaped being killed by his careless shot, and now the +river refused to drown me. It was not till the servants had left the +room, and we were preparing to do the same, that Lord Ashiel spoke again. + +"Lady Ruth had got up, and was moving towards the door, and the other +girls and I were following her, when he called her back. 'Will you wait a +minute, Ruth,' he said. 'I have something to tell you and my young +friends here.' He smiled round at all of us, including Sir David, to whom +he hadn't spoken since the affair of the dog. 'I have some good news +which I want you to share with me.' He took me by the hand and drew me +forward. 'I want,' said he, 'to introduce you all to a young lady whom +you do not know. This is Juliet McConachan, my dear and only daughter.' + +"I was not really so surprised as he expected. His behaviour to me had +made me suspicious, and during the last few days especially I had allowed +myself to nourish a hope that we were related. But I was glad. I can't +tell you how glad and thankful. Every one else was tremendously +surprised. They all clustered round us with questions and exclamations, +but Lord Ashiel would say no more just then, and only smiled and beamed, +and nodded mysteriously. 'I am not going to answer any questions till I +have had a talk with Juliet,' he said. 'This is as much news to her as it +is to any of you, and it is only fair that she should be the first to +hear the story. For I won't deny that there is a story. Come to me +presently, my child,' he went on, addressing himself to me. 'Come to the +library in half an hour's time. You will find me there, and I will tell +you all about it.' + +"I went to the drawing-room, my aching head almost forgotten. I was, of +course, intensely excited; indeed I think I scarcely took in any of the +kind things that Lady Ruth and the others said to me that evening; at all +events I have hardly any idea what they were, and none at all as to what +I answered. My one overmastering desire was to be alone; to have time to +think; to realize all that the news meant to me; and after a quarter of +an hour had passed I made some excuse, and left the room. The nearest way +to my bedroom was by a back stair, and to reach it I had to pass through +a passage leading to the gun-room. The door of that room was ajar, and as +I went by Sir David Southern came out. + +"'What have you been doing in there at this time of night?' I asked; and +oh, Mr. Gimblet, I was so foolish as to repeat this to the Glasgow +detective when he questioned me. To think that my careless words have led +them to believe Sir David capable of such a crime! But I had no idea of +the meaning they would attach to it. You will understand presently how it +was. 'I went to clean my rifle,' he answered, shutting the door behind +him. 'I always see to that myself. And where are you off to so fast, +Cousin Juliet? That is what you are to me, it appears.' And so we +talked: about me, and our newly discovered relationship. I need not +repeat all that, need I? And, besides, I do not remember everything we +said," added Juliet, flushing. + +"After a little while, though, I told him how badly my head ached, and he +was very sympathetic about it. 'You ought not to have come down to +dinner,' he said, 'the dining-room gets so hot and stuffy; it is a low +room, and Uncle Douglas never will have the window open, even on a lovely +night like this.' There is a door at the foot of the stairs, opposite the +gun-room, and as he spoke he drew back the bolt. 'Come out into the +garden for a few minutes,' he said, holding the door open for me to pass, +'a little fresh air will do you more good than anything.' + +"The night was warm, I suppose, for Scotland, but cool enough to seem +wonderfully fresh and invigorating after the enclosed air within the +house. It was very dark, and the sky was overcast, though just above us a +star or two was shining, very large and clear. Otherwise I could hardly +distinguish anything at all, except the line, about fifty yards away, +where the lawn came to an end, and the ground dipped abruptly down +towards the loch, so that the level edge of the grass showed up against +the less opaque darkness of the sky, like a black velvet border to a +piece of black silk. + +"We stood there a little while, till I remembered I must go to the +library. My head was already much better when I turned back into the +house; Sir David didn't follow me; he seemed to be staring through the +gloom in front of him. 'I am going in,' I said. 'What are you looking +at?' 'I thought I saw something move over there on the skyline,' he +replied; 'do you see anything?' I looked, but could make out nothing. +'Well,' he said, 'if you are going in, I think I'll just go over and see +if there's anyone about; you might leave the door open, will you?' + +"And so I left him, and made my way to the library. As I passed through +the billiard-room, Mr. McConachan, who was knocking the balls about, +asked me if I had seen his cousin, and I told him Sir David was outside +on the lawn by the gun-room door. + +"Lord Ashiel--my father--was waiting for me, and he came to meet me and +kissed me tenderly. We were both very much agitated: I was still feeling +the effects of my escape from drowning, and he, poor dear, was weak and +ill. In short, neither of us was in a fit state to meet the situation +calmly; and, if my tears flowed, they were not the only ones that were +shed. For a few moments we cried like babies, in each other's arms, and +then I pulled myself together, for I knew how bad it was for his health +to get into this nervous state. Mr. Gimblet, I needn't tell you all the +conversation that followed between us. He told me that you know the whole +story, that you are the one person in the world in whom he had confided; +so it is unnecessary for me to repeat what he said of his marriage to my +mother, of her death, and of his resolve never willingly to look upon me, +the baby who had taken her from him. He told me also of the years that +had intervened between that day when he had shuffled off his +responsibilities on to Mrs. Meredith, and the day, not long ago, when he +at last decided to hunt out his daughter. + +"He told me of his fears that she should prove to be none other than +Julia Romaninov, and of how, in desperation, he had applied to you for +help, and of how you had discovered my existence. + +"He said he had never really doubted from the moment he first set eyes on +me that I was Juliana's child. But he dared not hint such a thing to me +till he was certain, and anxious though he was to see a likeness between +me and her, or himself, he had not been able to tell himself, truthfully, +that he could really see one, until that day. It was when I was brought +home that afternoon, so white and faint, so changed by my pallor from +what he chose to describe as my usual gay brilliance, that the +resemblance suddenly showed itself. He hardly knew that it was I; it +might have been Juliana that they were carrying. He said there could be +no doubt that I was her daughter; that he for one, required no further +proof; though we should probably get it now it was no longer wanted. Sir +Arthur Byrne might be able to suggest some way of tracing things. Not +that it mattered, for he could not in any case leave me his title, and, +on the other hand, he had full control of his money, which would be mine +before very long. + +"I cried out at that, that he must not say so; that it was not money I +wanted, but a father, affection, friendship. He repeated that all the +same I should have it in course of time. That it was all settled already. +Even before he was certain that I was his own child, he liked me well +enough to make up his mind about that. He asked me if I remembered that +he had stayed at home the other day while the rest of us were on the +hill? He said he had made his will that day, and I was the principal +legatee, though he had not alluded to me in it by my own name. But he +worded it carefully, so that that should make no difference; and though +he believed it was quite clear as it was, he would make it over again, +as soon as he could obtain legal proof of my birth. + +"I supposed I murmured some sort of thanks for his care of my future, and +he went on again, saying that he only wished the title could come to me +too, when he died; but that it would go to Mark, since the little boy his +second wife had given him was dead, and I was a girl. + +"He said he was afraid that Mark might be a little disappointed, for, if +he hadn't found me, Mark and David would have shared his fortune between +them; but they would soon get over it, for they were good lads, +especially Mark; and David would have plenty of money through this very +satisfactory marriage of his. I couldn't help interrupting that money +wasn't everything. I am telling you all these trivial things, Mr. +Gimblet, because you said I was to try and remember everything, however +unimportant." + +"Yes," said Gimblet, "that is what I want. Pray go on." + +"He only smiled when I said that," Juliet resumed, "and said that +different opinions were held on that subject by different people. Then he +went on talking about my future life, and said again how glad he would +always be that he had consulted you, and how grateful he was for what you +had done for him, and that if any trouble cropped up, I was to be sure +and send for you at once. He looked to you to protect my interests, and, +if necessary, to avenge his death. + +"I couldn't think what he meant, and said so; but he only smiled again +and said he hoped there would be no need for it. He said he had some +papers he must send to you to take care of, some papers that were rather +dangerous to their owner, he was afraid, though at the same time they +were a safeguard to him. But he shouldn't like me to have anything to do +with them, or the boys either, and he must get them away from Inverashiel +as soon as he could. In the meantime they were in a safe place where no +one would find them, and he would write to you that night and tell you +how to look for them, just on the chance that something should happen +before he could send them off. His will was with them, too, for the +present, but he would send that up to Findlay & Ince. He wouldn't tell me +where the papers were; he didn't want me to have anything to do with +these tiresome things. + +"He said all this with hesitation; with long pauses between the +sentences. It seemed to me that he would have liked to tell me more, and +I didn't know what to say. Indeed, he seemed to be talking rather to +himself than to me, and I am not sure if he heard me when I said that if +he had any anxiety I should like to share it, if it were possible. +Presently he seemed to take a sudden resolution. He said that there was +no reason, at all events, why he should not explain to me how to find the +papers. He had written directions in cipher once before and given you the +key, but you had lost it, and might do so again. It would be just as well +that I should know about it too, in any case. He had had to think out a +new method, and at present it was known to no one except himself, which +was perhaps not very wise. However, he would send it to you that night, +and would explain it to me at once. But first I must promise him, very +faithfully, never to mention it to anyone, whatever happened, not to let +anyone, except you, ever guess that there was such a thing in existence. + +"I promised solemnly; still he hardly seemed satisfied, and looked at me +very searchingly, while he said he wondered if I were old enough to +understand the importance of this, and if I realized that I was promising +not to tell my nearest or dearest; not my adopted father, Sir Arthur +Byrne, nor my lover, if I had one. That it was a matter of life and +death, that his life was in danger then, and that I would inherit the +risk unless I did as he said. + +"Rather indignant, though completely mystified, I promised again. He +seemed satisfied, and said he would write the whole thing down for me. He +moved from the hearth, where we had been sitting, to the writing-table, +which stands in the middle of the room, in front of the window. He sat +down at it, and I stood a little behind him, looking on as he took a +sheet of notepaper and turned over the pens in the tray in search of a +pencil. The room was very hot; the tufts of peat smouldering in the +grate, and the two lamps, combined with the fumes of Lord Ashiel's cigar +to render the atmosphere oppressive to a person with a violent headache. +I glanced longingly towards the window. It was not entirely hidden by the +heavy curtains which were drawn across it, for they did not quite meet in +the middle, and I could see perfectly well that the window was shut. For +a moment I hesitated, torn between the desire for fresh air and the fear +that my father might feel too cold. He was terribly chilly. I decided to +ask him, and turned to him again as he took up the pencil and examined +the point critically. + +"'Would you mind,' I was beginning; but at that instant a loud report +sounded just outside the window. Lord Ashiel fell forward on to the table +with a low cry, his hand clasped to his ribs. 'Oh, what is it?' I cried, +bending over him; 'you are hurt; you are shot! Oh, what shall I do!' He +was making a great effort to speak, I could see that plainly enough; but +no words would come, and he seemed to be choking. At last he managed to +get out a few words. 'Gimblet,' he gasped, 'the clock--eleven--steps--' +and then with a groan his hand dropped from his side, his head rolled +back upon the table, and a silence followed, more horrible to me than +anything that had gone before. + +"I saw now that his shirt was already soaked with blood; and, as in +terror I called again upon his name, the dreadful truth was borne in upon +me, and I knew that he was dead." + +Juliet's voice failed her; she spoke the last few words in a quavering +whisper, and if Gimblet had looked at her at that moment he would have +beheld a countenance drawn and distorted by horror. + +But he was very much occupied, and did not look up. With a notebook open +on his knee, he was busily writing down what she had said. + +"You are sure of the words?" he asked, as his pencil sped across the +page. "'Gimblet--the clock--eleven--step,' is that it?" + +His matter-of-fact voice soothed and reassured her. This little +grey-haired man, sitting at her side, was somehow a very comfortable +companion to one whose nerves were badly overwrought. Juliet pulled +herself together. + +"Steps," she corrected, and her voice sounded almost natural again. +"Not step." + +"Do you suppose," asked the detective, "that he meant the English word, +steps, or the Russian, steppes?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet, surprised. "I never thought of it. But, Mr. +Gimblet, I have not told anyone but you that he spoke after he was hit. I +thought perhaps that he might have wished those last words of his to be +kept private." + +"Quite right," said Gimblet approvingly. "He did right to trust your +discretion. And now, please, go on," he added, putting down his pencil; +"what happened next?" + +And Juliet answered him in a tone as calm as his own: + +"I think I must have fainted." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +"The next thing I remember, was finding myself lying on the floor, and, +when I tried to get up, seeing everything in the room swinging about me +like the swinging boats at a fair. I don't know how long I had been +unconscious, but when, at last, I managed to stand up, and clinging, +faint and giddy, to the back of a chair, looked again at the motionless +figure that sprawled across the writing-table, there was a great pool of +blood on the polished oak of the floor beneath it, which grew slowly +broader, as drop after drop dripped down to swell it. With a great effort +I conquered my faintness, and staggered out of the room and down the +long passage. + +"In the billiard-room Mr. McConachan was still practising his game. He +must have been making a break, for I remember hearing him speak, as I +opened the door. 'Twenty-seven,' he said aloud. My voice wouldn't come, +and I stood holding on to the doorpost, while he, with his back to me, +went on potting the red. + +"'That you, Miss Byrne?' he said, without looking round. Then, as I +didn't answer, he glanced up and saw by my face, I suppose, that +something was very wrong. He came quickly to me, his cue in his hand. +'What's the matter?' he said. 'Do you feel ill?' 'Lord Ashiel is dead,' I +said; 'in the library. Some one shot him. Didn't you hear?' 'Dead?' he +cried; 'Uncle Douglas shot! Do you know what you're saying! I heard a +shot, it is true, five minutes ago, but surely that was the keeper +shooting an owl or something.' + +"I shook my head. 'He is dead,' I repeated dully. He looked at me, still +incredulous, and then darted forward and caught me by the arm. 'Here, sit +down,' he said, and half pushed, half led me to a chair. I saw him run to +the bell and tug violently at the rope. Then I believe I fainted again. + +"I think that is all there is to tell you, Mr. Gimblet. You know already +that the murderer got clear away, and the next morning footmarks were +found outside the window which proved to have been made by Sir David +Southern. I was so idiotic, when I was questioned, as to mention having +spoken to him outside the gun-room door, and to repeat, incidentally, +that he had said he had been cleaning his rifle. I never dreamt that +anyone could be so mad as to suspect him. But they looked at the rifle, +and found that it was dirty, so that it must have been discharged again +since I saw him. And it appears he did not join in the search for the +murderer, and was not seen until it was all over. And so they arrested +him and took him away. No amount of evidence could ever make me believe +for a moment that he had a hand in this dreadful thing, but oh, Mr. +Gimblet, I see only too well how black it looks against him. What shall I +do if you, too, now that I have told you everything, think he did it? You +don't, do you?" + +"My dear young lady," said the detective. "I really can't give you an +opinion at present. There are a score of points I must investigate, a +dozen other people besides yourself whom I must question, before I can +form any kind of conclusion. I hope that Sir David Southern may prove to +be a much wronged man. But beyond that I can't go, just at present; and I +shouldn't build too much on my help if I were you. I'm not infallible; +far from it. And I certainly can't prove him innocent if he is guilty." + +He stood up, shaking the sand out of his clothes. + +"Let us go on, up to the castle," he said. + +The gates were near at hand; in silence they breasted the steep incline +of the drive, which wound and zigzagged up between high banks covered +with rhododendron and bracken, and grown over with trees. After a quarter +of a mile these gave place to an abrupt, grass covered slope, whose top +had been smoothed and levelled by the hand of man, and from which on the +far side rose the castle of Inverashiel, its stout and ancient framework +disguised and masked by the modern addition to the building which faced +the approach; a mass of gabled and turreted stonework in the worst style +of nineteenth century architecture which in Scotland often took on a +shape and semblance even more fantastically repulsive than it assumed in +the south. The great tower that formed the principal remaining portion of +the old building could just be discerned over the top of the flaring +facade, but the nature of the site was such that most of the ancient +fortress was invisible from that part of the grounds. Juliet stopped at +the turn of the road. + +"I will leave you here," she said, "you will not want me, I suppose? +After you have finished, will you come to Lady Ruth Worsfold's house, and +tell me what you think? It is just past the station turning; you will +easily find your way, though the house is hidden by the trees. Your +luggage will be there already, as Lady Ruth is going to put you up." + +Mr. Mark McConachan, or rather Lord Ashiel, as he had now become, was in +the act of ending a solitary meal, when Gimblet was announced. He went +to meet the detective, forcing to his trouble-lined face a smile of +welcome that lit up the large melancholy eyes with an expression few +people could resist. + +"I thought it was another of those newspaper fellows, but, thank +goodness, I believe they're all gone now," he said. "I am exceedingly +glad to see you, Mr. Gimblet. I should myself have asked you to come to +our aid, but I found that Miss Byrne had been before me. I suppose you +have seen her?" + +"Yes," said Gimblet. "She met me at the station. I'm afraid I'm rather +late on the scene. I hear that the Glasgow police have come and gone, +taking with them the author of the crime." + +"It is a dreadful business altogether," returned young Ashiel. "I don't +know which part of it is the worst. There's my uncle dead, shot down like +a rat by some cold-blooded scoundrel; and now my cousin David, poor chap, +in jail, and under charge of murder. It seems impossible to believe it of +him, and yet, what is one to believe? One can only suppose that he must +have been off his head if he did it. But have you had lunch, Mr. Gimblet? +Sit down and have something to eat first of all; you can ask me any +questions you wish while you are eating." + +And he insisted on Gimblet's doing as he suggested. + +"The household is naturally a bit disorganized," he said when the +servants had left the room and the detective was busy with some cold +grouse. "I had a cold lunch myself to save trouble; would you rather +have something hot? I expect that a chop or something could be produced, +if you are cold after your journey." + +Gimblet assured him that he could like nothing better than what he +already had. + +"You have had Macross up here, haven't you?" he asked. "It is really +disappointing to find the whole thing over before I arrive. I am afraid +there is nothing left for me to do." + +Mark looked at him quickly. Was it possible he accepted Macross's verdict +without inquiring further himself? + +"We are hoping you will undo what has been done," he said. "I look to you +to get my cousin out of prison. Surely there must be some other +explanation than that he did it. I simply won't believe it." + +"If there is any other explanation," said Gimblet, "I will try and +find it; but the affair looks bad against Sir David Southern from what +I can hear." + +"Why should he have shot through the window?" said Ashiel. "They were +both in the same house. Why should my cousin go into the garden, when +he had nothing to do but to open the library door and shoot, if he +wanted to?" + +"Oh," said Gimblet, "ordinary caution would suggest the garden. He did +not know perhaps, whether his uncle would be alone; and as a matter of +fact, he was not, was he?" + +"No, Miss Byrne was with him. By Jove," said Mark, bending forward to +light a cigarette, "I shall never forget the fright it gave me when I +saw her face. She looked as if--oh, she looked perfectly ghastly! I was +in the billiard-room when she came in, as white as a sheet, and stood +there without speaking for a minute, while I imagined every sort of +catastrophe except the real one. And all the time I kept thinking it +would turn out to be nothing really, as likely as not; women will look +hideously frightened and upset if they cut their finger, or see a rat, +or think they hear burglars. One never knows. And then at last she got +out a few words, 'Lord Ashiel has been shot,' or something of the sort, +and fainted." + +"What did you do?" asked Gimblet. + +"Well, I had to see to her, you know. I couldn't very well leave her in +that state, could I? I hung on to the bell for all I was worth, and the +butler and footmen came running. I told them to look after the young lady +and to call her maid, and then I ran off to the library, followed by old +Blanston, the butler. You know what we found there. My poor old uncle, +dead as a door nail; a hole in the window where the bullet came in, and +the floor around him all covered with blood. Ugh!" Mark shuddered, "it +was horrid. We only stayed to make sure he was dead, and then we left him +as we had found him and rushed back to rouse the rest of the household, +and to start a chase after the murderer. Of course the first person I +looked for was David Southern, but he wasn't to be found, so I and three +menservants ran out at once with sticks and lanterns, and hunted all over +the grounds without seeing or hearing anything or anyone. The hall boy +had been sent down to fetch up the stablemen and chauffeur, and to rout +out some of the gardeners and anyone else he could find, so that we were +a decently large party, and I don't think there was an inch of ground we +didn't go over, of all that lies within the policies. The murderer, +however, had plenty of time to get right away, and as it was hopeless to +scour the whole country side in that darkness--for it was as black as +your hat--I decided, after an hour of groping about in the shrubberies, +that we must leave off and wait for daylight." + +"What time was it when you abandoned the hunt?" asked Gimblet. + +"It was past midnight. I didn't see that any good could be done by +sitting up all night. On the contrary, I thought it important that we +should get some sleep while we could, so as to be fresher for the chase +when daylight came. At this time of the year it gets light fairly early, +so I sent every one to bed, except two of the ghillies, whom I told to +row across the loch to Crianan and fetch the doctor and police, which I +suppose I ought to have thought of before. Then I went to bed myself." + +"And when did Sir David Southern turn up?" asked Gimblet. + +"Oh, he appeared soon after we started to beat the policies. I hadn't +time then to ask him where he'd been, and he was as keen on catching +the murderer as anyone. Of course it never occurred to me to +cross-question him." + +"Naturally. Please go on with your narrative." + +"Well, we slept, to speak for myself, for three or four hours, and then +James and Andrew came back with the people I had sent for. And now, Mr. +Gimblet, I come to a strange thing, a thing I've been careful not to +mention to anyone but you, though I'm afraid it's bound to come out at +the trial. When Blanston and I went out of the library, we locked the +door behind us, but when I opened it again, to let in the doctor and the +police, my uncle's body had been moved." + +"Moved? How?" Gimblet repeated after him. + +"Oh, not far, but it had been touched by some one, I am ready to swear, +though I said nothing about it at the time. When we first found him, he +was lying forward on the table with one arm under his head and the other +hanging beside him. When I went in for the second time he was sitting +sideways in his chair with his head and arm in quite a different place. +Instead of being in the middle, on the blotting-pad, they were further to +the right, on the bare polished wood." + +Gimblet looked at him keenly. + +"You are perfectly certain of this?" he said. + +"Absolutely. Besides, you can ask Miss Byrne and Blanston. They both saw +him as he was at first. And the police and Dr. Duncan can tell you what +his position was when they went into the room. I said nothing about it +to any of them, because I thought at once that it must be David who had +been there." + +"Why did you think that?" + +"Because he knew where the key was. I took it out of my pocket when we +were alone in the smoking-room before going up to bed, and asked him what +I should do with it. + +"'Oh, put it in a drawer,' he said, pointing to the writing-table, and I +put it there, as he suggested. Of course I see now that some one else may +have found the key in that drawer, but at first it did look as if David +must, for some reason, have taken it, and been in the library, after I'd +gone to bed." + +"It seems very unlikely that anyone else would have hit on the place +where you had put it," said Gimblet reflectively. "And if they had +done so, would they have recognized the key? Is the library key +peculiar in any way?" + +"It is rather an uncommon pattern," said Mark. "It is very old and +strong. I think anyone who knew the key would have recognized it +all right." + +"It is hardly likely that anyone would have found it if they had had to +search all through the house for it in the middle of the night," +commented Gimblet. "Is there no other way of getting into the library?" + +"No, there is only one door." + +"How about the window? It was broken; could not anyone have put in a +hand, or raised the sash?" + +"I don't think anyone could have got in. It isn't a sash window. There +are stone mullions and small leaded casements in the old part of the +castle where the library is, and I doubt if anyone larger than a child +could squeeze through; in fact, a child couldn't; there are iron bars +down the middle, which make it too narrow." + +"H'm," murmured Gimblet. "I should like to have a look at them. And what +was the doctor's report?" + +"He said that the injuries to the heart were such that death must have +been instantaneous, or practically so." + +"Did anything else come out?" + +"Nothing, except the evidence against poor old David, I'm sorry to say." + +"You haven't told me that yet," said Gimblet. "Go on from when the police +arrived on the scene." + +"As soon as it was daylight we started off again on our search. But right +at the beginning of it, they came upon the footsteps." + +"Ah, where were they?" + +"The flower-bed outside the library window showed them plainly; the +ground beyond that was mossy, and there were no other marks. We divided +into two parties, one going west down the side of the loch, and the other +north and east over the hills. Till ten o'clock or later we beat the +country, searching behind every rock, and going through the woods and +bracken in a close line. But we saw no sign of a stranger, and came back +at last, dead beat, for food and a rest. When we got back we found that +the policeman left in charge had been nosing about, and whiling away his +time by collecting the boots of every one in the house and fitting them +to the footprints on the flower-bed. As bad luck would have it, David's +shooting-boots exactly fitted the marks." + +"His shooting-boots?" said Gimblet. "He wouldn't be wearing +shooting-boots after dinner." + +"That's what he said himself, and there seems no imaginable reason why he +should have worn them, unless--" Mark hesitated for a moment, and then +went on in a tone perhaps rather too positive to carry complete +conviction to a critical ear. "Of course not. He can't have put them on +after dinner. The idea is ludicrous. He must have made those footmarks +earlier in the day." + +"Is that what he himself says?" asked the detective. He had finished +eating, and was leaning back in his chair with that air of far-off +contemplation which those best acquainted with him knew was +habitually his expression when his attention and interest were more +than usually roused. + +"No," admitted Mark regretfully. "He doesn't. He sticks to it that he'd +never been near the flower-bed, with boots, or without them; it's my +belief his memory has been affected by the shock of all this. And he +would insist on talking to the police, though they warned him that +what he said might be used against him. I did all I could to stop him, +but it was no good. It really looked as if he was doing his best to +incriminate himself." + +"How was that? What else did he say?" + +"You see," said Mark, "when the Crianan man had got hold of the boots +that matched the footprints, he was no end excited by his success. +Pleased to death with himself, he was. And he was as keen as mustard on +following up his rotten clue. The next thing he did was to want a look at +David's guns. Of course we didn't make any objection to that, though if +I'd known--well, it's no earthly thinking of that now. So off we all +marched in procession to the gun-room, and it didn't take long to see +that the only one of the whole lot there that hadn't been cleaned since +it was last fired was the Mannlicher David had shot his stag with the day +before. The silly ass of a constable took it up and squinted through it +as solemn as a judge, and then he just handed it to my cousin, and 'What +have you to say to this, Sir David?' says he. Infernal cheek! 'I shot it +off yesterday, and haven't had time to clean it since,' said David, and +I, for one, could have sworn he was speaking the truth. Why not, indeed? +There was nothing improbable about it. But the dickens of the thing was +that while we were all out of the house, and he had the place to himself, +the policeman had routed out poor Miss Byrne and badgered her for an +account of all that had happened the evening before; and she, without a +thought of doing harm to any of us--I'm convinced she's as sorry for it +now as I am myself--had mentioned incidentally that David had told her, +when she saw him half an hour before the murder, that he'd just been +cleaning his rifle. She'd told me so, too, as far as that goes, when she +passed through the billiard-room on her way to the library. I happened to +ask her if she knew what he was up to." + +"Decidedly awkward for Sir David," said Gimblet meditatively, "but +after all, some one else might have fired off the rifle after he had +cleaned it." + +Mark shook his head gloomily. + +"There are difficulties about that," he said. "It happens that David is +very fussy about his guns, always cleans them himself, you know, and +won't let another soul touch 'em. And though he keeps them in the gunroom +like the rest of us, he's got his own particular glass-fronted cupboard +which he keeps the key of himself. My uncle and I share one between us, +and generally leave the key in the lock, so that the keeper can get at +the guns, which we never bother to clean ourselves. Not so David. Ever +since we were boys he's had his own private cupboard, and no one but +himself has ever been allowed to open it. We always spent our holidays +here, and my uncle let us behave as if we were at our own house. David +took out the key for the sergeant to use, and when he was asked if anyone +else could have got at the rifle, he replied that it was impossible, as +the key had been in his pocket the whole time, except for an hour or two +while he was asleep, when it had lain on the table by his bedside." + +"Did he deny having told Miss Byrne he had cleaned the rifle?" +asked Gimblet. + +"Yes; he said he hadn't told her so. It was all very unpleasant, and the +police sergeant was as suspicious as you like, by this time. 'What were +you doing when the alarm was given?' he asked David. 'I was out in the +grounds,' said David, and that was rather a facer for the rest of us, I +must confess. He went on to say that he had fancied he saw some one +hanging about at the edge of the lawn--which is the opposite side of the +house from the library--and gone out to make sure, but he had found no +one, though he hunted about for nearly an hour, till he saw lights +approaching and fell in with our party of searchers. He said that it was +then he first heard what had happened." + +Gimblet nodded his head thoughtfully. + +"Miss Byrne said she saw him start off to look for some one," he +remarked. + +"Yes," said Mark eagerly, "there's no doubt he saw a man lurking in the +darkness. And it was dark too," he added, "never saw such a black night +in my life; I must say it beats me how he could have seen anyone. But his +eyes were always rather more useful than mine," he concluded hastily. + +"The police, however, seem to have thought it improbable," said Gimblet, +"since they arrested your cousin for the murder." + +"Stupid brutes!" said Mark viciously. "No, they would have it it was +impossible he should have seen anyone. And what clinched it was the +unlucky fact that David and my uncle had had a violent row the day +before. My uncle shot David's dog; I must say I think it was uncalled +for, and poor David was absurdly fond of the beast. He felt very savage +about it, and all the ghillies heard what he said to Uncle Douglas." + +"What did he say?" + +"Oh, a lot of rot. He lost his temper. The idiotic thing he said was, +that he'd a good mind to shoot _him_ and see how he liked it. Pure +temper, you know. I don't believe David would hurt a hair of his head." + +"Well, it was decidedly an indiscreet remark." + +"It was imbecile. And of course the police heard all about it from the +servants and keepers, and it fitted in only too well with all the rest +about the footmarks and his absence from the house at the time, and the +rifle and everything. By the by, the bullet was a soft-nosed one which +fitted David's rifle; but for that matter it fitted mine--which is a .355 +Mannlicher like his--or a dozen others on the loch side. It's a very +common weapon on a Scotch forest. But taking one thing with another there +was a good deal of evidence against him, so they made up their minds he +had done it; and Macross, when he arrived from Glasgow with his +myrmidons, agreed with the local idiots, and took him off. I'm certain +there must be a mistake somewhere, but so far it seems jolly hard to hit +on it. I hope you'll put your finger on the spot." + +"I hope so," said Gimblet, but his voice was full of doubt. "It's hard to +see how anyone else could have used his rifle after he cleaned it, since +he admits that he locked it up and kept the key on him. Yes," he murmured +to himself, "the rifle speaks very eloquently. What other interpretation +can be put on these facts? I'm sure you must see that yourself," he went +on, glancing up at Mark, who was feeling in his pocket for another +cigarette. "Sir David told Miss Byrne he had cleaned his rifle; he told +the police he then locked it up and that the key had been in his +possession ever since. But the rifle was found to have been fired again +since he had cleaned it. His only explanation was to contradict what he +had previously said to Miss Byrne. Do those facts appear to you to leave +any possible loophole of doubt as to his guilt?" + +Mark struck a match and lighted his cigarette before he answered. When +at length he did so his reluctance was very plain, and his voice full +of regret. + +"Poor old chap," he said. "I'm afraid he must have done it in some fit of +madness. As you say, there is no other imaginable alternative." + +Gimblet nodded philosophically. + +"Is there anything else?" he asked. + +Mark hesitated. + +"There's a letter which arrived for Uncle Douglas this morning," he said, +"which you may think worth looking at. I daresay it's of no importance, +but it struck me as rather odd." + +He took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to the detective, who +opened it and read as follows: + +"Si Milord ne rend pas ce qu'il ne doit pas garder, le coup de foudre lui +tombera sur la tete." + +There was no signature, nor any date. + +Gimblet turned the sheet over thoughtfully. The message was typewritten +on a piece of thin foreign paper; the postmark on the envelope was Paris, +and the stamps French. He folded it again and replaced it in its cover. + +"It seems the usual threatening anonymous communication," he observed. +"Have you any idea who it's from?" + +Mark shook his head. + +"None," he confessed. "It looks, though, as if my uncle had in his +possession something belonging to the writer, doesn't it? Don't you +think it might have something to do with the murder?" + +"I don't see why the murderer should send a threatening letter after the +deed was done," said the detective. "Still less could he have posted it +in Paris on the very day the crime was committed." + +"No, that's true enough," Mark admitted reluctantly. + +"Has any suspicious looking person been seen about this place, this +summer? Any foreigner, for instance?" asked the detective. + +"No; no," Mark replied. "I should have heard of it for certain if there +had been. It would have been an event, down here." + +Gimblet dropped the subject. + +"If I may," he said. "I will keep this. It may lead to something," +he added, tucking the letter away in an inside pocket. "That's all, +I suppose?" + +Mark was silent for a minute. He seemed to be thinking. + +"That's all I know about the murder," he said at last, "but there are +plenty of complications apart from that. I suppose Miss Byrne told you +that my uncle electrified us all by saying she was his daughter, only an +hour or so before he died?" + +Gimblet nodded. "Yes," he said, "she told me." + +"It makes it very awkward for me," said Mark. "I want to do the right +thing, but I'm hanged if I know what I ought to do. You see, my uncle +used to say that he'd left his property between me and David; he never +made any secret of it, and as a matter of fact I've had a communication +from his London lawyers, telling me they have a very old will, made when +I was a small boy, long before the birth of his son, and that everything +is left to me. There were reasons why he may have thought David would be +provided for--he was engaged to marry a very rich American, but she +dropped him yesterday like a red-hot coal as soon as it began to look as +if he'd be suspected. She's gone now, I'm glad to say. As a matter of +fact, if David can only be cleared of this horrible charge, I shall +insist on dividing my inheritance with him. That is, if I can't get Miss +Byrne to take it, or Miss McConachan, as I ought to call her now." + +"Lord Ashiel could leave his money where he liked, couldn't he?" +Gimblet inquired. + +"Yes, he could, but he would naturally have left it to his daughter, if +she really was his daughter. In fact, Miss McConachan says he told her he +had done so, but I haven't come across the will so far, though I had a +good hunt through his papers this morning; Blanston and the housekeeper, +who say they witnessed some document which may have been a will, have no +idea where it is. Of course, my uncle may have intended to say that he +was going to make one, and Miss McConachan may have misunderstood him, +but she seems to think he had some secret hiding-place of his own, and I +hope to goodness you'll be able to hit on it, if he had. I can't stand +the idea of profiting by a lost will, and I'd far rather simply hand over +the money than bother to look for this missing paper." + +"Oh, I daresay it will turn up," said Gimblet. "You haven't had much time +to find it yet." + +"My uncle was a very methodical man. Everything is in its place. You wait +till you see his papers! If he made a will he must have hidden it +somewhere where we shall never dream of looking for it. It's just waste +of time hunting about, and I shall have another try at persuading my new +cousin to let me make over everything to her." + +"It is not every young man in your position who would part so readily +with a large fortune," observed Gimblet. + +But Mark awkwardly deprecated his approving words. + +"Oh," he said, "I'm sure any decent chap would do the same in my place." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +"And now," said Gimblet, "may I visit the scene of the crime?" + +Mark took him first to his uncle's bedroom; a room austere in its +simplicity, with bare white-washed walls and uncarpeted floor. No one +could have hidden a sheet of paper in that room, thought the detective, +as he gazed round it, after he had looked, with a feeling akin to +guilt, on the features of the dead peer. He had not known how to +protect this man from the dreadful fate that had struck him down from a +direction so utterly unexpected, and he held himself, in a way, +responsible for his death. + +Then young Ashiel led him away, down a wide corridor into the +billiard-room, and so into another passage, at the end of which a door of +stout and time-darkened oak gave access to the library. It creaked +noisily on its hinges, as he pushed it open and ushered Gimblet in. They +stepped into a square room, comfortably furnished, with deep arm-chairs, +and a large chippendale writing-table which stood at right angles to the +bow window, so placed that anyone writing at it should have the light +upon his left. It was rather a dark room, the walls being lined with +books from floor to ceiling, except at two points: opposite the window an +alcove, panelled in ancient oak, appeared in the wall; and above the +fireplace, opposite the door, the wall was panelled in the same manner +and covered by an oil painting, representing Lord Ashiel's grandmother. +The polished boards were unconcealed by any rug or carpet, and reflected +a little of the light from the window. An ominous discoloration near the +writing-table showed plainly upon them. + +In the glass of the mullioned casement was the small round hole made by +the fatal bullet. + +Gimblet glanced at the bureau on which the writing materials were set out +in perfect order, and could not conceal his annoyance. + +"Everything has been moved, I see," he said. "Why couldn't they leave it +as it was for a few hours longer?" + +"Nothing was touched till after the police had gone," said Mark. "I +confess I did not think it necessary to leave things alone once they were +out of the house. Not only have the housemaids been at work in here, but +I spent most of the morning here myself, going through the papers in that +bureau. Will it matter much?" He spoke with evident dismay. + +"Never mind," said Gimblet, "I suppose Macross's people photographed +everything, and I can get copies from them, I have no doubt. By the by, +what did Sir David Southern say about having been in the room while you +were in bed? Did he admit it; and did he say why he moved the body?" + +"He said he'd not been near the place," replied Mark, looking more +perplexed and worried than ever. "I can't understand it at all," he +added. "Why should he deny it to me?" + +Gimblet opened a drawer in the bureau. Papers filled it, tied together in +bundles and neatly docketed. They seemed to be receipted bills. He +glanced at the pigeon-holes, and opened one or two more drawers. +Everywhere the most fastidious order reigned. + +"You have been through all these?" he asked. + +"Yes, but there is a cupboard full in the smoking-room. I thought of +looking into those this afternoon." + +"It would be a good plan," Gimblet agreed. "Don't let me keep you," And +as the young man still lingered, "I prefer," he confessed, "to do my +work alone. If you will kindly get me a shooting-boot of Sir David +Southern's, I shall do better if I am left to myself." + +"If that is really the case," said Mark, "I have no choice but to leave +you. I admit I should have liked to see your methods, but if I should be +a hindrance--" + +Gimblet did not deny it, and Mark departed to fetch the boots. + +"This is not the identical pair," he said when he returned. "The police +took those; but these come from the same maker and are nearly the same, +so Blanston tells me." + +"Ah, yes, Blanston," said Gimblet. "I must see him presently. Thanks +very much." + +Left alone, Gimblet examined the window, opening one of the small-paned +casements, and measuring the space between the mullions and the central +bars of iron. Satisfied as to the impossibility of any ordinary-sized +person passing through those apertures, he took one more look round, and +then with a swift movement drew each of the heavy curtains across the +bay. They did not quite meet in the middle, as Juliet had observed. Then +he made his way out into the garden through the door just outside, at the +end of the passage which led from the billiard-room to the library. + +The library was at the far end of the oldest portion of Inverashiel +Castle. To Gimblet, examining it from the outside, it looked as if the +room had been hewn out of the solid walls of the ancient fortress; for +beyond the mullioned, seventeenth-century window, the wall turned sharply +to the left and was continued with scarce a loophole in the stupendous +blocks of its surface for a distance of fifty yards or so, where it was +succeeded by the lower, less heavy battlements of the old out-works. In +the angle formed by the turn and immediately opposite the window of the +library, a long flower-bed, planted with standard and other rose trees, +with violas growing sparsely in between, stretched its blossoming length, +and continued up to the actual stones of the library wall. At the farther +end of it, a thick hedge of holly bordered on the roses at right angles +to the end of the battlements; while the lawn on his left was spangled +with geometrically shaped beds showing elaborate arrangements of +heliotrope, ageratum, calceolarias, and other bedding-out plants. + +Gimblet walked slowly along the lawn at the edge of the bed, his eyes on +the black peaty mould, where it was visible among the flowers. About +twenty yards from the hedge, he stopped with a muffled exclamation. The +bed in front of him was covered with footprints of all shapes and sizes; +but plainly distinguishable among the rest were the neat nail-encrusted +marks which matched the boot he held in his hand. He put it down on the +ground and carefully made an imprint with it in the soil, beside the +existing footmarks. It was easy to single out its fellows. + +"Two extra nails," murmured Gimblet to himself, "but otherwise, the same. +Probably made on the same last." + +Stepping cautiously in the places where his predecessors had walked, he +followed the tracks that had betrayed Sir David Southern. They were +numerous and distinct; he counted fourteen of each separate foot. First +Sir David would seem to have walked straight across the bed, then +returned and taken up his position near the middle. He was not contented +with that, it seemed, for he had walked backwards five or six paces and +then moved sideways again till he was exactly opposite the opening +between the curtains. Here the ground was trampled down as if he had +several times shifted slightly from one place to another. Whether or not +he was exactly in line with the writing-table Gimblet could not see, as +its position was hidden in the obscurity behind the drawn curtains. It +would want a light there to prove that, thought Gimblet; still there was +no reason to doubt that it was so. There were four or five more +footmarks leading back to the lawn, and over these Gimblet stooped with +particular interest. + +With a tape measure, which he took from his pocket, he measured the +distances between the prints, entering the various figures in his +notebook, beside carefully drawn diagrams. Then he picked his way to the +edge of the lawn, and stood a moment considering. + +Apparently he was not satisfied, for presently he retraced his steps +delicately to the middle of the bed, till he was once more just behind +the place where the earth was trodden down. After pausing there an +instant, he turned once more, and ran quickly back to the grass, without +this time troubling himself to step in the chain of footprints used +previously by the police. But he had not even yet finished; and was soon +crouching down again, with the tape measure in one hand and the notebook +in the other, poring over the evidence preserved so carefully by the +impartial soil. + +At last he got up, put his measure back in his pocket, and walked slowly +towards the hedge. He had nearly reached it when something at his feet +arrested his attention. He bent over it curiously. + +Near the edge of the grass and parallel to it, there was an indentation a +little over an inch wide and about the same depth. It extended in a +straight line for perhaps nine inches, and what could have caused it was +a puzzle to Gimblet. The turf was unbroken, and it looked as if an +oblong, narrow, heavy object had rested there, sinking a little into the +ground so as to leave this strange mark. Gimblet rubbed his forehead +pensively, as he looked at it. + +Suddenly as his introspective gaze wandered unconsciously over the ground +before him, his attention was arrested by a second mark of the same +perplexing shape, which he could see behind a rose-bush, more than +half-way across the bed. Stepping as near the hedge as he could, the +detective proceeded to examine this duplicate of the riddle. It seemed +absolutely the same, though deeper, as was natural on the soft mould, and +he found, by measuring, that it lay exactly parallel to the other. What +could it be, he asked himself. A moment later, still another and yet +stranger impression caught his eye. It was about the same width, but not +more than half as long, and rounded off at each end to an oval. It was +situated about a foot from the deep indentation and rather farther from +the holly hedge. A tall standard rose-tree, covered with blossoms of the +white Frau Karl Drouski rose, grew near it, interposing between it and +the house. + +Gimblet measured it with painstaking precision; then with the help of +his measurements, he made a life-size diagram of it on the page of his +notebook, and studied it with an expression of annoyance. He had seldom +felt more at a loss to explain anything. At length he turned and went +back towards the grass. + +"What a track I leave," he thought to himself, looking down ruefully at +his own footprints. "What I want is--" He stopped abruptly as a sudden +idea struck him; then a look of relief stole slowly over his face, and he +permitted himself a gratified smile, "To be sure!" he said, and seemed to +dismiss the subject from his mind. + +Indeed, he turned his back upon the rose-bed, and strolled away by the +side of the hedge, which was of tall and wide proportions, providing a +spiky, impenetrable defence against observation, from the outside, of the +rectangular enclosed garden. Half-way along it he came upon an arched +opening. Passing through this, he found himself in an outer thicket, and +immediately upon his right hand beheld a small shed, which stood back, +modest and unassuming, in a leafy undergrowth of rhododendrons. + +Gimblet pushed open the door and stepped inside. + +The place was evidently a tool-house, used by the gardeners for storing +their implements. Rakes, spades, forks and hoes leant against the walls; +a shelf held a quantity of odds and ends: trowels, seedsmen's catalogues, +a pot of paint, a bundle of wooden labels, the rose of a watering-can, +and a dozen other small objects. On the floor were piled boxes and empty +cases; flowerpots stood beside a bag which bore the name of a patent +fertilizer; a small hand mowing-machine blocked the entrance; and a +plank, too long to lie flat on the ground, had been propped slantwise +between the floor and the roof. Bunches of bass hung from nails above the +shelf; and on the wall opposite, a coloured advertisement, representing +phloxes of so fierce an intensity of hue that nature was put to the +blush, had been tacked by some admirer of Art. + +Five minutes later, when Gimblet emerged once more into the open, he +carried in one hand a garden rake. With this he proceeded to thread his +way through the shrubbery, keeping close to the line of the holly hedge. +When he thought he had gone about fifty yards, he lay down and peered +under the leaves. The hedge was rather thinner at the bottom; and, by +carefully pushing aside a little of the glossy, prickly foliage, he was +able to make out that the end of the rose-bed he had lately examined was +separated from him now only by the dividing barrier of the hedge. With +the rake still in his hand, he drew himself slowly forward, gingerly +introducing his head and arms under the holly, till he was prevented +from going farther by the close growing trunks of the trees that formed +the hedge. + +It took some manoeuvring to insert the head of the rake through the +fence, but he did it at last, and found a gap which his arms would pass +also. Between, and under the lowest fringe of leaves on the farther side, +he could see the track of his own footsteps, where he had walked on the +bed. They were all, by an effort, within reach of his rake, and he +stealthily effaced them. He could not see whether the garden was still +untenanted, or whether the peculiar phenomenon of a rake moving without +human assistance was being observed by anyone from the castle. He +fervently hoped that it was not: he did not wish the attention of anyone +else to be called to the puzzling marks that had mystified him; and, as +the only window which looked into the garden was that of the library, he +thought there was a good chance that there was no one in sight. + +Cautiously and almost silently he worked his way back, and replaced the +rake in the tool-house where he had found it. Then he took the small +oil-can used for oiling the mowing-machine, and concealing it under his +coat made towards the house. The little garden was still lonely and +deserted as he walked quickly over the lawn and in at the passage door. + +The library was empty as he had left it, and his first act was to draw +back the curtains to their former positions on either side of the window. +Then he went to the door, and, with a glance to right and left along the +passage, and an ear bent for any approaching footstep, he quickly and +effectually oiled the hinges and lock, so that the door closed +noiselessly and without protest. When he was quite satisfied on this +point, he shut it gently, and took back the oil-can to the shed. + +"Now," said he to himself, "for the gun-room." + +He took up Sir David Southern's shooting-boots, which he had left in the +tool-house during his last proceedings, and made his way through the +billiard-room into the main corridor beyond. On his right, through an +open door, he peeped into a large room, obviously the drawing-room, and +saw that it looked on to the front of the house. The room wore a forlorn +aspect; no one, apparently, had taken the trouble to put it straight +since the night of the tragedy. The blinds had been drawn down, but the +furniture seemed awry as if chairs had been pushed back hastily, a little +card table still displayed a game of patience half set out, and even the +dead flowers in the glasses had not been thrown away. + +The air was stuffy in the extreme, and Gimblet, with a disgusted sniff, +pulled aside one of the blinds and threw open the window. But all at once +a thought seemed to strike him. For a moment he stood irresolute, then he +slowly closed the casement again, but without latching it, and after +frowning at it thoughtfully walked away. He went back into the hall. + +Opposite, across the corridor, rose the main staircase, wide and +imposing; on each side of it a smaller passage led away at right angles +to the entrance, the right-hand one giving access to rooms in the new +front of the castle, one of which he knew to be the dining-room. He +listened for a minute outside a door beyond it, and heard the sound of +rustling papers; the smell of tobacco came to him through the key-hole. +It was plain that here was the smoking-room, and that the new Lord Ashiel +was at that moment engaged in it, and deep in his uncle's papers. + +The little detective, as he had said, preferred to work without an +audience when he could, so he left Mark to his search, and stole silently +away down the passage. + +He passed two more rooms, and paused at the last door, opposite the foot +of a winding stair. + +This, from what Juliet had said, must be the door of the gun-room. + +The door opened readily at his touch, and he stepped inside and shut it +behind him. + +It was a small bare room, with one large deal table in the middle of it. +Gun-cases and wooden cartridge-boxes were ranged on the linoleum-covered +floor, and three glass-fronted gun-cabinets were hung upon the walls. +One, the smallest of these, was of a different wood from the others, and +bore in black letters the initials D. S. + +Three or four guns were ranged in it: two 12-bore shot-guns, an air-gun, +and a little 20-bore. Another rack was empty; no doubt it had held the +Mannlicher rifle, which the police had carried away to use as evidence +in their case for the prosecution. The door was locked and there was no +sign of a key. + +Gimblet turned to the other cupboards. + +There were more weapons here, and a few minutes' examination showed him +that, as Mark had said, he and his uncle were less particular as to where +their guns were kept, for the first two that the detective glanced at +bore Lord Ashiel's initial, and the next was an old air-gun with M. McC. +engraved on a silver disk at the stock. + +Side by side were the rifles used by the uncle and nephew for stalking, +Gimblet knew from Mark that the Mannlicher was his, while Lord Ashiel had +apparently used a Mauser or Ross sporting rifle, as there was one of each +in the case. + +Gimblet lifted down the Mannlicher and laid it on the table. This, then, +was the kind of weapon with which the deed had been done. It was a .355 +Mannlicher Schonauer sporting weapon of the latest pattern. He opened it +and examined the mechanism, which he soon grasped. He squinted down the +glistening tunnel of the barrel and even closely scrutinized the +workmanship of the exterior, repressing a shudder at the meretricious +design of the chasing on the lock, and passing his fingers caressingly +over the wood of which the stock was made. It shone with a rich bloom, as +smooth and even as polished marble, except at the butt end which was +criss-crossed roughly to prevent slipping; but wood in any shape has a +homely friendly feeling, as different from any the polisher can impart to +a piece of cold stone as the forests, where it once stood, upright and +lofty, are from the inhospitable rocks on the peaks above them. + +These unpractical reflections flitted through the detective's mind, +together with others of a less fantastic nature, as he put the rifle back +in the rack he had taken it from. He closed the glass doors of the +cabinet, leaving them unlocked, as he had found them. Then, going back to +the table, he took an empty pill-box from his pocket, and with the utmost +care swept into it a trace of dust from off the bare deal top. + +There was barely enough to darken the cardboard at the bottom of the box, +but he looked at it, before putting on the lid, with an expression of +some satisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Gimblet left the gun-room quietly; and after some more exploring +discovered the way to the back premises. + +In the pantry he found Blanston, whom he invited to follow him to the +deserted billiard-room for a few minutes' conversation. + +"You know," he told him, "Miss Byrne and your new young master want me to +examine the evidence that Sir David Southern is the author of this +terrible crime." + +"I'm sure I wish, sir," said the man, "that you could prove he never did +it. A very nice young gentleman, sir, Sir David has always been; it seems +dreadful to think of him lifting his hand against his uncle. I'm sure it +ought to be a warning to us all to keep our tempers, but of course it was +very hard on Sir David to have his dog shot before his very eyes." + +"No doubt," agreed Gimblet. "You weren't there when it happened, I +suppose?" + +"No, sir, but I heard about it from one of the keepers, and Sir David was +very much put out about it, so he says; and I quite believe it, seeing +how fond he was of the poor creature. Always had it to sleep in his room, +he did, sir, though it was rather an offensive animal to the nose, to my +way of thinking. But these young gentlemen what are always smoking +cigarettes get to lose their sense of smell, I've often noticed that, +sir. Oh, I understand he was very angry indeed, sir, but I should hardly +have thought he would go so far as to take his uncle's life. Knowing him, +as I have done, from a child, I may say I shouldn't hardly have thought +it of him, sir." + +"Life is full of surprises," said Gimblet, "and you never know for +certain what anyone may not do; but, tell me, you were the first on the +scene of the crime, weren't you?" + +"Hardly that, sir. Miss Byrne was with his lordship at the time." + +"Yes, yes, of course. But you saw him shortly after the shot was fired. +Did you hear the report?" + +"No, sir. The hall is quite away from the tower, and so is the +housekeeper's room; and the walls are very thick. We were just finishing +supper, which was very late that night on account of the gentlemen coming +in late from stalking, and one thing and another. I'm rather surprised +none of us heard it, sir." + +"I daresay there was a good deal of noise going on," said Gimblet. "How +many of you are there in the servants' quarters?" + +"Counting the chauffeur and the hall boy," replied Blanston, "and +including the visitors' maids, who are gone now, we were sixteen servants +in the house that night. I am afraid there may have been rather a noise +going on." + +"Were you all there?" asked Gimblet. "Had no one left since the beginning +of supper?" + +"No one had gone out of the room or the hall since supper commenced," +Blanston assured him. "We were all very glad of that afterwards, as it +prevented any of us being suspected, sir. Though in point of fact I was +saying only last night, when the second footman dropped the pudding just +as he was bringing it into the room, that we could really have spared him +better than what we could Sir David, sir; but of course it's natural for +the household to be feeling a bit jumpy till after the funeral to-morrow. +When that's over I shan't listen to no more excuses." + +"Quite so," said Gimblet. "What was the first intimation you got that +there was anything wrong?" + +"About half-past ten the billiard-room bell rang very loud, in the +passage outside the hall. Before it had stopped, and while I was calling +to George, the first footman, to hurry up and answer it, there came +another peal, and then another and another. I thought something must be +wrong, so I ran out of the room and upstairs with the others. When we got +to the billiard-room there was Miss Byrne fainting on a chair, and Mr. +McConachan beside her, looking very upset like. 'There's been an accident +or worse,' he says, 'to his lordship. Come on, Blanston, and let's see +what it is. And you others look after Miss Byrne. Fetch her maid; fetch +Lady Ruth.' + +"And with that he makes for the library door, at a run, with me +following him close, though I was a bit puffed with coming upstairs so +fast. Just as we came to the library door, he turns and says to me, with +his hand on the knob, 'From what Miss Byrne says, Blanston, I'm afraid +it's murder.' And before I could more than gasp he had the door open, +and we were in the room. + +"There was his poor lordship lying forward on the table, his head on the +blotting-book, and one arm hanging down beside him. Quite dead, he was, +sir, and his blood all on the floor, poor gentleman. We left him as we +found him, and went back. + +"Mr. McConachan locked the door and put the key in his pocket. 'No one +must go in there till the police come,' he says. 'But in the meantime we +must get what men we can together, and see if the brute who did this +isn't lurking about the grounds. It will be something if we can catch +him, and avenge my poor uncle,' he said." + +Gimblet considered for a moment. + +"Are you sure you remember the position you found the body in?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," replied Blanston, in some surprise. "It was like I told you. +His head on the blotting-book and one arm with it. He must have fallen +straight forward on to the table." + +"Thank you," said Gimblet. "One more question. I hear you witnessed a +will for Lord Ashiel a day or two before he died?" + +"Yes, sir--I and Mrs. Parsons, the housekeeper." + +"How did you know it was the will?" + +"We didn't exactly know it was, sir, but afterwards, when it came out his +lordship had told Miss Byrne he had made one, we thought it must have +been that." + +"I see," said Gimblet. "Thank you. That is all I wanted to know." + +He sent for the other servants and interrogated them one by one, but +without adding anything fresh to what he had already learned. + +He went thoughtfully away and sought out Mark in the smoking-room, where +he found him surrounded by packets of papers, which lay in heaps upon +the floor and tables. + +"There's a frightful lot to look through," said the young man +despondently, looking up from his self-imposed task. "I haven't found +anything interesting yet. How did you get on? Do you think those +footmarks can possibly be anyone's but David's?" + +"The boot you gave me fits them too well to admit of doubt, I'm afraid," +said Gimblet. And as the other made a half-gesture of despair, "You must +give me more time," he said; "I may find some clue in the course of the +next two or three days. By the by, is your cousin a short man?" + +"No," said Mark, "he's about my height. Why do you ask?" + +"Oh, I had an idea," said Gimblet evasively. "But if he's as tall as you, +I had better begin again. I think I'll take a little stroll through the +grounds," he added, "and then back to Lady Ruth Worsfold's house, and get +a bath and a change." + +"I shall see you at dinner-time," said Ashiel. "I am dining at the +cottage. Au revoir till then." + +Gimblet went out of the front door, and proceeded to make a tour of the +Castle buildings. + +Turning to his left round the front of the house, he passed the gun-room +door, and went down a short path, which led to the level of the servants' +quarters. These were built on the slope of the hill, so that what was a +basement in the front of the house was level with the ground at the back. + +Here more remains of the old fortress were to be seen. The various +outbuildings that straggled down towards the loch had all once formed +part of old block-houses or outlying towers; and, as the path descended +farther down the hill, the detective found himself walking round the +precipitous rock from which the single great tower still standing--the +one in whose massive shell the room had been cut which was now the +library--dominated the scene from every side. + +It had been built at the very edge of the hill which here fell almost +sheer to the level of the lake, and the old McConachans had no doubt +chosen their site for its unscalable position. Indeed, the place must +always have been impregnable from that side, the rock offering no +foothold to a goat till within twenty feet of the base of the tower, +where the surface was broken and uneven, and had, in places, been built +up with solid masonry. In the crevices up there, seeds had germinated and +grown to tall plants and bushes. Ivy hung about the face of the +escarpment like a scarf, and in one place a good-sized tree, a beech, had +established itself firmly upon a ledge and leant forward over the path +below in a manner that turned the beholder giddy. Its great roots had not +been able to grow to their full girth within the cracks and crannies of +the rocks; some of them had pushed their way in through the gaps in the +masonry, and the others curled and twisted in mid air, twining and +interlacing in an outspread canopy. + +Beyond the tower ran the battlemented wall of the enclosed garden, its +foundations draped in the thrifty vegetation of the rocks. + +At Gimblet's feet, on the other side of the path, brawled a burn, +hurrying on its way to the loch, and he followed its course slowly down +to the place where it mingled with the deep waters. A little beyond he +saw the point of a fir-covered peninsula, and wandered on under the +trees till he came to the end of it; there he sat down to think over what +he had heard and seen that afternoon. The wild beauty of the place +soothed and delighted him, and he felt lazily in his pocket for a +chocolate. + +Below him, grey lichen-grown rocks jutted into the loch in tumbled, +broken masses, piled heedlessly one on the other, as if some troll of +the mountain had begun in play to make a causeway for himself. The great +stones, so old, so fiercely strong, stood knee-deep in the waters, over +which they seemed to brood with so patient and indifferent a dignity +that human life and affairs took on an aspect very small and +inconsiderable. They were like monstrous philosophers, he thought, +oblivious alike to time and to the cold waves that lapped their feet; +their heads crowned here and there with pines as with scattered locks, +the little tufts of heather and fern and grasses, that clung to them +wherever root hold could be found, all the clothing they wore against +the bitter blasts of the winds. + +While he sat there a breeze got up and ruffled the loch; the ripples +danced and sparkled like a cinematograph, and waves threw themselves +among the rocks with loud gurglings and splashings. The air was suddenly +full of the noise and hurry of the waters. He got up and went to the end +of the peninsula. In spite of the dancing light upon the surface and the +merry sounds of the ripples, the water, he could see, was deep and dark; +a little way out a pale smooth stone rose a few feet above the level of +it, its top draped in a velvet green shawl of moss. A fat sea-gull sat +there; nor did it move when he appeared. + +A little bay ran in between the rocks, its shore spread with grey sand, +smooth and trackless. At least so Gimblet imagined it at first, as his +eye roved casually over the beach. Then suddenly, with a smothered +ejaculation, he leaped down from his perch of observation, and made his +way to the margin of the water. + +There, scored in the sand, was a deep furrow, reaching to within a foot +of the waves, where it stopped as if it had been wiped out from a slate +with a damp sponge. Gimblet had no doubt what it was. A boat had been +beached here, and that lately. A glance at the stones surrounding the +bay showed him that the water was falling, for in quiet little pools, +within the outer breakwater of rocks, a damp line showed on the granite +a full quarter of an inch above the water. By a rapid calculation of the +time it would take for that watermark to dry, the detective was able to +form some idea of the rate at which the loch was falling, and he thought +he could judge the slope of the beach sufficiently well to calculate +about how long it was since the track in the sand had reached to the +brink of the waves. + +It was a rough guess, but, if he were right, then a boat had landed in +that bay some forty-two hours ago. But there were other traces, besides, +the tracks of him who had brought the boat ashore. From where Gimblet +stood, a double row of footprints, going and returning, showed plainly +between the water and the stones to which the sand quickly gave place. +They were the tracks left by large boots with singularly pointed toes, +and with no nails on the soles. Emphatically not boots such as any of the +men of those parts would be likely to wear. + +Gimblet bent over the sand. + +When he rose once more and stood erect upon the beach, he saw under the +shadow of the pines the figure of a tall thin man with a lean face and +straggling reddish moustache, who was watching him with an eye plainly +suspicious. He was dressed in knickerbockers and coat of rough tweed of a +large checked pattern, and carried a spy-glass slung over his back. The +detective went to him at once. + +"Are you employed on the Inverashiel estate?" he asked civilly. + +"I'm Duncan McGregor, his lordship's head keeper," was the reply, given +in the cold tones of one accosted by an intruder. + +Gimblet hastened to introduce himself and to explain his presence, and +McGregor condescended to thaw. + +"I should be very much obliged," said Gimblet, "if you would take a look +at the sands where you saw me standing. I'd like to know your opinion on +some marks that are there." + +The keeper strode down to the beach. + +"A boat will have been here," he pronounced after a rapid scrutiny. + +"Lately?" asked Gimblet. + +He saw the man's eyes go, as his own had done, to the watermarks on +the rocks. + +"No sae vary long ago," he said, "I'm thinkin' it will hae been the nicht +before lairst that she came here." + +"Ah," said Gimblet, "I'm glad you agree with me. That's what I thought +myself. Do boats often come ashore on this beach?" + +McGregor considered. + +"It's the first time I ever h'ard of onybody doin' the like," he said at +last. "The landin' stage is awa' at the ether side o' the p'int; it's aye +there they land. There's nae a man in a' this glen would come in here, +unless it whar for some special reason. It's no' a vary grand place tae +bring a boat in. The rocks are narrow at the mouth." + +"Do strangers often come to these parts?" + +"There are no strangers come to Inverashiel," said the keeper. "The +high road runs at the ether side o' the loch through Crianan, and the +tramps and motors go over it, but never hae I known one o' that kind on +our shore." + +Gimblet observed with some amusement that the man spoke of motors and +tramps as of varieties of the same breed; but all he said was: + +"Could you make inquiries as to whether anyone on the estate happens to +have brought a boat in here during the last week? I should be glad if you +could do so without mentioning my name, or letting anyone think it is +important." + +He felt he could trust the discretion of this taciturn Highlander. + +"I'll that, sir," was the reply. + +And Gimblet could see, in spite of the man's unchanging countenance, that +he was pleased at this mark of confidence in him. + +"Could you take me to the head gardener's house?" he asked, abruptly +changing the subject. "I should rather like a talk with him." + +McGregor conducted him down the road to the lodge. + +"It's in here whar Angus Malcolm lives," he remarked laconically. "Good +evening, sir." + +He turned and strode away over the hillside, and Gimblet knocked at the +door. It was opened by the gardener, and he had a glimpse through the +open doorway of a family at tea. + +"I'm sorry I disturbed you," he said. "I will look in again another day. +Lord Ashiel referred me to you for the name of a rose I asked about, but +it will do to-morrow." + +The gardener assured him that his tea could wait, but Gimblet would not +detain him. + +"I shall no doubt see you up in the garden to-morrow," he said. "The roses +in that long bed outside the library are very fine, and I am interested +in their culture. I wonder they do so well in this peaty soil." + +"Na fie, man, they get on splendid here," said Malcolm. He liked nothing +better than to talk about his flowers, but, being a Highlander, resented +any suggestion that his native earth was not the best possible for no +matter what purpose. "We just gie them a good dressin' doon wie manure +ilka year." + +"Do you use any patent fertilizer?" Gimblet asked. + +"Oh, just a clean oot wie a grain o' basic slag noo and than," said the +gardener. "And I just gie them some lime ilka time I think the ground is +needin' it." + +"Well, the result is very good," said the detective. "By the way, have +you been working on that bed lately? I picked this up among the violas. +Did you happen to drop it?" + +He took from his pocket a small paper notebook, and held it out +interrogatively. + +"Na, I hinna dropped it," answered the gardener. "It micht have been some +one fay the castel. I hinna been near that rose-bed for fower or five +days. And it couldna hae been lying there afore the rain." + +Indeed, the little book showed no trace of damp on its green cover. + +"I asked in the castle, but no one claimed it," said Gimblet. "Perhaps +it belongs to one of your men?" + +"There's been naebody been workin' there this week. So it disna belong +tae neen o' the gair'ners, if it's there ye fund't," repeated Malcolm. +"There's been nae work deen on that bed for the last fortnicht or mair. I +was thinkin' o' sendin' a loon ower't wie a hoe in a day or twa. Ye see, +wie the murrder it's been impossible tae get ony work done; apairt fay +that we've been busy wie the fruit and ether things." + +"I didn't notice any weeds," said Gimblet. "But I won't keep you any +longer, now. Perhaps to-morrow afternoon I may see you in the garden, and +if so I shall get you to tell me the name of that rose." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Juliet failed to extract much comfort from Gimblet when, about six +o'clock, she met him coming up through the garden to Inverashiel Cottage. + +All the afternoon she had possessed her soul in what patience she could +muster, which was not a great deal. Still, by dint of repeating to +herself that she must give the detective time to study the facts, and +opportunity to verify them at his leisure and in his own way, she had +managed to get through the long inactive hours, and to force herself not +to dwell upon the vision of David in prison, which, do as she would, was +ever before her eyes. + +Events had followed one another so fast during the last few days that her +mind was dulled, as by a succession of rapid blows, and she was hardly +conscious of anything beyond the unbearable pain caused by the cumulative +shocks she had undergone. + +First had come the heart-rending knowledge that David loved her; +heart-rending only because he was bound to Miss Tarver, for, if it had +not been for that paralyzing obstacle, she knew she would have gladly +followed him to the ends of the earth. Indeed, in spite of everything, +his betrayal of his feelings towards her had filled her with a joy that +almost counterbalanced the hopeless misery to which, on her more +completely realizing the situation, it gradually gave place. + +Then had come the swift physical disaster from which she had barely +escaped with her life. She had not had time to recover from this when, a +few hours later, she had been called upon to face the emotions and +agitations aroused by the news of her relationship to Lord Ashiel, and +the history of her birth and parentage. In the midst of this excitement +had come the sudden tragedy of which she had been a witness, and which +had overwhelmed and prostrated her with grief and horror. Next day she +had been obliged to undergo the ordeal of being cross-questioned by the +police, and close upon that had come the final catastrophe of David's +arrest and departure. This last shock so overshadowed all the rest of her +misfortunes that it stimulated her to action, and she had herself run +most of the way to the post office two miles down the road, to send the +telegram of appeal to Gimblet. + +Once that was dispatched, hope revived a little in her heart. + +Lord Ashiel, her father, had told her to send for the detective if she +were in trouble. Well, she was in trouble; she had sent for him; he would +come, and somehow he would find a way of putting straight this hideous +nightmare in which she found herself living. How happy, in comparison, +had been her life in Belgium, in the household of her adopted father and +stepmother! She could have found it in her heart to wish she had never +left their roof; but that would have involved never making the +acquaintance of David, a possibility she could not contemplate. + +Even now the remembrance of the rapidity with which Miss Tarver had +packed her traps, renounced her betrothed and all his works, and fled +from the scene of disaster by the first available train, did much to +cheer her in the midst of all her depression. + +It was not, however, until some time after Lady Ruth Worsfold had asked +her to stay with her for the present, and she had removed herself and her +belongings to the cottage, that she realized how impossible it was for +her to make good her position as Lord Ashiel's daughter and heir. She had +his word for it, and that was enough for her; but she understood, as soon +as it occurred to her, that more would be required by the law before she +could claim either the name or the inheritance which should be hers. + +In the meantime, though touched by the generosity of the new Lord Ashiel, +who offered to waive his rights in her favour, and indeed suggested other +plans for enabling her to remain at the castle as its owner, she felt +that what he proposed was absolutely impossible, and while she thanked +him, declined firmly to do anything of the sort. + +At the back of her mind was the conviction that the will her father had +spoken of would come to light. It would surely be found, if not by +herself, then by Gimblet. She acceded to Mark's request that she should +join him in looking through his uncle's papers. They went over those in +the library together before she left the house. + +Now that Gimblet had come back from the castle, where he had spent half +the day, he must have good news for her, she felt persuaded. But to all +her questions he would only reply that he had nothing definite to tell +her, and that she must wait till to-morrow or even longer. Indeed, she +thought he seemed anxious to get away from her, and asked at once if he +might see his room. + +"I want a bath more than anything," he said. And then, taking pity on her +distress, "I wouldn't worry myself too much about Sir David's safety if I +were you," he added, looking at her with a very kind, friendly light in +his eyes. But as she exclaimed joyfully and pressed him to be more +explicit, his look changed to one of admonition, and he held a finger to +his lips. "Not a word to a living soul, whoever it may be," he cautioned +her, "and be careful not to show any hope you may be so optimistic as to +feel," he added, smiling, "or you may ruin the whole thing. This is a +very dark and dangerous affair, and the less it is spoken about, even +between friends, the better." + +"Mayn't I even tell Lady Ruth?" she asked. "She is very anxious, I know." + +"Better not," he warned her. "It may be better for Sir David in the +long-run, if his friends think him guilty a few days longer. It will be +wisest if you let it appear that even you can hardly continue to cling +to the idea of his innocence. You can be trusted to act a part where +such great issues are involved, can you not? More may depend on it than +you think." + +"I'll be silent as the grave," she cried. "As the grave," she repeated +more soberly, and turned away, reproaching herself silently, since in her +anxiety for David her sorrow for her father had been a moment forgotten. + +When Gimblet came down again, clean and refreshed, he found no one but +his hostess, Lady Ruth Worsfold. + +Lady Ruth's hair was white, in appearance she was short and squat, and +she had a curiously disconnected habit of conversation, but for all that +she was a person of great discernment, and uncommonly wide awake. She +sided staunchly with Juliet in her belief in David's innocence. + +"Never," she said, "will I credit such a thing of the lad. You may say +what you like, Mr. Gimblet, you can prove till you're black in the +face that he murdered every soul in the house, it won't make any +difference to me." + +"Who do you think did do it, Lady Ruth?" Gimblet asked. + +"What do I know? An escaped lunatic, one of the keepers, the under +housemaid, anyone you like. What does it matter? It wasn't David, even +though his namesake did kill Goliath, and I always disliked the name, +having suffered from a Biblical one myself. I said to his mother when he +was born. 'For goodness' sake give the poor child a name he won't be +expected to live up to. Just fancy how his friends will hate to be known +as Jonathans, let alone thingamy's wife. You're laying up a scandal for +your son,' I told her, and if my words haven't come true it's more thanks +to him than to his parents. A nice pink and white baby he was, poor boy. +There's just one good side to this dreadful affair," she went on without +a pause, "and that is that the young lady with the dollars whom he was to +have married, and hated the sight of, has thrown him over. The first +least little breath of suspicion was enough for her, and the moment he +was downright accused she was off. And he's well rid of her, dollars and +all. An Englishman of his birth and looks doesn't need to go to Chicago +for a wife." + +"Was Sir David in need of money?" asked Gimblet. + +"He hasn't got a penny," said Lady Ruth. "Not a red cent, as that +terrible young woman put it. His father left everything to the +moneylenders, so to speak, and David couldn't bear to see his mother +poverty-stricken. He did it entirely for her sake--got engaged, I +mean--but I don't think he'd have been such a self-sacrificing son if +he'd met Miss Juliet Byrne a little earlier in the day." + +"Indeed!" said Gimblet. "I thought Miss Byrne seemed very much worried +about his arrest." + +"Worried? Poor child, she's the ghost of what she was a few days ago. +Half-drowned, too, when it happened, which made it worse for her." + +"She must have had a narrow escape," Gimblet remarked. "What was the name +of the man who pulled her out of the river?" + +"Andy Campbell. He had been stalking with Mark McConachan." + +"Was young Lord Ashiel with him?" + +"No, he was on ahead. He saw Juliet in the distance, just going up to the +waterfall, but he seems to have taken her for Miss Romaninov, which is +odd, because they aren't in the least like one another, one being tall +and the other short, in the first place, and one fair and the other dark +in the second. He can't have looked very carefully. However, he was very +positive about it till they both assured him that Julia Romaninov had +turned and gone home some time before she had reached the top pool. And I +certainly should have in her place. It doesn't amuse me scrambling over +rocks and scratching my legs in bramble bushes. The path Andy came by +goes along high above the water for half a mile. I hate walking on a +height myself. And for most of that distance the river is not in sight. +If he hadn't been thirsty and come down to the water-side for a drink at +a spring near by, he would never have seen Miss Byrne floating down the +stream, and she would have been in the loch pretty soon. It just shows +how much better it is to drink water than whisky." + +"It was lucky he did," said Gimblet. "Does the path pass in sight of the +pool she fell into?" + +"No. The banks are high there, and you can't see down into the pool +unless you go to the very edge of the precipice. I did it once, to look +at the waterfall, and I very nearly joined it. It's a nasty giddy place, +though why one should feel inclined to throw oneself down I can't +imagine; but it seems a natural instinct, and it's certainly easier to go +down than up." + +"It appears almost miraculous that she wasn't drowned," said Gimblet. +"She certainly can have been in no fit state to bear the events that +followed." + +"No, indeed. She has lost everything: father, family and lover at one +blow. You know Lord Ashiel said she was his daughter, and told her he'd +made a will leaving everything to her. For that matter the lawyers say he +didn't--not that I should ever believe anything a lawyer said. They +always mean something you wouldn't expect from their words. They do it, I +believe, to keep in practice for trials, you know, where they have to +make the witnesses say what they don't mean, poor things. And what I +shall have put into my mouth by them, if I'm called as a witness against +poor David, doesn't bear thinking of. But the Lord knows what Ashiel did +with the will, and, as I was saying, it can't be found." + +"So I heard," said Gimblet "You talk of being called as a witness, Lady +Ruth. Do you know anything about the case? Where were you when the shot +was fired?" + +"Oh no," she said, "I shouldn't have anything to tell, but I don't +suppose that will matter. They'll twist and turn my words till I find +myself saying I saw him do it with my own eyes. My poor dear husband, +when I first met him, was an eminent Q.C., as you may know, Mr. Gimblet, +so I have a very good idea what they're like. I refused him point-blank +when he proposed, but he proved to me in three minutes that I'd really +accepted him; and it was the same thing ever after. A wonderfully +brilliant man, though slightly trying at times, especially in church, +where he always snored so unnecessarily loud--or so it seemed to me. I +often think deafness has its compensations, though I'm sure I ought to be +thankful at my age that my hearing is still so acute. However, I didn't +hear the shot the other night, but the castle walls are thick even in +that detestable modern addition, and besides, Julia Romaninov has got +such a tremendously powerful voice,'' + +"Were you talking to her?" + +"Oh dear no! I was playing patience, and she was singing, while Miss +Tarver murdered the accompaniment. We little thought at the time that +some one else was murdering poor Ashiel while we were sitting there in +peace. I must say that girl sings remarkably well, and it was a pity +there was no one who could play for her. Though it wasn't for want of +practice on Miss Tarver's part. The moment we were out of the +dining-room she would sit down at the piano, and they would neither of +them stop till bedtime." + +"Had they both been playing and singing all that evening?" + +"Yes, they hadn't ceased for a moment, and I found it prevented the Demon +from coming out, as I couldn't help counting in time with the music. It +was all right when it was one, two, three, but common time muddled it +dreadfully, though now I come to think of it, Julia was not actually in +the room when we heard the bad news. She'd gone upstairs to look for a +song or something. Of course there's no legal proof that Juliet really is +his child," Lady Ruth continued; "she admits that he was rather vague +about it, fancied a resemblance, in fact. Not that I or anyone else had +any notion he had been married as a young man, but that's a thing he +would be likely to be right about. I must say Mark has behaved extremely +well about it, even quixotically. He wanted her to take his inheritance, +and when she refused--and of course she couldn't decently do otherwise-- +I'm blessed if he didn't ask her to marry him." + +Gimblet looked up with more interest than he had yet shown. + +"Do you mean to say he proposed that, merely as a way out of the +difficulty?" + +"Well, more or less. I don't say he isn't attracted by the pretty face of +her, as much as his cousin was; privately I think he is, but I don't +really know. Anyhow, it certainly would be a very good solution; but it +was tactless of him to suggest it with David at the foot of the gallows, +poor boy." + +"She didn't tell me that," murmured Gimblet. + +At that moment Juliet came into the room, and they talked of other +things. + +"I hear the post is gone," Gimblet said presently. "I particularly wanted to catch it. I suppose there is no means of posting a letter now?" + +The last train had gone south by that time, however, so there was nothing +to be done till the next day. + +He retired again to his room and gave himself up to his correspondence. + +First a long letter to Macross in Glasgow, begging for the loan of prints +of the photographs taken by the police during their visit, together with +any details they might see fit to impart as to their observations and +conclusions. "I have arrived so late on the scene that you have left me +nothing to do," he wrote deceitfully. "But for the interest of the case I +should like to have a look at the photographs." + +He did not expect to get much help from Macross. + +Then he took from his pocket the pill-box in which he had stored the dust +so carefully collected in the gunroom. He wrapped it carefully in paper, +and addressed the small parcel to an expert analyst in Edinburgh. He +wrote one more letter, and then went downstairs again. + +The dressing-bell sounded as he opened his door, and at the foot of the +staircase he met the two ladies on their way to dress. + +"Dinner is at eight, Mr. Gimblet," Lady Ruth told him. + +"I was just coming to find you," Gimblet answered her. "I want to ask if +you would mind my not coming down? I am subject to very bad headaches +after a long journey; and, as I want particularly to be up early +to-morrow, I think the best thing I can do is to go straight to bed and +sleep it off. It is poor sort of behaviour for a detective, I am aware, +but I hope you will forgive it." + +"You must certainly go to bed if you feel inclined to," said Lady Ruth; +"but you will have some dinner in your room, will you not? They shall +bring you up the menu." + +"No, really, thanks, I shall be better without anything. I know how to +treat these heads of mine by now, I assure you, and I won't have anything +to eat till to-morrow morning. The only thing I need is quiet and sleep. +If you will be so very kind as to give orders that I shall not be +disturbed...." + +"Of course, of course," said his hostess, full of concern. "And you must +let me give you an excellent remedy for headaches. It was given me years +ago by dear old Sir Ronald Tompkins, that famous specialist, you know, +who always ordered every one to roll on the floor after meals, and I +invariably keep a bottle by me." + +And she hurried off to fetch it. + +Gimblet accepted it gratefully, and as he passed a hand across his aching +brow said he felt sure it would do him good. + +Once again within his own room, however, the detective's headache seemed +to have miraculously vanished, and he showed himself in no hurry to go to +bed. Instead, having locked the door and drawn down the blind, he sat +down in an arm-chair and gave himself up to reflection. Mentally he +rehearsed the facts of the case as far as they were known to him, and was +obliged to admit that he found several of them very puzzling. + +There were other problems, too, not directly connected with the murder, +of which he could not at present make head or tail. For instance, where +was he to find the documents which he knew it was Lord Ashiel's wish he +should take charge of. He had promised that he would do so, and the +recollection of his failure to guard the first thing the dead peer had +entrusted him with made him the more determined that he would carry out +the remainder of his promise. But how was he to begin his search? He had +so little to go on, and he dared not hint to anyone what he wished to +find. Yet, if he delayed, it was possible that young Ashiel would come +across the papers in his hunt for his uncle's will, and Gimblet felt +there was danger in their falling into the hands of anyone but himself. + +He took out his notebook and studied the dying words of his unfortunate +client. + +"Gimblet--the clock--eleven--steps." Or was it steppes? + +Considering that he had lived in dread of a blow which should descend on +him out of Russia, the last seemed the more likely. + +There was the strange circumstance of the body's being found by the +police in a position differing from that described by those who first saw +it. Young Ashiel, Juliet and the butler all agreed that it had fallen +forward on to the blotting-book in the middle of the table; but Mark had +told him that on his return with the police the attitude had been +changed. Had he been mistaken? Macross's photographs would show. But if +not, and the murdered man had really shifted his position, what did it +prove? That they had been wrong in thinking him dead? The doctor's +evidence was that the wound he had received must have been instantly +fatal, or almost instantly. Then some one must have moved the body, and +who but David knew where the key of the room had been put away? But why +should David have moved him? + +Then there was the letter which had come two days after the murder; the +letter written in French and posted in Paris, but probably not written by +a Frenchman, and so timed as to reach its destination too late. Was it +intentionally delayed, or would Lord Ashiel's death come as an entire +surprise to the writer? It certainly would, if the police were right, and +Sir David Southern guilty of his uncle's death. + +But was he guilty? Gimblet thought not. + +These and other questions occupied the detective's mind so completely +that half an hour passed like a flash, and it was only when the noise of +the dinner-bell broke in upon his meditations that he roused himself and +pulled out his watch. Then he sat upright, and listened. + +His room was above the drawing-room, and he could hear Lady Ruth's clear, +rather high voice mingling with the deep tones of a man's, in a confused, +murmuring duet which after a few moments died away and was followed by +the distant sound of a closing door. + +It was not difficult to deduce from these sounds that Lord Ashiel had +arrived, and that the little party of three had gone in to dinner. + +It was half an hour more before Gimblet rose, and walked quietly over to +the window. He drew the blind cautiously aside and looked out. Already +the days were growing shorter, and the little house, embowered in trees, +and shut in by a tall hill from the western sky, was nearly completely +engulfed in darkness. Below him, on the right, he could just discern the +top of the porch, and beyond it a faint glow of light rose from the +window of the dining-room. + +It did not need a very remarkable degree of activity to clamber from the +window to the porch, and so down to the ground. To Gimblet it was as easy +as going downstairs. In two minutes he was stealing away under the trees +in the direction of Inverashiel Castle. + +"The worst of this Highland air," he said to himself as he walked along, +"is that it makes one so fearfully hungry, even here on the West Coast. I +could have done very nicely with my dinner. But such is life. And it's +lucky I am not entirely without provisions." + +So saying, he took a box of chocolates from his pocket and began to +demolish the contents. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +By the time he reached the castle, the night was dark indeed. He +approached it by the path along the burn, and felt his way cautiously up +the steep zigzags of the hill, and past the servants' quarters, where a +dog barked and gave him an uneasy minute till he found that it was tied +up, and that the noise which issued from a brilliantly lighted +window--which he guessed to be the servants' hall--did not cease or +diminish on account of it. + +There were no other lights to be seen, and he edged his way round to the +front of the house, which loomed very black and mysterious against the +liquid darkness of the moonless sky. A little wind had risen, and the +sound of a million leaves rustling gently on the trees of the woods +around was added to the distant murmur of the burn, so that the night +seemed full of noises, and every bush alive and watching. + +Keeping on the grass, and with every precaution of silence, Gimblet crept +along till he thought he was outside the drawing-room. + +It did not take him long to find the window he had left unlatched that +afternoon, but it was an anxious moment till he made sure that no one had +noticed it and that it was yet unfastened. If a careful housemaid had +discovered it and shut it, he would have to begin housebreaking in +earnest. Luckily it opened easily at his touch, and he lost no time in +climbing in, though it was rather a tight squeeze through the narrow +imitation Gothic mullions, and he was thankful there were no bars as in +the library. + +He had more than once during his career found himself obliged to enter +other people's houses in this unceremonious, not to say burglarious +fashion. But it was always an exciting experience; and his heart beat a +trifle faster than usual as he stood motionless by the window, straining +his ears for the sound of any movement on the part of the household. +Nothing stirred, however, and by the help of an occasional gleam from his +pocket electric torch Gimblet made his way to the door, and through the +deserted house to the distant passage leading to the old tower. Once +inside the library he breathed more freely, and when, after holding his +breath for some minutes, he had made certain that the absolute silence of +the place continued unbroken by any suspicion of noise, he felt safer +still. His first act was to draw the curtains, and to fasten them +together in the middle with a large safety-pin he had brought for the +purpose. Then, secure from observation, he switched on his torch, placed +it on the table with its back to the window, and set about what he had +come to do. + +As he had not failed to observe, earlier in the day, the book-lined walls +of the library were broken, opposite the window, by a panelled alcove +where a small table stood, beyond which, against the wall, was a very +large and tall grandfather's clock of black and gold lacquer, in +imitation of the Chinese designs so popular in the eighteenth century. + +Among Lord Ashiel's last words, "The clock" had been uttered immediately +after the detective's own name. No doubt they formed part of a message he +wished to convey; and, though they might refer to any clock in or out of +the house, it seemed to Gimblet worth while to begin his investigations +with the one nearest at hand, and he turned his attention to it without +loss of time. + +Gimblet was a connoisseur of the antique, and a few minutes' examination +proved to him that this was a genuine old clock, untouched by the +restorer's hand, and in an excellent state of preservation. The works +appeared all right as far as he could make out, but through the narrow +half-moon of glass, so often inserted in the cases of old clocks for the +purpose of displaying the pendulum, that article was not to be seen, and +he found that it was missing from inside the case, as were also the +weights, so that it was impossible to set it going. There was one odd +thing about it, which the detective had already remarked: it was firmly +fixed to the wall by large screws, and he thought that there must be some +opening through the back into a receptacle contrived in the panelling +behind it. The case was so large that he was able to get inside it, and +examine inch by inch the wood of the interior, which was lacquered a +plain black. + +But his most careful tappings and testings could discover no hidden +spring, nor, even by the help of the electric torch--which he passed all +over the smooth surfaces of the walls--could he discern the slightest +join or crack. Could there be a hiding place up among the wheels of the +motionless works? His utmost endeavours could discover none. The clock +was fully eight feet high, but with the help of a stool, which he put +inside on the floor of the case, he was able to explore even the topmost +corners. All to no purpose. + +Presently he abandoned that field of research, replaced the stool whence +he had taken it, and gave his attention to the surrounding walls. He +examined each panel with the most painstaking care, but could find +nothing. There was no sign of secret drawer or cupboard anywhere. + +It was disappointing, and he drew back, baffled for the moment + +"The clock--eleven--steps." + +What was the connection between those broken words? + +If eleven o'clock had anything to do with the answer to the riddle, it +could not refer to this particular clock, which pointed unwaveringly to +thirteen minutes past four. Could it be possible that at eleven there +appeared some change in its countenance? Was it controlled by some +invisible mechanism? Well, if so, he would witness the transformation, +but such a solution did not seem likely. Was there no other meaning +applicable to the words? He would try the last ones and assume that +eleven steps from somewhere, the clock, probably, would bring him to the +hiding-place where the precious papers had been deposited. + +Placing his heel against the bottom of the black-and-gold case, he walked +forward for eleven paces, which brought him right into the bow of the +window. Here he bent down, and, with the torch in one hand, and a small +magnifying lens that he was never without in the other, searched the +floor eagerly for some join in the boards, which should denote the edge +of a trap-door or an opening of some sort. + +He could find none. + +Again and again he tried, till at last he had examined the whole flooring +of the embrasure of the window. + +No other part of the room was wide enough to allow him to take eleven +steps, and he reluctantly came to the conclusion that he must be on the +wrong tack. + +There seemed no more to do but to wait till eleven should strike, in the +faint hope that something would happen then; and Gimblet sat down in one +of the large arm-chairs and prepared for an hour's lonely vigil. He put +his lamp in his pocket and sat in the dark, for he had an uneasy feeling +that Mark might return from the cottage and catch him pursuing his +investigations in a way which might not appeal to the average +householder. True, it seemed unlikely that anyone would come so late to +that side of the castle; but one never knew, and the thought of being +caught at his housebreaking added to the irritation produced by the +failure of his search. + +"The clock--eleven--steppes." What had Lord Ashiel been trying to say? +Why in the world had he put off writing till so late? These and like +questions Gimblet asked himself fretfully, as he waited, curled in a deep +arm-chair among the black shapes of furniture which loomed around him, +indefinite and almost invisible, even to eyes accustomed to the darkness, +as his now were. + +Suddenly he raised his head and listened, holding his breath in strained +attention. He had caught the sound of distant footsteps. + +In an instant he was up and had leapt to the window, where his fingers +fumbled with the safety-pin that held the curtains together. No tell-tale +mark of his presence must be left. + +But where should he hide? The sounds were becoming more distinct every +second; no escape seemed possible. There was no help for it, and he was +bound to be discovered; he must put as good a face on it as he could +contrive. The person approaching might, after all, not come into the +library, but go back again along the passage. It might only be some one +coming to see that the door to the garden was properly bolted. + +These thoughts flashed through the detective's mind so quickly as to +be practically simultaneous, and then almost at the same moment he +realized that the footsteps did not come from the passage at all, but +from under the room he was waiting in. In a flash he had grasped the +full significance of this unexpected fact, and was tiptoeing across +to the door. + +The handle turned noiselessly in his fingers, thanks to the precaution he +had taken of oiling it, and he slipped outside. + +In the dark and empty passage he took to his heels and ran swiftly back +to the drawing-room, nor paused till he was outside on the lawn once +more. There he hung for an instant in the wind; bearings must be taken, +the nearest way to the enclosed garden decided on, any dangerous reefs +that lay on the way steered clear of. Then he was off again on the new +tack. This led him round to the back of the holly hedge, and the arched +opening by the gardeners' tool-shed. + +He turned in under it and sped silently over the turf, till he found +himself outside the door to the old tower. From the library window a +narrow shaft of light was issuing out on to the flower-bed. + +Gimblet took off his coat and threw it on to the bed. He put a foot upon +one sleeve, and, stooping down, spread the other out in front of him as +far as it would go. Then he stepped upon that one and twisted the coat +round under him to repeat the process. In this way he arrived under the +window without leaving any imprint of his boots upon the soft earth. Once +there he raised himself cautiously and peered into the room. + +By the writing-table, and so close to him that he could almost have +touched her if they had not been separated by the glass, stood a +young woman. + +She held a little electric lantern, much like his own, in her left hand, +while with the other she turned over the leaves of a bundle of papers. An +open drawer in the writing-table betrayed whence they had been taken; and +she was so entirely engrossed in what she was about that the detective +felt little fear of being noticed by her, concealed as he was in the +outer darkness. + +He saw that she was short and slight, with a beautiful little head set +gracefully upon her upright slender figure. Her expression was proud and +self-contained, but the large dark eyes that glowed beneath long black +lashes were in themselves striking evidence of a passionate nature +sternly repressed, and an eloquent contradiction to the firm, tightly +compressed lips. Here, thought Gimblet, was a nature which might pursue +its object with cold and calculating tenacity, and then at the last +moment let the prize slip through its fingers at some sudden call upon +the emotions. + +For the time being her thoughts were evidently fixed upon her present +purpose, to the exclusion of all considerations such as might have been +expected to obtrude themselves upon the mind of a young girl engaged in a +nocturnal raid. The dark solitude, the lateness of the hour, the +surreptitious manner of her entry into the room, all these, which might +well have occasioned some degree of nervousness in the coolest of +housebreakers, appeared to produce, in her, nothing of the sort. As +calmly as if she were sitting by her own bedside, she examined the +documents in Lord Ashiel's bureau, sorting and folding the contents of +one drawer after another as if it were the most commonplace thing in the +world to go over other people's private papers in the dead of night. + +And what was she looking for? + +Gimblet felt no doubt on that subject. This could surely be no other than +Julia, the adopted daughter of Countess Romaninov, whom Lord Ashiel had +for so long supposed to be his daughter. In some way or other she must +have discovered the problematic relationship, and now she was hunting for +proof of her birth, or perhaps for the will which should deprive her of +her inheritance. It was even possible that the dead peer had been +mistaken, and that Julia was indeed his daughter and not unaware of the +fact. But what was she doing here, and where did she come from? Surely +Juliet had told him that all the guests had left the castle. + +Gimblet had never seen her before; but, as he watched her slow +deliberate movements and quick intelligent eyes, he had an odd feeling +that they were already acquainted. She reminded him of some one; how, he +couldn't say. Perhaps it was the features, perhaps merely the +expression, but if they had never previously met, at least he must have +seen some one she resembled. Rack his brains as he might, he could not +remember who it was. He put the thought aside. Sooner or later the +recollection would come to him. + +The night was a warm one, and Gimblet felt no need for his coat, though +he was a little uneasy lest his white shirt should show up against the +dark background if she should chance to look out. Behind him the trees in +the wood stirred noisily and untiringly in the wind, and from time to +time an owl cried out of the gloom; but no sound from within the castle +reached his ears throughout the long hour during which he stood watching +while deftly and methodically the young lady in the library went about +her business. He wondered if this girl, who stealthily, in the night, by +the gleam of a pocket lantern, was engaged in such questionable +employment, were unwarrantably ransacking the belongings of her former +host, or believed herself to be exercising a daughter's right in going +over the papers of a dead parent. + +The time came when the last paper was examined, the last drawer quietly +pushed back into its place; then, with every sign of disappointment, she +slowly rose, and taking up her torch made the tour of the room as if +debating whether she had not left some corner unexplored. But the library +was scantily furnished, apart from the books that lined the walls, and +though she drew more than one volume from its place, and thrust a hand +into the back of the shelf, it was with a dispirited air. Soon, with a +glance at her watch, she abandoned the search, and slowly and +hesitatingly moved in the direction of the door and laid her fingers upon +the handle. + +She did not turn it, however, but stood irresolute, her eyes on the +floor. After a moment of indecision, the detective saw her mouth compress +firmly, and with a quick movement of the head, as if she were shaking +herself free from some persistent and troublesome thought, she turned +and walked deliberately towards the alcove at the end of the room. + +"Now," thought Gimblet, "we shall see where the secret door is +concealed." + +Judge of his surprise and excitement, when the girl stopped before the +tall case of the lacquered clock and, opening it, stepped inside and drew +the door to behind her. For five minutes, with nose pressed to the pane +of the window, the detective waited, expecting her to reappear; then an +idea struck him, and he clapped his hand against his leg in his +exasperation at not having guessed before. + +He turned immediately, and using the same precautions as before made +good his retreat, and returned by way of the drawing-room window to +the library. + +All was silent there, and the empty room displayed no sign of its +nocturnal visitors. Gimblet did not hesitate. He went straight to the +clock and pulled open the door. The black interior was as empty and bare +as when he had previously examined it, but he betrayed neither +astonishment nor doubt as to his next action. + +Stooping down he ran his hand over the painted wooden flooring. As he +expected, his fingers encountered a small knob in one of the corners, +and he had no sooner pressed it when the whole bottom of the case fell +suddenly away beneath his touch. As he stretched down the hand that held +the electric torch, the light fell upon an open trap-door and the +topmost step of a narrow flight of stairs, which descended into the +thickness of the wall. + +Gimblet stepped into the case, and lowered himself quickly through the +hole at the bottom. + +The stairs proved to be but a short flight, ending in a low passage, +which wound away through the wall of the ancient building. The +detective felt little doubt that it led to another concealed opening in +some distant part of the castle. But he had other things to think of +for the moment. + +"The clock--eleven--steps." The meaning of Lord Ashiel's dying words was, +he thought, plain enough now. + +Running up the stairs again, he descended more slowly, counting the +treads as he went. + +There were fifteen. + +Gimblet bent down and held his torch so that the light fell bright upon +the eleventh step. + +It presented identically the same appearance as the rest, the rough-hewn +stone dipping slightly in the middle as if many feet had trodden it in +the course of the centuries which had elapsed since it was first placed +there, but in every respect the worn surface resembled those of the steps +above and below it, as far as Gimblet could see. + +He tapped it, and it gave forth the same sound as its neighbours. Then he +lowered the torch and ran its beams along the front of the step; high up, +under the overhanging edge of the tread above it, it seemed as if there +were a flaw or crack in the stone. He knocked upon it, and it gave back a +different sound to the stone around it. + +Clearly it was wood, not stone, though so cleverly painted to imitate its +surroundings that it was a thousand to one against anyone ever noticing +it; and yes, there was a little circular depression in the middle of it. +Gimblet's thumb pressed heavily against the place, and immediately there +was a click, and a long narrow drawer flew out. + +In it lay a single sheet of paper, and Gimblet's fingers shook with +excitement as he drew it forth. + +A moment's pause while he perused the writing upon it, and then the +exultation on his face dwindled away. He could perceive no meaning in +these apparently random sentences. + +"Remember that where there's a way there's a will. Face curiosity and +take the bull by the horn." + +Was this the cipher, of which he had never received the key? The papers +he had hoped to find must be hidden elsewhere. No doubt in some place +whose whereabouts was indicated, if he could only understand it, by the +incomprehensible message he held. + +He stared at it for some minutes in an endeavour to find the translation; +then, reflecting that this was neither the time nor place for deciphering +cryptograms, he placed it carefully in an inner pocket, and after a hasty +exploration of the passage beyond which did not reveal anything +interesting except from an archaeological point of view, he thoughtfully +mounted to the room above. + +Closing the trap-door, and making sure that everything in the library was +left as he had found it, Gimblet made his exit from the castle in the +same manner as he had entered it, and groped his silent way home through +the darkness. + +A convenient creeper made it easy to climb on to the porch of Lady Ruth's +house, now wrapped in peaceful slumber; and so in at his own window once +more. The noise of the wind, which had now freshened to the strength of +half a gale, drowned any sound of his return, and he lost no time in +getting to bed and to sleep. The puzzle must keep till to-morrow. It was +one of Gimblet's rules to take proper rest when it was at all possible, +for he knew that his work suffered if he came to it physically exhausted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Gimblet was up early next morning, refreshed by a sound and +dreamless sleep. + +For two hours before breakfast he wrestled with the cryptic message on +the sheet of paper, trying first one way and then another of solving the +riddle it presented, but still finding no solution. He was silent and +preoccupied during the morning meal, replying to inquiries as to his +headache, alternately, with obvious inattention and exaggerated +gratitude. Neither of the ladies spoke much, however, and his +absent-mindedness passed almost unnoticed. + +Lord Ashiel was to be buried that day. Before they left the dining-room +sombre figures could be seen striding along the high road towards +Inverashiel: inhabitants of the scattered villages, and people from the +neighbouring estates, hurrying to show their respect to the dead peer for +the last time. + +The tragic circumstances of the murder had aroused great excitement all +over the countryside, and a large gathering assembled at the little +island at the head of the loch, where the McConachans had left their +bones since the early days of the youth of the race. + +From the surrounding glens, from distant hills and valleys, and even from +far-away Edinburgh and Oban, came McConachans, to render their final +tribute to the head of the clan. It was surprising to see how large was +the muster; for the most part a company of tall, thin men, with lean +faces and drooping wisps of moustache. + +To a mournful dirge on the pipes, Ashiel was laid in his rocky grave, and +the throng of black-garmented people was ferried back the way it had +come. Gimblet, wrapped to the ears in a thick overcoat, and with a silk +scarf wound high round his neck, shivered in the cold air, for the wind +had veered to the north, and the first breath of the Arctic winter was +already carried on it. The waters of the loch had turned a slaty black; +little angry waves broke incessantly over its surface; and inky black +clouds were gathering slowly on the distant horizon. It looked as if the +fine weather were at an end; as if Nature herself were mourning angrily +at the wanton destruction of her child. The pity and regret Gimblet had +felt, as he stood by the murdered man's grave, suddenly turned to a +feeling of rage, both with himself and with the victim of the crime. + +Why in the world had he not managed to guard against a danger of whose +imminence he had had full warning? And why in the name of everything that +was imbecile had Lord Ashiel, who knew much better than anyone else how +real the danger was, chosen to sit at a lighted window, and offer so +tempting a target to his enemy? + +Suddenly, in the midst of his musings, a sound fell on the detective's +ear; a voice he had heard before, low and musical, and curiously +resonant. He looked in the direction from which it came and saw two +people standing together, a little apart, in the crowd of those waiting +at the water's edge for a craft to carry them ashore. There were only two +or three boats; and, though the ghillies bent to their oars with a will, +every one could not cross the narrow channel which divided the island +from the mainland at one and the same time. A group had already formed on +the beach of those who were not the first to get away, and among these +were the two figures that had attracted Gimblet's attention. + +They were two ladies, who stood watching the boats, which had landed +their passengers and were now returning empty. + +The nearest to him, a tall woman of ample proportions, was visibly +affected by the ceremony she had just witnessed, and dabbed from time to +time at her eyes with a handkerchief. + +But it was her companion who interested him. She was short and slender; +her slightness accentuated by the long dress of black cloth and the small +plain hat of the same colour which she wore. A thick black veil hung down +over her face and obscured it from his view, but about her general +appearance there was something strangely familiar. In a moment Gimblet +knew what it was, and where he had seen her before. He had caught sight, +in her hand, of a little bag of striped black satin with purple pansies +embroidered at intervals upon it. Just such a bag had lain upon the table +of his flat in Whitehall a few weeks ago, on the day when its owner had +stolen the envelope entrusted to him by Lord Ashiel. + +"It is she," breathed the detective, "the widow!" + +And for one wild moment he was on the point of accosting her and +demanding his missing letter. Wiser counsels prevailed, however, and he +moved away to the other side of the small group of mourners gathered on +the stony beach. + +When he ventured to look at her again, it was over the shoulder of a +stalwart Highlander, whose large frame effectually concealed all of the +little detective except his hat and eyes. A further surprise was in store +for him. The lady had lifted her veil and displayed the features of the +girl he had watched in the library on the preceding night. + +Gimblet had seen enough. He turned away, and found Juliet at his elbow. + +She would have passed him by, absorbed in her sorrow for the father she +had found and lost in the space of one short hour, but he laid her hand +upon her arm. + +"Tell me," he begged, "who are those two ladies waiting for the boat?" + +Juliet's eyes followed the direction of his own. + +"Those," she said, "are Mrs. Clutsam and Miss Julia Romaninov." + +"Ah," Gimblet murmured. "They were among your fellow-guests at the +castle, weren't they?" + +"Yes." + +Juliet's reply was short and a little cold. She could not understand why +the detective should choose this moment to question her on trivial +details. It showed, she considered, a lamentable lack of tact, and +involuntarily she resented it. + +"But surely you told me that every one had left Inverashiel," persisted +Gimblet, unabashed. + +He seemed absurdly eager for the information. No doubt, Juliet reflected +bitterly, he admired Julia. Most men would. + +"Mrs. Clutsam lives in another small house of my father's, near here," +she replied stiffly. "She asked Miss Romaninov to stay with her for a +few days till she could arrange where to go to. This disaster naturally +upset every one's plans." + +"She has a beautiful face," said Gimblet. "Who would think--" he +murmured, and stopped abruptly. + +"Perhaps you would like me to introduce you?" + +Juliet spoke with lofty indifference, but the dismay in Gimblet's tone as +he answered disarmed her. + +"On no account," he cried, "the last thing! Besides, for that matter," he +added truthfully, "we have met before." + +"Then you will have the pleasure of renewing your acquaintance," Juliet +suggested mischievously. Gimblet had shown himself so genuinely aghast +that her resentful suspicions had vanished. + +"I expect to have an opportunity of doing so," he agreed seriously. "That +young lady," he went on in a low, confidential tone, "played a trick on +me that I find it hard to forgive. I look forward, with some +satisfaction, to the day when the laugh will be on my side. I admit I +ought to be above such paltry considerations, but, what would you? I +don't think I am. But please don't mention my presence to her, or her +friend. I imagine she has not so far heard of it." + +"I won't if you don't like," said Juliet. "I don't suppose I shall +see them to speak to. But why do you feel so sure she doesn't know +you are here?" + +"Oh, how should she?" Gimblet returned evasively. "I don't suppose my +presence would appear worth commenting upon to anyone but yourself or +Lord Ashiel, unless Lady Ruth should mention it." + +"I don't think she will," said Juliet. "She said she could not speak to +anyone to-day, and she and Mark have gone off together in his own boat. +I said I would walk home." + +"Won't you drive with me?" Gimblet suggested. + +He had hired a "machine" from the distant village of Inverlegan to carry +him to and from the funeral. But Juliet preferred to walk, finding in +physical exercise the only relief she could obtain from the aching +trouble that oppressed and sickened her. + +Gimblet drove back alone to the cottage. He had much to occupy his +thoughts. + +Once back in his room he turned his mind to the writing on the +sheet of paper. + +"Remember that where there's a way there's a will. Face curiosity and +take the bull by the horn." + +The message, as Gimblet read it, was as puzzling as if it had been +completely in cipher. + +If certain of the words possessed some arbitrary meaning to which the key +promised by Lord Ashiel would have furnished the solution, there seemed +little hope of understanding the message until the key was found. The +word "way," for instance, might stand for another that had been +previously decided on, and if rightly construed probably indicated the +place where the papers were concealed. "Will," "face," "curiosity," +"bull" and "horn" were likely to represent other very different words, or +perhaps even whole sentences. + +Without the key it was hopeless to search along that line; such search +must end, as it would begin, in conjecture only. He would see if anything +more promising could be arrived at by taking the message as it was and +assuming that all the words bore the meaning usually attributed to them. +For more than an hour Gimblet racked his brains to read sense into the +senseless phrases, and at the end of that time was no wiser than at the +beginning. + +"Where there's a way there's a will." Was it by accident or design that +the order in which the words way and will were placed was different from +the one commonly assigned to them? Had Lord Ashiel made a mistake in +arranging the message? Or did the "will" refer to his will and testament? +If so, why should he take so roundabout a way of designating it? +Doubtless because something more important than the will was involved; +indeed, if anything was clear, from the ambiguous sentence and the +precaution that Ashiel had taken that though it fell into the hands of +his enemies it should convey nothing to them, it was that he considered +the mystification of the uninitiated a matter of transcendental +importance. It was plain he contemplated the possibility of the Nihilists +knowing where to look for his message; and at the thought Gimblet shifted +uneasily in his chair, remembering his first encounter with their +representative. + +"Face curiosity and take the bull by the horn." Perhaps those words, as +they stood, contained some underlying sense, which at present it was hard +to read in them. What it was, seemed impossible to guess. To take the +bull by the horn, is a common enough expression, and might represent no +more than a piece of advice to act boldly; on the whole that was not +likely, for would anyone wind up such a carefully veiled communication +with so trite and everyday a saying, or finish such an obscure message +with so ordinary a sentiment? + +"Face curiosity," however, was perhaps a direction how to proceed. The +only trouble was to know what in the world it meant! + +Whose curiosity was to be faced? The behaviour of members of a Nihilist +society could hardly be said to be impelled by that motive. Gimblet could +not see that anyone else had shown any symptom of it. Had "curiosity," +then, some other meaning? + +The detective, as has been said, was an amateur of the antique. When not +at work, a great part of his time was passed in the neighbourhood of +curiosity shops, and the merchandise they dealt in immediately occurred +to him in connection with the word. + +Did the dead man refer to some peculiarity of the ancient keep? Was +there, perhaps, the figure or picture of a bull within the castle whose +horn pointed to the ultimate place of concealment? It would have seemed, +Gimblet thought, that the hidden receptacle in the secret stair was +difficult enough to find; but the reason the papers were not placed in +there was plain to him after a minute's reflection. It was doubtless +because they were too bulky to be contained in the shallow drawer. At all +events, there was certainly another hiding-place; and, on the whole, the +best plan seemed to be to see if the castle could produce any curiosity +that would offer a solution of the problem. + +To the castle, accordingly, he went, and asked to see Lord Ashiel. He was +shown into the smoking-room, where Mark was kneeling on the hearth-rug +surrounded by piles of folded and docketed papers. The door of a small +cupboard in the wall beside the fireplace stood open, revealing a row of +deep shelves stacked with the same neat packets. + +"Still hunting for the will, you see," he said, looking up as Gimblet +entered, "I'm beginning to give up hope of finding it, but it's a mercy +to have something to do these days." + +"Rather a tedious job, isn't it?" said the detective, looking down at the +musty tape-bound bundles. + +"Well, it gives one rather a kink in the back after a time," Mark +admitted. "But I shan't feel easy in my mind till I've looked through +everything, and I'm getting a very useful idea of the estate accounts in +the meantime. It _is_ rather a long business, but I'm getting on with it, +slow but sure. There are such a fearful lot." + +"Are all these cupboards full of papers?" Gimblet asked, looking round +him at the numerous little doors in the panelling. + +"Stuffed with them, every blessed one of them," Mark replied rather +gloomily. "And the worst of it is, I'm pretty certain they're nothing but +these dusty old bills and letters. But there's nowhere else to look, and +I know he kept nearly everything here." + +Gimblet sauntered round the room, pulling open the drawers and peeping in +at the piles of documents. + +"What an accumulation!" he remarked. "None of these cupboards are locked, +I see," he added. + +"No, he never locked anything up," said Mark. "I've heard him boast he +never used a key. Do you know, if one had time to read them, I believe +some of these old letters might be rather amusing. It looked as if my +grandfather and his fathers had kept every single one that ever was +written to them. I've just come across one from Raeburn, the painter, and +I saw another, a quarter of an hour ago, from Lord Clive." + +"Really," said Gimblet eagerly, "which cupboard were they in? I should +like to see them immensely some time." + +"They were in this one," said Mark, pointing to the shelves +opposite him. + +Gimblet stood facing it, and looked hopefully round him in all directions +for anything like a bull. There was nothing, however, to suggest such an +animal, and he reflected that interesting though these old letters might +be it would be going rather far to refer to them as curiosities. Suddenly +an idea struck him. + +"I suppose you haven't come across anything concerning a Papal Bull?" +he inquired. + +"No," said Mark, looking up in surprise. "It's not very likely I should, +you know." + +"No, I suppose not," said Gimblet. "Still, you old families did get hold +of all sorts of odd things sometimes, and your uncle was a bit of a +collector, wasn't he?" + +"Uncle Douglas," said Mark, "not he! He didn't care a bit for that kind +of thing. You can see in the drawing-room the sort of horrors he used to +buy. He was thoroughly early Victorian in his tastes, and ought to have +been born fifty years sooner than he was." + +"Dear me," said Gimblet. "I don't know why I thought he was rather by way +of being a connoisseur. Well, well, I mustn't waste any more time. I +wanted to ask you if you would mind my going all over the house. I may +see something suggestive. Who knows? At present I have only examined the +library and your uncle's bedroom." + +"By all means," said Mark. "Blanston will show you anything you want to +see. Oh, by the by, you like to be alone, don't you? I was forgetting. +Well, go anywhere you like; and good luck to your hunting!" + +On a writing-table in one of the bedrooms, Gimblet found a paper-weight +in the bronze shape of a Spanish toro, head down, tail brandishing, a +fine emblem of goaded rage. But there was nothing promising about the +round mahogany table on which it stood: no drawer, secret or otherwise +could all his measurings and tappings discover; the animal, when lifted +up by the horn and dangled before the detective's critical eye, +proclaimed itself modern and of no artistic merit. It was like a hundred +others to be had in any Spanish town, and by no expanding of terms could +it be considered a curiosity. + +Except for this one more than doubtful find, he drew the whole house +absolutely blank. There were very few specimens of ancient work in the +castle, which like so many other old houses had been stripped of +everything interesting it contained in the middle of the nineteenth +century, and entirely refurnished and redecorated in the worst possible +taste. With the exception of some family portraits, the lacquered clock +in the library was the one genuine survival of the Victorian holocaust, +and though Gimblet passed nearly half an hour in contemplating it he +could not see any way of connecting it with a bull, nor was he a whit the +wiser when he finally turned his back on it than he had been at the +beginning. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Blanston, to whom he appealed, could give no useful information. Yes, +some of the plate was old, but that was all at the bank in London. Mrs. +Haviland, his lordship's sister, had liked it on the table when his +lordship entertained in his London house, and it had not been carried +backwards and forwards to Scotland since her ladyship's death. + +He knew of nothing resembling a bull in his lordship's possession, unless +it was the picture of cows that hung in the drawing-room opposite the one +of the dead stag. + +Gimblet had already exhausted the possibilities of that highly varnished +oil-painting, and he went forth from the house in a state of deep +dejection. + +As he descended the drive he heard his name called, and looking back +perceived the short, sturdy figure of Lady Ruth hurrying down the road +behind him. + +"If you are going back to the cottage, Mr. Gimblet," she panted, "let us +walk together. I ran after you when I saw your hat go past the window, +for I couldn't stand those frowsty old papers of Mark's any longer." + +Gimblet waited till she came up, still talking, although considerably out +of breath. + +"We will go by the road, if you don't mind," she said, "the lochside is +rather rough for me. I have been paying a visit of charity, and very hard +work it is paying visits in the country when you don't keep a conveyance +of any kind, and I really can't afford even a donkey. You see the +Judge's income died with him, poor dear, in spite of those foolish +sayings about not being able to take your money with you to the better +land, where I am sure one would want it just as much as anywhere else, +for the better life you lead, the more expensive it is. No one could be +generous, or charitable, or unselfish, with nothing to give up or to give +away. That's only common sense, and I always say that common sense is +such a help when called upon to face problems of a religious kind. + +"My uncle was a bishop and a very learned theologian, I assure you; but +he always held that it was impious to apply plain common sense to matters +so far above us, and that is why he and my poor husband were never on +speaking terms; not from any fault of the Judge's, who had been trained +to think about logic and all that kind of thing which is so useful to +people at the Bar. + +"But it takes all sorts to make a world, as he often used to say to +himself, and if every one was exactly alike one would feel almost as +solitary as if the whole earth was empty and void, while, as for virtues +and good qualities, they would automatically cease to exist, so that a +really good man would simply long to go to hell and have some opportunity +to show his goodness. That always seemed very reasonable to me, but I am +just telling you what my husband used to say, because I really don't know +much about these things, and he was such a clever man, and what he said +was always listened to with great interest and respect at the Old Bailey. +If it hadn't been, of course he would have cleared the court. + +"But as I was telling you, his money went with him, though I know he +always meant to insure his life, which is such a boring thing to think of +when a man has many calls on his purse. And so, I live, as you see, in a +very quiet way up here, and sometimes get down to the South for a month +or six weeks in the winter, where I have many kind friends. But I find +the hills rather trying to my legs as time goes on, and I don't very +often walk as far as I have to-day. Still charity, as they say, covers a +multitude of miles, and I really thought it my duty to come and see how +poor Mark was bearing up all alone at Inverashiel. I was afraid he would +be terribly unhappy, poor boy, so soon after the funeral, and Juliet +Byrne having refused him, and everything. Though of course he can't be +pitied for inheriting Inverashiel, such a lovely place, is it not? And +quantities of property in the coal district, you know, besides. He is +really a very lucky young man." + +"It is indeed a most beautiful country," Gimblet observed, as Lady +Ruth's breath gave out completely, and she stopped by the roadside to +regain it. He was deep in thought, and glad to escape the necessity of +frequent speech. + +"Yes," she said, as they moved slowly on, "I had a delightful walk here, +and found him much more cheerful than I had feared. It is such a good +thing he has all those papers to look over. It is everything, at a time +like this, to have an occupation. It is so dreadful to think of dear +David with absolutely nothing to do in that horrid cell. I wonder if they +allow him to smoke, or to keep a tame mouse, which I remember reading is +such a comfort to prisoners. I do hope, Mr. Gimblet, that you will soon +be able to get him out of it." + +Before Gimblet could reply, the silence was broken by the rumble of +wheels; and a farmer's cart came up behind them, driven by a thin man +in a black coat, who had evidently attended the funeral earlier in the +day. The road, at the point they had reached, was beginning to ascend; +and the stout pony between the shafts slowed resolutely to a walk as he +leant against the collar. The man lifted his hat as Lady Ruth wished +him good day. + +"I saw you at the funeral, Angus McConachan," she said. "A sad business. +A terrible business." And she shook her head mournfully. + +The farmer stopped the willing pony. + +"That it is, my leddy," he assented. "It's a black day indeed, when the +heed o' a clan is struck doon by are o' his ain bleed. It's a great peety +that the lad would ha' forgot what he owed to his salt. But I'm thinkin' +they'll be hangin' him afore the year's oot." + +"Oh, Angus," cried Lady Ruth, in horrified tones, "don't talk in that +dreadful way. I'm quite, quite sure Sir David never had any part in the +thing. It's all a mistake, and this gentleman here is going to find out +who really fired the shot." + +"Well, I hope ye'll be richt, my leddy," was all the farmer would commit +himself to, as he gathered up the reins. Then he hesitated, looking down +on the hot, flushed countenance of the lady in the road beneath him. "If +yer leddyship will be tackin' a seat in the machine," he hazarded, "it'll +maybe save ye the trail up the brae." + +Lady Ruth accepted the suggestion with great content. She was getting +very tired, and was finding the walk more exhausting than she had +bargained for. She lost no time in climbing up beside Angus, and the fat +pony was induced to continue its reluctant progress. + +Near the top of the hill the road forked into two branches, that which +led to the right continuing parallel with the loch, whilst the other +diverged over the hill towards Auchtermuchty, a town some fifteen miles +distant. The stout pony unhesitatingly took the turning to the left. + +The farmer looked at Lady Ruth inquiringly. + +"Will ye get doon here, my leddy?" he asked; "or will ye drive on as far +as the sheepfold? It will be shorter for ye tae walk doon fay there, by +the burn and the Green Way." + +"I should like to do that;" said Lady Ruth, "if you don't mind taking me +so far. Perhaps you would give Mr. Gimblet a lift too, now that we're on +top of the hill?" + +The man readily consented, and Gimblet, who was following on foot, was +called and informed of the proposed change of route. He scrambled into +the back of the cart and they rattled along the upper road, the stout +pony no doubt wearing a very aggrieved expression under its blinkers. + +When another mile had been traversed, they were put down at a place where +a rough track led down across the moor by the side of an old stone +sheepfold. + +The cart jogged off to the sound of a chorus of thanks, and Lady Ruth and +Gimblet started down the heather-grown path. They rounded the corners of +the deserted fold, and walked on into the golden mist of sunset which +spread in front of them, enveloping and dazzling. The clouds of the +morning had rolled silently away to the horizon, the wind had dropped to +a mere capful; and the midges were abroad in their hosts, rejoicing in +the improvement in the weather. + +"I don't believe it's going to rain after all," said Lady Ruth. "The sun +looks rather too red, perhaps, to be quite safe, though it _is_ supposed +to be the shepherd's delight. I can only say that, if he was delighted +with the result of some of the red sunsets we get up here, he'd be easily +pleased, and for my part I'm never surprised at anything. These midges +are past belief, aren't they?" + +They were, Gimblet agreed heartily. He gathered a handful of fern and +tried to keep them at bay, but they were persevering and ubiquitous. Soon +the path led them away from the open moor, and into the wood of birches +and young oaks which clung to the side of the hill. A little farther, and +Gimblet heard the distant gurgling of a burn; presently they were picking +their way between moss-covered boulders on the edge of a rocky gully. +Great tufts of ferns dotted the steep pitch of the bank below; the stream +that clattered among the stones at the bottom shone very cool and shadowy +under the alders; and a clearing on the other side revealed, over the +receding woods, the broken hill-tops of a blue horizon. + +The path wound gradually downward to the waterside, and in a little while +they crossed it by means of a row of stepping-stones over which Lady Ruth +passed as boldly as her companion. + +Another hundred yards of shade, and they came out into a long narrow +glen, carpeted with short springy turf, and bordered, as by an avenue, +with trees knee-deep in bracken. The rectangular shape and enclosed +nature of the glade came as a surprise in the midst of the wild +woodlands. The place had more the air of forming part of pleasure grounds +near to the haunts of man, and the eye wandered instinctively in search +of a house. The effect of artificiality was increased by a large piece of +statuary representing a figure carved in stone and standing upon a high +oblong pediment, which stood a little distance down the glen. + +Gimblet did not repress his feeling of astonishment. + +"What a strange place!" he exclaimed. "Who would have expected to +find this lawn tucked away in the woods. Or is there a house +somewhere at hand?" + +"No," Lady Ruth answered, "there is nothing nearer than my cottage half a +mile away; and this short grass and flat piece of ground are entirely +natural. Nothing has been touched, except here and there a tree cut out +to keep the borders straight. The late Lady Ashiel, the wife of my +unfortunate cousin, was very fond of this place. Although it is farther, +she always walked round by it when she came to see me at the cottage. +That absurd statue was put up last year as a sort of memorial to her--a +most unsuitable one to my mind, she being a chilly sort of woman, poor +dear, who always shivered if she saw so much as a hen moulting. I'm sure +it would distress her terribly if she knew that poor creature over there +had to stand in the glen in all weathers, year in and year out, with only +a rag to cover her. And a stone rag at that, which is a cold material at +the best. Yes, this is only the beginning of a track which runs for miles +across the hills to the South. It is so green that you can always make it +out from the heights, and there are all sorts of legends about it. It is +supposed to be the road over which the clans drove back the cattle they +captured in the old days when they were always raiding each other. They +have a name for it In the Gaelic, which means the Green Way." + +"The Green Way," Gimblet repeated mechanically. For a moment his brain +revolved with wild imaginings. + +"Yes," repeated Lady Ruth. "Sometimes they call it 'The Way,' for short. +It is a favourite place for picnics from Crianan. My cousin used to allow +them to come here, and the place is generally made hideous with +egg-shells and paper and old bottles. One of the gardeners comes and +tidies things up once a week in the summer. People are so absolutely +without consciences." + +"Is there a bull here?" cried Gimblet. He was quivering with excitement. + +"Goodness gracious, I hope not!" said Lady Ruth. "Do you see any cattle? +I can't bear those long-horned Highlanders!" + +"No," said Gimblet. "I thought perhaps--But what is the statue? The +design, surely, is rather a strange one for the place." + +"Most extraordinary," assented Lady Ruth. "He got it in Italy and had it +sent the whole way by sea. It took all the king's horses and all the +king's men to get it up here, I can tell you. And, as I say, nothing +less apropos can one possibly imagine. That poor thin female with such +very scanty clothing is hardly a cheerful object on a Scotch winter's +day, and as for those little naked imps they would make anyone shiver, +even in August." + +They had drawn near the sculptured group. It consisted of the slightly +draped figure of a girl, bending over an open box, or casket, from which +a crowd of small creatures, apparently, as Lady Ruth had said, imps or +fairies, were scrambling and leaping forth. + +Gimblet gazed at it intently, as if he had never seen a statue +before. In a moment his face cleared and he turned to Lady Ruth with +burning eyes. + +"It is Pandora," he cried. "Curiosity! Pandora and her box. Is it +not Pandora?" + +Lady Ruth stared at him amazed. + +"I believe it is," she said, "that or something of the sort. I'm not very +well up in mythology." + +"Of course it is," cried Gimblet. "Face curiosity! And here's the bull, +or I'll eat my microscope," he added, advancing to the side of the group +and laying a hand upon the pedestal. + +Lady Ruth followed his gaze with some concern. She was beginning to doubt +his sanity. But there, sure enough, beneath his pointing finger, she +perceived a row of carved heads: the heads of bulls, garlanded in the +Roman manner, and forming a kind of cornice round the top of the great +rectangular stone stand. + +Gimblet glanced to right and left, up the glen and down it. There was no +one to be seen. The sun had fallen by this time beneath the rim of the +hills; a greyness of twilight was spread over the whole scene, and under +the trees the dusk of night was already silently ousting the day. He +turned once more to Lady Ruth. + +"Lady Ruth," he said, "can you keep a secret?" + +"My husband trusted me," she replied. "He was judicious as well as +judicial." + +"I am sure I may follow his example," Gimblet said, after looking at her +fixedly for a moment. "So I will tell you that I believe I am on the +point of discovering Lord Ashiel's missing will--and not that alone. +Somewhere, concealed probably within a few feet of where we are standing, +we may hope to find other and far more important documents, involving, +perhaps, not only the welfare of one or two individuals but that of +kings and nations. Apart from that, and to speak of what most immediately +concerns us at present, I am convinced that within this stone will be +found the true clue to the author of the murder." + +"You don't say so," gasped Lady Ruth, her round eyes rounder than ever. + +"I found some directions in the handwriting of the murdered man," went on +Gimblet, "which I could not understand at first. But their meaning is +plain enough now. 'Take the bull by the horn,' he says. Well, here are +the bulls, and I shall soon know which is the horn." + +He walked round to the front of the statue, so that he faced the stooping +figure of Pandora, and laid his hand upon one of the curved and +projecting horns of the left-hand bull. Nothing happened, and he tried +the next. There were seven heads in all along the face of the great block, +and he tested six of them without perceiving anything unusual. Was it +possible that he was mistaken, and that, after all, the words of the +message did not refer to the statue? + +When he grasped the first horn of the last head, the hand that did so was +shaking with excitement and suspense. It seemed, like the rest, to +possess no attribute other than mere decoration. And yet, and yet--surely +he had missed some vital point. He would go over them again. There +remained, however, the last horn, and as he took hold of it with a +premonitory dread of disappointment, he felt that it was loose in its +socket, and that he could by an effort turn it completely over. With a +triumphant cry he twisted it round, and at the same moment Lady Ruth +started back with an exclamation of alarm. + +She was standing where he had left her, and was nearly knocked down by +the great slab of stone which, as Gimblet turned the horn of the bull, +swung sharply out from the end of the pediment, till it hung like a door +invitingly open and disclosing a hollow chamber within the stone. + +Within the opening, on the floor at the far end, stood a large tin +despatch-box. + +The door was a good eighteen inches wide; plenty of room for Gimblet to +climb in, swollen with exultation though he might be. In less than three +seconds he had scrambled through the aperture and was stooping over the +box. It seemed to be locked, but a key lay on the top of the lid. He lost +no time in inserting it, and in a moment threw open the case and saw that +it was full of papers. + +Suddenly there was another cry from Lady Ruth as, for no apparent cause +and without the slightest warning, the stone door slammed itself back +into position, and he was left a prisoner in the total darkness of the +vault. He groped his way to the doorway and pushed against it with all +his strength. He might as well have tried to move the side of a mountain. +But, after an interval long enough for him to have time to become +seriously uneasy, the door flew open again, and the agitated countenance +of Lady Ruth welcomed him to the outside world. + +"Do get out quick," she cried. "If it does it again while you're half in +and half out, you'll be cracked in two as neatly as a walnut." + +Gimblet hurried out, clutching the precious box. No sooner was he safely +standing on the turf than the door shut again with a violence that gave +Pandora the appearance of shaking with convulsions of silent merriment. + +"I wasn't sure how it opened," said Lady Ruth, "but I tried all the horns +and got it right at last. How lucky I was with you!" + +"Yes, indeed," said Gimblet. "I am very thankful you were." + +They twisted the horn again, and stood together to watch the recurring +phenomenon of the closing door. + +"It must be worked by clockwork," the detective said, and taking out his +watch he timed the interval that elapsed between the opening and +shutting. "It stays open for thirty seconds," he remarked after two or +three experiments. "No doubt the mechanism is concealed in the thickness +of the stone. At all events it seems to be in good working order." + +Squatting on the grass, he opened the tin box, and examined the papers +with which it was filled. A glance showed him that they were what he +expected, and he replaced the box where he had found it, while Lady Ruth +manipulated the horn of the bull. + +"I have no right to the papers," he explained to her, as they walked +homeward in the gathering dusk. "It would be more satisfactory if a +magistrate were present at the official opening of the statue, and I will +see what can be done about that to-morrow. In the meantime, and +considering that we have been interfering with other people's property, I +shall be much obliged if you will keep our discovery secret." + +And talking in low, earnest tones, he explained to her more fully all +that was likely to be implied by the papers they had unearthed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +With her white paint and her scarlet smokestack, the _Inverashiel_--one +of the two small steamers that during the summer months plied up and +down the loch, and incidentally carried on communication between +Inverashiel and Crianan--was a picturesque addition to the landscape, +as she approached the wooden landing-stage that stood half a mile below +the promontory on which the castle was built. It was the morning of +Friday, the day following the funeral, and clouds were settling slowly +down on to the tops and shoulders of the hills in spite of the +brilliant sunset of the previous evening. The loch lay dark and still, +its surface wore an oily, treacherous look; every detail of the +_Inverashiel's_ tub-like shape was reflected and beautifully distorted +in the water, which broke in long low waves from her bows as she +swerved round to come alongside the pier. + +As the few passengers who were waiting for her crossed the short gangway, +a shower burst over the loch and in a few minutes had driven every one +into the little cabin, except the two or three men who constituted the +officers and crew of the steamer. One of these was in the act of +slackening the rope by which the boat had been warped alongside, when a +running, gesticulating figure appeared in the distance, shouting to them +to wait for him. + +Waited for accordingly he was; and in a few minutes Gimblet, rather out +of breath after his run, hurried on board, and with a word of apology and +thanks to the obliging skipper turned, like the other passengers, towards +the shelter of the cabin. + +With his hand on the knob of the door he hesitated. Through the glass top +he had just caught sight of a figure that seemed familiar. He had seen +that tweed before; the short girl with her back to him was wearing the +dress in which he had seen her on the Wednesday night, searching among +Lord Ashiel's papers in the library at the castle. It was Julia Romaninov +beyond a doubt, and Gimblet drew back quickly and took up his position +behind the funnels on the after-deck. In spite of the rain he remained +there until the boat reached Crianan, leaning against the rail with his +collar turned up and his soft felt hat pulled down over his ears, so that +little of him was visible except the tip of his nose. + +His mind, always active, was busier than usual as he watched the +ripples roll away in endless succession from the sides of the +_Inverashiel_--which looked so strangely less white on closer +inspection--or followed the smooth soaring movements of the gulls that +swooped and circled around her, as she puffed and panted on her way +across the black, taciturn waters. + +As they drew near to Crianan he concealed himself still more carefully +behind a pile of crates, and not till Miss Romaninov had left the steamer +did he emerge from his hiding-place and step warily off the boat. + +The young lady was still in sight, making her way up the steep pitch of +the main street, and the detective followed her discreetly, loitering +before shop windows, as if fascinated by the display of Scottish +homespuns, or samples of Royal Stewart tartan, and taking an +extraordinary interest in fishing-tackle and trout-flies. + +But, though the girl looked back more than once, the little man in the +ulster who was so intent on picking his way between the puddles did +not apparently provide her with any food for suspicion; and she made +no attempt to see who was so carefully sheltered beneath the umbrella +he carried. + +At last they left the cobble-stones of the little town and emerged upon +the high road, which here ran across the open moorland. + +It was difficult now to continue the pursuit unobserved: and Gimblet +became absorbed in the contemplation of an enormous cairngorm, which was +masquerading as an article of personal adornment in the window of the +last outlying shop. + +From this position--not without its embarrassments, since a couple of +barefooted children came instantly to the door, where they stood and +stared at him unblinkingly--he saw the Russian advancing at a rapid pace +across the moor; and, look where he would, could perceive no means of +keeping up with her unobserved upon the bare side of the hill. + +Just as he decided that the distance separating them had increased to an +extent which warranted his continuing the chase, he joyfully saw her +slacken her pace, and at the same moment a man, who must have been +sitting behind a boulder beside the road, rose to his feet out of the +heather, and came forward to meet her. For ten long minutes they stood +talking, driving poor Gimblet to the desperate expedient of entering the +shop and demanding a closer acquaintance with the cairngorm. It is +humiliating to relate that he recoiled before it when it was placed in +his hand, and nearly fled again into the road. However, he pulled himself +together and held the proud proprietress, a gaunt, grey-haired woman with +knitting-needles ever clicking in her dexterous hands, in conversation +upon the theme of its unique beauties until the subject was exhausted to +the point of collapse. + +Every other minute he must stroll to the door and take a look up and down +the road. A friend, he explained, had promised to meet him in that place; +and though the shopwoman plainly doubted his veracity, and kept a sharp +eye that he did not take to his heels with the cairngorm, she did not go +so far as to suggest his removing himself from the zone of temptation. + +At last, when for the twentieth time he put his nose round the doorpost, +he saw that the pair had separated, and were walking in opposite +directions, the girl continuing on her way, while the man returned to the +town. He was, indeed, not a hundred yards off. + +Gimblet plunged once more into the shop, and fastened upon some pencils +with a zeal not very convincing after his disappointing vacillation over +the brooch. The gaunt woman cheered up, however, when he bought the first +seventeen she offered him, and, the stock being exhausted, finished by +purchasing a piece of india-rubber, a stylographic pen, and a penny paper +of pins, which she pressed upon him as particularly suited to his needs +and charged him fourpence for. + +By the time he issued forth into the open air, his pockets full of +packages, the stranger had passed the shop and was turning the corner of +the next house. To him, now, Gimblet devoted his powers of shadowing. + +There was no great difficulty about it. The man walked straight before +him, looking neither to the right nor to the left, and as he strode along +the wet roads Gimblet noted with satisfaction the long, narrow, pointed +footprints that were deeply impressed in the muddy places. He had no +doubt they were the same as those he had noticed on the beach on the day +of his arrival at Inverashiel. + +The stranger turned into the Crianan Hotel, which stands on the lake +front, fifty yards from the landing-place of the loch steamers. Gimblet +passed the door without pausing and went down to the loch, where he +mingled with the boatmen and loafers who congregated by the waterside. + +He kept, however, a strict eye on the door of the hotel, and after a +quarter of an hour saw the object of his attentions emerge with +fishing-rod and basket, and cross the road directly towards him. Gimblet +had not been able to see his face before, but now he had a good look as +he passed close beside him. + +He was a tall, fair man, evidently a foreigner, but with nothing very +striking about his appearance. A pointed yellow beard hid the lower part +of his face, and, for the rest, his nose was short, his eyes blue and +close together, and his forehead high and narrow. He looked closely at +Gimblet as he went by, and for a moment the eyes of the two men met, both +equally inscrutable and unflinching; then the stranger glanced aside and +strode on to where a small boat lay moored. The detective turned his back +while the fair man got in and pushed off into the loch. + +"Gentleman going fishing?" he remarked to a man who lounged hard by upon +the causeway. + +"He's axtra fond o' the feeshin'," was the reply, "for a' that he's a +foreign shentleman." + +Waiting till the boat had become a distant speck on the face of the +waters, Gimblet made his way into the inn and entered into conversation +with the landlord, on the pretext of engaging rooms for a friend. The +landlord was sorry, but the house was full. + +"If ye wanted them in a fortnicht's time," he said, "ye could hae the +hale hotel; but tae the end o' the holidays we're foll up. Folks tak' +their rooms a month in advance; they come here for the fishin' on the +loch, and because my hoose is the maist comfortable in the Hielands." + +"Indeed, I can well believe that," Gimblet assured him. "I suppose you +get a lot of tourists passing through, though, Americans, for instance?" + +"We hardly ever hae a room tae tak' them in. No, I seldom hae an American +bidin' here; they maistly gang doon the loch," said the innkeeper. + +"I thought," said Gimblet, "that was a foreign-looking man whom I saw a +little while ago, coming out of the hotel." + +"We hae ae gintleman bidin' here wha belongs tae foreign pairts," the +landlord admitted. "A Polish gintleman, he is, Count Pretovsky, a vary +nice gintleman. I couldna just cae him a tourist. He's vary keen on the +fishin' and was up here for it last year as well. He has his ain boat and +is aye on the water trailin' aefter the salmon." + +"A great many sporting foreigners come to our island nowadays," Gimblet +remarked. "Does he get many fish?" + +"Oh, it's a grand place for salmon," said the inn-keeper with obvious +pride. "And there's troots tac. And pike, mair's the peety," he added. + +"Dear me," said Gimblet, "just what my friend wants. I'm sorry you +can't take him in. I must tell him to write in good time next year if +he wants a room." + +As he parted from the landlord upon the doorstep of the Crianan Hotel, +the _Rob Roy_--the second of the two loch steamers--was edging away from +the pier, under a cloud of black smoke from her funnel The rain had +stopped; the passengers were scattered on the deck, and in the bows of +the vessel the detective caught sight of Julia Romaninov's tweed-clad +form. She was leaning against the rail, and gazing at a distant part of +the loch where a black speck, which might represent a rowing boat, could +faintly be discerned. She had come back, then, from her moorland walk. It +was as Gimblet had expected; and, though he chafed at the delay, he +regretted less than he would have otherwise that he could not catch the +_Rob Roy_. + +The _Inverashiel_ would be due on her homeward trip in a couple of hours' +time, and meanwhile he had other business that must be attended to. + +He went first to the post office, where he registered and posted to +Scotland Yard a packet he had brought with him. Then, after asking +his way of the sociable landlord of the hotel, he proceeded to the +police station, a single-storied stone building standing at the end +of a side street. + +Here he made himself known to the inspector, and imparted information +which made that personage open his eyes considerably wider than was +his custom. + +"If you will bring one of your men, and come with me yourself," said +Gimblet, at the conclusion of the interview, "I think I shall be able to +convince you that a mistake has been made. In the meantime there will be +no harm done by a watch being kept on the foreign gentleman who is at +this moment trolling for salmon on the loch." + +The inspector agreed; and when the _Inverashiel_ started, an hour later, +on her voyage down the loch, she carried the two policemen on her deck, +as well as the most notorious detective she was ever likely to have the +privilege of conveying. + +It was nearly three o'clock when they landed on the Inverashiel pier. + +The weather, which for the last few hours had looked like clearing, had +now turned definitely to rain; clouds had descended on the hills, and the +trees in the valleys stooped and dripped in the saturated, mist-laden +air. Gimblet conducted the men to the cottage, where Lady Ruth anxiously +awaited them. + +"If you don't mind their staying here," he suggested to her, "while I go +up to the castle and consult Lord Ashiel about a magistrate, it will be +most convenient, on account of the distance." + +"By all means," said Lady Ruth. "I feel safer with them. I expect you +will find Miss Byrne up there. She has not come in to lunch, and I think +she probably met Mark and went to lunch at the castle. She ought to know +better than to go to lunch alone with a young man, and I am just +wondering if she has changed her mind and accepted him after all. Girls +are kittle cattle, but I've got quite fond of that one, and I hope she's +not forgotten poor David so soon. I really am feeling anxious about her." + +"I daresay she has only walked farther than she intended," said Gimblet, +"or perhaps she came to a burn or some place she couldn't get over, and +has had to go round a mile or two. Depend on it, that's what's happened. +But I promise you that if she is at the castle I will bring her back when +I return." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +Behind the shrubberies, which lay at the back of the holly hedge that +surrounded the little enclosed garden outside the library, beyond the +end of the battlements, and reached by a disused footpath, a great tree +stood upon the edge of the steep hillside and thrust its sweeping +branches over the void. + +Its trunk was grey and moss-grown; moss carpeted the ground between its +protruding roots, but the bracken and heather held back, and left a +half-circle beneath it, untenanted by their kind. It would seem that all +vegetation fears to venture beneath the shade of the beech; and for the +most part it stands solitary, shunned by other growing things except +moss, which creeps undaunted where its more vigorous brothers lack the +courage to establish themselves. + +Here came Juliet that morning. + +A week ago, David Southern had shown her the path to the tree. It had +been a favourite haunt of his when he was a boy, he told her. It was a +private chamber to which he resorted on the rare occasions when he was +disposed to solitude; when something had gone wrong with his world he had +been used to retire there with his dog, or, more seldom, a book. There he +had been accustomed to lie, his back supported by the tree, and hold +forth to the dog upon the troubles and difficulties of life and the +general crookedness of things; or, if a book were his companion, he +would gaze out, between the pages, at distant Crianan clinging faintly to +the knees of Ben Ghusy, and watch the swift change of passing cloud and +hanging curtain of mist upon the faces of the hills and loch. + +It had been a place all his own; secret from every one, even from Mark, +his companion during all those holidays that he had spent at Inverashiel. +Somehow, David told Juliet--and it was a confidence he had seldom before +imparted to anyone--he had never quite managed to hit it off with Mark. +He couldn't say why, exactly. No doubt it was his own fault; but there +was no accounting for one's likes and dislikes. + +And with quick regret at having betrayed his carefully suppressed +feelings in regard to his cousin, David had laughed apologetically, and +spoken of other things. + +Here, then, just as the steamer _Rob Roy_ was drawing close to the wooden +landing-stage at the edge of the loch, with Julia Romaninov still +standing in the bows; here, because she had once been to this place with +him, because without her he had so often sat upon these mossy roots, came +Juliet to dream of her love. + +Like him, she seated herself against the tree trunk at the giddy brink of +the precipitous rock; like him, her eyes rested on the smooth waters +below her, or on the far-away misty distance where Crianan slumbered; +but, unlike him, her eyes, as they looked, were filled with tears. Where +was he now? Oh, David, poor unjustly treated David! In what narrow cell, +lighted only by a high, iron-barred window--for so the scene shaped +itself in her mind--with uncovered floor of stone, bare walls and a bench +to lie on, was the man she loved wearing away his days under the burden +of so frightful an accusation? + +For the thousandth time Juliet's blood boiled within her at the +thought, and she grew hot with anger and indignant scorn. That anyone +should have dared to suspect him! Why were such fools, such wicked, +evil-working imbeciles as the police allowed to exist for one moment +upon the face of the globe? But no doubt they had some hidden motive in +arresting him, for it was quite incredible that they really imagined he +had committed this appalling crime. She could not understand their +motive, to be sure, but without doubt there must have been some reason +which was not clear to her. + +Oh, David, David! Was he thinking of her, as she was thinking of him? Did +he know, by instinct, that she would be doing all that could be done to +bring about his release? But was she? Again her mind was filled with the +disquieting question, was there nothing that might be done, that she was +leaving undone? Had she forgotten something, neglected something? She was +sure Gimblet did not believe David to be guilty, but was he certain of +being able to prove his innocence? He did not seem to have discovered +much at present. + +Suddenly, in the midst of her distress, she smiled to herself. + +At least Miss Tarver had shown herself in her true colours, and was no +more to be considered. Juliet felt that she could almost forgive her for +her readiness to believe the worst. It was dreadful, yes, and shameful +that anyone else should think for a moment that David could be capable of +such a deed, but in Miss Tarver, perhaps, the thought had not been +inexcusable. On the whole, it was so nice of her to break the engagement +that she might be forgiven the ridiculous reason she had advanced for +doing it. Of course, Juliet assured herself, it was a mere pretext, +because _no_ one could possibly believe it. And in this manner she +continued to reiterate her conviction that the suspicions entertained of +her lover were all assumed for some darkly obscure purpose. + +So the morning wore away. A shower or two passed down the valley, but +under the thick tent of the beech leaves she scarcely felt it. She was, +besides, dressed for bad weather; and the grey and mournful face of the +day was in harmony with her mood. + +There was something comforting in this high perch. She seemed more aloof +from the troubles and despair of the last few days than she had imagined +possible. There was a calm, a remoteness, about the grey mountains, +disappearing and reappearing from behind their screen of cloud but +unchanged and unmoved by what went on around and among them, that was in +some way reassuring. + +The burn that ran at the bottom of the hill on which she sat, hurrying +down to the loch in such turbulent foaming haste, she was able to +compare, with a sad smile, to herself. The loch, she thought, was wide +and impassive as justice, which did not allow itself to be influenced by +the emotions. The burn would get down just the same without so much +turmoil and fuss; and she would see David's name cleared, equally surely, +if she waited calmly on events, instead of burning her heart out in +hopeless impatience and anxiety. + +As she gazed, with some such thoughts as these, down to the stream +that splashed on its way below her, her attention was caught by a +movement in the bushes half-way down the steep slope at the top of +which she was sitting. + +The day was windless and no leaf moved on any tree. There must be some +animal among the shrubs that covered the embankment, some large animal, +since its movements caused so much commotion; for, as she watched, first +one bush and then another stirred and bent and was shaken as if by +something thrusting its way through the dense growth. + +What could it be? A sheep, perhaps; there were many of them on the +hillsides. This must be one that had strayed far from the rest. And yet +would a sheep make so much stir? Juliet drew back a little behind the +trunk of the beech-tree. Could it be a deer? She could not hear any sound +of the creature's advance, for the air was full of the clamour of the +burn, but she could trace the direction of its progress by shaking leaves +and swinging boughs. It seemed to be gradually mounting the slope. + +Suddenly a head emerged from the waving mass of a rhododendron, and with +astonishment Juliet saw that it was that of Julia Romaninov. + +Her first impulse was to lean forward and call her, but as she did so the +cry died unheard upon her lips. For the manner of Julia's advance struck +her as very odd. The girl was bending nearly double, and moving with a +caution that seemed very strange and unnecessary. What was the matter? +Was she stalking something? Crouching as she was in the bushes, she would +not be seen by anyone on the path below. Did she not want to be seen? It +looked more and more like it. But why in the world should Julia creep +along as if she feared to be observed? Where was she going, and why? + +Suddenly Juliet came to a quick decision: she would find out what Julia +Romaninov was doing. + +She backed hurriedly into the bracken, and made her way slowly and +cautiously around the clearing under the beech-tree to the edge of the +hill again, keeping under cover of the fern and heather. When she peered +over, Julia had disappeared from view beneath the rhododendrons. + +For a minute Juliet's eyes searched the side of the slope below. Then she +drew back her head quickly, for she had caught sight of another bush +shaking uneasily a little way beyond the gap in which she had had her +first glimpse of the cause of the disturbance. Cowering low in the +bracken she crept along the top, keeping a foot or two from the edge, +where the rock fell nearly perpendicularly for a few yards before its +angle changed to the comparatively gradual, though actually steep slope +of the hill which Julia was climbing. + +From time to time she looked cautiously between clumps of fern or heath, +to make sure that she was keeping level with her unconscious quarry. + +The front of the hill swung round in a bold curve till it reached the +castle; and it soon became evident that, if both girls continued to +advance along the lines they were following, they would converge at a +point where the end of the battlemented wall met the great holly hedge +that formed two sides of the garden enclosure. + +Juliet perceived this when she was not more than a dozen yards from the +corner, and dropped at full length to the soft ground, at a spot where +she could see between the stalks and under the leaves, and yet herself +remain concealed. She had not long to wait. In a minute, Julia's face +appeared over the brow of the hill. She pulled herself up by a young fir +sapling that hung over the brink, and stood for a moment, flushed and +panting after her long climb. She was dressed in a greenish tweed, which +blended with the woodland surroundings, and her shoulder was turned to +the place where Juliet lay wondering whether she would be discovered. + +Fronting them, the end of the little turret, with which the wall of the +old fortress now came to a sudden termination, could be seen rearing its +grey stones above the dark glossy foliage of the hedge, which grew here +with peculiar vigour and continued to the extreme edge of the cliff, and +even farther. + +What was Juliet's surprise to see Julia, when she had found her breath, +and taken one quick look round as if to satisfy herself she was +unobserved, suddenly cast herself down, in her turn, upon the damp earth, +and inserting her head beneath the prickly barricade of the holly leaves, +begin to crawl and wriggle forward until she had completely disappeared +under it. What in the world could she be doing? + +Minutes passed, and she did not reappear. Juliet waited, her nerves +stretched in expectation, but nothing happened. Overhead little birds, +tomtits and creepers, played about the bark of the fir-trees; a robin +came and looked at her consideringly, with a bright sensible eye; from +two hundred feet below, the murmur of the burn rose constant and +insistent; but no other sound broke the stillness, nor was there any sign +of human life upon the top of the cliff. + +At last the girl could stand it no longer. Her patience was exhausted. +Curiosity urged her like a goad; and, if she had not much expectation of +making any important discovery, she was at least determined to solve the +mystery that now perplexed her. + +Without more ado she got to her feet, and ran to the holly hedge. There, +throwing herself down once more, she parted the leaves with a cautious +hand, and followed the path taken by the Russian. + +The hedge was old and very thick, more than three yards in width at this +end of it. In the middle, the trunks of the trees that formed it rose in +a close-growing, impassable barrier; but just opposite the place where +Julia had vanished Juliet found that there was a gap, caused, perhaps, by +the death in earlier days of one of the trees, or, as she afterwards +thought more likely, by the intentional omission or destruction of one of +the young plants. It was a narrow opening, but she managed to wriggle +through it. + +On the other side, progress was bounded by the wall, whose massive +granite blocks presented a smooth unbroken surface. Where, then, had +Julia gone? The branches did not grow low on this, as on the outer side +of the hedge, and there was room to stand, though not to stand upright. +Stooping uncomfortably, the girl looked about her, and saw in the soft +brown earth the plain print of many footsteps, both going and coming, +between the place where she crouched and the end of the wall. She looked +behind her, and there were no marks. Clearly, Julia had gone to the end; +but what then? The corner of the wall was at the very edge of the +precipice; from what she remembered to have seen from below, the rock +was too sheer to offer any foothold; besides why, having just climbed to +the summit should anyone immediately descend again, and by such an +extraordinary route? While these thoughts followed one another in her +mind, Juliet had advanced along the track of the footsteps, and clinging +tightly to the trunk of the last holly bush she leant forward and looked +down. + +As she thought, the descent was impossible: the rock fell away at her +feet, sheer and smooth; there was no path there that a cat could take. It +made her giddy to look, and she drew back hurriedly. + +Where, then, could Julia have gone? Not to the left, that was certain, +for then she would have emerged again into view. To the right? That +seemed impossible. Still, Juliet leant forward again, and peered round +the corner of the wall. + +There, not more than a couple of feet away, was a small opening, less +than eighteen inches wide by about a yard in height. Hidden by the +overhanging end of the hedge, it would be invisible from below. Here was +the road Julia had taken. + +Juliet did not hesitate. She could reach the aperture easily, and it +would have been the simplest thing in the world to climb into it, but +for the yawning chasm beneath. Holding firmly to the friendly holly, and +resisting, with an effort, the temptation to look down, she swung +herself bravely over the edge and scrambled into the hole with a gasp of +relief. It was, after all, not very difficult. She found herself +standing within the entrance of a narrow passage built into the +thickness of the wall. Beside the opening through which she had come, a +little door of oak, grey with age and strengthened with rusty bars and +cross-pieces of iron, drooped upon its one remaining hinge. Two huge +slabs of stone leaning near it, against the wall, showed how it had +been the custom in former centuries to fortify the entrance still more +effectively in time of danger. + +Juliet did not wait to examine these fragments, interesting though they +might be to archaeologists, but hurried down the passage as quickly as +she could in the darkness that filled it, feeling her way with an +outstretched hand upon the stones on either side. As her eyes became +accustomed to the obscurity, she saw that though the way was dark it was +yet not entirely so: a gloomy light penetrated at intervals through +ivy-covered loopholes pierced in the thickness of the outer wall; and she +imagined bygone McConachans pouring boiling oil or other hospitable +greeting through those slits on to the heads of their neighbours. But +surely, she reflected, no one would ever have attacked the castle from +that side, where the precipice already offered an impregnable defence; +the passage must have been used as a means of communication with the +outer world, or, perhaps, as a last resort, for the purpose of escape by +the beleaguered forces. + +After fifty yards or so of comparatively easy progress, the shafts of +twilight from the loopholes ceased to permeate the murky darkness in +which she walked, and she was obliged to go more slowly, and to feel her +way dubiously by the touch of hands and feet. + +The floor appeared to her to be sloping away beneath her, and as she +advanced the descent became more and more rapid, till she could hardly +keep her feet. She went very gingerly, with a vague fear lest the path +should stop unexpectedly, and she herself step into space. + +Presently she found herself once more upon level ground, when another +difficulty confronted her: the walls came suddenly to an end. Feeling +cautiously about her in the darkness, she made out that she had come to a +point where another passage crossed the one she was following, a sort of +cross-road in this unknown country of shade and stone. Here, then, were +three possible routes to take, and no means of knowing which of them +Julia Romaninov had gone by. + +After a little hesitation, she decided to keep straight on. It would at +all events be easier to return if she did, and she would be less likely +to make a mistake and lose her way. So on she stumbled; and who shall say +that Fate had not a hand in this chance decision? + +Though the distance she had traversed was inconsiderable, the darkness +and uncertainty made it appear to her immense, and each moment she +expected to come upon the Russian girl. At every other step she paused +and listened, but no sound met her ears except a slight, regular, +thudding noise, which she presently discovered, with something of a +shock, to be the beating of her own heart. The sound of her progress was +almost inaudible. As the day was damp, she was wearing goloshes, and her +small, rubber-shod feet fell upon the stone floor with a gentle patter +that was scarcely perceptible. + +At last she nearly fell over the first step of a flight of stairs. + +She mounted them one by one with every precaution her fears could +suggest. For by now the first enthusiasm of the chase had worn off, and +the solitude and darkness of this strange place had worked upon her +nerves till she was terrified of she knew not what, and ready to scream +at a touch. + +Already she bitterly regretted having started out upon this enterprise +of spying. Why had she not gone and reported what she had seen to Mr. +Gimblet? That surely would have been the obvious, the sensible course. It +was, she reflected, a course still open to her; and in another moment she +would have turned and taken it, but even as the thought crossed her mind +she was aware that the darkness was sensibly decreased, and in another +second she had risen into comparative daylight. As she stood still, +debating what she should do, and taking in all that could now be +distinguished of her surroundings, she saw that the stairs ended in an +open trap-door, leading to a high, black-lined shaft like the inside of a +chimney, in which, some two feet above the trap, an odd, narrow curve of +glass acted as a window, and admitted a very small quantity of light. A +streak of light seemed to come also from the wall beside it. + +Juliet drew herself cautiously up, till her head was in the chimney, and +her eyes level with the slip of glass. + +With a sudden shock of surprise she saw that she was looking into the +room which, above all others, she had so much cause to remember ever +having entered. + +It was, indeed, the library of the castle, and she was looking at it from +the inside of that clock into which Gimblet had once before seen Julia +Romaninov vanish. + +The curtains were drawn in the room, but after the absolute blackness of +the stone corridors the semi-dusk looked nearly as bright as full +daylight to Juliet, and she had no difficulty in distinguishing that +there was but one person in the library, and that person Julia. + +She was standing by a bookshelf at the far end, near the window, and +seemed to be methodically engaged in an examination of the books. Juliet +saw her take out first one, then another, musty, leather-bound volume, +shake it, turn over the leaves, and put it back in its place after +groping with her hand at the back of the shelf. Plainly she was hunting +for something. But for what? She had no business where she was, in any +case, and Juliet's indignation gathered and swelled within her as she +watched this unwarrantable intrusion. + +She would confront the girl and ask her what she meant by such behaviour. +But how to get into the library? + +Looking about her, she saw that the streak of light in the wall beside +her came through a perpendicular crack which might well be the edge of a +little door. + +She pushed gently and the wood yielded to her fingers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Later on in the afternoon, when Gimblet arrived at the castle, he was +immediately shown into the presence of Lord Ashiel, who was pacing the +smoking-room restlessly, a cigarette between his teeth. He looked pale +and haggard, the strain of the last few days had evidently been too +much for him. + +Gimblet greeted him sympathetically. + +"You have not found your uncle's will, I can see," he began, "and you are +fretting at the idea of keeping his daughter out of her fortune. But set +your mind at rest; we shall be able to put that right. Is she here, by +the way?" he added, remembering Lady Ruth's anxiety. + +"Here, of course not! What do you mean?" cried Mark, stopping suddenly +in his walk. + +"Well, I was sure she was not," Gimblet replied, "but I promised to ask. +Lady Ruth is rather upset because Miss Byrne did not come in to lunch. I +told her she had probably gone for a longer walk than had been her +intention," he added soothingly, for Mark was looking at him with a +disturbed expression. + +He seemed relieved, however, by the detective's suggestion. + +"Yes, no doubt, that would be the reason," he murmured, lighting a fresh +cigarette, and throwing himself down in an easy-chair, with his hands +clasped behind his head. "No, I haven't found any will, and there's not +a corner left that I haven't turned inside out. I suppose he never really +made it. Just talked about it, probably, as people are so fond of doing. +And now I'm at a loose end; all alone in this big house with no one to +speak to and nothing to do with myself. It's a beast of a day, or I +should go out and try for a salmon, in self-defence. To-morrow I shall go +South. And you, have you found out anything new about the murder yet?" + +"I have found out one thing which you will be glad to hear," said +Gimblet, "and that is the place where the missing will is concealed." + +"What!" cried Mark, leaping to his feet. "Where is it? What does it say? +Give it to me!" + +"I haven't got it," Gimblet told him. "I don't know what it says, but I +know where to look for it. It is in the statue your uncle put up on the +track known as the Green Way. I have found a memorandum of his which sets +the matter beyond a doubt." + +And he related at length the story of the half-sheet of paper with the +mysterious writing, and of how he had learnt by accident of the manner in +which the statue fitted in with the obscure directions, omitting nothing +except the fact that he had already acted on the information so far as to +make certain of the actual existence of the tin box, and saying that he +should prefer the papers to be brought to light in the presence of a +magistrate. + +"I believe there are other documents there besides the will," he said, +without troubling to explain what excellent reasons he had for such a +belief. "I understood from your uncle that there might be some of an +almost international importance. In case any dispute should subsequently +arise about them, I wish to have more than one reliable witness to their +being found. Can you send a man over to the lodge at Glenkliquart, and +ask General Tenby to come back with him. I am told that he is a +magistrate." + +Gimblet did not think it necessary to relate how he had obtained +possession of the sheet of paper bearing the injunction to "face +curiosity." His adventures on that night savoured too strongly of +house-breaking to be drawn attention to. + +"Your uncle must have posted it to me in London the day before he died," +he said mendaciously. "It was forwarded here, and at first I could make +neither head nor tail of it." + +"Why didn't you tell me?" Mark asked impatiently. "And yet," he added +reflecting, "I might not have seen to what it referred. Yes, of course I +will send over for General Tenby. He can't come for three or four hours, +though, which will make it rather late. Are you sure we had not better +open the thing sooner? The bull's horn at the south-east corner turns +like a key, you say? Suppose some one else finds that out and makes off +with whatever may be hidden there." + +"I am absolutely sure we needn't fear anything of the sort, because I +have the best of reasons for being positive that no one has the slightest +inkling of the secret," Gimblet assured him. "There is a whole gang of +scoundrels after the document of which your uncle told me, who are ready +to spend any money, or risk any penalty, in order to obtain it. They will +not be deterred even by having to pay for it with their lives. You may be +quite sure that if anyone had suspected where it was concealed, it would +not have been allowed to remain there, and we should find the _cache_ +empty. But we may safely argue that they have not found it, since in that +case they certainly would not hang about the neighbourhood." + +"Do you mean to say," cried Mark, "that you think there are any of +these Nihilist people lurking about? That letter which came for +Uncle Douglas--the letter from Paris--I guessed it meant something +of the sort." + +"There is a foreigner staying at Crianan," said Gimblet, "whom I have +every reason to suspect. More than that, there has been a Russian in your +very midst who, I am afraid, you will be shocked to hear, is hand in +glove with him." + +"Whom do you mean?" exclaimed Mark, "not--not Julia Romaninov?" It seemed +to the detective that he winced as he uttered the name of the girl. +Silently Gimblet bowed his head, and for a minute the two men stood +without a word. "Then," stammered Mark, "you think that she--that +she--Oh," he cried, "I can hardly believe that!" + +Gimblet did not reply, but after a few moments walked over to the +writing-table and spread out a piece of notepaper. He kept his back +turned towards the young man, who seemed thankful for an opportunity to +recover his composure. + +His face was still working nervously, however, when at length the +detective turned and held out a pen towards him. + +"Will you not write at once to General Tenby?" he suggested. + +Mark sat down before the blotting-pad. + +"He will be at home," he said mechanically. "This weather will have +driven them in early if they have been shooting." + +The note was written and dispatched by a groom on horseback, and then +Gimblet bade au revoir to his host at the door of the castle. + +"I will go back to the cottage," he said; "I have an accumulation of +correspondence that absolutely must be attended to, and I do not think +there is anything to be done up here before General Tenby comes. Once we +have the Nihilist papers in our hands I have a little plan by which I +think our birds may be trapped. Will you meet me at the cottage at +half-past six? The General will have to pass it on the way to +Inverashiel, and we can stop him as he goes by." + +"It will be about seven o'clock, I expect," said Mark, "when he gets down +from Glenkliquart. I'll be with you before he is. The Lord knows how I +shall get through the time till he comes. I loathe writing letters, but +this afternoon I'm dashed if I don't almost envy you and your +correspondence." + +"I know it is the waiting that tells on one," Gimblet said, his voice +full of kindly sympathy. "What you want is to get right away from this +place. Its associations must be horrible to you. No one could really be +astonished if you never set foot in it again." + +Mark laughed rather bitterly. + +"That's just what I feel like," he said shortly. "My uncle killed; my +cousin arrested; my friend accused. Miss Byrne refusing to let me behave +decently to her about the money. Oh well," he pulled himself up, and +spoke in a more guarded tone, "one gets used to everything in time, no +doubt, but just at present, I'm afraid, I am rather depressing company. +See you later." + +They went their ways, Gimblet going forth into the drenching rain which +was now falling down the road, through the soaking woodlands to the +cottage, where the Crianan policemen still smoked their pipes +undisturbed. Lady Ruth met him at the gate, running down in her +waterproof when she saw him approaching. + +"Where is Juliet?" she cried. "Wasn't she at Inverashiel?" + +"Hasn't she come back?" asked Gimblet, answering her question by another. + +"No sign of her. What can have happened? Mr. Gimblet, I am really getting +dreadfully anxious. She must have gone on to the hills and lost her way +in the mist." + +"She is sure to get back in time," Gimblet tried to reassure her, though +he himself was beginning to wonder at the girl's absence. "Perhaps," he +added, "she is at Mrs. Clutsam's. I daresay that's the truth of it." + +"She can't be there," Lady Ruth answered. "Mrs. Clutsam told me she was +going out all day, to-day, to visit her husband's sister who is staying +somewhere twenty miles from here on the Oban road, and longing, of +course, to hear all about the murder at first hand. Relations are so +exacting, and if they are relations-in-law they become positive Shylocks. +Juliet may have gone to the lodge though, all the same, and stayed to +keep the Romaninov girl company." + +She seemed to be satisfied with this explanation; and Gimblet had tea +with her, and then went to write his letters. + +Soon after six one of the policemen went down to the high road to lie in +wait for General Tenby, and about twenty minutes past the hour wheels +rattled on the gravel of the short carriage-drive, and the General drove +up to the door. He was a tall, soldierly-looking man of between fifty and +sixty, with a red face and a keen blue eye, and a precise, jerky manner. + +"Ah, Lady Ruth! Glad to see you bearing up so well under these tragic +circumstances," he said, shaking hands with that lady, who came to the +door to welcome him. "Poor Ashiel ought to have had shutters to his +windows. Dreadful mistake, no shutters: lets in draughts and colds in the +head, if nothing worse. These old houses are all the same. No safety in +them from anything. Young McConachan wrote me an urgent note to come +over. Don't quite see what for, but here I am. Eh? What do you say? Oh, +detective from London, is it? How d'ye do? Perhaps you can tell me what +the programme is?" + +"Young Lord Ashiel promised to meet us here at half-past six," Gimblet +told him. "We expect to put our hands on some important documents, and I +was anxious you should be present." + +"Quite unnecessary. Absolutely ridiculous. Still, here I am. May as well +come along." + +The General went on talking to Lady Ruth, but after a few minutes the +inspector from Crianan sent in to ask if he could speak to him, and they +retired together to Lady Ruth's little private sitting-room, where they +remained closeted for some time. While the old soldier was listening to +what the policeman had to tell him, Gimblet began to show signs of +restlessness. He went to the door and looked about him. The weather was +clearing, the clouds breaking and scudding fast before a wind which had +arisen in the North; a tinge of blue showed here and there in the +interstices between them, while a veil of mist that trailed after them +shone faintly orange in the rays of the hidden sun. + +Gimblet went back and sat down in the drawing-room with the _Scotsman_ in +his hand. He put it down after a few minutes, however, and began +fidgeting about the room. Then he went and conferred with the second of +the two policemen, and as he was talking to him the General and the +inspector reappeared. + +"I think," said Gimblet, coming towards them, "that we will not wait any +longer for Lord Ashiel." + +General Tenby, staring at him with rather a strange expression, +nevertheless silently assented, and the four men started on their walk to +the green way. + +As they went up the glen a ray of sunshine emerged from between the +flying clouds, and fell upon the statue at the end of the enclosed glade. +Away to the right their eyes could follow the track of a distant shower; +and as they went a rainbow curved across the sky, stretching from hill to +hill like some great monumental arch set up for the celestial armies to +march under on their return from the conquest of the earth. + +"That statue," Gimblet remarked to the General, who walked beside him, +"is a specimen of the worst modern Italian sculpture. The figure of +Pandora is modelled like a sack of potatoes; the composition is weak and +unsatisfactory; and the pediment on which the whole group is poised large +enough to support three others of the same size." + +The General grunted. + +"I always understood that the late Lord Ashiel knew what he was +about," he said stiffly. "He told me himself that it cost him a great +deal of money." + +Gimblet sighed. He could not help feeling that it was a pity Lord Ashiel +had not earlier fallen into the habit of consulting him. + +Still, he was bound to admit that though the stone group, regarded as +a work of art, was altogether deplorable, the general effect of the +erection, in its rectangular setting of forest, was excellent. The +whole scene was one of peaceful and romantic beauty. Poets might have +sat themselves down in that moist and shining spot; and, forgetful of +the possibilities of rheumatism, found their muse inspiring beyond +the ordinary. + +Gimblet was at heart something of a poet, but he felt no inclination to +communicate the feelings which the place and hour aroused in him to any +of his companions; and it was in a silence which had in it something +dimly foreboding that the party drew near to the statue. + +In silence, Gimblet approached the great block of stone and laid his hand +upon the projecting horn of the bull. Equally silently the two policemen +had taken up positions at the end of the pedestal; the General stood +behind them, alert and interested. + +After a swift glance, which took in all these details, Gimblet turned the +horn round in its socket. + +The hidden door swung open, and there was a sound of muttered +exclamations from the police and a loud oath from the General. Gimblet +sprang round the corner of the pedestal, and there, as he expected, +cowering in the mouth of the disclosed cavity, and looking, in his fury +of fear and mortification, for all the world like some trapped vermin, +crouched Lord Ashiel, glaring at his liberators with a rage that was +hardly sane. + +Beyond him, on the floor at the back, they could see the tin dispatch +box standing open and empty. + +The two policemen, acting on instructions previously given them, made one +simultaneous grab at the young man and dragged him into the open with +several seconds to spare before the door slammed to again, in obedience +to the invisible mechanism that controlled it. They set him on his legs +on the wet turf, and stood, one on each side of him, a retaining hand +still resting on either arm. + +For a moment Mark gazed from the General to the detective, his eyes full +of hatred. Then he controlled himself with an effort, and when he spoke +it was with a forced lightness of manner. + +"I have to thank you for letting me out," he said. "The air in there was +getting terrible." He paused, and filled his lungs ostentatiously, but +no one answered him. Losing something of his assumed calmness, he went +on, uneasily: "I just thought I'd come along and see if there was any +truth in Mr. Gimblet's story; and I was quite right to doubt it, since +there isn't. He's not quite as clever as he thinks, for he was as +positive as you like that my uncle's will was hidden here, but as a +matter of fact it's not, as I was taking the trouble to make sure when +that cursed statue shut me in. There's nothing in it of any sort except +an empty tin box." + +"There's nothing in it now," said Gimblet, speaking for the first time, +"because I had no doubt you meant to destroy the will if you found it, so +I removed it to a safe place last night. As for the other papers, I have +sent them to London, where they will be still safer. I knew you would +give yourself away by coming here. That's why I told you the secret of +the bull's horn." + +Mark's face was dreadful to see. He made a menacing step forward as if +he would throw himself upon the detective. But the strong right hands of +Inspector Cameron and Police Constable Fraser tightened on his arms and +restrained his further action. He seemed for the first time to be +conscious of their presence. + +"Leave go of my arm," he shouted. "What the devil do you mean by putting +your dirty hands on me?" + +"My lord," said the inspector, "you had better come quietly. I am here to +arrest you for the murder of your uncle, Lord Ashiel, and I warn you that +anything you say may be used against you." + +"Are you going to arrest the whole family?" scoffed Mark. "Where's your +warrant, man?" + +"I have it here, my lord," replied the inspector, fumbling in his pocket +for the paper the astonished General had signed when the inspector had +imparted to him, in Lady Ruth's little sitting-room, the information he +had received from Mr. Gimblet. + +As Inspector Cameron fumbled, the young man, with a sudden jerk which +found them unprepared, threw off the hold upon his arms and leaped aside. + +As he did so, he plunged his hand into his pocket and drew forth a +little phial. + +"You shall never take me alive," he cried, and lifted it to his lips. + +"Stop him!" shouted Gimblet. + +Throwing his whole weight upon the uplifted arm, he forced the phial away +from Mark's already open mouth; the other men rushed to his assistance, +and between them the frustrated would-be suicide was overpowered, and +held firmly while the inspector fastened a pair of handcuffs over his +wrists. When it was done he raised his pinioned hands, as well as he +could, and shook them furiously at Gimblet. + +"It's you I have to thank for this," he shouted. "Curse you, you +eavesdropping spy. But there are surprises in store for you, my friend. +You've got me, it seems, and you say you've got the will. You'll find it +more difficult to lay your hands on the heiress!" + +The words and still more the triumphant tone in which they were uttered +cast a chill upon them all. + +"What do you mean?" cried Gimblet. + +But not another syllable could be got out of the prisoner; and the +inspector, besides, protested against questions being addressed to him. + +With all the elation over his capture taken out of him, and with a mind +full of brooding anxiety, Gimblet hurried on ahead of the returning +party, and burst in upon Lady Ruth with eager inquiries. + +But Juliet had not returned. + +How was anyone to know that she had that morning made her way into the +secret passage of the old tower, and watched through the slip of glass in +the case of the clock what Julia Romaninov was doing in the library? + +But leaving Gimblet and Lady Ruth to organize a search for her, we will +return to Juliet in her hiding-place and see what was the end of her +adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +When Juliet, incensed and indignant at the Russian's behaviour, +discovered the door in the clock and was on the point of opening it +and making her presence known, a noise of steps in the passage made +her pause. As she listened, there was the sound of a key turning in +the lock, the library door was thrown suddenly open, and Mark stepped +into the room. + +Juliet saw Julia's expression as she sprang round to face the newcomer. +She saw it change, swift as lightning, from a look of horrified dismay to +one of sudden transforming tenderness, as the girl recognized the +intruder, that the hand already in the act of pushing open the door of +the clock fell inert and limp to her side, and if she had been able to +move she would have lost no time in retreating. She knew instinctively +that she was seeing a secret laid bare which she had no right to spy +upon. And yet, though her impulse was to fly from the place in +embarrassment and confusion, something stronger than her natural +discretion and delicacy held her where she stood. For Julia had not come +here for the purpose of meeting Mark. She had come with a purpose less +personal: something, Juliet felt convinced, that was in some way vaguely +discreditable, and at the same time menacing. It could be for no harmless +reason that she had taken this secret, dangerous way into the castle. + +And so Juliet kept her ground, blushing at her role of spy, and averting +her eyes as Julia dropped the book she was holding and ran forward to +meet Mark, with that tell-tale look upon her face. + +But Mark did not show the same pleasure. He stood, holding the handle of +the door, which he had closed gently behind him, and looking with a +certain sternness at the girl. + +"Julia," he said, "you here! What are you doing?" + +"Oh, Mark," she cried, not answering his question, "aren't you glad to +see me? It is so long, oh, it is so long since I saw you!" + +She threw her arms round his neck with a happy laugh, and drew his face +down to hers. + +"Darling! darling!" she murmured. "How can we live without each other for +one single day!" + +She spoke in a low, soft voice. To Juliet, to whom every purling syllable +was painfully audible, it sounded cooingly, like the voice of doves. + +To the surprise of the girl to whom Mark had proposed marriage two days +before, when she ventured to peep through her spy window, Mark's arms +were round Julia and he was kissing her ardently. + +But after a moment he released himself gently. + +"You haven't told me, dear," he said, "what you are doing here." + +His voice held a note of authority before which Julia's assurance +vanished. + +"I--I wasn't doing anything," she muttered. + +"Julia!" he remonstrated. + +"Well," she said, with some show of defiance, "I suppose anyone may take +a book from the library." + +"Of course," he said, "you may take anything of mine you want. Still, as +you are not staying in the house--In short, it seems to me that the +more obvious course would have been to have said something to me about +it; and besides," he added, struck by a sudden thought, "how in the world +did you get in? The door was locked, and the key is on the outside." + +"Oh, if you're going to make such a fuss about nothing," she exclaimed +petulantly, her toe beginning to tap the boards, "it's not worth +explaining anything to you." She turned away and walked towards the +fireplace. + +"I'm not making a fuss," Mark said quietly, "but you must tell me, Julia, +what you are doing here, and how you came. To speak plainly, I don't +believe you came for a book." + +"If you don't believe me, what's the good of my saying anything?" she +retorted. "Oh, how horrid you are to-day, Mark. I don't believe you love +me a bit, any more." And leaning her head against the mantelpiece, she +burst into tears. + +"You know it isn't that, Julia," he said, looking at her fixedly. "Don't +cry, there's a dear, good girl. You know that I love you. Why, you're the +only thing in the whole world that I really want. But you must tell me +how you came here. Tell me," he repeated, taking her hands from her face, +and forcing her to look at him, "what you want in the library. Tell me, +Julia, I want to know." + +She seemed to struggle to keep silence, but to be unable to resist his +questioning eyes. + +"I suppose I must tell you," she murmured; "it's not that I don't want +to. But they would kill me if they knew. Oh, Mark, I ought not to tell +you, but how can I keep anything secret from my beloved? Swear to me +that you will never repeat it, or try to hinder me in what I have to do?" + +He bent and kissed her. + +"Julia," he said, "can't you trust me?" + +"I do, I do," she cried. "While you love me, I trust you. But if you left +off, what then? That is the nightmare that haunts me. Mark, Mark, what +would become of me if you were to change towards me?" + +He kissed her again, murmuring reassuring words that did not reach +Juliet's ears. "So tell me now," he ended, "what you were doing here." + +"Mark," she said nervously, "you know where my childhood was passed?" + +"In St. Petersburg," he replied wonderingly. + +"Yes, in Petersburg. And you know how things are there. It is so +different from your England, my England. For I am English really, Mark, +although that thought always seems so strange to me; since during so many +years I believed myself to be a Russian. I am the daughter of English +parents; my father was a very respectable London plumber of the name of +Harsden, whose business went to the bad and who died, leaving my mother +to face ruin and starvation with a family of five small children, of whom +I was the last. When a lady who took an interest in the parish in which +we lived suggested that a friend of hers should adopt one of the +children, my mother was only too thankful to accept the proposal, and I +was the one from whom she chose to be parted. I have never seen her +since, but she is still alive, and I send her money from time to time. + +"The lady who adopted me was Countess Romaninov, and I believed +myself her child till a day or two before she died, when she told me, +to my lasting regret, the true story of my origin. But I was brought +up a Russian, and I shall never feel myself to be English. Somehow the +soil you live on in your childhood seems to get into your bones, as +you say here. It is true that I speak your language easily, but it was +Russian that my baby lips first learned. My sympathies, my point of +view, my friends, all except yourself, are Russian. And I have one +essentially Russian attribute, I am a member of what you would call a +Nihilist society." + +Mark interrupted her with an interjection of surprise, but she nodded her +head defiantly, and continued: + +"All my life, all my private ends and desires must be governed by the +needs of my country. First and foremost I exist that the rule of the +Tyrant may be abolished, and the Slav be free to work out his own +salvation; he shall be saved from the fate that now overwhelms and +crushes him; dragged bodily from under the heel of the oppressor. I am +not the only one. We are many who think as one mind. And the day is not +far distant when our sacrifices shall bear fruit. Ah, Mark, what a great +cause, what a noble purpose, is this of ours! Perhaps I shall be able to +convert you, to fire your cold British blood with my enthusiasm?" + +She stopped and looked at him inquiringly. But he made no reply, and +after a moment she continued, placing her hand fondly upon his shoulder +as she spoke. + +"Our plan is to terrify the rulers into submission. We must not shrink +from killing, and killing suddenly and unexpectedly, till they abandon +the wickedness of their ways. They must never know what it is to feel +safe. And we see to it that they do not. Death waits for them at the +street corner, on their travels, at their own doorsteps. They never know +at what moment the bomb may not be thrown, or the pistol fired. It is +sad that explosives are so unreliable. There are many difficulties. You +would not believe the obstacles that we find placed in our path at every +turning. And for those who are suspected there is Siberia, and the +mines. But it is worth it. It is worth anything to feel that one is +working and risking all for one's country, and one's fellow-countrymen. +It is an honour to belong to a band of such noble men and women. But now +and then one is admitted who turns out to be unworthy. Yes, even such a +cause as ours has traitors to contend with. And your uncle, Lord Ashiel, +was one of them." + +"What," said Mark incredulously, "Uncle Douglas a Nihilist? Nonsense. +It's impossible." + +"He was, really. For he joined the 'Friends of Man' when he was at the +British Embassy at Petersburg long years ago; and no sooner had he been +initiated than he turned round and denounced the society and all its +works. Worse still, he declared his intention of hindering it from +carrying out its programme. He would have been got rid of there and +then, but as ill-luck would have it he had, by an unheard-of chain of +accidents, become possessed of an important document belonging to the +society. It was, indeed, a list of the principal people on the executive +committee that fell into his hands, and he took the precaution of +sending it to England, with instructions that if anything happened to +him it should be forwarded to the Russian Police, before he made known +his ridiculous objections to our programme. Here, as you will +understand, was a most impossible situation with which there was +apparently no means of coping. + +"For years that one man hampered and frustrated our entire organization. +He was practically able to dictate his own terms, for he announced his +intention of publishing the list of names if we carried out any important +project, and no device could be contrived to stop his being as good as +his word. The tyrant has walked unscathed except by mere private +enterprise, and the government we could have caused to crumble to the +ground has flourished and continued to work evil as before. We have been +crippled, paralysed in every direction. It was only last year that there +seemed reason to think that Lord Ashiel had removed the document from the +Bank of England where it had for so long been guarded, and there appeared +to be a possibility that he now kept it in his own house. If that were +so, there seemed a good chance of getting hold of it, and how proud I am, +Mark, to think that it was I who was chosen to make the attempt! + +"I came to England with the best introductions into society, and had no +difficulty in making friends with your aunt and obtaining an invitation +to stay here. Last year I did not succeed in gaining any information. +Your uncle, for some reason, seemed rather to avoid me, and I did not +make any headway towards gaining his confidence. I never could be sure if +he suspected me. This year there was a question of replacing me by some +one else, but it was judged that Lord Ashiel's suspicions would be +certainly awakened by the appearance of another Russian, so, in the hope +that I was not associated in his mind with the people to which he had +behaved so basely, I was ordered to try again. + +"A member of the society, who occupies a high and responsible position on +the council, accompanied me to the neighbourhood, and from time to time I +report to him and receive his advice and instructions. He stays in +Crianan, so that I have some one within reach to go to for advice. At +least, so I am officially informed, but I know very well he is really +there to keep watch on me, for it is not the habit of the society to +trust its members more than is unavoidable. If it is possible, I go once +a week to Crianan and make my report, but I can't always manage to go, +and then he rows across the loch after dark and I go out and meet him. He +was to come on the night of the murder, and my first thought when I heard +of it was that he might be caught in the shrubberies and mistaken for the +murderer. But it appears that he had already taken alarm, and I am +thankful to say he was able to escape in good time." + +"So David really did see some one wandering about that night," Mark +commented thoughtfully. "Ah, Julia, if you'd told me all this earlier +everything might have been different. Poor old David need never have been +dragged into it at all." + +She looked at him a moment, as if puzzled, and then continued her story. + +"It was thought that I might be able to bring about your uncle's death by +some means that should have all the appearance of an accident, and so +perhaps not involve action on the part of those who hold the +document--that is, if it should prove not to be in his own keeping--for +he had always assured the council that no decisive step would be taken +except as a retort to signs of violence on our part, whether directed +towards himself or others. + +"I have not been able to find any trace of the list. I thought I had it +one day in London, when I followed Lord Ashiel to a detective's office, +and managed to gain possession of an envelope given him by Lord Ashiel, +but as far as I could make out it contained nothing of any importance. It +was a bitter disappointment. You can imagine the consternation into which +we were thrown by the murder. It seemed certain that his death would be +attributed to our organization, and if anyone held the list for him it +would be published immediately. Four days have passed, however, and my +superior has received a cable saying that so far all is well. It looks +more and more as if the list had been kept here, but I have hunted +everywhere and found nothing. Oh, I have searched without ceasing since +the moment I heard of his death! I came here even on the very night of +the murder, and moved the body with my own hands in order to get at the +bureau drawers. There is a secret way into the room through that old +clock there, which leads into the grounds; I found it long ago, one day +when I was exploring outside in the shrubberies. I have often been here, +and searched, and searched again. Do you know anything of this document, +Mark? If you do, I beg and implore you to give it to me. Otherwise I +cannot answer for your life; and, as for our marriage, that is out of the +question unless I am successful in my undertaking." + +It may be imagined with what amazement and growing horror Juliet listened +to this avowal. That Julia, the girl with whom she had associated on +terms of easy familiarity which had been near to becoming something like +intimacy in the close contact and companionship of a country-house life, +that this girl, an honoured guest in Lord Ashiel's house, should have +gained her footing there for her own treacherous ends, or at the bidding +of a band of political assassins! Juliet could scarcely believe her ears +as she heard the calm, indifferent tone in which Julia spoke of the +drawbacks to "getting rid" of Lord Ashiel, and of the contemplated +"accident" which was to have befallen him. She would have fled from where +she stood, if mingled fear and curiosity to hear more had not rooted her +to the spot. Her alarm was tempered by the presence of Mark. If this girl +should discover her hiding there and show signs of the violence that +might be expected from such a character, Mark would be there to protect +her. She could trust him to know how to deal with the Russian, whose true +nature must now be apparent to him. + +But Mark, to her astonishment, had not drawn away from Julia with the +repugnance and disgust that were to be expected. Instead, he was looking +at her, strangely, indeed, but almost eagerly. + +"It was you, then, who moved the body! To think that I never guessed!" he +murmured, half to himself. "If I had known, I might have spared myself +the trouble to--" Then more loudly he reproached his companion. + +"And you have never said a word to me! Oh, Julia, you didn't trust me." +He shook his head at her mournfully. + +"Trust you!" she retorted. "Did you trust me? But I would have trusted +you," she added, gazing fondly into his eyes, "if I had dared risk the +punishment that will surely be meted out to me if it is known I have done +so. You don't know how rigid the rules of our society are. But you +haven't told me yet if you have the list." + +"Not I," he said. "I never heard of its existence. I suppose that +anonymous letter that came addressed to Uncle Douglas after his death had +something to do with that." + +"Did a letter come from Paris? They sent them to him from time to time. +It prevented his suspecting me. But you will give me the list if you find +it, won't you? It means everything to me." + +"Of course I will," he promised. "It is no earthly good to me, so far as +I know. But you, when you were looking for it, did you, among all the +papers you examined, ever come across such a thing as a will?" + +"No, never," she replied. "Mrs. Clutsam told me it could not be found. +You may be sure, if I had discovered one which did not leave you +everything, I should have destroyed it." + +"Dear little Julia!" Mark drew her to him and kissed her. "How sweet you +are. There is no one like you!" + +"Really? Do you really love me, Mark?" + +"Darling, of course I do." + +"Will you always? Are you quite, quite sure that I am the one girl in all +the world for you, as you are the one man for me?" + +"Darling, you are the only one in the world I have ever so much as +looked at." + +"Would you never, never forget me, or marry anyone else, no matter what +happened?" + +"Never," he assured her, "never." + +She sighed contentedly. + +"What should I do if you forgot me, Mark? I should die. But," she added +in a different tone, "I think I should kill you first!" + +Mark laughed a little uneasily. + +"Hush, hush," he said, "you mustn't talk so much about killing. A minute +ago you were talking of killing my poor old uncle. If I took you +seriously what should I think? It is lucky I love you as I do, otherwise +doesn't it occur to you that it might get you into trouble to talk in +this wild way?" + +"You can take me as seriously as you like," she answered gravely. "I am +serious enough, God knows. But I shouldn't talk about it, even to you, if +I didn't _know_ it was safe. You see, I know you are like me." + +"Like you? I'm dashed if I am! How do you mean? I am like you?" + +She looked at him squarely, and nodded. + +"Yes," she said, "you are like me. You would not hesitate to kill if you +thought it necessary. You think just the same as me on that subject. Only +you have gone farther than I have--yet." + +"Julia," he cried, "what do you mean?" + +"I mean that I know all about you, Mark," she replied gravely. "I know +what you think you have kept secret from me. I know it was you who killed +your uncle." + +With a muffled cry Mark shook himself free, and sprang away from her. + +"What are you saying?" he whispered hoarsely. "You are mad, girl! But I +won't have such lies uttered, I won't have it, I tell you." + +With terrified amazement Juliet saw his face change, become ugly, +distorted. But Julia showed no sign of alarm. + +"Why get so excited?" she asked calmly. "What does it matter? Do you +imagine I would betray you? I, who would sell my soul for you! I know you +did it. It is no use keeping up this pretence of innocence to me, who had +more right to kill him than you. Why shouldn't you kill who you wish? But +don't say you didn't do it. It is foolish. I saw you." + +"It is a lie. You can't have seen me," Mark declared again, but with less +assurance. "You were in the drawing-room all the time. Lady Ruth and +Maisie Tarver both said so. The drawing-room doesn't even look out on the +garden. There is no room that does, except the library, and you weren't +there then, anyhow." + +"I didn't see you fire the shot," said Julia, "but I saw you afterwards +when you went to put back your rifle in the gun-room. I told you that +after the first search in the grounds was over, and everyone had gone +up to bed, I slipped out of the house by the door near the gunroom, and +came round to the library to see if Lord Ashiel had carried the list on +him. When I came back, I let myself in quietly by the door which I had +left unbolted, and had just got half-way up the back stairs when I +heard footsteps in the passage below, and crouched down behind the +banisters. I saw you come along the passage, carrying an electric +lantern in one hand and your rifle in the other. I saw you look round +anxiously before opening the gun-room door and going in. When you had +vanished, I hurried on up to my room, for it was not the time or place +to tell you what I had seen, but I left a crack of my door open, and +after rather a long while saw you pass along the passage to your own +room; this time without your gun. I knew, of course, that you had been +cleaning it and putting it away." + +She spoke with the indifference with which one may refer to a regrettable +but incontrovertible fact, and Mark seemed to feel it useless to deny +what she said. + +"You had no right to spy on me," he exclaimed angrily when she had done. + +"Oh, Mark," she cried, dismayed, "I wasn't spying. It was the merest +accident. And I think it's horrid of you to mind my knowing. Why didn't +you tell me all about it before. I might have helped you, I'm sure." + +But he would have none of her endearments, and threw off the hand she +laid upon his arm with a rough gesture. + +"Mark, oh, Mark," she wailed, "don't be angry with me! You know I can't +bear it. I can bear anything but that. Don't, don't be angry with me." + +She had but one thought; it was for him, and he who ran might read it +shining in the depths of her great eyes. After a few minutes of sulking, +Mark relented. + +"No one could be angry with you for long, Julia," he declared. + +Instantly she was once more all smiles. + +"Don't ever be angry with me again," she urged, her hands in his. "And +now that you have forgiven me, tell me all about it. What made you do +such a dreadful thing, Mark? You must have had some good reason, I know. +I never would doubt that." + +"There's nothing much to tell," he said unwillingly. "I had a good +reason, yes. I must have money. It is for your sake, darling, that I must +get it. I can't marry you without it. I hadn't meant to kill him, if I +could get it without. He was ill, and had left his fortune to me. I +thought I should get it in time, by letting Nature take her course. It +was that or ruin, and I really had to do it for your sake, darling. I +didn't want to hurt the old boy. Why should I? It's not a pleasant thing +to have to do. But I had no choice--there was no other way of getting +enough money, and I simply had to get it. It was his life or mine. You +don't understand. I can't explain. It just had to be done, and there's an +end of it. Everything was going wrong. That girl, that Byrne girl, I +imagined he was going to marry her. You know we all did. That would have +spoilt everything. At first I thought she could be got out of the way, +but she seemed to bear a charmed life." + +"What?" cried Julia, "did you try to kill her too?" + +"Why, if anyone had to be got rid of," he admitted defiantly, "it seemed +better to go for a stranger, like her, than for my own uncle. Come, you +must see that, surely! She was nothing to me, and, anyhow, my hand was +forced. It's very hard that I should have been put in such a position. +I'm the last person to do harm to a fly, but one must think of oneself." + +Since it was no use denying the murder, he seemed to find some sort of +satisfaction in telling Julia of his other crimes. And yet, though he +tried hard to speak with an affectation of indifference, it was plain +that he kept a watchful eye upon his listener, and was ready to fasten +resentfully upon the first sign of horror, or even disapproval. For all +his efforts, the tone of his disclosures was at once swaggering and +suspicious; but he need have had no anxiety as to the spirit in which +they would be received. It was clear that Julia brought to his judgment +no remembrance of ordinary human standards of conduct. To her he was +above such criticisms, as the Immortals might be supposed to be above +the rules that applied to dwellers upon earth. What he did was right in +her eyes, because he did it, and she admired his brutality, as she adored +the rest of him, whole-heartedly, without reservation. + +"I had a shot at her," he went on, "one day on the moor when she was with +David; but I missed her. It was a rotten shot. I can't think how I came +to do it. Then when she fell into the river--I saw her standing by it as +I came home from stalking.... I had walked on ahead, and where the path +runs along above the waterfall pool I happened to go to the edge and look +over. There she was on a stone right at the edge, by the deepest part. It +looked as if she'd been put there on purpose, and I should have been a +fool to miss such a chance. It's no good going against fate. As a matter +of fact I thought I'd got her sitting this time. I caught up the nearest +piece of rock and dropped it down on her. That was a good shot, though I +say it, but it hit her on the shoulder instead of the head as luck would +have it, which was bad luck for me. However, in she went, and I thought +all was well and lost no time in getting away from the place. If it +hadn't been for that meddling fool Andy!... Well, then, at dinner, Uncle +Douglas came out with the news that she was his daughter, not his +intended, and everything looked worse than ever. Afterwards when she went +to talk to him in the library, and passed through the billiard-room where +I was knocking the balls about and feeling pretty savage, I can tell you, +I happened, by a fluke, to ask her if she knew where David was. She said +he'd gone into the garden. + +"Then I saw my chance, and it seemed too good to miss. Why should I let +my inheritance be stolen from me? I ran off to the gun-room for a gun. I +meant to take David's rifle, but I found he hadn't cleaned it, so I left +it alone and took mine, as the thing was really too important to risk +using a strange gun unless it was absolutely necessary, and his is a +little shorter in the stock than I like. I nipped back and let myself out +of the passage door into the enclosed garden. It was a black night, +though I knew my way blindfolded about there. But the curtains of the +library were drawn, and I couldn't see between them without stepping on +the flower bed. I knew too much to leave my footmarks all over them, but +I had to get on to the bed to have a chance of getting a shot. So I got +the long plank the gardeners use to avoid stepping on the flower beds +when they're bedding out, from the tool-house behind the holly hedge +where I knew it was kept, and put it down near the hedge. It is held up +clear of the ground by two cross pieces of wood, one at each end, you +know, so there would be no marks left to identify me by. + +"When I walked to the end of the plank, I could see straight into the +middle of the room; but they must have been sitting near the fire, for no +one was in sight. I could see the writing bureau and the chair in front +of it, and dimly in the back of the room I could make out the face of the +clock, but that was all. + +"Well, I stood there for what seemed a long while. You've no idea how +cramping it is to stand on a narrow plank with no room to take a step +forward or back, for long at a time. And I don't mind telling you I got a +bit jumpy, waiting there. If anyone chanced to come along, what could I +say by way of explanation? I couldn't think of anything the least likely +to wash. And somehow, in the dark, one begins to imagine things. I saw +David coming at me across the lawn every other minute. And it seemed so +hideously likely that he should come. I knew he was somewhere out in the +grounds. By Jove, if he had, he'd have got the bullet instead of Uncle +Douglas! But he didn't come. Those beastly shadows and shapes and +whisperings and rustlings that seemed to be all round me, hiding in the +night, turned out to be nothing after all. But when I didn't fancy him at +my elbow, I imagined he was in the gunroom, wondering where the dickens +my rifle had got to. + +"Oh, I had a happy half-hour among the roses, I tell you! A rifle is a +heavy thing too. I leant it up against a rose-bush and tried to sit down +on the plank, but it wouldn't do, and I saw I must bear it standing, or +Uncle Douglas might cross in front of the slit between the curtains +without my having time to get a shot. You must remember I'd been on the +hill all day, so that I was very stiff to begin with. It got so bad that +I began to think it was hardly worth the candle at last--and it's a +wonder I didn't miss him clean--when, just as I was on the point of +giving the whole thing up and going in again, he came suddenly into my +field of vision, and actually sat down at the table. + +"I took a careful aim and fired. I saw him fall forward, and then I +jumped off the plank and hurled it back under the hedge before I ran for +the house. I had left the door ajar, and I just stayed to close it, and +then darted into the empty billiard-room and thrust my rifle under a +sofa. It was a quick bit of work. I had counted on Juliet Byrne waiting a +moment or two to see if she could do anything to help him before she +roused the house, or it roused itself, and she was rather longer than I +expected. I don't mind owning I got into a panic when minutes passed and +no one appeared, and I began to think I must have missed the old boy +altogether. I was within an ace of going to make certain, when the door +opened and in she came. Oh well, you know all the rest. That silly old +ass, David, was still mooning about in the garden, thinking of her, I +suppose, which was very lucky for me." + +Julia had listened with absorbed interest. + +"I think it is wonderful," she said, "that you should have gone through +all that for my sake. I shall always try to deserve it, my dear. Was it +all, all for me, that you did it, truly?" + +"Yes," Mark assured her, gruffly monosyllabic. + +"But how was it," she asked caressingly, "that Sir David's footprints +were found all over the rose-bed. What was he doing there?" + +"That was an afterthought," Mark admitted. "It was a tophole idea. After +every one had gone upstairs, I crept down and got my Mannlicher from +where I had hidden it, and took it to the gun-room, where I cleaned it +and put it in its usual place. It was lucky for me that David had left +his weapon dirty. It was jolly unlike him to do it. I was thinking what a +good thing it was, and how well things looked like turning out--for I +thought I could manage the girl if she was able to prove that she really +was a McConachan--and it struck me I ought to be able to contrive that +the business should look a bit blacker against poor old David. Every one +knew he'd had a row with Uncle Douglas about his beastly dog, and if I +could only manufacture a little more evidence against him I knew I should +be pretty safe, one way and another. I was going back to the garden to +put by the gardener's plank, when I thought of using his boots. It didn't +take long to find them among all the boots used that day by the +household, which were ranged in a row in the place where they clean them +in the back premises. His bootmakers' name was in them. I took them, and +when I got to the garden door I put them on, and went out and trampled +about among the roses till I was pretty sure that even the blindest +country bobby couldn't fail to notice the tracks I'd left, though of +course I couldn't see them myself in the dark. Then I got the plank out +of the hedge and put it away where I'd found it. After that, I took the +boots back, and went to bed; and very glad I was to get there. Now you've +heard the whole story." + +"How clever you are," murmured the girl. "There's no one like you," she +said, "no one." Mark smiled rather fatuously. He evidently shared her +opinion that his brains were something slightly out of the way. "And +everything happened just as you'd planned," she went on admiringly. "They +suspected Sir David from the first. I should have, myself, if I hadn't +known it was you who had done it." + +"Yes," said Mark, "they suspected him, the silly idiots! They might have +known he hasn't the initiative to do a thing like that. And the girl +can't prove her relationship to Uncle Douglas, just as I expected. I +thought there might be some difficulty about that. But I wish I could +find the will he made in her favour. I should feel safer then, for she +told me he said he'd worded it so that she should get the money whether +she was proved his daughter or not. And who knows what other mad clauses +he may have put in it. Lately, for some reason I could never make out, I +felt sure he had changed towards me. He let fall a hint one day that his +legacies to me were conditional on my good behaviour. I don't feel easy +about it at all. Some one must have been telling him things--poisoning +his mind. But I've hunted high and low, and found nothing. I'm sick of +looking over musty old bills." + +"Oh, we shall find it between us now," said Julia hopefully. "I wish I +had some idea where the list I want is, though," she added. + +"There's that detective, too," pursued Mark. "That fellow Gimblet. I'm +rather fed up with him. Not that he seems any use at his work, though +he's supposed to be rather first-class at it, I believe." + +"Gimblet! Is that who it is? Mrs. Clutsam told me a London detective +was here, but I didn't know who it was. I have met him before, and +found him very easy to manage. I don't think you need be afraid of +anything he may do." + +"I shall be glad when he's off the place, anyhow," said Mark. + +"I shall be glad when the whole business is over and forgotten," Julia +rejoined. "I wish we could be married at once, Mark darling. But why +can't it be given out that we are engaged. I don't understand why we +should keep it a secret now. I can't stand seeing so little of you as I +have these last few days." + +"Be patient, darling, wait just a little longer. There are reasons, as I +have told you. I must get my financial affairs straight, for one thing, +before I allow you to tie yourself to me. Suppose I turn out to be a +beggar? I couldn't let you marry me then, you know." + +"Mark!" Julia's voice was full of reproach. "You know perfectly well how +little I care about your money. I would be only too glad to marry you if +you hadn't a penny. But perhaps you mean that if you were poor you +wouldn't want to burden yourself with a wife?" + +"You know how I adore you, Julia. How can you suggest such a thing? I +couldn't even dream of a life without you. You show how little you know +me. But, believe me, it is wisest to wait a short time longer before we +are publicly engaged. You must take my word for it, and not made me +unhappy by imagining such cruel things. Come, let us look for this list +of yours. What were you doing--searching among the books?" + +"Yes," said she, rising, as he went towards a bookshelf, and following +him. "I thought it might be hidden between the leaves of one of these old +volumes. One reads of such things." + +"I wonder," he said absently. "The will, too, may be here. Is there a +Bible anywhere? I believe that's a favourite place of concealment. Then, +when the heir is virtuous and reads his Bible, he gets the legacy, you +know; while, if he isn't, he doesn't. A sort of poetic justice is meted +out. If I find it in that way I shall take it as a sign that I am really +the virtuous one and that Heaven absolves me from all blame." + +He spoke mockingly, but Julia answered very seriously: + +"Of course you ought to have it; and if I don't blame you, why should +anyone else?" + +"Well," he said after a pause, "at all events I mean to get it, whether +or no, if I have to pull down every stone of the place. That reminds me," +he added, "where is the secret entrance you use? Through this old clock? +Who would have thought it?" + +In a moment Juliet realized that she was going to be caught. She had +been so absorbed in listening to the dreadful revelations that had been +made during the last half-hour that not till now had she considered how +dangerous was her position. + +As he spoke, Mark threw open the door of the clock case. Too late, she +turned to fly; he caught her by the arm and, with a stifled oath, dragged +her into the room. + +"How long have you been there?" he cried, and fell to swearing horribly; +while Julia stood by, not speaking, but looking at Juliet with an +expression which frightened her more than all his violence. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +It did not occur to Juliet to deny that she had overheard their talk. She +had been found in the act of spying on them, and it was inconceivable +that they should believe she had not done so. Besides, she was raging at +the thought of what she had heard, and her anger gave her a courage she +might otherwise have found it hard to maintain. + +"I have been there all the time," she declared stoutly. "I heard all you +said, you wicked, wicked man. A murderer! Oh, how horrible it all is!" + +Julia laid a hand on Mark's arm. + +"She will tell what she knows," she said, trembling. + +"She shall not," Mark stammered furiously. He seemed to be half +suffocating with rage. "She shall not go unless she swears to say +nothing. Swear it, I say!" + +He seized Juliet by the shoulder and shook her violently to emphasize +his words. + +"I won't swear anything of the kind," she retorted, trying to break from +his grasp. "Do you suppose you can kill me, too, without being found out? +There is a detective here now, and Sir David Southern is not at hand to +lay the blame on. You coward! How dare you touch me!" + +The truth of her words seemed to strike home to Mark, for he left go of +her suddenly, and stood, biting his nails and scowling, the picture of +irresolution and malignance. + +Juliet lost no time in following up any advantage she might have gained. + +"I can't help knowing that you care for him," she said, addressing +herself to Julia, "though I wouldn't have listened to that part if I +could have helped it. But how can you? How can you? I can't understand +how you can feel as you do about killing people, but at least if you did +such a thing you would imagine it was for the good of your country, while +this man thinks of nothing but his own selfish ends. Money, that is all +he wants! How can you condone such a crime as his? To kill Lord Ashiel, +that good, kind man who had treated him like a son all his life, who did +everything for him. And just for the sake of money! It's not even as if +he wanted it really. He's not starving. He had everything, in reason, +that he wanted. If he needed more, urgently, I believe he had only to +tell his uncle, and it would have been given to him. Oh, it is beyond all +words! He must be a fiend." + +Indignation choked her. She spoke in bursts of trembling anger, her words +sounding tamely in her own ears. All she could say seemed commonplace and +inadequate beside the knowledge that this man was her father's murderer. + +Even Julia, indifferent to every aspect of the case that did not touch +upon her relations with her lover, was shaken by the scornful disgust +with which the broken sentences were poured forth; and, if her +infatuation for Mark was too complete to allow her to consider any +action of his unjustifiable, still she realized, perhaps for the +first time, the feelings with which other people would view the thing +that he had done. + +"You don't understand him," she faltered. "He didn't want money for +himself alone. It was for me he did it. He was too proud to ask me to +marry a poor man. You could never understand his love for me. How can I +blame him? How many men would run such risks for the girl they loved? I +am proud, yes proud, to be loved like that!" + +"You believe his lies," Juliet cried contemptuously. "You believe he +loves you so much? Why it is not two days since he came to me and asked +me to marry him." + +"What!" Julia spoke in a panting whisper. Her face had suddenly lost +every particle of colour. "Say it's not true," she begged, turning +miserably to the man. + +He made an effort to deny the charge. + +"Of course. Not a word of truth in it. Damned nonsense," he blustered. + +But his eyes fell before Juliet's scornful gaze, and Julia was not +deceived. + +"It can't be true, oh, it can't," she moaned. "No man could be so vile." + +"No other man could," Juliet amended. In spite of herself she was sorry +for the girl, whose stricken face showed plainly the anguish she was +undergoing. "Forget him, Julia; he is not worthy to tie your shoe-lace. +He came to me after they had taken David away, and asked me first if I +would take his inheritance even though I couldn't prove my birth, which +he must have known perfectly that I should never dream of doing, and then +proposed I should marry him, saying that he was very fond of me, and that +in that way justice would be done as regards Lord Ashiel's money, +however things turned out for me. I thought it honourable and generous at +the time, and so did Lady Ruth when I told her--oh yes, she knows about +it and can tell you it is true--but now I see that all he wanted was to +be on the safe side, and, if I had accepted him and had turned out to +have no claim upon his uncle's fortune, he would have broken the +engagement on some easy pretext. Can you deny it?" she demanded of Mark. + +But he could not face her, though he made an effort again to +brazen it out. + +Every word she had spoken seemed to strike Julia like a blow. She shrank +quivering away, and threw herself down on to a chair, her face hidden in +her hands. Juliet went to her and touched her gently on the shoulder. + +"Don't think of him any more," she said. "Presently you will hate +yourself for having cared for a murderer. Just now, I know, your love for +him makes you gloss over his crimes, but when you are yourself you will +see how odious they are. Poor Julia, I hate to hurt you so, but it is +better, isn't it, that you should know? You will forget this madness. He +is not worth your wasting another thought on. Think how shamefully he has +deceived you. Think of all his lying words, of how he told you he had +never looked at another woman." + +Julia raised her head and showed a face, white as chalk, in which the +great brown eyes seemed to burn like fires of hatred. + +"Yes," she said in a hard, even voice. "I am thinking of it. I shall not +forget him. No. Instead, I shall think of him day and night, be sure of +that. I shall laugh as I think of him; laugh at the thought of him in +his place in the dock, or in his prison cell. I shall laugh when I give +my evidence against him, and most of all I shall laugh on the day when he +is hanged. If his grave is to be found, I shall dance upon it. Oh, it +will be a merry day for me, that day when the cord is tightened round his +false neck!" + +She went near to Mark, and hissed the last words into his face, leaning +forward, with one hand on her own throat. But he seemed to shrink less +before her vindictive passion than he had under the colder scorn of +Juliet's denunciations. + +"Come, Juliet," said Julia, calming herself a little, although hate was +still blazing in her eyes, "let us leave this place. We must send for +the police." + +"Julia," said Mark, stepping forward, and speaking with some of his +former assurance, "you condemn me unheard. Why should you believe this +girl before me? It is not like you, Julia. It is not like the girl I +love. For I do love you, darling, in spite of what you may think; and, +till a few moments ago, I thought you loved me too. But I see now what +your love is. One whiff of suspicion, one word of accusation, and without +proof or evidence you condemn me, and your so-called affection +disappears. Julia, I think you have broken my heart." + +Juliet gave vent to a derisive sound which can only be called a snort; +but it was plain that his words, and more especially the manner of sad +yet tender reproach in which they were uttered, were not without their +effect on the other girl. Her eyes wavered uneasily; she twisted and tore +at her handkerchief. + +"I have heard what you have to say," she murmured. "I saw that you could +not deny what Juliet told me." + +"I did deny it. But what is the use of talking to you when you are in +such a state? You are determined beforehand to disbelieve me. And I have +no wish to justify myself to Miss Byrne, though I am willing to swallow +my pride and do so to you." + +"Well," she said after a moment's hesitation, "justify yourself if you +can. No one shall say I would not listen. God knows I shall be glad +enough if you can clear yourself." + +"To begin with," said Mark, "I admit that, superficially, there is truth +in what you have heard. But only superficially, for the person I deceived +was not yourself but this young lady. I certainly, as she suggests, never +had the slightest intention of marrying her. For one thing I was +absolutely certain she would refuse me, but it seemed a good +precautionary move to make what might appear a generous proposal, and at +the same time get a sort of mandate from the possible heiress herself to +stick to my uncle's fortune. You may be sure I should never have given it +up, in any case, but it is as well to keep up appearances. The business +was only a move in the game I am playing, and no more affects the +sincerity of my love for you than any of the social equivocations we all +find necessary from time to time. I love you, Julia, and you alone. How +can you doubt it? I love you so much that I am willing to overlook your +want of confidence in me, and to forgive the cruel things you said just +now. Darling, how can I tell you, before a third person, what I feel for +you? You are everything to me; and, if you no longer love me, I don't +care what happens. Give me up to the police if you like. The gallows is +as good a place as another, without your love." + +Long before he had finished, all traces of resentment had vanished. When +he ceased speaking, she gave in completely, and threw herself upon his +breast, sobbing passionately, and begging his forgiveness for having +doubted him for an instant, while he soothed and comforted her in a low +tone. Juliet did not know what to do or which way to look. The two stood +between her and the door, and she felt an absurd awkwardness about trying +to pass them. Was it likely she would be allowed to go out free to +denounce them? She was afraid of trying. + +At last Julia was calm again, and there came a silence, during which the +pair glanced at Juliet and then at each other. + +"What's to be done?" Julia asked at length, and then suddenly, without +waiting for an answer, "I have an idea, Mark, that will save you. If her +mouth can be stopped for a time, will you be able to get clear away?" + +"I shall have to try, I suppose," he replied, with a trace of his former +sulkiness. "To think that everything should miscarry because of a slip +of a girl!" + +"You had better go to Glasgow and get on board some ship there which will +take you to a place of safety. I shall have to stay behind till the +matter of the list is settled one way or the other. But then, when I have +reported to my superiors, I can join you, and we can begin life together +in some far-off country. I shall be as happy in one place as in another +with you, Mark; are you sure you will be, too, with only me?" + +Mark hastened to reassure her on that point, but his tone as he said it +did not carry conviction to Juliet. Julia, however, seemed satisfied. + +"Miss Byrne can choose," she continued. "Either she swears not to say a +word till we are both safe away, or else we can shut her in the dungeon +of the castle. I know where it is, in the wall of this tower. She will +never be found there, and I can take her food from time to time till I am +ready to join you. Isn't that a good plan?" + +Mark considered. + +"I don't think we will give her the option of swearing not to tell," he +said presently. + +"As if I would ever promise such a thing!" Juliet interrupted, indignant. + +"But," he went on, ignoring this outburst, "otherwise I think your idea +is good. Where is this dungeon? We may be disturbed at any minute, and +enough time has been wasted already." + +"I will go first and show the way," said Julia. "I have an electric +torch," and she stepped into the clock and lowered herself through the +trap-door. + +Mark motioned to Juliet to follow. + +"Ladies first," he said with a sneer. + +Juliet turned and made a dash for the door. + +"I won't go! I won't! I won't!" she cried desperately, though in her +heart she knew she could not resist if he chose to use force. Perhaps if +she screamed, some one would hear. Oh, where was Gimblet? Why did he +leave her to the mercy of these people? "Help! Help!" She lifted up her +voice and shrieked as loud as she could. + +With a vicious scowl Mark sprang upon her, and clapped a hand over her +mouth. Then, as she still continued to produce muffled sounds of +distress, he stuffed his handkerchief in between her teeth and, lifting +her bodily in his arms, thrust her before him into the clock, and +pushed her roughly down the hidden stair. Half-way down she lost her +footing, and fell to the bottom, where Julia was standing with her +little lamp in her hand. + +Mark was following close behind, and between them they picked her up and +hurried her, limping and bruised, along the narrow passage. She was +allowed to take the handkerchief out of her mouth, for no cry could +penetrate the immense thickness of these blocks of stone. At the point +where there was a break to right and left in the walls of the passage, +Julia came to a standstill. + +"Here it is," she said, turning her light on to the opening in the wall +on the left-hand side. "The door is gone, so you will have to fetch +something to block it up with." + +It seemed to be a small, cell-like chamber, built into the side of the +tower. It may have contained a dozen cubic yards of space, and had +neither door nor window. + +"There are some slabs of stone at the end of the passage," said Julia. +"They are heavy, but you are strong, you will be able to bring them. We +must leave a little space at the top of the door to admit some air, and +for me to pass food through to our prisoner." She laughed with a feverish +merriment. "It will be like feeding the animals at the Zoo," she said. + +Mark signified his approval by a nod. + +"And is this the way?" he asked, turning round and starting off in the +opposite direction. + +"No, no!" Julie cried, laying a detaining hand upon his arm. "I don't +know what there is down there. I think it is a well. See, you are on the +very edge." + +She cast the light on to a round dark opening in the ground some six feet +in front of and below them. From where they stood the floor began to +slant suddenly and steeply downward, so that if Mark had taken another +step, it looked as if nothing could have prevented his sliding down into +the gaping circle of blackness at the bottom. + +Julia shuddered violently. + +"Oh," she cried, "if you had gone over! Come away, do come away!" + +"It's a funny sort of well," he said, "Looks to me like something else. +Did you ever hear of _oubliettes_, Julia?" + +Juliet, as she heard him, grew white with terror. + +"Julia, Julia," she cried, "you won't let him throw me down there?" + +"No, no," said Julia. "He would not. There is no reason.... Mark," she +urged, "come away from here." + +But he only laughed shortly. + +"Don't be so hysterical," he said, and continued to bend his gaze upon +the hole at the bottom of the slope. It seemed to have a sort of +fascination for him. Finally he picked a piece of loose mortar from the +wall and threw it down into the gap. A second later there was a dull +sound which might have been a splash. "Perhaps it is a well after all. +Did you think it sounded as if it had fallen into water?" + +"Yes," said Julia, "I am sure it did. Do come away. I hate being here." + +And indeed she was shivering from head to foot, and not Juliet herself +seemed more anxious to leave the place. + +"Just one more shot," said Mark. "Here, Julia, stoop down, and roll that +bit of stone slowly down the slope, while I hold on to our prisoner. We +shall hear better that way. Give me your lamp." + +Anxious to satisfy him, Julia picked up the fragment he had knocked +from the rough wall, and stooping down stretched out her hand to set the +stone in motion. But, as she did so, Mark loosened his grip on Juliet, +and bending quickly behind this poor girl who loved him seized her by +the shoulders and threw her forward on to her face. The steep pitch of +the floor finished what the impetus given by his onslaught had begun. +Julia shot head first down the slope, and disappeared into the black +chasm of the well. + +One long agonized scream came up to them out of the darkness, and rolled +its echoes through the lonely passages. + +Then the distant sound of a splash; and silence. + +Back against the wall, Juliet cowered, her whole body shaken by great +sobs. She was petrified with terror of this fiendish man, but her fears +for herself gave way before the horror of what she had seen. + +"Oh, what have you done, what have you done?" she wept. + +Mark tried to summon up a jeering smile. The lantern threw no light upon +his white and twitching face. + +"You don't suppose I meant to let her go free, after the taste she gave +me of her temper?" he asked, in a voice he could not keep from shaking a +little. "Do you suppose I like having to do these things? You women have +never the slightest sense of common justice. The whole thing is perfectly +beastly to me. But how could I live with a girl who would be ready to +threaten me with the gallows every time she got out of bed wrong foot +first? It's not fair to blame me for other people's faults." + +He spoke querulously, with the air of a much-injured man. Though Juliet +was beyond any coherent reply, he seemed afraid of meeting her eyes, and +looked resolutely away from her, his glance shifting and wavering from +the walls to the floor, from the floor to the stones of the low roof; up, +down, and sideways, but never resting on her. At last, as if drawn there +irresistibly and against his will, they fell once more on the dark circle +of the mouth of the pit, and he started back, shuddering violently. + +"As if I hadn't enough to bear without being saddled with hideous +memories for the rest of my life!" he cried with bitter irritability. "If +you had an ounce of common fairness in your composition you would admit I +could do no less. Why, any day she might have got jealous, or something, +and flown into a passion again, and denounced me to the police. Besides, +I have no wish to be obliged to fly the country. Why should I? She was +the only person who knew the truth; except you. That is why you must +follow her." + +"No, no!" cried Juliet despairingly, but without avail, for her feeble +strength could offer him no effective opposition, and he thrust her +easily on to the slope. She felt instinctively that at that angle the +merest push would make her lose her balance, and sank quickly to her +knees, catching him round the ankle with one hand, and clinging +desperately. + +He swore furiously, and bent down to unclasp her fingers from his leg. +Then he flung her hand away from him; and cut off from all assistance she +began instantly to slide backwards, slowly but irresistibly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Juliet dug her nails into the cracks of the stone floor with all the +energy of despair, but in a moment her feet were over the edge of the pit +and she was falling. Her fingers gripped the edge with a fierce tenacity, +and for some minutes she hung there, minutes that seemed longer than all +the rest of her life put together. + +And so she hung, her knees drawn up in a frantic effort to pull herself +out of the depths, till her muscles refused any longer to contract, and +she felt herself gradually straightening out and growing, it seemed, +heavier and heavier, till she knew that in one more second her fingers +would slip from their hold, and all would be over. + +But as she dropped into a straight position, and wearily abandoned her +efforts to raise herself, one of her feet suddenly touched some firm +substance beneath it. Something narrow it was, for the other foot as +yet still hung in space, but some blessed solid thing on which it was +possible to stand. As, with a feeling of thankfulness and relief such +as she had never before experienced, she allowed her weight to rest on +it and found that it did not give, she felt a sharp blow on the +knuckles of her left hand, which made her withdraw it quickly and lean +against the wall to steady herself. Mark was throwing stones at her +fingers to make her leave go sooner. Another missed her narrowly, and +shot over her head. + +She drew down her right hand, and still leaning against the wall felt +about with her other foot for a support. + +She soon found it, a little farther back it seemed than the first +foothold; but more experimental investigation showed that it was really +part of the same object. There appeared, indeed, to be several of them +about, all near to the wall, so that it was plain that poor Julia, as she +shot over the brink, had fallen outside, and beyond them. What the bars +were that she seemed to be standing on, Juliet could not at first +imagine, and it was not till Mark, growing tired of waiting for a splash +that never came, reached the conclusion that his ears had deceived him, +and took himself and Julia's lantern off to other spheres of usefulness, +that she perceived that a faint light penetrated into the upper part of +the pit. When her eyes had become accustomed to it, she was able to make +out that she was perched upon a portion of the roots of a tree, which had +grown in through holes in the wall. + +Three great roots there were, curling into and across the shaft of the +pit and disappearing down into the darkness below, where Juliet did not +dare to look. + +She managed, with great caution, to stoop down and catch hold of the +highest of the roots, and so to settle herself in a fairly comfortable +position, sitting on the middle root of the three, with her feet on the +lowest, and her back against the top one. + +"They might have been made on purpose," she told herself, her naturally +high spirits and brave young optimism coming nobly to her rescue again. + +And she set herself to try and enlarge one of the holes in the wall; but +she could not make much perceptible difference there. What it had taken +centuries, and the growth of a great tree to effect, could not be much +improved on in an hour by one young girl, however strong the necessity +that urged her. + +By the time she had exhausted her efforts and must needs lean back and +rest awhile, the biggest hole was just wide enough to put her hand +through, and she saw no prospect of enlarging it further. + +Through it she could see a corner of the loch and the grey foot of Ben +Ghusy, but that was all. It showed, however, on which side of the tower +she was, and she remembered the great beech that clung to the precipice +below the place where the foundations of the castle sprang from the rock. +At least she had always imagined it was below the foundations, but now +she knew better. + +She thrust her hand out and waved it, but did not dare leave it there. +The terror Mark had instilled in her was too recent and too real. If she +put out her hand, he would see it, and perhaps shoot it off; or at least +know that he had failed to kill her as yet. Better he should think her +dead, like poor Julia. But was Julia really dead? + +She leant over and called down into the darkness: + +"Julia! Julia!" + +But no answer came, although she waited, holding her breath, and called +again and again. + +Then she had fallen into the water? She must be drowned even if the fall +did not kill her. Poor, misguided Julia. Better dead, after all, thought +Juliet, with eyes full of tears, than alive, and at the mercy of that +terrible man. What disillusionments must have come to her sooner or +later; final disillusionings that could not be explained away. How +horrible to find that the man you loved was like that. Nothing else in +the world could be so appalling. Yes, Julia was better dead. As Juliet +thought of the dreadful manner in which death had come to the unfortunate +girl, she forgot her faults, forgot her strange views upon the +justifiability of taking human life, forgot even that she had approved of +Lord Ashiel's assassination and contemplated bringing about his death +herself, and remembered only the frightful nature of her punishment. + +And while she sat there, clinging precariously to the twisted roots of +the beech tree, Juliet's tears streamed down into the watery grave. + +Hours passed, and darkness fell upon the world without. In the patch of +loch that was visible to her, she could see a star mirrored; it cheered +her somehow. What there was comforting about it she could not have said, +but in some way it seemed to be an emblem of her hopes. She wedged +herself tightly between the roots, laid her head down upon the uppermost +of them, and, such is the adaptability of youth and health, slept on her +dangerous perch like a bird upon a bough. + +With the day she awoke, stiff and hungry. How long would it be before she +was found? She felt braver under this new stimulus of hunger and more +ready to risk detection by Mark. After all, he could hardly get at her +here, and someone else might see her if she signalled. She took off her +shoes and stockings and pushed them through the hole in the wall, then +her handkerchief, and finally the white blouse she wore was taken off and +thrust out between the stones. She kept her hold upon one of the sleeves, +and wedged it down between the wall and the beech root, so that the +blouse might hang out on the face of the rock like a flag and catch the +attention of some passer-by. From time to time, too, she squeezed her +hand through the gap and fluttered her fingers backward and forward. She +knew that the path by the burn ran below, and it was used constantly by +the ghillies and by the household. Only of course so early in the morning +there was not likely to be anyone about. And she remembered with a +sinking heart that people seldom look up as they walk. + +Yet in the course of the day some one would surely see it. She sternly +refused to allow herself to expect an immediate rescue. She would not, +she told herself, begin to get really anxious about it till evening. It +would be long to wait, of course. She looked at the little watch which +Sir Arthur had given her on her last birthday. It was six o'clock. She +must be patient. + +But in spite of all her forced cheerfulness the time passed terribly +slowly. She found an old letter in her pocket, and a pencil, with which +she scrawled painstaking directions for her rescue. She would push it +through the hole, she thought, if she heard any sound of voices above the +clamour of the burn. After that there remained nothing more to do, and +the hours seemed to creep along more and more slowly, till each second +seemed like a minute and each minute an hour. She tried to divert herself +by repeating poetry, and doing imaginary sums; and it was about eleven +o'clock, when she was in the middle of the dates of the Kings of England, +that she heard Gimblet's voice hailing her in a shout from below. + +It was not till after her rescue, not till after she was given safely +over to the affectionate ministrations of Lady Ruth, that Juliet gave +way under the strain to which she had been subjected, and broke down +altogether. + +Up till that moment, the urgency of her own danger had prevented her from +feeling as acutely as she would have in other circumstances the terrible +fate of the Russian girl; but, as soon as she herself was safe, the full +horror of it settled upon her mind till thought became an agony. She was +shaken by alternate fits of shuddering and weeping, until Lady Ruth, who +had a scathing contempt for doctors, was on the point of sending for one. + +The arrival of Sir Arthur, an hour or so after her release, did much to +calm her. He had started post haste from Belgium as soon as he heard of +the tragedy, which was not till three days after it had occurred, and had +spent the long journey in incessant self-reproach that he had ever +allowed Juliet to go alone among these murderous strangers. The sight of +his familiar face was full of comfort to the distracted girl; and the +knowledge that Mark was arrested and powerless to harm her, with the +gladsome news that David was free again, combined to soothe her nerves +and restore her self-control. + +The fear of one cousin began to give place insensibly to the dread lest +the other should find her red-eyed and woe-begone; and soon the +importance of looking her best when David should return occupied her mind +almost to the exclusion of the terrors she had experienced. Thus does the +emotion of love monopolize the attention of those it possesses, so that +individuals may fall thick around him and the surface of the earth be +convulsed with the strife of nations, and still your lover will walk +almost unconscious among such catastrophes, except in so much as they +affect himself or the object of his affections. + +But not yet was Juliet to see David. His mother's health had broken +down under the distress and worry of the accusation brought against +him, and it was to her side that he hurried as soon as he was released +from prison. + +While Lady Ruth carried Juliet off at once to the cottage, there to be +comforted, fed, made much of and put to bed, Gimblet and the men who had +assisted him in the work of rescue stayed behind in the walls of the +tower, to rig up, with ropes and buckets, an apparatus by which to +descend to that lowest depth of the _oubliette_ where poor Julia's body +must be lying. + +They had little hope of finding her alive; nor did they do so. She was +floating, face downwards, in the water at the bottom of the pit. + +In a grim, wrathful silence the men raised the poor lifeless body, +and with some difficulty brought it back to the light of day. When +the gruesome business was done, Gimblet returned to the cottage, +tired out with his night's work; for, like all the men on the place, +he had been scouring the moors since the previous evening, when +Mark's derisive words had first sent them, hot foot, to assure +themselves of Juliet's whereabouts. As he reached the cottage, the +daily post bag was being handed in, and among his letters was one +from the colonel of Mark's regiment: + +"MY DEAR SIR," it ran, "I have sent you a wire in answer to your letter +received to-day, since in view of what you say I see that it is necessary +to disclose what I hoped, for the sake of the regiment, to continue to +keep secret. But if, as you tell me, the innocence and even the life of +Sir David Southern is involved, and you have such good reason to +consider McConachan the man guilty of his uncle's death, it becomes my +duty to put aside my private feelings and to confess to you that I am +unable to look upon Mark McConachan as entirely above suspicion. When he +was a subaltern in the regiment I have the honour to command, he was a +source of grave worry and trouble to me. + +"From the day he joined I had misgivings, and, though his good looks, +lively spirits, and recklessness with money made him popular with others +of his age, I soon discovered that his moral sense was practically +nonexistent, and considered him a very undesirable addition to our ranks. +Still, I hoped he might improve, and for a year or two nothing occurred +to force me to take serious notice of his behaviour. Unknown to me, +however, he took to gambling very heavily, and must have lost a great +deal more than he could afford, for he appears to have got deep in the +clutches of moneylenders long before I heard anything about it. So +desperate did his financial affairs become, that shortly before he left +the regiment he was actually driven to forging the name of a brother +officer, a rich young man, with whom he was on very friendly terms. The +large amount for which the cheque was drawn drew the attention of the +bankers to it, and in spite of the extreme skill with which, I am told, +the signature had been counterfeited, the forgery was detected, and the +matter was brought before me. + +"The victim of the fraud was as anxious as myself to avoid a public +scandal, and it was arranged that nothing should be done for a year, to +give time to McConachan to refund the money; if, however, he failed to do +so within that time, there would be nothing for it but to make the matter +public. These terms were agreed on and McConachan was told to send in his +papers at once. + +"The year allowed is now drawing to a close, and the money has not been +forthcoming, so that there is no doubt that Mark McConachan's need of +obtaining a large amount is extremely pressing. My knowledge of his +character obliges me to add that I consider him one of the few men I ever +knew whom I could imagine going to almost any length to provide himself +with what he so urgently requires. + +"Please consider this letter confidential unless you obtain actual proof +of his guilt.--I am, sir, yours faithfully, + +"T. G. URSFORD, + +"Colonel commanding 31st Lancers." + +Gimblet put the letter away with the other items of evidence of Mark's +guilt: the telegram from the analyst in Edinburgh, the measurements of +the footprints on the rose-bed, and of those other marks near the hedge +by which he had at first been mystified. It was another thread in the +thin cord that, like the silken line Ariadne gave to Theseus, had led him +to come successfully out of the bewildering labyrinth into which the +investigation of the crime had beguiled him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +It was after dinner that night, as he sat in the little drawing-room of +the cottage with Lady Ruth and Sir Arthur, that his hostess asked him to +explain to them how he had contrived to detect the way in which the +murder had been committed. + +"You promised to tell me all about it," Lady Ruth reminded him, "if I +would keep silent about your finding the papers in the statue." + +"Tell us the whole thing from the beginning," Sir Arthur urged him. + +"I will willingly tell you anything that may interest you," Gimblet +consented readily. "Every one enjoys talking about their work to +sympathetic listeners such as yourselves. It is a bad thing to start on a +case with a preconceived idea, and I can't deny that when I first came +here I was very near having an _idee fixe_ as to the origin of the crime. +I tried to deceive myself into thinking that I kept an open mind on the +subject; but I don't think I ever really doubted for a minute that the +Nihilist society to which Lord Ashiel had formerly belonged was +responsible for the murder. Even after my conversation with the new peer, +which showed me that things looked blacker against Sir David Southern +than I had expected, I was far from convinced that he was guilty, though +I was obliged to admit that there was some ground for the conclusion come +to by the police. + +"But what was the evidence against him? Sir David was known to have +quarrelled with his uncle; he had even been heard to say he had a good +mind to shoot him. But that was more than twenty-four hours previous to +the crime, and the words were uttered in a moment of anger, when he +probably said the first thing that came into his head. Was he likely to +have hugged his rage in silence for the hours that followed, and then to +have walked out into the garden and shot his uncle in cold blood and +without further warning? It did not appear to me probable, but then I did +not know the young man. + +"He was not to be found when the deed was discovered, and a hunt +instituted for the murderer. Well, he had an answer to that which fitted +in with my own theory. He said he saw some one hanging about the grounds, +and went to look for him. But it was said that the night was so dark as +to make it improbable that anyone should have been seen, even if there +had been anyone to see. That cut both ways, to my mind. For it would +account for the intruder making his escape undiscovered. + +"Then there was the matter of the rifle, which he had told Miss Byrne he +had cleaned that evening, in which case it had certainly been fired since +then. He owned that he had locked it up and that the key never left his +possession afterwards, but now denied that he had told the young lady +that he had cleaned it. I asked young Lord Ashiel if he could put any +possible interpretation on these facts except the one accepted by the +police, and he replied that he could not. That, for the first time, made +me wonder if he were really anxious to believe his cousin innocent. For I +could put quite different interpretations on them myself. + +"In the first place, though it was possible that Sir David lied in +making his second statement to the effect that he had not said he had +cleaned his rifle, it was equally possible that the first statement that +he _had_ cleaned it was not strictly accurate. For some reason, which he +did not care to divulge, he might have told Miss Byrne he had been +cleaning his gun when he had been really doing something entirely +different. But had he told her he had cleaned it? His words, as repeated +by her to me, were, 'I went in there to clean my rifle,' but not, 'I have +been cleaning my rifle,' which would be another thing altogether, he +probably had not yet begun cleaning it when he heard Miss Byrne coming +and went out to speak to her; it is possible some feeling akin to shyness +might make him reluctant to confess this afterwards in public. Indeed I +now feel quite sure that this is the explanation of the matter. Later on, +when I questioned her again, she did not appear certain which of the two +forms of words he had used; but there was, at all events, a considerable +doubt. There were other possibilities also. Some one might possess a +duplicate key to the gun-cabinet. It seemed to me impossible that none of +these considerations should have occurred to young Ashiel, if he were +really reluctant to believe in Sir David's guilt. But at the same time I +remembered the almost incredible lack of reasoning powers shown by most +members of the public where a deed of violence has been committed, and +knowing that there is nothing so improbable that it will not find a host +of ready believers, I did not attach much importance to the circumstance +until later. + +"Still on the whole, after talking to young Lord Ashiel, I felt more +disposed to believe that there might be some truth in the accusation +that had been made than I had previously thought likely. But on that +point I reserved my opinion till I should have had an opportunity of +examining the scene of the tragedy for myself. So I prevailed upon the +new owner of the castle to leave me alone--which he was the more ready to +do since he had urgent need to be first in examining some papers of his +uncle's which were in another room--and proceeded to make a cast round +the garden from which the shot had been fired, in the hope of lighting +upon some trifle which had escaped the notice of Macross. + +"It was when I came upon the footprints in the rose-bed which had done so +much to prove the guilt of Sir David Southern in the eyes of his +accusers, that I began to be certain of his innocence; and a very little +examination convinced me absolutely that whoever had shot Lord Ashiel it +was not his youngest nephew. For the tracks on the flower-bed left no +room for doubt. + +"It is true they corresponded exactly with the shooting-boots Sir David +had been wearing on the day the crime was committed. I had provided +myself with a pair that I was assured was exactly like those particular +boots which fitted the tracks and which the police had taken away with +them, and I found that there was indeed no difference, except for the +matter of an extra nail or two on the soles. There was no doubt that Sir +David's boots had made those impressions, but to my mind there was +equally no doubt that Sir David had not been in them when they made them. +For the track which was so plainly distinguishable on the soft mould of +the flower-bed had certain peculiarities which I could hardly overlook. + +"There was first a row of footmarks leading from the lawn to the middle +of the bed; then more marks as if the wearer of the boots had moved from +one position to another hard by; and finally, a track leading back again +to the mossy lawn at the side. Now all this was well enough till it came +to the last row of footsteps, those which led off the bed, and which had +presumably been taken after the fatal shot was fired. But was it +conceivable that a man who had that moment committed a cold-blooded +murder should leave the scene of his crime with the same slow, deliberate +footsteps with which he had approached it? Surely not. + +"And yet this is what the wearer of the boots had done. The imprints, as +they advanced towards the lawn, were deep and well defined from toe to +heel. Not only that, but they were, if anything, closer together than +those which preceded them. Now a man, running, leaves a deeper impression +of his toe than he does of his heel, and his steps are much farther apart +in proportion to his increase in speed. I, myself, ran from the middle of +the bed, to the lawn, alongside of the footmarks of the soi-disant +murderer, and though I am a short man, while Sir David's legs are +reported long, I left only two footprints to his five. To me it was as +certain as if I had seen it happen that the wearer of the boots trampled +his way off the rose-bed as slowly as he had trampled on. Those +footprints had been made by some one who was determined they should be +seen, not by some one whose only thought was to get away from the place; +not, in short, by a man who had that moment fired a murderous shot +through the darkness. The tracks had undoubtedly been made as a blind and +with the intention of diverting suspicion to the wrong man probably after +the deed itself was done. + +"I was satisfied, then, that the shot had not been fired from this +particular part of the rose-bed, and I proceeded to search for other +footprints farther down the bed. I did not feel much hope of being +successful, since, if our man had had the forethought to leave so many +traces of some one else's presence, it was unlikely he would have +neglected to ensure that his own should be absent. And as I expected, I +found none. + +"But at the end of the garden, where it is bounded by the holly hedge, I +came across something which puzzled me. There were two narrow depressions +on the flower-bed, about an inch wide by less than a foot long. They were +parallel to each other, and at right angles to the hedge, and separated +by a distance of six or seven feet. Near one, which was almost in the +middle of the bed, was another mark which I could not understand. It was +only a few inches long and, in shape, a narrow oval. I could not at first +imagine what any of them represented, and it was only quite suddenly, as +I was giving it up and going away, that the truth flashed across my mind. +I had been looking regretfully at the track I myself had left by the side +of the hedge on my way to and from the middle of the bed. + +"'What I want,' I said to myself, 'is one of those planks raised off +the ground by two little supports, one at each end, that gardeners use +to avoid stepping on the beds when they are going through the process +of bedding out,' And even as I said it, I realized that the same idea +had occurred to some one else, and that the marks I had been examining +might have been made by just such a contrivance as the one I was +thinking of. A short search showed me the plank itself, kept in a +tool-house conveniently near the spot, and, with a rake taken from the +same place, I seized the opportunity of raking out my own footmarks +from the rose-bed. + +"And now who could this be who had so carefully manufactured a false +scent, and so cleverly avoided being himself suspected? My previous +theory, that some envoy of the Nihilists had been lurking in the +neighbourhood, seemed not to meet the new conditions. For how could a +mere stranger have gained possession of the misleading boots, or how +returned them to their proper place? And how, for that matter, could a +stranger have obtained the use of Sir David's rifle, if his rifle had +indeed been used? + +"That brought me to consider again whether after all there was any proof +that his rifle had been used by anyone. Supposing, as I saw no reason to +doubt, he spoke the truth when he said that Miss Byrne had misunderstood +him and that he had not cleaned the weapon since coming in from stalking, +was I driven back on the theory that some one possessed a duplicate key +to the case where the guns were kept? Not in the least. The shot might +have been fired from a rifle that had never, at any time, been within the +walls of the castle. Certainly, the bullet fitted Sir David's Mannlicher +rifle, but that, as young Lord Ashiel said himself, was equally true of +his own rifle, or probably of a dozen others in the neighbouring forests, +since a sporting Mannlicher is a weapon in common use in the Highlands. + +"The shot, then, might well have been fired by my hypothetical Russian as +far as the rifle was concerned; but he would have found it difficult to +borrow Sir David's boots, and it seemed unlikely that any stranger would +not only have dared to do so, but afterwards have had the audacity to +return them. No, on the whole the footmarks seemed to clear the +character of the Russian nation from any reasonable suspicion of being +directly concerned in the crime. + +"And yet, in spite of reason, I could not help feeling that the Society +of the Friends of Man must be at the bottom of the whole thing in some +way I had not yet fathomed. I made every inquiry as to whether any +foreigner had visited the castle or been seen in the neighbourhood, but +the only strangers among the visitors had been Miss Julia Romaninov and +Miss Juliet Byrne's French maid, both of whose alibis appeared so far +unimpeachable. I had it on Lady Ruth's authority that Miss Romaninov had +been in the drawing-room with the other ladies at the time of the murder, +and all the servants were at supper in the servants' hall. Otherwise I +should have been inclined to look on Julia Romaninov with a suspicious +eye, as being the only Russian I knew to be on the spot. The last word +the dying man had been able to pronounce, too, was, according to Miss +Byrne, 'steps' which might very well have been intended for steppes, and +have some connection with the enemies he dreaded. + +"With these considerations running in my mind, I made my way to the +gun-room, not indeed with much expectation of its having anything to +tell me, but as part of the day's work of inspection, which must not be +shirked. I took down young Ashiel's rifle to examine. He had told me it +was of the same description as his cousin's, and I was not very +familiar with the make. It was owing to my wish to see for myself with +what kind of weapon the deed had been done that a very important clue +fell into my hands. + +"As I put the rifle down on the bare deal table which forms the +principal piece of furniture in the gun-room, I saw a grain of something +dark, which looked like earth, fall off the butt end on to the boards +beneath. I picked up the rifle, and looked closely at the butt; it was +criss-crossed with small cuts, as they sometimes are, with the idea of +preventing them from slipping, and in the cuts some dust, or earth, +seemed, as I expected, to be adhering. I knocked the rifle upon the +table, and a little shower fell from it. Except for the first grain, it +might have been nothing but the ordinary dust of disuse, but I could not +help thinking it was of a darker hue than the accumulations of years +generally take upon themselves, and, further, I knew that the rifle had +lately been used for stalking. It was, moreover, specklessly clean in +every other part. I felt certain it had been leant upon the ground at no +distant date; and I remembered the mark I had not been able to account +for at the foot of the rose-bush, near the place where the plank had been +used and, as I was persuaded, the cowardly shot actually fired. If a gun +had been leant up against the large standard rose that grew there, it +would have left just such a mark upon the soft ground. + +"All this, of course, was a mere surmise, and rather wild at that, but +the deer forests of Scotland are not muddy, whatever else they may be, +and I felt an unreasoning conviction that the rifle had not accumulated +dust while engaged upon its legitimate business on the mountain tops. The +peaty moorland soil on which the castle stood would hardly be the best +thing in the world for rose-trees, I imagined, and it seemed not too much +to hope that some other kind of earth might be artificially mingled with +it. I carefully collected the dust in a pill-box, and promised myself to +lose no time in obtaining the opinion of an expert analyst, as to +whether or no some trace of patent fertilizer, or other chemical, could +not be traced in it. + +"It was now for the first time that suspicion of young Lord Ashiel began +to oust my theory of the Nihilist society's responsibility for the +murder. He had, as I remembered, struck me as taking his cousin's guilt +for granted with somewhat unnecessary alacrity. His rifle, I already +believed, perhaps in my turn with needless alacrity, had fired the fatal +bullet, and it seemed perfectly possible that it was his finger that +pressed upon the trigger. He was, I knew, in the billiard-room, and +alone, both before and after the murder was committed. It would have been +quite easy for him to fetch his rifle, place the gardener's plank in +position, fire his shot and return to the house, provided Miss Byrne did +not rush immediately from the room. He knew her to be a brave girl and +not likely to fly without making some attempt at offering assistance. +But, if she had rushed from the spot and met the murderer outside the +library door, it would be simple enough to convey the impression that he +had heard the shot, and that he was either dashing to their help, or +making for the garden in the attempt to catch the villain red handed. The +rifle was the only thing likely to provoke an awkward question, but he +could have dropped it in the dark and returned for it afterwards without +much fear of detection. As it happened, he thought it safer to risk +carrying it indoors, and hid it under the billiard-room sofa till he had +a chance to clean it and take it to the gun-room, as we now know. + +"You can imagine the scene: Lord Ashiel falling forward upon the +writing-table under the light of the lamp; the scoundrel leaping from +his post upon the plank, but not so quickly that he did not see the +girl throw herself on her knees at the side of the fallen man. I can +fancy the frenzied haste with which McConachan thrust the plank into the +hedge and ran like a deer towards the door, which he had no doubt left +open. I imagine him, then, tiptoeing to the door of the library and +bending to listen, every nerve astretch. What he heard, no doubt +reassured him; it may have been the voice of the girl calling upon her +father, or it may have been the thud of her body falling upon the floor +when she fainted. Perhaps, even, he may have stayed outside long enough +to see her sink to the ground. Then he would steal back, shut the door +as gently as he had opened it, and not breathe again till he found +himself in the empty billiard-room, his tell-tale rifle still in his +hand. No doubt he wished he had left it in the hedge at that moment, for +he must have opened the billiard-room door with most lively +apprehensions. Supposing the shot had been heard, and the household was +rushing to the scene of the disaster? Supposing he opened the door to +find the room full of people demanding an explanation of himself and his +weapon? What explanation had he ready, I wonder? It must have taken all +his nerve to turn the handle of the door.... + +"But no one can deny the man his full share of courage and decision. + +"I felt more and more sure that in some such manner the crime had been +gone about; and yet there were many complications, and more than once it +seemed as if my convictions had been too hastily formed. Later that same +afternoon I found, upon the sand of a little bay below the castle, marks +that told me as plainly as they told one of the keepers who joined me +there that a strange man had landed from a boat on the night of the +murder, and even, if our calculations were right, not far off the very +hour in which the deed was done. From the tracks left by his boots, which +were large and without nails and extraordinarily pointed for those of a +man, I felt sure that here one had landed who was no native of these +parts, and the theory of the unknown Russian seemed to take on new life +and vigour. The tracks, as we now know, were no doubt those of the member +of the Society of the Friends of Man who was living at Crianan, and who +hoped to have word with Julia Romaninov. It was no doubt he whom Sir +David saw lurking in the grounds, and it is natural to suppose that when +he perceived himself to be observed he retreated to his boat and made +off, abandoning his proposed meeting for that night. + +"I was to be further bewildered before my first day of investigation +came to an end. Young Lord Ashiel had spent the day in searching for the +will; and, if my inward certainty that he himself would prove to be the +guilty man should turn out to be right, I could very well understand +that he was anxious to find it. For, from what his uncle had said to +Miss Byrne, it seemed possible that he had so worded his last will and +testament, that whoever succeeded to the great fortune he had to +bequeath, it might not be Mark McConachan. But the will was not to be +found, and there was no doubt to whose interest it was that it should +never be found; so that I felt pretty sure that, if the successor to the +title were once able to lay his hands on it, no one else would ever do +so. However, he hadn't found it yet, or the search would not be +continued with such unmistakable ardour. + +"Now I had a fancy myself to have a look for the will. I took the last +words of the dead man to be an effort to indicate how I was to do so, and +I had no idea of prosecuting my search under the eye of his nephew. Young +Ashiel was to dine at the cottage here, with Lady Ruth; so I excused +myself under pretence of a headache from appearing at dinner, and hurried +back to the castle as soon as I could do so unobserved. I got in by a +window which I had purposely left open, and made my way to the library. +The words that Lord Ashiel, as he lay dying, had managed to stammer out +to his daughter, were only five. 'Gimblet--the clock--eleven--steps.' I +had decided to take the clock in the library as the starting-point of +investigation. He might, of course, have referred to any other clock, but +only one could be dealt with at a time, and a beginning must be made +somewhere. Moreover, I had noticed a curious feature about that +particular timepiece. It was clamped to the wall, which struck me as very +suggestive; and I thought it quite likely I should be able to discover +some kind of secret drawer concealed within, or behind, the tall black +lacquered case, where the will and other papers of which Lord Ashiel had +told me might be hidden. But in spite of my best efforts I came across +nothing of the kind. + +"I then examined the floor of the room at spots on its surface which were +at a distance of about eleven steps from the clock, in the hope of +finding some opening between the oak boards; but all to no purpose. I +began to think that by some specially contrived mechanism the +hiding-place might only be discernible at eleven o'clock, and though the +idea seemed farfetched, I don't like to leave any possibility untested, +so I sat down to wait till the hour should strike. + +"While I was waiting, I suddenly heard footsteps which appeared to come +from inside the wall of the room, or from below the floor. I concluded +instantly that there was a secret passage within the walls although I had +failed to find the entrance, so I left the library quickly and quietly, +and made my way to the garden, from which I was able to look back into +the room through the window. By the time I took up my post of observation +the person I had heard approaching had entered. To my surprise it was a +young lady about whom I seemed to recognize something vaguely familiar, +but whom I was not aware of ever having seen before. She was occupied in +examining the papers in Lord Ashiel's writing bureau, and after watching +her for some time, I concluded that she must be Julia Romaninov; partly +from certain foreign ways and gestures which she displayed, and partly +from her present employment, as I knew of no one else who was interested +in the papers of the dead man. I imagined that she knew of the possible +relationship which Lord Ashiel supposed might exist between himself and +her, and that she was searching for evidence of her birth. Whether she +was staying at the castle, which I was told all visitors had left, or +whether, like myself, she had made her way into it from outside, was a +question I could not then determine, though the next day I discovered +that she was stopping with Mrs. Clutsam at the fishing lodge, near by. + +"The fact of her being still in the neighbourhood, the business I found +her engaged upon--an unusual one, to put it mildly, for a young girl--and +the hour, at which she had chosen to go about it, all gave me much food +for thought, and I felt sure she could tell me news of the stranger who +had landed in the bay and who wore such uncommonly pointed boots. When I +recognized in her, on the following day, a young person who had, a few +weeks previously, made me the victim of a barefaced and audacious +robbery, I could no longer doubt that she and the unknown boatman were in +league together; and, since no Englishman would be likely to wear boots +so excessively pointed at the toes, I did not hesitate to conclude that +they were both members of the Society of the Friends of Man, a conclusion +which became a certainty when I subsequently saw them together. This +discovery rather shook my belief in the guilt of young Ashiel, although I +had an inward conviction that in spite of everything he would turn out to +be the murderer. Still, I was after the Nihilist brotherhood as well, and +I determined if possible to put a spoke in the wheel of that association +when I had finished with the first and most important business. + +"In the meantime, as I stood in the dark garden, watching the girl +ransack the private papers of her dead host, I felt no fear of her +finding what she was looking for. Lord Ashiel had convinced me that he +would hide his secret affairs more carefully than that; and, as I +expected, the time came when she gave up the search and departed the way +she had come. And that way, to my astonishment, was through the +grandfather's clock I had spent so much time in examining. No sooner had +she gone than I returned to the library, where I soon discovered that the +hidden entrance lay through the one part of the clock I had not +investigated. A trap in the floor could be opened by turning a small +knob, and I found beneath it the top of that flight of stairs which we +now know leads out to the door under the battlements. There were fifteen +steps in the flight, and my first idea was to examine the eleventh one of +them. I was rewarded by the discovery of a concealed drawer, which in its +turn disclosed a single sheet of paper. + +"On it were written some words that I could not at first understand, but +of which finally, by good luck, and with your help, Lady Ruth, I was able +to decipher the meaning. They referred, in an obscure and veiled fashion, +to the great statue erected by Lord Ashiel in that glen of which his wife +had been so fond; where the beginning of the track used by the cattle +drivers and robbers of old, which is known as the Green Way, leads up +over the hills to the south. Guided by Lady Ruth, I found on the pedestal +of the statue a spring, which has only to be pressed when a door in one +end of the erection swings open, and discloses the hollow chamber in the +middle of the pedestal. At the far end of the cavity was the tin box, of +which the key lay temptingly on the top. I lost no time in springing +towards it, for here I felt sure was all I wanted to find, but as I +inserted the key in the lock the door slammed to behind me and I found +myself shut in the dark interior of the pedestal. Luckily Lady Ruth was +with me, and quickly let me out. I found that the door was controlled by +an elaborate piece of clockwork, which is set in motion by the pressure +upon the floor of the feet of any intruder, causing the door to shut +almost immediately behind him. But for you, Lady Ruth, I should be there +now. But the incident gave me an idea. + +"I returned to the cottage with the papers, and found two telegrams. One +was from the analyst in Edinburgh to whom I had sent the grains of dust +collected in the gun-room, saying that among other ingredients lime was +very predominant. Now there is no lime in a peaty soil such as this, and +the gardener, to whom I talked of soils and manures, with an air of +wisdom which I hope deceived him, told me that the rose-bed outside the +library had received a strong dressing of it. There was also, said the +report, traces of steel and phosphates, of which there is a combination +known as basic slag, which the gardener had mentioned as being +occasionally used. I considered that it was tolerably certain, therefore, +that young Ashiel's rifle had been the weapon the imprint of whose butt +was still discernible on the bed when I went over it. + +"The second telegram contained an answer from the colonel of his +regiment, to whom I had written asking if there was anything in the +record of Mark McConachan which would make it appear conceivable that he +was badly in need of money, and likely to go to extreme lengths to obtain +it. I had told the colonel as much about the case as I then knew, and +pointed out that the life or death of a man whom I had strong reason to +think innocent might depend upon his withholding nothing he might know +which could possibly bear upon the matter. The telegram I received in +reply was short but emphatic. 'Record very bad,' it said, 'am writing,' +This was enough for me. I went over to Crianan, saw the police, and +imparted my conclusions to the local inspector. I then proposed that a +little trap should be laid, into which, if he were not guilty and had no +intention of destroying his uncle's will, there was no reason to imagine +young Lord Ashiel would step. The inspector consented, and I returned, +with himself and two of his men, to Inverashiel. You know how successful +was the ruse I indulged in. I simply went to the young man, and told him +I had discovered the place where his uncle had put his will and other +valuable papers. I explained to him where it was and how the pedestal +could be opened, but I said nothing about its shutting again. Neither, I +am afraid, did I confess that I had already visited the statue and taken +away the documents. I said, on the contrary, that I preferred not to +touch the contents except in the presence of a magistrate, and suggested +he should send a note to General Tenby at Glenkliquart to ask him to come +over and be present when we removed the papers. This he did, and I then +left him after he had promised to join us at the cottage in a couple of +hours. I knew very well where we should find him at the end of those +hours; and, as I expected, he was caught by the clockwork machinery of +the pedestal door." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +Sir Arthur Byrne took his adopted daughter back to Belgium on the +following day, since, although she would have to return to England to +give evidence against Mark in due course, some time must elapse before +his trial came on, and he judged it best to remove her as far as possible +from a place whose associations must always be painful. + +Then ensued a series of weary long weeks for Juliet, in which she had no +trouble in convincing herself that David had forgotten her. She heard +nothing from him directly, though indirectly news of him filtered through +in letters they received from Lady Ruth and Gimblet. He had not, it +appeared, taken his cousin's guilt as proved so readily as Mark had +affected to do in his own case, refusing absolutely to hear a word of the +evidence against him, and maintaining that the whole thing was a mistake +as colossal as it was ghastly. + +Only when he was persuaded unwillingly, but finally, that it was Juliet's +word which he must doubt if he were to continue to believe in Mark's +innocence, did he give in, and sorrowfully acknowledged himself +convinced. + +All this Lady Ruth wrote to the girl, together with the fact that Sir +David was still in attendance on his mother, now happily recovering from +the nervous shock she had sustained. + +From Gimblet, and from Messrs. Findlay & Ince, they heard that by the +will which the detective had found all Lord Ashiel's money and estate +were left to the adopted daughter of Sir Arthur Byrne, known hitherto as +Juliet Byrne, with a suggestion that she should provide for his nephews +to the extent she should think fit. + +The will, though not technically worded, was perfectly good and legal, +and Juliet could have all the money she was likely to want for the +present by accepting the offer of an advance which the lawyers begged to +be allowed to make. + +Gimblet wrote, further, that the list of names of members of the Nihilist +society entitled the "Friends of Man" which he had discovered at the same +time as the will and, contrary to Lord Ashiel's wishes, sent off by +registered post to Scotland Yard, had been communicated to the heads of +the police in Russia and the other European countries in which many of +those designated were now scattered, with the result that a large number +of arrests had been quietly made, and the society practically wiped out. +The foreign guest of the Crianan Hotel was still at large. The name of +Count Pretovsky was not on the list and nothing could be proved against +him. He had moved on to another hotel farther west, where he was lying +very low and continuing to practise the gentle art of the fisherman. A +member of the Russian secret police was on his way to Scotland, however, +and it was likely that Count Pretovsky would be recognized as one of the +persons on Lord Ashiel's list who were as yet unaccounted for. + +Gimblet told them, besides, that he had succeeded in finding the widow of +the respectable plumber named Harsden, whom Julia had mentioned as being +her father. Mrs. Harsden corroborated the story, and said that it was +certainly the Countess Romaninov to whom Mrs. Meredith had consigned the +little girl they had given her. + +Widely distributed advertisements also brought to light the nurses of the +two children; both the nurse who had taken Julia out to Russia and the +woman who had been with Mrs. Meredith when she took over the charge of +the McConachan baby, quickly claiming the reward that was offered for +their discovery. There was no longer any room for doubt that Juliet Byrne +was the same person as Juliana McConachan, or that Julia Romaninov had +begun life as little Judy Harsden. + +All this scarcely sufficed to rouse Juliet from the apathy into which she +had fallen. To her it seemed incredible to think with what excitement and +delight such news would have filled her a few months earlier. + +Now, since David plainly no longer cared for her, nothing mattered any +longer. Her depression was put down to the shock she had suffered, and +efforts were made to feed her up and coddle her, which she +ungratefully resented. + +She had nothing in life to look forward to now, so she told herself, +except the horrible ordeal of the trial which she would be obliged +to attend. + +It was in the dejection now becoming habitual to her, that she sat idly +one fine October morning in her little sitting-room at the consulate. She +had refused to play tennis with her stepsisters, not because she had +anything else to do, but because nothing was worth doing any more, and +because it was less trouble to sit and gaze mournfully through the open +window at the yellow leaves of the poplar in the garden, as from time to +time one of them fluttered down through the still air. + +How unspeakably sad it was, she thought to herself, this slow falling of +the leaves, like the gradual but persistent loss of our hopes and +illusions, which eventually make each human dweller in this world of +change feel as bare and forlorn as the leafless winter trees. + +On a branch a few feet away, a robin perched, and after looking at her +critically for a few moments lifted up its voice in cheerful song. + +But she took no heed of it, and continued to brood over her sorrows. + +All men were faithless. With them, it was out of sight, out of mind, and +she would assuredly never, never believe in one again. The best thing +she could do, she decided, was to put away all thought of such things, +and forget the man whom she had once been so vain as to imagine really +cared for her. + +And just as she told herself for the hundredth time that she had given up +all hope and had resigned herself to the role of broken-hearted maiden, +the door opened, and David was shown in. + +By good luck, she was alone. Lady Byrne was not yet down, and her +stepsisters were out; so there was no one to see her blushes and add to +her embarrassment. + +In the surprise of seeing him, all her presence of mind vanished, leaving +her speechless and trembling with agitation. + +For his part, David approached her with a confusion as obvious as her +own. + +"Juliet," he stammered as soon as they were left alone together, "I know +I oughtn't to have come, but I simply couldn't keep away." + +"Why oughtn't you to have come?" was all she could ask foolishly. + +"Because I know you can't want to see me," said the absurd young man, +"though I do think you liked me pretty well before, didn't you? when +Maisie Tarver tied my tongue; or ought to have, I'm afraid I should say. +But she had enough sense to drop me when I was arrested. She couldn't +stand a man arrested for murder any more than you or anyone else could?" + +He said the last words with an air of shamefaced interrogation. + +"Why," said Juliet, who was being carried off her feet on the top of a +rapturous flood, "what nonsense! You were as innocent as I was. What +would it matter if you were arrested twenty times!" + +"Well, I shouldn't care to be, myself," said David, without apparently +deriving much satisfaction from such a suggestion. "Once is enough for +me. And anyway," he added inconsequently, "you can't very well marry a +fellow who is first cousin to a man who's as good as hanged already!" + +"Oh, David, David," cried Juliet; "as if that mattered! But who do +you suppose I am--don't you know that he's my first cousin just as he +is yours?" + +"By Jingo," said David, "I never thought of that, somehow. Then +we're both in the same boat!" And he stepped forward and caught her +by the hands. + +"Yes, David," she said, as he drew her to him tenderly, "both in the same +boat. And what can be nicer than that?" + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Ashiel Mystery, by Mrs. Charles Bryce + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASHIEL MYSTERY *** + +***** This file should be named 9746.txt or 9746.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/7/4/9746/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and PG +Distributed Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Ashiel mystery + A Detective Story + +Author: Mrs. Charles Bryce + +Release Date: January, 2006 [EBook #9746] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 15, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASHIEL MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + THE ASHIEL MYSTERY + A DETECTIVE STORY + + + BY MRS. CHARLES BRYCE + + + + +_"It is the difficulty of the Police Romance, that the reader is always a +man of such vastly greater ingenuity than the writer._" + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +When Sir Arthur Byrne fell ill, after three summers at his post in the +little consulate that overlooked the lonely waters of the Black Sea, he +applied for sick leave. Having obtained it, he hurried home to scatter +guineas in Harley Street; for he felt all the uneasy doubts as to his +future which a strong man who has never in his life known what it is to +have a headache is apt to experience at the first symptom that all is not +well. Outwardly, he pretended to make light of the matter. + +"Drains, that's what it is," he would say to some of the passengers to +whom he confided the altered state of his health on board the boat which +carried him to Constantinople. "As soon as I get back to a civilized +sewage system I shall be myself again. These Eastern towns are all right +for Orientals; and what is your Muscovite but an Oriental, in all +essentials of hygiene? But they play the deuce with a European who has +grown up in a country where people still indulge in a sense of smell." + +And if anyone ventured to sympathize with him, or to express regret at +his illness, he would snub him fiercely. But for all that he felt +convinced, in his own mind, that he had been attacked by some fatal +disease. He became melancholy and depressed; and, if he did not spend his +days in drawing up his last will and testament, it was because such a +proceeding--in view of the state of his banking account--would have +partaken of the nature of a farce. Having a sense of humour, he was +little disposed, just then, to any action whose comic side he could not +conveniently ignore. + +When he arrived in London, however, he was relieved to find that the +specialists whom he consulted, while they mostly gave him his money's +worth of polite interest, did not display any anxiety as to his +condition. One of them, indeed, went so far as to mention a long name, +and to suggest that an operation for appendicitis would be likely to do +no harm; but, on being cross-examined, confessed that he saw no reason to +suspect anything wrong with Sir Arthur's appendix; so that the young man +left the consulting-room in some indignation. + +He remembered, as soon as the door had closed behind him, that he had +forgotten to ask the meaning of the long name; and, being reluctant to +set eyes again on the doctor who had mystified him with it, went to +another and demanded to know what such a term might signify. + +"Is--is it--dangerous?" he stammered, trying in vain to appear +indifferent. + +Sir Ronald Tompkins, F.R.C.S., etc. etc., let slip a smile; and then, +remembering his reputation, changed it to a look of grave sympathy. + +"No," he murmured, "no, no. There is no danger. I should say, no +immediate danger. Still you did right, quite right, in coming to me. +Taken in time, and in the proper way, this delicacy of yours will, I have +no hesitation in saying, give way to treatment. I assure you, my dear Sir +Arthur, that I have cured many worse cases than yours. I will write you +out a little prescription. Just a little pill, perfectly pleasant to the +taste, which you must swallow when you feel this alarming depression and +lack of appetite of which you complain; and I am confident that we shall +soon notice an improvement. Above all, my dear Sir, no worry; no anxiety. +Lead a quiet, open-air life; play golf; avoid bathing in cold water; +avoid soup, potatoes, puddings and alcohol; and come and see me again +this day fortnight. Thank you, yes, two guineas. _Good_-bye." + +He pressed Sir Arthur's hand, and shepherded him out of the room. + +His patient departed, impressed, soothed and comforted. + +After the two weeks had passed, and feeling decidedly better, he +returned. + +Sir Ronald on this occasion was absolutely cheerful. He expressed himself +astonished at the improvement, and enthusiastic on the subject of the +excellence of his own advice. He then broke to Sir Arthur the fact that +he was about to take his annual holiday. He was starting for Norway the +next day, and should not be back for six weeks. + +"But what shall I do while you are away?" cried his patient, aghast. + +"You have advanced beyond my utmost expectations," replied the doctor, +"and the best thing for you now will be to go out to Vichy, and take a +course of the waters there. I should have recommended this in any case. +My intended departure makes no difference. Let me earnestly advise you to +start for France to-morrow." + +Sir Arthur had by this time developed a blind faith in Sir Ronald +Tompkins and did not dream of ignoring his suggestion. He threw over all +the engagements he had made since arriving in England; packed his trunks +once more; and, if he did not actually leave the country until two or +three days later, it was only because he was not able to get a sleeping +berth on the night express at such short notice. + +The end of the week saw him installed at Vichy, the most assiduous and +conscientious of all the water drinkers assembled there. + +It was on the veranda of his hotel that he made the acquaintance of +Mrs. Meredith. + +She was twenty-five, rich, beautiful and a widow, her husband having been +accidentally killed within a few months of their marriage. After a year +or so of mourning she had recovered her spirits, and led a gay life in +English society, where she was very much in request. + +Sir Arthur had seen few attractive women of late, the ladies of Baku +being inclined to run to fat and diamonds, and he thought Lena Meredith +the most lovely and the most wonderful creature that ever stepped out of +a fairy tale. + +From the very moment he set eyes on her he was her devoted slave, and +after the first few days a more constant attendant than any shadow--for +shadows at best are mere fair-weather comrades. He seldom saw the lady +alone, for she had with her a small child, not yet a year old, of which +she was, as it seemed to Sir Arthur, inordinately fond; and whether she +were sitting under the trees in the garden of the hotel, or driving +slowly along the dusty roads--as was her habit each afternoon--the baby +and its nurse were always with her, and by their presence put an +effective check to the personalities in which he was longing to indulge. +It would have taken more than a baby to discourage Sir Arthur, however: +he cheerfully included the little girl in his attentions; and, as time +went on, became known to the other invalids in the place by the nickname +of "the Nursemaid." + +Mrs. Meredith took his homage as a matter of course. She was used to +admiration, though she was not one of those women to whom it is +indispensable. She considered it one of the luxuries of life, and held +that it is more becoming than diamonds and a better protection against +the weather than the most expensive furs. At first she looked upon the +obviously stricken state of Sir Arthur with amusement, combined with a +good deal of gratification that some one should have arisen to entertain +her in this dull health resort; but gradually, as the weeks passed, her +point of view underwent a change. Whether it was the boredom of the cure, +or whether she was touched by the unselfish devotion of her admirer, or +whether it was due merely to the accident that Sir Arthur was an +uncommonly good-looking young man and so little conscious of the fact, +from one cause or another she began to feel for him a friendliness which +grew quickly more pronounced; so that at the end of a month, when he +found her, for the first time walking alone by the lake, and proposed to +her inside the first two minutes of their encounter, she accepted him +almost as promptly, and with very nearly as much enthusiasm. + +"I want to talk to you about the child, little Juliet," she said, a day +or two later. "Or rather, though I want to talk about her, perhaps I had +better not, for I can tell you almost nothing that concerns her." + +"My dear," said Sir Arthur, "you needn't tell me anything, if you +don't like." + +"But that's just the tiresome part," she returned, "I should like you to +know everything, and yet I must not let you know. She is not mine, of +course, but beyond that her parentage must remain a secret, even from +you. Yet this I may say: she is the child of a friend of mine, and there +is no scandal attached to her birth, but I have taken all responsibility +as to her future. Are you, Arthur, also prepared to adopt her?" + +"Darling, I will adopt dozens of them, if you like," said her infatuated +betrothed. "Juliet is a little dear, and I am very glad we shall always +have her." + +In England, the news of Lena Meredith's engagement caused a flutter of +excitement and disappointment. It had been hoped that she would make a +great match, and she received many letters from members of her family and +friends, pointing out the deplorable manner in which she was throwing +herself away on an impecunious young baronet who occupied an obscure +position in the Consular Service. She was begged to remember that the +Duke of Dachet had seemed distinctly smitten when he was introduced to +her at the end of the last season; and told that if she would not +consider her own interests it was unnecessary that she should forget +those of her younger unmarried sisters. + +At shooting lodges in the North, and in country houses in the South, +young men were observed to receive the tidings with pained surprise. +More than one of them had given Mrs. Meredith credit for better taste +when it came to choosing a second husband; more than one of them had +felt, indeed, that she was the only woman in the world with an eye +discerning enough to appreciate his own valuable qualities at their true +worth. Could the fact be that she had overlooked those rare gifts? For a +week or so depression sat in many a heart unaccustomed to its presence; +and young ladies, in search of a husband, found, here and there, that +one turned to them whom they had all but given up as hopelessly +indifferent to their charms. + +Unconcerned by the lack of enthusiasm aroused by her decision, Lena +Meredith married Sir Arthur Byrne, and in the course of a few months +departed with him to his post on the Black Sea; where the baby Juliet and +her nurse formed an important part of the consular household. + +The years passed happily. Sir Arthur was moved and promoted from one +little port to another a trifle more frequented by the ships of his +country, and after a year or so to yet another still larger; so that, +while nothing was too good for Juliet in the eyes of her adopted mother, +and to a lesser extent in those of her father, it happened that she knew +remarkably little of her own land, though few girls were more familiar +with those of other nations. Nor were their wanderings confined to +Europe: Africa saw them, and the southern continent of America; and it +was in that far country that the happy days came to an end, for poor Lady +Byrne caught cold one bitter Argentine day, and died of pneumonia before +the week was out. + +Sir Arthur was heart-broken. He packed Juliet off to a convent school +near Buenos Ayres, and shut himself up in his consulate, refusing to meet +those who would have offered their sympathy, and going from his room to +his office, and back again, like a man in a dream. + +Not for more than a year did Juliet see again the only friend she had now +left in the world; and it was then she heard for the first time that he +was not really her father, and that the woman she had called "Mother" had +had no right to that name. She was fifteen years old when this blow fell +on her; and she had not yet reached her sixteenth birthday when Sir +Arthur was transferred back to Europe. + +"Your home must always be with me, Juliet," he had said, when he broke to +her his ignorance of her origin. "I have only you left now." + +But though he was kind, and even affectionate to her, he showed no real +anxiety for her society. She was sent to a school in Switzerland as soon +as they landed in Europe; and, while she used to fancy that at the +beginning of the holidays he was glad to see her return, she was much +more firmly convinced that at the end of them he was at least equally +pleased to see her depart. + +She was nineteen before he realized that she could not be kept at school +for ever; and when he considered the situation, and saw himself, a man +scarcely over forty, saddled with a grown-up girl, who was neither his +own daughter nor that of the woman he had loved, and to whom he had sworn +to care for the child as if she were indeed his own, it must be admitted +that his heart failed him. It was not that he had any aversion to Juliet +herself. He had been fond of the child, and he liked the girl. It was the +awkwardness of his position that filled him with a kind of despair. + +"If only somebody would marry her!" he thought, as he sat opposite to her +at the dinner-table, on the night that she returned for the last time +from school. + +The thought cheered him. Juliet, he noticed for the first time, had +become singularly pretty. He engaged a severe Frenchwoman of mature age +as chaperon, and made spasmodic attempts to take his adopted daughter +into such society as the Belgian port, where he was consul at this time, +could afford. + +It was not a large society; nor did eligible young men figure in it in +any quantity. Those there were, were foreigners, to whom the question of +a _dot_ must be satisfactorily solved before the idea of matrimony would +so much as occur to them. + +Juliet had no money. Lady Byrne had left her fortune to her husband, and +rash speculations on his part had reduced it to a meagre amount, which he +felt no inclination to part with. Two or three years went by, and she +received no proposals. Sir Arthur's hopes of seeing her provided for grew +faint, and he could imagine no way out of his difficulties. He himself +spent his leave in England, but he never took the girl with him on those +holidays. He had no wish to be called on to explain her presence to such +of his friends as might not remember his wife's whim; and, though she +passed as his daughter abroad, she could not do that at home. + +Juliet, for her part, was not very well content. She could hardly avoid +knowing that she was looked on as an incubus, and she saw that her +father, as she called him, dreaded to be questioned as to their +relationship. She lived a simple life; rode and played tennis with young +Belgians of her own age; read, worked, went to such dances and +entertainments as were given in the little town, and did not, on the +whole, waste much time puzzling over the mystery that surrounded her +childhood. But when her friends asked her why she never went to England +with Sir Arthur, she did not know what answer to make, and worried +herself in secret about it. + +Why did he not take her? Because he was ashamed of her? But why was he +ashamed? Her mother--she always thought of Lady Byrne by that name--had +said she was the daughter of a friend of hers. So that she must at least +be the child of people of good family. Was not that enough? + +She was already twenty-three when Sir Arthur married again. The lady was +an American: Mrs. Clarency Butcher, a good-looking widow of about +thirty-five, with three little girls, of whom the eldest was fifteen. She +had not the enormous wealth which is often one of her countrywomen's most +pleasing attributes, but she was moderately well off and came of a good +Colonial family. Having lived for several years in England, she had grown +to prefer the King's English to the President's, and had dropped, almost +completely, the accent of her native country. She was extremely well +educated, and talked three other languages with equal correctness, her +first husband having been attached to various European legations. +Altogether, she was a charming and attractive woman, and there were many +who envied Sir Arthur for the second time in his life. + +It was not, perhaps, her fault that she did not take very kindly to +Juliet. The girl resented the place once occupied by her dead mother +being filled by any newcomer; and was not, it is to be feared, at +sufficient pains to hide her feelings on the point. And the second Lady +Byrne was hardly to be blamed if she remembered that in a few years she +would have three daughters of her own to take out, and felt that a fourth +was almost too much of a good thing. + +Besides, there was no getting over the fact that she was no relation +whatever, and was on the other hand a considerable drain on the family +resources, all of which Lady Byrne felt entirely equal to disbursing +alone and unassisted. Finally, her presence led to disagreements between +Sir Arthur and his wife. + +The day came on which Lady Byrne could not resist drawing Juliet's +attention to her unfortunate circumstances. In a heated moment, induced +by the girl's refusal to meet her half-way when she was conscious of +having made an unusual effort to be friendly, she pointed out to Juliet +that it would be more becoming in her to show some gratitude to people on +whose charity she was living, and on whom she had absolutely no claim of +blood at all. + +The interview ended by Juliet flying to Sir Arthur, and begging, while +she wept on his shoulder, to be allowed to go away and work for her +living; though where and how she proposed to do this she did not specify. + +Sir Arthur had a bad quarter of an hour. His conscience, the knowledge of +the extent to which he shared his second wife's feelings, the remembrance +of the vows he had made on the subject to his first wife, these and the +old, if not very strong, affection he had for Juliet, combined to stir +in him feelings of compunction which showed themselves in an outburst of +irritability. He scolded Juliet; he blamed his wife. + +"Why," he asked them both, "can two women not live in the same house +without quarrelling? Is it impossible for a wretched man ever to have a +moment's peace?" + +In the end, he worked himself into such a passion that Lady Byrne and +Juliet were driven to a reconciliation, and found themselves defending +each other against his reproaches. + +After this they got on better together. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +One hot summer day, a few months after the marriage, Juliet, returning to +the consulate after a morning spent in very active exercise upon a tennis +court, was met on the doorstep by Dora, the youngest of the Clarency +Butchers, who was awaiting her approach in a high state of excitement. + +"Hurry up, Juliet," she cried, as soon as she could make herself +heard. "You'll never guess what there is for you. Something you don't +often get!" + +"What is it?" said Juliet, coming up the steps. + +"Guess!" + +"A present?" + +"No; at least I suppose not; but there may be one inside." + +"Inside? Oh, then it's a parcel?" asked Juliet good-humouredly. + +She felt a mild curiosity, tempered by the knowledge that many things +provided a thrill for the ten-year-old Dora, which she, from the advanced +age of twenty-three, could not look upon as particularly exciting. + +"No, not a parcel," cried Dora, dancing round her. "It's a letter. +There now!" + +"Then why do you say it's something I don't often get?" asked Juliet +suspiciously; "I often get letters. It's an invitation to the Gertignes' +dance, I expect." + +"No, no, it isn't. It's a letter from England. You don't often get one +from there, now, do you? You never did before since we've been here. I +always examine your letters, you know," said Dora, "to see if they look +as if they came from young men. So does Margaret. We think it's time you +got engaged." + +Margaret was the next sister. + +"It's very good of you to take such an interest in my fate," Juliet +replied, as she pulled off her gloves and went to the side-table for the +letter. As a matter of fact she was a good deal excited now; for what the +child said was true enough. She might even have gone further, and said +that she had never had a letter from England, except while Sir Arthur was +there on leave. + +It was a large envelope, addressed in a clerk's handwriting, and she came +to the conclusion, as she tore it open, that it must be an advertisement +from some shop. + + +"DEAR MADAM,--We shall esteem it a favour if you can make it convenient +to call upon us one day next week, upon a matter of business connected +with a member of your family. It is impossible to give you further +details in a letter; but if you will grant us the interview we venture to +ask, we may go so far as to say that there appears to us to be a +reasonable probability of the result being of advantage to yourself. +Trusting that you will let us have an immediate reply, in which you will +kindly name the day and hour when we may expect to see you.--We are, +yours faithfully, + +"FINDLAY & INGE, _Solicitors_." + +The address was a street in Holborn. + +Juliet read the letter through, and straightway read it through again, +with a beating heart. What did it mean? Was it possible she was going to +find her own family at last? + +She was recalled to the present by the voice of Dora, whom she now +perceived to be reading the letter over her shoulder with +unblushing interest. + +"Say," said Dora, "isn't it exciting? 'Something to your advantage!' Just +what they put in the agony column when they leave you a fortune. I bet +your long-lost uncle in the West has kicked the bucket, and left you all +his ill-gotten gains. Mark my words. You'll come back from England a +lovely heiress. I do wish the others would come in. There's no one in the +house, except Sir Arthur." + +"Where is he?" said Juliet, putting the sheet of paper back into the +envelope and slipping it under her waistband. "You know, Dora, it's not +at all a nice thing to read other people's letters. I wonder you aren't +ashamed of yourself. I'm surprised at you." + +"I shouldn't have read it if you'd been quicker about telling me what was +in it," retorted Dora. "It's not at all a nice thing to put temptation in +the way of a little girl like me. Do you suppose I'm made of cast iron?" + +She departed with an injured air, and Juliet went to look for the consul. + +"What is it?" he asked, as she put the envelope into his hand. "A letter +you want me to read? Not a proposal, eh?" He smiled at her as he unfolded +the large sheet of office paper. + +"Hullo, what's this?" + +He read it through carefully. + +"Why, Juliet," he said, when he had finished, "this is very interesting, +isn't it? It looks as if you were going to find out something about +yourself, doesn't it? After all these years! Well, well." + +"You think I must go, then," she said a little doubtfully. + +"Go? Of course I should go, if I were you. Why not?" + +"You don't think it is a hoax?" + +"No, no; I see no reason to suppose such a thing. I know the firm of +Findlay & Ince quite well by name and reputation." + +"Oh, I hope they will tell me who I am!" cried Juliet. "Have you no idea +at all, father?" + +"No, my dear, you know I have not. Besides, I promised Lena I would never +ask. You are the child of a friend of hers. That is all I know. I think +she scarcely realized how hard it would be for you not to know more when +you grew up. I often think that if she had lived she would have told you +before now." + +"If you promised her not to ask, I won't ask either," said Juliet +loyally. "But I hope they'll tell me. It will be different, won't it, if +they tell me without my asking?" + +"I think you might ask," said Sir Arthur. "It is absurd that you should +be bound by a promise that I made. And you may be sure of one thing. Your +asking, or your not asking, won't make any odds to Findlay & Ince. If +they mean to tell you, they will; and, if they don't, you're not likely +to get it out of them." + +"And when shall I go?" cried Juliet. "They say they want me to answer +immediately, you know." + +"Oh well, I don't know. In a few days. You will hardly be ready to start +to-morrow, will you?" + +"I could be ready, easily," said Juliet. + +"You're in a great hurry to get away from us," said Sir Arthur, with a +rather uneasy laugh. + +"Not from you." Juliet put her arm through his. "I could never find +another father half as nice as the one I've got. But you could do very +well without so many daughters, you know." She smiled at him mockingly. +"You're like the old woman who lived in a shoe. You ought to set up a +school for young ladies." + +"I don't believe I shall be able to get on without my eldest daughter," +he replied, half-serious. "Still I think it would be better for you if +your real parents have decided to own up to you. At all events, if they +do not turn out desirable, I shall still be here, I hope; so I don't see +how you can lose anything by taking this chance of finding out what you +can about them." + +At this point Lady Byrne came into the room, and the news had to be +retold for her benefit; the letter was produced again, and she joined +heartily in the excitement it had caused. + +"You had better start on Monday," she said to Juliet. "That will give you +two days to pack, and to write to an hotel for rooms. Are you going to +take her, Arthur?" she added, turning to her husband. + +"I would, like a shot," he replied, "but I can't possibly get away next +week. I've got a lot of work on hand just now. I suppose, my dear," he +suggested doubtfully, "that you wouldn't be able to run over with her?" + +Lady Byrne declared that it was impossible for her to do so: she had +engagements, she said, for every day of the following week, which it was +out of the question to break. Had Sir Arthur forgotten that they +themselves were having large dinner-parties on Tuesday and Friday? What +she would do without Juliet to help her in preparing for them, she did +not know, but at least it was obvious that some one must be there to +receive his guests. No, Juliet would have to go alone. She was really old +enough to be trusted by herself for three days, and there was no need, +that she could see, for her to be away longer. + +"She can go on Monday, see the lawyers on Tuesday, and come back on +Wednesday," said Lady Byrne. "The helplessness of young girls is the one +thing I disapprove of in your European system of education. It is much +better that they should learn to manage their own affairs; and Juliet is +not such a ninny as you seem to think." + +"I shall be perfectly all right by myself," Juliet protested. + +Sir Arthur did not like it. + +"Supposing she is detained in London," he said. + +"What should detain her," demanded his wife, "unless it is the discovery +of her parents? And, if she finds them, I presume they will be capable of +looking after her. In any case, she can write, or cable to us when she +has seen the solicitors, and it is no use providing for contingencies +that will probably never arise." + +So at last it was decided. A letter was written and dispatched to Messrs. +Findlay & Ince, saying that Miss Byrne would have pleasure in calling +upon them at twelve o'clock on the following Tuesday; and Juliet busied +herself in preparations for her journey. + +On Monday morning she left Ostend, in the company of her maid. + +It was a glorious August day. On shore the heat was intense, and it was a +relief to get out of the stifling carriages of the crowded boat train, +and to breathe the gentle air from the sea that met them as they crossed +the gangway on to the steamer. Juliet enjoyed every moment of the +journey; and would have been sorry when the crossing was over if she had +not been so eager to set foot upon her native soil. + +She leant upon the rail in the bows of the ship, watching the white +cliffs grow taller and more distinct, and felt that now indeed she +understood the emotions with which the heart of the exile is said to +swell at the sight of his own land. She wondered if the sight of their +country moved other passengers on the boat as she herself was moved, and +made timid advances to a lady who was standing near her, in her need of +some companion with whom to share her feeling. + +"Have you been away from England a long time," she asked her. + +"I have been abroad during a considerable period," replied the person she +addressed, a stern-looking Scotchwoman who did not appear anxious to +enter into conversation. + +From her severe demeanour Juliet imagined she might be a governess going +for a holiday. + +"You must be glad to be going home," she ventured. + +"It's a far cry north to my home," said the Scotchwoman, thawing +slightly. "I'm fearing I will not be seeing it this summer. I'll be +stopping in the south with some friends. The journey north is awful' +expensive." + +"I'm sorry you aren't going home," Juliet sympathized, "but it will be +nice to see the English faces at Dover, won't it? There may even be a +Scotchman among the porters, you know, by some chance." + +"No fear," said her neighbour gloomily. "They'll be local men, I have +nae doubt. Though whether they are English or Scots," she added, "I'll +have to give them saxpence instead of a fifty-centime bit; which is one +of the bonniest things you see on the Continent, to my way of thinking." + +Juliet could get no enthusiasm out of her; and, look which way she might, +she could not see any reflection on the faces of those around her of the +emotions which stirred in her own breast. It had been a rough crossing, +in spite of the cloudless sky and broiling sunshine, and most of the +passengers had been laid low by the rolling of the vessel. They displayed +anxiety enough to reach land; but, as far as she could see, what land it +was they reached was a matter of indifference to them. No doubt, she +thought, when the ship stopped and they felt better, they would be more +disposed to a sentimentality like hers. + +She found her maid--who had been one of the most sea-sick of those +aboard--and assisted her ashore, put her into a carriage and +ministered to her wants with the help of a tea-basket containing the +delicious novelty of English bread and butter. In half an hour's time +they were steaming hurriedly towards London. She was to lodge at a +small hotel in Jermyn Street; and on that first evening even this +seemed perfect to her. The badness of the cooking was a thing she +refused to notice; and the astonishing hills and valleys of the bed +caused in her no sensation beyond that of surprise. She was young, +strong and healthy, and there was no reason that trifling discomforts +of this kind should affect her enjoyment. To the shortcomings of the +bed, indeed, she shut her eyes in more senses than one, for she was +asleep three minutes after her head touched the pillow, nor did she +wake till her maid roused her the next morning. + +She got up at once and looked out of the window. It was a fine day again; +over the roofs of the houses opposite she could see a blue streak of sky. +Already the air had lost the touch of freshness which comes, even to +London in August, during the first hours of the morning; and the heat in +the low-ceilinged room on the third floor which Juliet occupied for the +sake of economy, was oppressive in spite of the small sash windows being +opened to their utmost capacity. But Juliet only laughed to herself with +pleasure at the brilliancy of the day. She felt that the weather was +playing up to the occasion, as became this important morning of her life. +For that it was important she did not doubt. She was going to hear +tremendous news that day; make wonderful discoveries about her birth; +hear undreamt-of things. Of this she felt absolutely convinced, and it +would not have astonished her to find herself claimed as daughter by any +of the reigning families of Europe. She was prepared for anything, or so +she said to herself, however astounding; and, that being so, she was +excited in proportion. Anyone could have told her that, by this attitude +of mind towards the future, she was laying up for herself disappointment +at the least, if not the bitterest disillusions; but there was no one to +throw cold water on her hopes, and she filled the air with castles of +every style of architecture that her fancy suggested, without any +hindrance from doubt or misgiving. + +She dressed quickly, in the gayest humour, but with even more care than +she usually bestowed upon her appearance; a subject to which she always +gave the fullest attention. + +"Which dress will Mademoiselle wear?" the maid asked her. + +"Why, my prettiest, naturally," she replied. + +"What, the white one that Mademoiselle wore for the marriage of Monsieur, +her papa?" inquired Therese, scandalized at the idea of such a precious +garment being put on before breakfast. + +"That very one," Juliet assured her, undaunted; and was arrayed in it, in +spite of obvious disapproval. + +After breakfast they went out, and, inquiring their way to Bond Street, +flattened their noses against the shop windows to their mutual +satisfaction. + +They had it almost to themselves, for there were not many people left in +that part of London; but more than one head was turned to gaze at the +pretty girl in the garden-party dress, who stood transfixed before shop +after shop. This amusement lasted till half-past eleven, when they +returned to the hotel for Juliet to give the final pats to her hair, and +to retilt her hat to an angle possibly more becoming, before she started +to keep her appointment with the solicitors. The next twenty minutes were +spent in cross-examining the hotel porter as to the time it would take to +drive to her destination, and, having decided to start at ten minutes to +twelve, in wondering whether the quarter of an hour which had still to +elapse would ever come to an end. + +At three minutes to twelve she rang the bell of the office of Messrs. +Findlay & Ince. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +A gloomy little clerk climbed down from a high stool where he sat +writing, and opened the door. + +"Oh yes, Miss Juliet Byrne," he said when Juliet had told him her name. +"Mr. Findlay is expecting you. Will you walk upstairs, Miss Byrne, +please. I think you have an appointment for twelve o'clock? This way, if +you please." + +He led the way up a steep and narrow flight of stairs, which rose out of +the black shadows at the end of the passage. + +"Ladies find these stairs rather dark, I'm afraid," he remarked +pleasantly, as he held open a door and ushered Juliet and her maid into +an empty room. "Will you kindly wait here," he continued. "Mr. Findlay is +engaged for the moment. You are a leetle before your time, I believe." He +pulled out his watch and examined it closely. "Not _quite_ the hour yet," +he repeated, and closed it with a snap. "But Mr. Findlay will see you as +soon as he is disengaged." + +With a flourish of his handkerchief he withdrew, shutting the door +behind him. + +Juliet sat down on a hard chair covered with green leather, and told her +maid to take another. Her spirits were damped. The sight of Mr. Nicol, as +the clerk was named, often had that effect upon persons who saw him for +the first time; indeed he was found to be a very useful check on +troublesome clients, who arrived full of determination to have their own +way, and were often so cowed by their preliminary interview with Nicol as +to feel it a privilege and a relief subsequently to be bullied by Mr. +Ince, or persuaded by Mr. Findlay into the belief that what they had +previously decided on was the last thing advisable to do. + +Mr. Findlay frequently remarked to Mr. Ince, when his partner's easily +roused temper was more highly tried than usual by some imbecile mistake +of the clerk's, that Nicol might have faults as a clerk and as a man, but +that, as a buffer, he was the nearest approach to perfection obtainable +in this world of makeshifts. + +To which Mr. Ince would reply with point and fluency that fenders could +be had by the dozen from any shipping warehouse, at a lower cost than one +week's salary of Nicol's would represent, and would be far more efficient +in the office. Still he did not suggest dismissing the man. + +Juliet, as she sat and looked round the musty little waiting-room, felt +that here was an end of her dreams of the resplendent family she was to +find pining to take her to its heart. She felt certain that she could +never have any feelings in common with people who could employ a firm of +solicitors which in its turn was served by the man who had received her. +Romance and the clerk could never, she thought, meet under one roof. And +such a roof! The room in which she sat was so dark, so gloomy, so bare +and cheerless, that Juliet began to wonder whether she would not have +been wiser not to have come. This was not a place, surely, which fond +parents would choose for a long-deferred meeting with their child, after +years of separation. She walked to the window, but the only view was of a +blank wall, and that so close that she could have touched it by leaning +out. No wonder the room was dark, even at midday in August. The walls +were lined with bookshelves, where heavy volumes, all dealing with the +same subject, that of law, stood shoulder to shoulder in stout bindings +of brown leather. + +There was a fireplace of cracked and dirty marble with an engraving hung +over it, representing the coronation of Queen Victoria. A gas stove +occupied the grate, and a gas bracket stuck out from the wall on either +side of the picture. + +On the small round mahogany table that stood in the middle of the room +lay a Bible, and a copy of the _St. James's Gazette_, which was dated a +week back. Juliet took it up and read an account of a cricket match +without much enthusiasm. Then she flung it down and wandered about the +room once more; but she had exhausted all its possibilities; and though +she took a volume entitled _Causes Celebres_ from the shelf, and turned +its pages hopefully, she put it back with a grimace at its dullness and a +sort of surprise at finding anything drier than the cricket. + +She had waited half an hour, when the door opened and the face of Nicol +was introduced round the corner of it. + +"Will you please come this way," he said. + +Telling her maid to stay where she was, Juliet followed him. He opened +the other door on the landing, and announced her in a loud voice as, with +a quickened pulse, she passed him, and entered the room. + +There were two men standing by the hearth. One of them came forward to +receive her. + +"How do you do, Miss Byrne," he said; "I am glad you were able to come. +I am Jeremy Findlay, at your service." + +Mr. Findlay was a man of moderate height, with a long pointed nose which +he was in the habit of putting down to within an inch or two of his desk +when he was looking for any particular paper, for he was very short +sighted. It rather conveyed the impression that he was poking about with +it, and that he hunted for questionable clauses or illegalities in a +document, much as a pig might hunt for truffles in a wood. For the rest, +he was middle-aged, with hair nearly white, and small grey whiskers. He +beamed at Juliet through gold-rimmed eyeglasses. + +"Let me introduce my friend," he said, mumbling something. + +Juliet did not catch the name, but she supposed that this was Mr. Ince. + +The other man stepped forward and shook hands, but said nothing. He was a +thin, pallid creature, rather above the average height, and had the +drooping shoulders of a scholar. His face, which was long and narrow, +looked pale and emaciated, and though his blue eyes had a kindly twinkle +it seemed to Juliet that they burned with a feverish brightness. His nose +was long and slightly hooked, and beneath it the mouth was hidden by a +heavy red moustache; while his hair, though not of so bright a colour, +had a reddish tinge about it. He appeared to be about fifty years of age, +but this was due to a look of tiredness habitual to his expression, and, +in part, to actual bad health. In reality he was younger. + +"Pray take this chair, Miss Byrne," Mr. Findlay was saying. "We are +anxious to have a little conversation with you. I am sure you quite +understand that we should not have asked you to come all the way from +Belgium unless your presence was of considerable importance. How +important it is I really hardly know myself, but I repeat that I would +not have urged you to take so long a journey if I had not had serious +reason to think that it was desirable for your own sake that you should +do so. I may say at once that the matter is a family one; but before +going further I must ask your permission to put one or two questions to +you, which I hope you will believe are not prompted by any feeling of +idle curiosity on my part." + +He paused, and Juliet murmured some words of acquiescence. Mr. Findlay +took off his eyeglasses, glared at them, replaced them, and ran his nose +over the surface of the papers on his writing-table. + +"Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed triumphantly, pouncing on a folded sheet +and lifting it to his eyes. "Just a few notes," he explained. + +"We wrote you care of Sir Arthur Byrne," he resumed; "are you a member of +his family?" + +Here was a disturbing question for Juliet. She had imagined, until this +instant, that she was on the point of being told who her family was, and +now this man was asking for information from her. Tears of disappointment +would not be kept from her eyes. + +"I am a member of Sir Arthur's household," she stammered. + +"Are you not his daughter, then?" asked Mr. Findlay. + +"No, I am not really," Juliet replied. + +"Then may I ask what relation you are to him?" said the lawyer. + +"I am his adopted daughter," said Juliet. "I have always called him +'Father.'" + +"Are you not any relation at all?" pursued Mr. Findlay. + +"I believe not." + +"Then, Miss Byrne, I hope you will not think it an impertinent question +if I ask, who are you?" + +"I don't know," acknowledged poor Juliet. "I was hoping you would tell me +that. I thought, I imagined, that that was why you sent for me." + +"You astonish me," said Mr. Findlay. "Do you mean to say that your family +has never made any attempt to communicate with you?" + +"No, never." + +"And that Sir Arthur Byrne has never told you anything as to your birth? +Surely you must have questioned him about it?" + +"He has told me all he knows," said Juliet, "but that amounts to +nothing." + +"Indeed; that is very strange. He must have had dealings with the people +you were with before he adopted you. He must at least know their name?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. "He doesn't know either, I am sure. It +wasn't Sir Arthur who adopted me. It was the lady he married. A Mrs. +Meredith. She is dead." + +"But he must have heard about you from her," insisted Mr. Findlay. "He +would not have taken a child into his household without knowing anything +at all about it." + +"His wife told him that I was the daughter of a friend of hers, and +begged him not to ask her any more about me. He was very devoted to her, +and he did as she wished. He has been most kind to me; but I am sure he +would be as glad as I should be to discover my relations. I am dreadfully +disappointed that you don't know anything about them. We all thought I +was going to find my family at last." + +Juliet's voice quavered a little. She had built too much on this +interview. + +"I am really extremely sorry not to be able to give you any information," +Mr. Findlay said. + +He turned towards the other man with an interrogative glance, and was met +by a nod of the head, at which he leant back in his chair, crossed his +legs and folded his hands upon them, with the expression of some one who +has played his part in the game, and now retires in favour of another +competitor. The pale man moved his chair a little forward and took up the +conversation. + +"Are you really quite certain that Sir Arthur Byrne has told you all +he knows?" he said earnestly, fixing on Juliet a look at once grave +and eager. + +"Yes," she answered. "I can see that he is as puzzled as I am. And he +would be glad enough to find a way to get rid of me," she added bitterly. + +"I thought you said you were attached to him," said the stranger in +surprise, "and that he had been very kind to you?" + +"Yes," said Juliet, "he has, and I am as fond of him as possible. But he +has three stepdaughters now; he has married again, you know. And he is +not very well off. I am a great expense, besides being an extra girl. I +don't blame him for thinking I am one too many." + +There was a long pause, during which Juliet was conscious of being +closely scrutinized. + +"I think I may be able to give you news of your family," said the pale +man unexpectedly. "That is, if you are the person I think you are +likely to be." + +"Oh," exclaimed Juliet, "can you really?" + +"Well, it is possible," admitted the other. "I can't say for +certain yet." + +"Oh, do, do tell me!" cried the girl. + +"Out of the question, at present," he replied firmly. "I must first +satisfy myself as to whose child you are, and on that point you appear +able to give me no assistance. You must wait till I can find out +something further about this matter of your adoption. And even then," +he added, "it is not certain if I can tell you. You must understand +that, though certain family secrets have been placed in my possession, +it does not depend upon myself whether or not I shall ultimately reveal +them to you." + +Juliet's face fell for a moment, but she refused to allow herself to be +discouraged. + +"There is a chance for me, anyhow!" she exclaimed. "How I hope you +will be allowed to tell me in the end! But why," she went on, turning +to Mr. Findlay, "did you make me think you knew nothing at all about +me. I suppose the family secrets your partner speaks of are the +secrets of my family?" + +"My dear young lady," said Mr. Findlay, "Lord Ashiel is not my partner. +On the contrary, he is an old client of ours, and it was at his request +that we wrote to you as we did. We know no more about your affairs than +you have told us yourself." + +"Oh," murmured Juliet, confused at her mistake. "I thought you were Mr. +Ince," she apologized; "I am so sorry." + +"Not very flattering to poor Ince I'm afraid," said Lord Ashiel, smiling +at her. "He's ten years younger than I am, I'm sorry to say, and I would +change places with him very willingly. Now, if you had mistaken me for +Nicol, that undertaker clerk of Findlay's, who always looks as if he's +been burying his grandmother, I should have been decidedly hurt. What in +the world do you keep that fellow in the office for, Findlay? To frighten +away custom?" + +Mr. Findlay laughed. + +"He's a more useful person than you imagine," he said. "Though I must say +Ince agrees with you, and is always at me about the poor man. Some day I +hope you will both see his sterling qualities." + +"I am afraid you must think I have given you a great deal of trouble for +very little reason," Lord Ashiel said to Juliet. "But perhaps there will +be more result than at present can seem clear to you. I may go so far as +to say that I hope so most sincerely. But, if the secret of which I spoke +just now is ever to be confided to you, it will be necessary for you and +me to know each other a little better. I have a proposal to make to you, +which I fear you may think our acquaintance rather too short and +unconventional to justify." + +He paused with a trace of embarrassment, and Juliet wondered what could +be coming. + +"It is not convenient for me to stay in London just now," he went on +after a minute, "and I am sure you must find it very disagreeable at this +time of the year; and yet it is very important that I should see more of +you. It is, in fact, part of the conditions under which I may be able to +reveal these family secrets of yours to you. That is to say, if they +should turn out to be indeed yours. I came up from the Highlands last +night. I have a place on the West Coast, where at this moment I have a +party of people staying with me for shooting. My sister is entertaining +them in my absence, but I must get back to my duties of host. What I want +to suggest is that you should pay us a visit at Inverashiel." + +"Thank you very much," said Juliet doubtfully. "I should love to, but--I +don't know whether my father would allow me." + +"Your father?" exclaimed Lord Ashiel and Mr. Findlay in one breath. + +"Sir Arthur Byrne, I mean," she corrected herself. + +"You might telegraph to him," urged Lord Ashiel. "And I, myself, will +write. You might mention my sister to him. I think he used to know her. +Mrs. John Haviland. But, indeed, it is very important that you should +come, more important than you think, perhaps." + +He seemed extraordinarily anxious, now, lest she should refuse. + +"Perhaps," suggested Mr. Findlay, "Miss Byrne would like to think over +the idea, and let you know later in the day." + +"A very good plan," said Lord Ashiel. "Yes, of course you would like to +think it over. Will you telephone to me at the Carlton after lunch? +Thanks so much. Good-bye for the present." + +He seized his hat and stick and darted to the door. "You talk to her, +Findlay!" he cried, and disappeared. + +Juliet and Mr. Findlay were left confronting one another. + +"That will be the best plan," the lawyer repeated. "Think it over, Miss +Byrne. I am sure you would enjoy the visit to Scotland. Inverashiel is a +most interesting old place, both historically and for the sake of its +beautiful scenery. A week or two of Highland air could not fail to be of +benefit to your health, even if nothing further came of it, so to speak." + +"I should love it," Juliet said again. "But, Mr. Findlay, I don't know +Lord Ashiel, or hardly know him. How can I go off and stay with someone I +never met before to-day?" + +"The circumstances are unusual," said the lawyer. "I fancy Lord Ashiel is +anxious to lose no time. He is in bad health, poor fellow. I am afraid he +will worry himself a good deal if you cannot make up your mind to go." + +"You see," said Juliet, troubled, "I know nothing about him. I don't know +what my father--I mean, Sir Arthur would say." + +"I am sure your father would have no objection whatever to your making +friends with Lord Ashiel," Mr. Findlay assured her. "He is one of the +most respectable, the most domesticated of peers. Not very cheerful +company, perhaps, but no one in the world can justly say a word against +him in any way. He has had a sad time lately; his wife and only child +died within a month of each other, only two or three years ago. They had +been married quite a short time. Since then, his sister, Mrs. Haviland, +keeps house for him; but he does not entertain much, I am told, except +during the autumn in Scotland. You need have no hesitation in accepting +this invitation, Miss Byrne. I am a married man, and the father of a +family, and I should only be too delighted if one of my daughters had +such an opportunity." + +"Well," said Juliet, "I think I will risk it, and go. I am old enough to +take care of myself, in any case." This she said haughtily, with her nose +in the air. And then, with a sudden drop to her usual manner, she +exclaimed in a tone of gaiety, "What fun it will be!" + +"I am sure you will not regret your decision," repeated Mr. Findlay, as +she got up to go. "You won't forget to let Lord Ashiel know, will you?" + +"No, I will telephone to him at once. But I will telegraph home too, +of course." + +Excitement over this new plan had almost dispelled the earlier +disappointment, and if Juliet's spirits, as she drove back to Jermyn +Street, were not quite as overflowingly high as when she had started +out, they were good enough to make her smile to herself and to every one +she met during the rest of the day, and to hum gay little tunes when no +one was near, and altogether to feel very happy and pleased and +possessed by the conviction that something delightful was about to +happen. She sent off her telegram to Sir Arthur, spending some time over +it, and spoiling a dozen telegraph forms, before she could find +satisfactory words in which to convey her plans with an appearance of +deference to authority. Then she called up the Carlton Hotel on the +telephone, and was much put out when she heard that Lord Ashiel was not +staying there, or even expected. + +It was the hall porter of her hotel who came to the rescue, by +suggesting that she should try the Carlton Club, of which she had never +before heard. + +From the quickness with which Lord Ashiel answered her, he might have +been sitting waiting at the end of the wire, and he expressed great +pleasure at her acceptance of his invitation. Indeed, she could hear from +the tone of his voice that his gratification was no mere empty form. It +was arranged that she should travel down on the following night, Lord +Ashiel promising to engage a sleeping berth for her on the eight o'clock +train. He himself was going North that same evening. He had just been +writing a letter to Sir Arthur Byrne, he told her. He hoped she had some +thick dresses with her; she would want them in Scotland. + +"I am afraid I haven't," she said. "I only expected to stay in London for +a day or two, you know." + +"Well," said the voice at the end of the telephone, "perhaps you can get +a waterproof or something, between this and to-morrow night. I am afraid +I don't know the names of any ladies' tailors, but there are lots about," +he concluded vaguely. + +"I suppose I had better," said Juliet doubtfully. "I wonder if the +shops here will trust me. The fact is, I haven't got very much extra +money. I think perhaps I'd better wait a day or two till I can have +some more sent me." + +"My dear child," came the answer in horrified tones, "you must on no +account put off coming. Of course you are not prepared for all this extra +expense. You must allow me to be your banker. I insist upon it. Your +family, in whose confidence I happen to be, would never forgive me if I +allowed you to continue to be dependent on Sir Arthur Byrne." + +"It is very kind of you," Juliet began. "But suppose I turn out to be +some one different. You know, you said--" + +"If you do, you shall repay me," he replied. "In the meantime I will +send you round a small sum to do your shopping with. Let me see, where +are you staying?" + +An hour later a bank messenger arrived with an envelope containing L100 +in notes. Juliet had never seen so much money in her life, and thought it +far too much. "I shall be sure to lose it," was her first thought. Her +second was to deposit it with the proprietor of the hotel; after which +she felt safer. Then, in huge delight, she sallied forth again with her +maid, the alluring memory of some of the shop windows into which she had +gazed that morning calling to her loudly; she had never thought to look +at those fascinating garments from the other side of the glass. +Intoxicating hours followed, in which a couple of tweed dresses were +purchased that seemed as if they must have been made on purpose for her; +nor were thick walking shoes, and country hats, and other accessories +neglected. By evening her room was strewn with cardboard boxes, and on +Wednesday more were added, so that a trunk to pack them in had to be +bought as well. The shops were very empty; Juliet had the entire +attention of the shop people, and revelled in her purchases. Time flew, +and she was quite sorry, as she drove to Euston on the following evening, +to think that she was leaving this fascinating town of London. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +On Tuesday afternoon, when Juliet, having hung up the telephone through +which she had been conversing with Lord Ashiel, hurried out to see what +Bond Street could provide her with, a little man was sitting writing in a +luxuriously furnished room in a flat in Whitehall. He was small and thin, +and possessed a pair of extraordinarily bright and intelligent brown +eyes, which saw a good deal more of what happened around him than perhaps +any other eyes within a radius of a mile from where he sat. He was, in +other words, observant to a very high degree; and, what was more +remarkable, he knew how to use his powers of observation. There was not a +criminal in the length and breadth of the country who did not wonder +uneasily whether he had really left the scene of his crime as devoid of +clues as he imagined, when he heard that the celebrated detective, +Gimblet, had visited the spot in pursuit of his investigations. + +For this was the man, who, in a few years, had unravelled more apparently +insoluble mysteries, and caused the arrest of more hitherto evasive +scoundrels, than his predecessors had managed to secure in a decade. The +name of Gimblet was known and detested wherever a coiner carried on his +forbidden craft, or a blackmailer concocted his cowardly plans; burglars +and forgers cursed freely when he was mentioned, and there was hardly an +illicit trade in the country which had not suffered at one time or +another from his inquisitive habit of interesting himself in other +people's affairs. Scotland Yard officials were never too proud to call +upon him for help, and many a difficulty he had helped them out of, +though he refused an offer of a regular post in the Criminal +Investigation Department, preferring to be at liberty to choose what +cases he would take up. Above all things he loved the strange and +inexplicable. Gimblet had not always been a detective. Indeed, he often +smiled to himself when he thought of the extraordinary confidence which +the public now elected to repose in him. + +No one was more conscious than himself that he was far from being +infallible; in fact, his admirers appeared to him to be wilfully blind to +that elementary truth; so that when he failed to bring a case to a +successful issue people were apt to show an amount of disappointment that +he, for his part, thought very unreasonable. It was, perhaps, in the +nature of things that the puzzles he solved correctly received so much +more publicity than was given to his mistakes; but he often could not +avoid wishing that less were expected of him, and that his reputation had +not grown so tropically on what he could but consider insufficient +nourishment. + +In early days, after leaving Oxford, he had gone into an architect's +office and had flourished there; till one day an accident had turned his +energies in the direction they had since taken. + +A crime had been committed during the erection of a house he was +building, and, when the police were at a loss to know how to account for +the somewhat peculiar circumstances, the young architect, going his +ordinary rounds of inspection, had seen in a flash that there was +something unusual in the disposal of a portion of the building material; +which observation, with certain deductions following thereon, had led to +the detection and arrest of the criminal. From that time on he had been +more and more drawn to the fascination of tracing events to their +causes, when these appeared connected with deeds of violence and fraud, +till of late years he had completely dropped the study of the carrying +powers of wood and stone for the more interesting lessons to be derived +from the contemplation of the strange vagaries indulged in by his fellow +human beings. + +He kept, however, a strong taste for art and all that appertained to it; +more especially he was devoted to the collection of old and rare +bric-a-brac. There was not a curiosity shop in London that did not know +him, and he was equally happy when he had discovered some dust-hidden +treasure in the back regions of a secondhand furniture shop, or when he +was engaged in running to earth some human vermin who up till then had +lain snug in his own particular back region of crime, straining his ears, +in a mixture of contempt and anxiety, as the sounds of the hunt went by. + +Having finished his letter, Gimblet put his stylo in his pocket, and +turned round to look at the clock. + +"Twenty minutes to four," he said half-aloud. "I wish to goodness people +would keep their appointments punctually, or else not come at all." + +Five more minutes passed, and he got up and went into the hall. + +"Higgs," he called, and his faithful servant and general factotum came +out of the pantry. + +"I am going out," said his master, taking up his straw hat. "If anyone +calls, say I could not wait any longer. Ah, there's the front-door bell. +Just see who it is." + +He retreated to his sitting-room while Higgs went to the door of the +flat. A minute or two later Lord Ashiel was ushered in. + +"I'm very sorry I'm late," said he, as the door closed behind him, "but +you know what kept me." + +"Not the young lady, surely," said Gimblet; "you were to see her at +twelve o'clock this morning, weren't you?" + +"Yes, but she telephoned to me after lunch. By Jove, Gimblet, I believe +you have got hold of the right girl this time." Lord Ashiel's tone was +enthusiastic. "If she turns out to be half as nice as she looks, I shall +be ever grateful to you for routing her out." + +"Indeed, I am very glad to hear it," replied the detective. "And do you +observe a resemblance in her to your family; do you feel satisfied that +she is your daughter?" + +"I can't say I do see much likeness," Lord Ashiel confessed rather +reluctantly. "I thought at one moment, when she smiled, that she was like +her mother; but otherwise she did not strike me as resembling either of +us, I am sorry to say." + +"Did she know her history at all?" asked Gimblet. "Did she claim you +as father?" + +"No, she had never heard of me, as far as I could make out. And she +assured me that Sir Arthur Byrne has no idea whose child she is." + +"That certainly seems very improbable," Gimblet commented. + +"Yes, it does. Still, I feel sure she was speaking the truth. Why, +indeed, should she not do so? It seems that Byrne has married again, and +that his wife has already three daughters of her own; so, as she says, he +would probably be glad enough to get the fourth one off his hands, as +they are not well off." + +"Yes," said Gimblet. "I knew that. No, there seems no reason why Sir +Arthur Byrne should not have told her about you if he knew she was your +child. What is odd, is that he should not have known it." + +"He had promised his first wife not to make any inquiries, it seems," +said Lord Ashiel. + +"Well, he is an uncommon kind of man if he kept that promise," +Gimblet remarked. + +"He was devoted to his first wife, this girl told me," said Lord Ashiel. +"You never knew Lena Meredith, Gimblet, or you would not be surprised +that people kept their promises to her. She was my wife's friend, as I +told you, and I only saw her once, but I don't think I shall ever forget +her. It was just after my wife's death, and I was too heart-broken to +take much notice of anyone, but she was the sort of woman who sticks in +your memory, and I can quite understand a man being infatuated about her, +even to the point of curbing his curiosity for a lifetime on any subject +she wished him to leave alone. I went to see her, you know, about the +baby. I remember, as if it was yesterday, how I told her the whole story. +I told her how I had met Juliana two years before, and how, from the +first, we had both known we should never care for anyone else. I told her +about my old grandfather, from whom I had such great expectations, and +who wouldn't hear of my marrying anyone except the cousin, still in the +schoolroom, whom he had picked out as my future wife. + +"It was his wish that we should be married when I was twenty-five and +the girl eighteen; but I was not yet twenty-two, so that there were at +least three years of grace before he could begin to try and impose his +design upon us. And he was old and ill, and I had heard that the doctors +didn't give him more than a year or two, at most, to live. I thought +that if Juliana and I were married secretly he would die before the +question of my marriage had time to become one of practical politics; +and I persuaded her to agree to a private marriage, which we would +announce to the world as soon as my eccentric old grandfather was safely +out of it. There was no possible obstacle to our marriage except the old +man's domineering temper. Juliana Sandfort was my superior in every +possible sense, worldly or otherwise; but I came of a good family, was +to inherit an old name and title, and a more than sufficient fortune so +long as I kept on the right side of the old Lord, and we both knew that +there was no objection to be feared from her relations or from any other +one of mine. In short, much as she disliked doing things in that +hole-and-corner sort of way, and ashamed as I was at heart of asking her +to, we neither of us could see much actual harm in the idea, and we were +married accordingly at a registry office in London. Everything would +have been well, and all would have gone as we hoped, but for the one +unforeseen and horrible calamity. My wife died six months before my +grandfather, on the day her baby was born." + +Lord Ashiel paused, and sat gazing before him, over Gimblet's shoulder. +There was a look on his face which showed that for the moment he was +blind to the scene that lay in front of him, and that he saw in place of +the bureau which stood opposite to him, and of the Oriental china which +was the detective's special pride, and on which his eyes seemed to be +fixed, some vision of the past which was far more real than the +unsubstantial present. Presently he went on talking in a reflective +undertone: + +"All this I told Mrs. Meredith, and a great deal besides, for I was still +in the first violence of bitter, self-reproachful grief. I wanted to be +rid of the child, the cause of the catastrophe, whom I hated as +vehemently as I had loved its mother, and I begged Mrs. Meredith to help +me to dispose of it in such a fashion that, to me at least, the little +one should be to all intents and purposes as dead as she was. Babies, I +knew, had not a very strong hold on life, and I hoped, as a matter of +fact, that it might really die, but this I did not dare to say aloud. +Mrs. Meredith was kind to me. I remember well how good and sympathetic +she was. She had heard most of the story from Juliana, whose friend she +was, and it was at her house that the child was born. We had confided in +no one else. She sat silently for a while after I had finished what I had +to say, till at last she turned to me and tried to persuade me to alter +my intention of disowning the baby. But I repeated doggedly that unless +she had some alternative way to suggest of getting rid of it, I meant to +leave the little girl at the door of one of the foundling hospitals, and +that I would take her that very night. + +"At length, seeing that I was resolved, she said she thought she could +manage better than that. She had a friend, she said, an elderly Russian +lady, who was a widow and childless. This lady was anxious to adopt a +little English girl, and had lately written to ask her to find her a baby +whom she could bring up as her own child. There was no reason why +Juliana's baby should not be the one. She would write at once and suggest +it. I was greatly relieved at this idea. Although I had been determined +to do as I proposed, whatever opposition I might meet with, my conscience +had not been willing to let me leave my child on a doorstep without +protesting, and, little though I heeded its condemnation, I was glad to +be able to get my own way and at the same time to silence the voice of my +inward critic. + +"The plan seemed simplicity itself. My wife, as I have told you, had no +parents living. Her brothers and sisters, who were all married and +living in different parts of the country, had been led to believe that +her death was the result of an accident. Mrs. Meredith had even managed +to prevail on the doctor to lend himself to this fiction; for, my +grandfather being yet alive, there was still every reason not to declare +our marriage, while there seemed to be none in favour of doing so, and I +shrank from the questionings and scenes which publicity now would not +fail to bring upon me. Before I left Mrs. Meredith we had agreed that +she should at once communicate with her Russian friend, whose name I +refused to let her tell me. + +"I have told you before to-day, Gimblet, of all that has happened since. +How I took passionately to books as a refuge from my sorrow; how, at my +grandfather's suggestion, I had been by way of working for the +Diplomatic Service; of how I now worked in good earnest, and in course +of time, and after my grandfather's death, found myself attached to our +embassy at Petersburg. During the two years I spent there I made the +acquaintance of Countess Romaninov. One day when I was talking to her +she happened to mention that she had once known an English lady, Mrs. +Meredith, and I came to the conclusion that the little girl who lived +with her must be none other than my own child. As you know, I could not +stand living in the same town as she did, and for that, and for other +reasons, I left the Diplomatic Service and returned to England, where I +have lived a quiet life on my place in Scotland ever since. Eight years +ago, as you know, I married for the second time, and after a few years +of comparative happiness, found myself again a widower, my second wife +and her child dying within a few months of each other, when my boy was +only four years old. + +"It is more than a year, now," continued Lord Ashiel, after a pause, +"since the girl Julia Romaninov came to my sister in London, with a +letter of introduction from our ambassador in Russia. It was not until my +sister invited her down to Scotland that I heard anything about her. Not, +in fact, till the day before she arrived, for I always tell my sister to +ask any girls she pleases to Inverashiel, and she very seldom bothers me +about it. You can imagine my feelings when I heard that Julia Romaninov +was expected within a few hours, and had indeed already started from +London. It was too late to try and stop her, and my first impulse was +flight. But on second thoughts I changed my mind, and stayed. Time had +dulled the feelings with which I had contemplated her share in the +tragedy that attended her birth, and I was not without a certain +curiosity to see this young creature for whose existence I was +responsible. + +"I waited; she came; she stayed six weeks. You know the result. My sister +liked her; my nephews, my other guests, every one, except myself, was +charmed with her. And I, for some reason, could never stand the girl. I +told myself over and over again that it was mere prejudice; the remains +of the violent opposition I felt towards her when she was unknown to me; +a survival, unconscious and unwilling, of the hatred I had allowed myself +to nourish for the baby of a day old, which had made it impossible that +she and I should inhabit the same town when she was no more than a child +in pinafores. But I could not reason myself out of my dislike, and it +culminated a few weeks ago when I found that my sister was anxious to +have her with us in the North again this autumn. As you remember, I came +to you, and told you the facts. I made you understand how repulsive it +was to me to think that this girl might be my child, and begged you to +sift the matter as far as was possible, and to find out if there were not +a chance that I was mistaken in thinking it was Countess Romaninov who +had been Lena Meredith's friend." + +"Yes," said Gimblet, "and all I could discover at first was that the two +ladies had indeed been acquainted. It is difficult to get at the truth +when both of them have been dead for so many years, and when you will not +allow me so much as to hint that you feel any interest in the matter. +People are shy of answering questions relating to the private affairs of +their friends when they think they are prompted by idle curiosity, and in +this case it seems very doubtful whether anyone even knows the answers. +But in the course of my inquiries I soon discovered the fact that Mrs. +Meredith herself had adopted a child, and it certainly seems more than +possible that it may have been yours and her friend's. As far as I can +find out, both these young ladies are of about the same age, but no one +seems to know exactly when either of them first appeared on the scene. If +we can only get hold of the nurses! But at present I can find no trace of +them, and you won't let me advertise." + +"Gimblet, I shall be ever grateful to you," repeated Lord Ashiel. "I had +no idea that Mrs. Meredith had adopted a child. I never saw her again, as +I have told you, and only heard vaguely that she had married and was +living abroad. I purposely avoided asking for news of her. I wished to +forget everything that was past. As if that had been possible!" + +"I hoped," said Gimblet, "that you would have seen some strong likeness +in this young lady to yourself, or to your first wife. That would have +clinched the matter to all intents and purposes. But, as things are, I +shouldn't build too much on the hope that she is your daughter. It may +turn out to be the girl adopted by Countess Romaninov." + +"I hope not, I hope not," said Lord Ashiel earnestly. "I have got her to +promise to come to Scotland, and in a few days I may get some definite +clue as to which of them it is. It is a very odd coincidence that both +the girls bear names so much like that of my poor wife's." He paused +reflectively, and then added, "In the meantime you will go on with your +inquiries, will you not?" + +"I will," said Gimblet. "And I hope for better luck." + +A silence followed. Lord Ashiel half rose to go, then sat down again. +Evidently he had something more to say, but hesitated to say it. At +last he spoke: + +"When I was at St. Petersburg, twenty years ago, I was aroused to a +state of excitement and indignation by the social and political evils +which were then so much in evidence to the foreigner who sojourned in the +country of the Czars. I was young and impressionable, impulsive and +unbalanced in my judgments, I am afraid; at all events I resented certain +seeming injustices which came to my notice, and my resentment took a +practical and most foolish form. To be short, I was so ill-advised as to +join a secret society, and have done nothing but regret it ever since." + +"I can well understand your regretting it," said the detective. "People +who join those societies are apt to find themselves let in for a good +deal more than they bargained for." + +"It was so, at all events so far as I am concerned," said Lord Ashiel, "I +had, you may be sure, only the wildest idea of what serious and extremely +unpleasant consequences my unreflecting action would entail. Withdrawal +from these political brotherhoods is to all intents and purposes a +practical impossibility; but, in a sense, I withdrew from all +participation in its affairs as soon as I realized to what an extent the +theories of its leaders, as to the best means to adopt by which to +rectify the injustices we all agreed in deploring, differed from my own +ideas on the subject. And I should not have been able to withdraw, even +in the negative way I did, if accident had not put into my hand a weapon +of defence against the tyranny of the Society." + +Lord Ashiel paused hesitatingly, and Gimblet murmured encouragingly: + +"And that was?" + +"No," said Lord Ashiel, after a moment's silence, "I must not tell you +more. We are, I know, to all appearances, safe from eavesdroppers or +interruption; but, if a word of what I know were to leak out by some +incredible agency, my life would not be worth a day's purchase. As it is, +I am alarmed; I believe these people wish for my death. In fact, there is +no doubt on that subject. But they dare not attempt it openly. I have +told them that if I should die under suspicious circumstances of any +sort, the weapon I spoke of will inevitably be used to avenge my death, +and they know me to be a man of my word. For all these years that threat +has been my safeguard, but now I am beginning to think that they are +trying other means of getting me out of the way." + +"It is a pity," said Gimblet, "that you do not speak to me more openly. I +think it is highly probable, from what I know of the methods resorted to +by Nihilists in general, that you may be in very grave danger. Indeed, I +strongly advise you to report the whole matter to the police." + +"I wish I could tell you everything," said Lord Ashiel, "but even if I +dared, you must remember that I am sworn to secrecy, and I cannot see +that because I have, by doing so, placed myself in some peril, that on +that account I am entitled to break my word. No, I cannot tell you any +more, but in spite of that, I want you to do me a service." + +"I am afraid I can't help you without fuller knowledge," said Gimblet. +"What do you think I can do?" + +"You can do this," said Lord Ashiel. He put his hand in his pocket and +Gimblet heard a crackling of paper. "I am thinking out a hiding-place +for some valuable documents that are in my possession, and when I have +decided on it I will write to you and explain where I have put them, +using a cipher of which the key is enclosed in an envelope I have here +in my pocket, and which I will leave with you when I go. Take charge of +it for me, and in the course of the next week or so I will send you a +cipher letter describing where the papers are concealed. Do not read it +unless the occasion arises. I can trust you not to give way to +curiosity, but if anything happens to me, if I die a violent death, or +equally if I die under the most apparently natural circumstances, I want +you to promise you will investigate those circumstances; and, if +anything should strike you as suspicious in connection with what I have +told you, you will be able to interpret my cipher letter, find the +document I have referred to, and act on the information it contains. +Will you undertake to do this for me?" + +"I will, certainly," Gimblet answered readily, "but I hope the occasion +will not arise. I beg you to break a vow which was extorted from you by +false representations and which cannot be binding on you. Do confide +fully in me; I do not at all like the look of this business." + +"No, no," replied Lord Ashiel, smiling. "You must let me be the judge of +whether my word is binding on me or not. As you say, I hope nothing will +happen to justify my perhaps uncalled-for nervousness. In any case it +will be a great comfort and relief to me to know that, if it does, the +scoundrels will not go unpunished." + +"They shall not do that," said Gimblet fervently. "You can make your mind +easy on that score, at least. But I advise you to send your documents to +the bank. They will be safer there than in any hiding-place you can +contrive." + +"I might want to lay my hand upon them at any moment," said Lord +Ashiel, "and I admit I don't like parting with my only weapon of +defence. Still, I dare say you are right really, and I will think it +over. But mind, I don't want you to take any steps unless, you can +satisfy yourself that these people have a hand in my death. Please be +very careful to make certain of that. My health is not good, and grows +worse. I may easily die without their interference; but I suspect that, +if they do get me, they will manage the affair so that it has all the +look of having been caused by the purest misadventure. That is what I +fear. Not exactly murder; certainly no violent open assault. But we are +all liable to suffer from accidents, and what is to prevent my meeting +with a fatal one? That is more the line they will adopt, if, as I +imagine, they have decided on my death." + +"If ever there were a case in which prevention is better than cure," said +Gimblet, "I think you will own that we have it here. If I had some hint +of the quarter from which you expect danger, I might at least suggest +some rudimentary precautions. What kind of 'accident' do you imagine +likely to occur?" + +"That I can't tell," replied Lord Ashiel. "I only know that these enemies +of mine are resourceful people, who are apt to make short work of anyone +whose existence threatens their safety or the success of their designs. I +am, by your help, taking a precaution to ensure that I shall not die +unavenged. They must be taught that murder cannot be committed in this +country with impunity. And I am very careful not to trust myself out of +England. If I crossed the Channel it would be to go to my certain death. +Otherwise I should have gone myself to see Sir Arthur Byrne. But in this +island the man who kills even so unpopular a person as a member of the +House of Lords does not get off with a few years' imprisonment, as he may +in some of the continental countries; and the Nihilists, for the most +part, know that as well as I do." + +Gimblet followed Lord Ashiel into the hall with the intention of showing +him out of the flat, but the sudden sound of the door bell ringing made +him abandon this courtesy and retreat to shelter. + +He did not wish to be denied all possibility of refusing an interview to +some one he might not want to see. + +So it was Higgs who opened the door and ushered out the last visitor, at +the same time admitting the newcomer. + +This proved to be a small, slight woman dressed in deepest black and +wearing the long veil of a widow, who was standing with her back to the +door, apparently watching the rapid descent of the lift which had brought +her to the landing of No. 7. + +She did not move when the door behind her opened, and Lord Ashiel, +emerging from it in a hurry to catch the lift before it vanished, nearly +knocked her down. She gave a startled gasp and stepped hastily to one +side into the dark shadows of the passage as he, muttering an apology, +darted forward to the iron gateway and applied his finger heavily to the +electric bell-push. But the liftboy had caught sight of him with the tail +of his eye, and was already reascending. + +His anxiety allayed, Lord Ashiel turned again to express his regrets to +the lady he had inadvertently collided with, but she had disappeared into +the flat, of which Higgs was even then closing the door. + +Ashiel stepped into the lift and sat down rather wearily on the +leather-covered seat. + +Although, to some extent, the relief of having unburdened his mind of +secrets that had weighed upon it for so many years produced in him a +certain lightness of heart to which he had long been a stranger, yet +the very charm of the impression made upon him by Juliet Byrne, during +his first meeting with her that morning, led him to suspect uneasily +that his hopes of her proving to be his child were due rather to the +pleasure it gave him to anticipate such a possibility than to any more +logical reason. + +He was so entirely engrossed in an honest endeavour to adjust correctly +the balance of probabilities, as to remain unconscious that the lift had +stopped at the ground floor, and it was not until the boy who was in +charge had twice informed him of the fact, that he roused himself with an +effort and left the building. + +Still absorbed in his speculations and anxieties, he walked rapidly away, +and, having narrowly escaped destruction beneath the wheels of more than +one taxi, wandered down Northumberland Avenue on to the Embankment. He +crossed to the farther side, turned mechanically to the right and walked +obliviously on. + +It was not until he came nearly to Westminster Bridge that he remembered +the cipher that he had prepared for Gimblet, and that he had, after all, +finally left without giving it to him. It was still in his pocket, and +the discovery roused him from his abstraction. + +He took a taxi and drove back to the flats. A motor which had been +standing before the door when he had come out was still there when he +returned; so that, thinking it probably belonged to the lady he had met +on the landing, and guessing that if so the detective was still occupied +with her, he did not ask to see him again, but handed the envelope over +to Higgs when he opened the door, with strict injunctions to take it +immediately to his master. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The lady, whose visit to Gimblet dovetailed so neatly with the departure +of his other client on that summer afternoon, was unknown to him. + +He had scarcely re-entered the room and resumed his accustomed seat by +the window when Higgs announced her. + +"A lady to see you, sir." + +The lady was already in the doorway. She must have followed Higgs from +the hall, and now stood, hesitating, on the threshold. + +"What name?" breathed Gimblet; but Higgs only shook his head. + +The detective went forward and spoke to his visitor. + +"Please come in," he said. "Won't you sit down?" + +And he pushed a chair towards her. + +"Thank you," said the lady, taking the seat he offered. "I hope I do not +disturb you; but I have come on business," she added, as the door closed +behind Higgs. + +"Yes?" said Gimblet interrogatively. "You will forgive me, but I didn't +catch your name when my man announced you." + +"He didn't say it," she replied. "I had not told him. I am sure you would +not remember my name, and it is of no consequence at present." + +"As you wish," said the detective. + +But he wondered who this unknown woman could be. When she said he would +not remember her name, did she mean to imply that he had once been +acquainted with it? If so, she was right in thinking that he did not +recognize her now; but, if she did not choose to raise the thick crape +veil that hid her face, she could hardly expect him to do so. + +He wondered whether she kept her veil lowered with the intention of +preventing his recognizing her, or whether in truth she were anxious not +to expose grief-swollen features to an unsympathetic gaze. + +Her voice, which was low and sorrowful, though at the same time curiously +resonant, seemed to suggest that she was in great trouble. She spoke, he +fancied, with a trace of foreign accent. + +For the rest, all that he could tell for certain about her was that she +was short and slender, with small feet, and hands, from which she was now +engaged in deliberately withdrawing a pair of black suede gloves. + +He watched her in silence. He always preferred to let people tell their +stories at their own pace and in their own way, unless they were of those +who plainly needed to be helped out with questions. + +And about this woman there was no suspicion of embarrassment; her whole +demeanour spoke of calmness and self-possession. + +"I believe," she said at last, "that you are a private detective. I come +to ask for your help in a matter of some difficulty. Some papers of the +utmost importance, not only to me but to others, are in the possession of +a person who intends to profit by the information contained in them to do +myself and my friends an irreparable injury. You can imagine how anxious +we are to obtain them from him." + +"Do I understand that this person threatens you with blackmail?" +asked Gimblet. + +The lady hesitated. + +"Something of the kind," she replied after a moment's pause. + +"And you have so far given in to his demands?" + +"Yes," admitted the visitor. "Up till now we have been obliged to +submit." + +"Has he proposed any terms on which he will be willing to return you the +papers?" asked the detective. + +"No," she replied. "I do not think any terms are possible." + +"How did this person obtain possession of the papers?" Gimblet asked +after a moment. "Did he steal them from you?" + +"No." + +"From your friends?" + +She hesitated. + +"No--not exactly." + +"From whom, then?" asked Gimblet in surprise. "I suppose they were yours +in the first place?" + +"He has always had them," she said reluctantly; "but they must not +remain his." + +"Do you mean they are his own?" exclaimed Gimblet. "In that case it is +you who propose to steal them!" + +"No," replied the strange lady calmly. "I want you to do that." + +"I'm sorry," said Gimblet; "that is not in my line of business. I'm +afraid you made a mistake in coming to me. I cannot undertake your +commission." + +"Money is no object; we shall ask you to name your own price," urged +his visitor. + +But the detective shook his head. + +"It is a matter of life and death," she said, and her voice betrayed an +agitation which could not have been inferred from her motionless shrouded +figure. "If you refuse to help me, not one life, but many, will be +endangered." + +"If you can offer me convincing proof of that," said Gimblet, "I might +feel it my duty to help you. I don't say I should, but I might. In any +case I can do nothing unless you are perfectly open and frank with me. +Expect no assistance from me unless you tell me everything, and then only +if I think it right to give it." + +For the first time she showed some signs of confusion. The hand upon her +lap moved restlessly and she turned her head slowly towards the window as +if in search of suitable words. But she did not speak or rise, though she +gradually fidgeted round in her chair till she faced the writing-table; +and so sat, with her head leaning on her hand, in silent consideration. + +It was clear she did not like Gimblet's terms; and after a few minutes +had passed in a silence as awkward as it was suggestive he pushed back +his chair and stood up. He hoped she would take the hint and bring an +unprofitable and embarrassing interview to an end. + +But she did not appear to notice him, and still sat lost in her +own thoughts. + +Suddenly the door opened and Higgs appeared. + +Gimblet looked at him with questioning disapproval. + +It was an inflexible rule of his that when engaged with a client he was +not to be disturbed. + +Higgs, well acquainted with this rule, hovered doubtfully in the +doorway, displaying on the salver he carried the blue, unaddressed +envelope Lord Ashiel had told him to deliver at once. + +"It's a note, sir," he murmured hesitatingly. "The gentleman who was with +you a little while ago came back with it. He asked me to be sure and +bring it in at once." + +He avoided Gimblet's reproachful eye and stammered uneasily: + +"Put it down on that table and go," said the detective. He indicated a +little table by the door, and Higgs hastily placed the letter on it and +fled, with the uncomfortable sensation of having been sternly reproved. + +As a matter of fact Gimblet would have shown more indignation if he +had not at heart felt rather glad of the interruption. His visitor had +decidedly outstayed her welcome; and, though she stirred his curiosity +sufficiently to make him wish he could induce her to raise her veil +and let him see what manner of woman it was who had the effrontery to +come and make him such unblushing proposals, he far more urgently +desired to see the last of her. She was wasting his time and annoying +him into the bargain. + +As the door shut behind the servant he made a step towards her. + +"If, madam, there is nothing else you wish to consult me about," he +began, taking out his watch with some ostentation--"I am a busy man--" + +The lady gave a little laugh, low and musical. + +"I will not detain you longer," she said, also rising from her chair. "I +am afraid I have cut into your afternoon, but you will still have time +for a game if you hurry." + +She laughed again, and moved over to the writing-table, where, among a +litter of papers and writing materials, a couple of golf balls were +acting as letter weights. A putter lay on the chair in front of the desk, +and she took it up and swung it to and fro. + +"A nice club," she remarked. "Where do you play, as a rule? There are so +many good links near London; so convenient. Well, I mustn't keep you." +She laid down the putter and fingered the balls for a moment. "Where have +I put my gloves?" she said then, looking around to collect her +belongings. + +Gimblet was slightly put out at her inference that his plea of business +was merely an excuse to dismiss her in order that he might go off and +play golf. Heaven knew it was no affair of hers whether he played golf +that day or not! But as a matter of fact he had no intention of leaving +the flat that afternoon, and had merely been practising a shot or two on +the carpet after lunch before Lord Ashiel's arrival. Still it was true +that he had made business a pretext for getting rid of her, and this made +the injustice of the widow's further inference ruffle him more than it +might have if she had been entirely in the wrong. He was the most +courteous of men, and that anyone should suspect him of unnecessary +rudeness distressed him. + +He made no reply, however, in spite of the temptation to defend himself; +but stooped to pick up a diminutive black suede glove which his visitor +had dropped when she took up the putter. + +She thanked him and put it on, depositing, while she did so, her other +glove, her handkerchief, sunshade and a small brown-paper parcel upon the +writing-table at her side. + +Gimblet did not appreciate seeing these articles heaped upon his +correspondence. Without any comment he removed them, and stood holding +them silently till she should be ready. + +She took them from him soon, with a little inclination of the head which +he felt was accompanied by a smile of thanks, though through the thick +crape it was impossible to do more than guess at any expression. + +She drew on her other glove and held out her hand again. + +"My purse?" she said. "Will you not give me that too? Where have you put +it? And then I must really go." + +"I haven't seen any purse," said Gimblet. + +"Yes, yes!" she cried. "A black silk bag! It has my purse inside it. I +had it, I am sure." + +She turned quickly back to the chair she had been sitting in, and taking +up the cushion, shook it and peered beneath it. + +"What can I have done with it? All my money is in it." + +Gimblet glanced round the room. He did not remember having noticed any +bag, and he was an observant person. She had probably left it in a cab. +Women were always doing these things. Witness the heaped shelves at +Scotland Yard. + +"Perhaps you put it down in the hall?" he suggested. + +"I am sure I had it when I came in here," she repeated in an agitated +voice. "But it might be worth while just to look in the hall," she added +doubtfully, and moved towards the door. + +Gimblet opened it for her gladly; but she came to a standstill in +the doorway. + +"There is nothing there, you see;" she said dolefully. "Oh, what +shall I do!" + +Gimblet looked over her shoulder. The hall was shadowy, with the +perpetual twilight of the halls of London flats, but he fancied he +could perceive a darker shadow lying beside his hat on the table near +the entrance. + +"Is that it? On the table?" he asked. + +"Where? I don't see anything," murmured the lady; and indeed it was +unlikely that she could distinguish anything in such a light from +behind her veil. + +"On the table by my hat," repeated Gimblet; and as she still did not +move, he made a step forward into the hall. + +Yes, it was her bag, beyond a doubt. A silken thing of black brocade, +embroidered with scattered purple pansies. + +Gimblet picked it up and turned back to his visitor. After a second's +hesitation she had followed him into the hall and was coming towards him, +groping her way rather blindly through the gloom. + +"Oh, thanks, thanks!" she exclaimed. "How stupid of me to have left it +there. Thank you again. My precious bag! I am so glad you have found it." +She took the bag eagerly from him. "I am afraid I have been a nuisance, +and disturbed you to no purpose. You must forgive my mistake. But now I +will not keep you any longer. Good-bye." + +She showed no further disposition to loiter; and Gimblet rang the bell +for the lift and saw her depart with a good deal of satisfaction. + +In spite of her extremely hazy ideas on the subject of other people's +property, there was, he admitted, something attractive about her. Still +he was very glad she had gone. + +He returned to his room, taking up and pocketing Lord Ashiel's envelope +as he passed the little table by the door. + +He did it mechanically, for his mind was occupied with a question which +must be immediately decided. + +Was it, or was it not, worth while to have the woman who had just left +him followed and located, and her identity ascertained? + +Gimblet disliked leaving small problems unsolved, however insignificant +they appeared. On the whole, he thought he might as well find out who she +was, and he turned back into the hall and called for Higgs. + +If she were to be caught sight of again before leaving the house there +was not a moment to lose. But Higgs did not reply, and on Gimblet's +opening the pantry door he found it empty. Unknown to him, the moment the +lady had departed Higgs had gone upstairs to the flat above to have a +word with a friend. + +The detective seized his hat and ran downstairs, but he was too late. + +The widow lady, the porter told him, had gone away two or three minutes +ago in the motor that had been waiting for her. No, he hadn't noticed the +number of the car. Neither had he seen Higgs. + +Gimblet shrugged his shoulders as he went upstairs again. After all, the +matter was of no great consequence. + +The widow was a cool hand, certainly, he thought, to come to him and +propose he should steal for her what she wanted; but the fact of her +having done so made it on the whole improbable that she was a thief, or +she would not have had need of him. She was certainly a person of +questionable principles, and it seemed likely that in one way or another +a theft would be committed through her agency, if not by herself, as +soon as the opportunity presented itself. She was, in fact, a woman on +whom the police might do worse than keep an eye; but, reflected Gimblet, +he was not the police, and the dishonesty of this scheming widow was +really no concern of his. As he reached his door, a postman was leaving +it, and two or three letters had been pushed through the flap. He let +himself in and took them out of the box. They were not of great +importance. A bill, an appeal for a subscription to some charity, a +couple of advertisements and the catalogue of a sale of pictures in +which he was interested. He turned over the leaves slowly, holding the +pamphlet sideways from time to time to look at the photographs which +illustrated some of the principal lots. + +Presently he turned and went back into his room. He sat down in his +favourite arm-chair near the window, where he habitually passed so much +time gazing out on to the smooth surface of the river, and fell to +ruminating on the problem presented by Lord Ashiel's story. + +For a long while he sat on, huddled in the corner of an arm-chair, his +elbows on the arm, his chin resting on his hand, and in his eyes the look +of one who wrestles with obscure and complicated problems of mental +arithmetic. From time to time, but without relaxing his expression of +concentrated effort, he stretched out long artistic fingers to a box on +the table, took from it a chocolate, and transferred it mechanically to +his mouth. He always ate sweets when he had a problem on hand. He was +trying to think of some means by which his client could be protected from +the mysterious danger that threatened him; that it was a very real +danger, Gimblet accepted without question; he had only seen Lord Ashiel +twice in his life, but it was quite enough to make him certain that here +was a man whom it would take a great deal to alarm. This was no boy +crying "wolf" for the sake of making a stir. + +But the more he thought, the more he saw that there was nothing to be +done. A word to the police would suffice, no doubt, to precipitate +matters; for, if the Nihilist Society which threatened Lord Ashiel +contemplated his destruction, a hint that he might be already taking +reciprocal measures would not be likely to make them feel more mercifully +towards him. It was obvious that Ashiel would look with suspicion upon +any Russian who might approach him, but Gimblet determined to write him a +line of warning against foreigners of any description. Still, these +societies sometimes had Englishmen amongst their members, and ways of +enforcing obedience upon their subordinates which made any decision they +might come to as good as carried out almost as soon as it was uttered. + +The detective's cogitations were disturbed by Higgs, who had returned, +and now brought him in some tea. He poured himself out half a cup, which +he filled up with Devonshire cream. He had a peculiar taste in food, and +was the despair of his excellent cook, but on this occasion he ate none +of the cakes and bread and butter she had provided, the chocolates having +rather taken the edge off his appetite. + +From where he sat he could see, through the open window, the broad grey +stretches of the river, with a barge going swiftly down on the tide; +brown sails turned to gleaming copper by the slanting rays from the West. +The hum and rattle of the streets came up to him murmuringly; now and +then a train rumbled over Charing Cross Bridge, and the whistle of +engines shrilled out above the constant low clamour of the town. + +Gimblet leant out of the window and watched the barge negotiate the +bridge. Then he returned to his chair, and taking Lord Ashiel's envelope +out of his pocket looked it over thoughtfully before opening it. He had +no doubts as to what it contained; he had been on the point of reminding +the peer that he had forgotten to give him the key of the cipher he had +spoken of when the widow's ring at the door had driven him to a hurried +retreat, but he had not considered the omission of any particular +significance. His client would certainly discover it and either return to +give him the key, or send it to the flat. + +It would probably be some time before it was required for use here. In +the meantime, thought Gimblet, he would have a look at it before locking +it away in the safe. + +He turned over the envelope. To his surprise, the flap was open and the +glue had obviously never been moistened. + +It was the work of an instant to look inside, but almost quicker came the +conviction that it was useless to do so. + +He was not mistaken. + +The envelope was empty. + +Gimblet stared at it for one moment in blank dismay. Then he strode to +the door and shouted for Higgs. + +"Did you notice," he asked him, "whether the envelope Lord Ashiel gave +you for me was fastened, or was it open as this one is?" + +"Oh no, sir," replied Higgs, "it was sealed up. There was a large patch +of red sealing-wax at the back, with a coronet and some sort of little +picture stamped on it. I can't say I looked at it particularly, but there +may have been a lion or a dog, or some kind of animal. His lordship's +arms, no doubt" + +"You are quite certain about the sealing-wax?" Gimblet repeated slowly. + +"Yes, sir, I am quite certain about that," answered Higgs; and he could +not refrain from adding, "I put down the note on this little table, sir, +as you told me." + +"Thank you. That is all." + +Gimblet's tone was as undisturbed as ever, but inwardly he was seething +with anger and disgust; directed, however, entirely against himself. + +When Higgs had departed he allowed himself the unusual, though quite +inadequate relief of giving the chair on which his last visitor had sat a +violent kick. After that he felt rather more ashamed of himself than +before, if possible, and he sat down and raged at the simple way in which +he had been fooled. + +The widow had taken the envelope, of course. She must have snatched it up +during the few seconds he had turned his back on her in order to step +across the hall and retrieve her bag, and have replaced it at the same +instant with this empty one which she had no doubt taken from his own +writing-table while he stooped beside her to pick up her glove. + +Gimblet fetched one of his own blue envelopes and compared it with the +substitute. Yes, they were alike in every particular. The watermarks were +the same and showed that she had used what she found ready to her hand. + +It seemed, then, that the _coup_ was not premeditated. But why, why, had +he let her escape so easily? If only he had been a little quicker about +following her, and had not wasted time looking for Higgs! She had had +time to get clear away; and he, bungler that he was, had thought it of +little consequence, and had afterwards stood poring over a catalogue in +the hall, having decided that her morals were no business of his. Ass +that he had been! + +Who was she? Probably some one known to Lord Ashiel, or why should she +have wanted his letter? Well, Ashiel must have met her on his way out, +and would in that case at least be able to provide the information as to +who she was. Still, more people might know Ashiel than Ashiel knew, and +it was possible that that hope might fail. No doubt she was a member of +the society the peer had so rashly entangled himself with in the days of +his youth; one of those enemies of whom he had spoken with such grave +apprehension. Had she followed him into the house and forced her way in +on a trumped-up pretext, on the chance of hearing or finding something +that might be useful to her Nihilist friends, or had she known that Lord +Ashiel intended to leave some document in Gimblet's keeping, and come +with the idea, already formed, of stealing it? Such a plan seemed to +partake too much of the nature of a forlorn hope to be likely, but +whether or no she had expected to find that letter, Gimblet could hardly +help admiring the rapidity with which she had possessed herself of it +without wasting an unnecessary moment. + +She must have been safe in the street and away with it, in less than +five minutes from when she first saw it. Oh, she had been quick and +dexterous! And he? He had been a gull, and false to his trust, and +altogether contemptible. What should he say to Lord Ashiel? Why in the +world hadn't he locked up the letter when Higgs brought it in? This was +what came of making red-tape regulations about not being disturbed. After +all, he comforted himself, she would be a good deal disappointed when she +found what she had got. The key to a cipher; that was all. And a key with +nothing to unlock was an unsatisfactory kind of loot to risk prison for. +Evidently she expected something more important; perhaps the very +documents she had invited Gimblet to steal for her, regardless of +expense. This, he thought, was a reassuring sign for Lord Ashiel. For it +was plain they meant to steal the papers, if they could; but not so plain +that they looked to murder as the means by which to gain that end, since +they applied for help from him. + +Gimblet rang up the Carlton Club and asked for his client, but he was not +in, nor did he succeed in communicating with him that afternoon; and when +he rang up the Club for the fifth time after dinner he was told that Lord +Ashiel had already left for Scotland. + +With a groan, and fortifying himself with chocolates, the detective sat +down to write a long and full account of his failure to keep what had +been confided to his care, for the space of one hour. + +In a couple of days he had an answer. Ashiel did not seem much perturbed +at the loss of the cipher. + +"It is a nuisance, of course," he said. "I must think out another, and +will let you have it in a few days before sending you other things. No, I +did not recognize the person I met as I was leaving your rooms. In spite +of what you say as to your belief that theft and not murder is the object +of these people, I am still convinced that my life is aimed at. However, +I think that for the present I have hit on a way of frustrating their +plans. With regard to the other problem you are helping me to solve, I am +seeing a great deal of both the young people, and I believe there can be +no doubt as to the identity of one of them, but I will write to you on +this subject also in a few days' time." + +He sent Gimblet a couple of brace of grouse, which the detective devoured +with great satisfaction, and for the next week no more letters bearing a +Scotch postmark were delivered at the Whitehall flat. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +"Here they come again." + +Lord Ashiel spoke in a voice scarcely above a whisper, and Juliet +crouched low against the peaty wall of the butt. There was an instant's +silence, and then crack, crack, shots sounded from the other end of the +line. Another minute and Lord Ashiel's gun went up; she heard the whirr +of approaching wings before she covered both ears with her hands to +deaden the noise of the explosions she knew were coming. + +Then several guns seemed to go off at once. Bang! bang! bang! Bang! +bang! bang! + +Juliet did not really enjoy grouse-driving, but she tried to appear as if +she did, since every one else seemed to, and at all events there were +intervals between drives when she could be happy in the glory of the +hills and the wild free air of the moors. + +Meanwhile she knelt in her corner of the butt beside her host's big +retriever, and waited. There was a little bunch of heather growing +level with her nose, and she bent forward silently and sniffed at it. +But the honey-sweet scent was drowned for the moment by the smell of +gunpowder and dog. + +Bang! bang! bang! + +Presently Lord Ashiel turned and looked down at her, with a smile. + +"The drivers are close up," he said. "The drive is over." + +They went out of the butt, and she stood watching the dog picking up the +birds Lord Ashiel had shot. He found nineteen, and the loader picked up +three more. Juliet was glad her host shot so well. She thought him a +wonderful man. And how kind he was to her. But she could not help looking +over from time to time to the next butt, round which three other people +were wandering: Sir David Southern, and his loader, and Miss Maisie +Tarver, to whom he was engaged to be married. + +One of Sir David's birds had fallen near his uncle's butt, and presently +he strolled across to look for it, his eyes on the heather as he +zigzagged about, leading his dog by the chain which his uncle insisted on +his using. + +"There is something here," called Juliet. "Yes, it is a dead grouse. Is +this your bird?" + +Sir David came up and took it. + +"That's it," he said. "Thanks very much. How do you like this sort +of thing?" + +He leant against the butt and looked down at her. + +"Oh, it's so lovely here," began Juliet. + +"But you don't like the shooting, eh?" + +"I don't know," Juliet stammered. "I think it's rather cruel." + +"You must remember there wouldn't be any grouse at all if they weren't +shot," he said seriously, "and besides, wild birds don't die comfortably +in their beds if they're not killed by man. A charge of shot is more +merciful than a death from cold and starvation, or even from the attack +of a hawk or any of a bird's other natural enemies. Just think. Wouldn't +you rather have the violent end yourself than the slow, lingering one?" + +"Yes," admitted Juliet, "I would. I believe you're right But I don't +really much like seeing it happen, all the same." + +"I think you'd get used to it; it's a matter of habit. I believe +everything is a matter of habit, or almost everything. I suppose one gets +used to any kind of horror in time." + +He spoke reflectively; more, or so it seemed to Juliet, as if trying to +convince himself than her; and as he finished speaking, she was conscious +that his eyes, which had never left her face while they were talking, had +done so now, and were fixed on some object or person behind her. She +turned instinctively and saw Miss Maisie Tarver approaching, a brace of +grouse swinging in each hand. + +"I've got them all, right here, David," she informed him, as she came up. +She was a tall dark girl, with the look of breeding which often proves so +confusing to Europeans when they first come in contact with certain of +her countrywomen. "This bird," she added, holding up one which still +fluttered despairingly, "was a runner, but now he won't do any more +running than the colour of my new pink shirt-waist; and that's guaranteed +a fast tint, I guess." + +Juliet looked away, trying not to show her dismay at the struggles of the +wounded bird. + +"Here, give me that bird, Maisie," said David rather abruptly. "I'll +knock it on the head." + +"Oh, I can do that, if it makes Miss Byrne feel badly," Maisie laughed. + +Raising her small foot on to a stone, she began to make ineffectual +attempts to beat the bird's head against her toe. David snatched it from +her unceremoniously, and turned his back while he put an end to the poor +creature's sufferings. His face was very red. When he had killed the bird +he tossed it to Lord Ashiel's loader, and strode away across the heather. + +Maisie looked at Juliet with a laugh. + +"Your English young men are perfectly lovely," she remarked, "and David +is just elegant, I think, or I'd not have gone and engaged myself to be +led to the altar by him; but I can't kind of get used to the British way +of looking at things. It's quite remarkable the manner you people have +of admiring a girl one moment, because she's a good sport, and throwing +fits of disapprobation the next, because she tries to act like she is +one. Why, David looked at me just now as if he'd have taken less than two +cents to put knock-out drops in my next cocktail." + +"Oh," protested Juliet. "I'm sure he didn't mean to. I think his +expression is naturally rather stern." + +"Stern nothing," said Miss Tarver. "When I came up he was looking at you +as if he reckoned he could eat you, shooting-stick and all. Oh, there +aren't any flies on me! I know just what myself and dollars are worth to +Sir David Southern, and I'm beginning to do some calculating on my own +account as to what Sir David Southern is worth to me." + +"Oh, surely you are wrong," cried Juliet. "I am certain Sir David has +never thought about your money. Oh, I feel sure you misjudge him; and you +mustn't talk like that, even in fun!" + +"I don't know," said Miss Tarver doubtfully. "His cousin says David's +really vurry attached to me, but it's the sort of thing one ought to be +able to see for oneself, and I don't seem to feel a really strong +conviction on the subject. As for his thinking of my dollars, I fail to +see how he can help that when he's over head and ears in debt, the way he +is. He told me so himself when he proposed. He put it as a business +proposition. Said his ancient name was up for auction, and did I reckon +it worth my while to make a bid, or words to that effect. There's a +romantic love-story for you. He was the only titled man I'd ever struck +up till a month ago, and I always did think it would be stunning to marry +into an aristocratic British family, so I was pleased to death at the +idea of putting his on its legs again with my dollars. What else could I +do with them anyway? But I believe if I'd met your friend, Lord Ashiel, +before I'd taken the fatal step, I'd have waited to see if he didn't +fancy an Amurrican wife. But of course _he_ doesn't care a hill of beans +whether I'm rich or not. He's got plenty himself, I'm told, and I guess +he'd never have looked at me while you were around, any old way. All the +same I call him a real striking-looking man." + +"Oh, don't talk so loud," implored Juliet. "He'll hear you. He's +quite close." + +"Not he," said Miss Tarver. "He's back of the butt still. And I will say +he is a real high-toned gentleman, and it's my opinion the girl who gets +him will be able to give points to the man who took a piece of waste land +for a bad debt, and struck the richest vein of gold in Colorado on it." + +She looked at Juliet with an insinuating eye. + +"Come along," said Lord Ashiel, as he strolled up to them with a bird +he had been looking for, "we're going on now to the next drive," and +they started off down the hillside, wading deep through the heather to +the track. + +Juliet had been nearly a week at Inverashiel. A week of wet weather which +had sadly interfered with the shooting, but which had thrown the house +party on its own resources and given her plenty of chances to get well +acquainted with the other guests at the castle. They were most of them +related to Lord Ashiel and already well known to each other. The +American, David Southern's fiancee, the half Russian girl, Julia +Romaninov, who had arrived on the same day as Juliet, and Juliet herself, +were the only strangers. Mrs. Haviland, Lord Ashiel's sister, had been +there when she arrived, but had left a day or two later as her husband, +who was in the south, had fallen ill and needed her presence. Her place +as hostess had been taken by Lady Ruth Worsfold, a distant cousin of the +McConachans, who lived in a little house a mile down the loch, which was +given her rent free by Lord Ashiel. Another cousin of his, Mrs. Clutsam, +a young widow, he had also provided this year with a small house on the +estate which was sometimes let to fishing tenants, and she, too, was at +present staying at Inverashiel. + +The guns consisted of Col. Spicer and Sir George Hatch, both well-known +soldiers of between forty and fifty years of age, and Lord Ashiel's two +nephews, David Southern, the son of a widowed sister, and Mark +McConachan, whose father, now dead, had been Lord Ashiel's only brother. +Both were tall, good-looking young men, though there was not even a +family resemblance between the grey-eyed and fairhaired David, with his +smooth-shaven face and slender well-proportioned figure, and his +loose-limbed, rather ungainly cousin, whose appearance of great strength +made up for his lack of grace, and whose large melting brown eyes made +one forget the faults which the hypercritical might have found in the +rest of his face: the rather large nose, and the mouth which was apt too +often to be open except when it closed on the cigarette he was always +smoking. He had been, so Juliet had heard some one say, one of the most +popular men in the cavalry regiment he had lately left on account of its +being ordered to India. + +They were all very nice to Juliet, and she thought them all charming. +Especially, she told herself with unnecessary emphasis, did she think +Miss Maisie Tarver a delightful person; rather strange, possibly, to +European ways and customs and manner of conversation, a very different +type, certainly, from the new Lady Byrne--to whom Juliet was beginning to +feel she had perhaps not hitherto sufficiently done justice--but open as +the day, and with a heart of gold. She even went so far as to defend her +to old Lady Ruth Worsfold, who had lamented one morning when David and +his fiancee had gone out shooting together--for Miss Tarver, though not a +good shot, was fond of ferreting rabbits--that the lad should be throwing +himself away on this young lady from a provincial American town. + +"I forget which, my dear, but it's something to do with chickens, I +believe." They were sitting in the hall, and Lady Ruth looked up from her +embroidery as she spoke, with art interrogative glance towards Mrs. +Clutsam and Julia. + +"Chicago," said Mrs. Clutsam, turning round from the table where she was +writing. "That's where she comes from." + +"Yes, that's it," said Lady Ruth; "the name had slipped my memory. It's +the place where they all kill pigs, isn't it? I've read about it in +Kipling. Her having been brought up to do that accounts for her passion +for wounding rabbits, no doubt. I daresay one has to keep one's hand in. +That reminds me, I will tell the cook not to send up sausages for +breakfast. The poor girl is probably tired of the sight of them, though I +suppose they mean money to her, which is always pleasant. When I had a +poultry farm I used to feel my heart warm at the thought of poor dear +Duncan's bald head. You know, my dear," she went on, turning to Juliet, +"my husband had the misfortune to lose all his hair some years before he +died, though really I don't believe there was a patent hair-wash he +didn't try, till the house fairly reeked of them: but they never did any +good, and he got to look more and more like one of my nice new-laid eggs; +though not so brown of course, for I always kept Wyandots which lay the +most beautiful dark brown ones, like _cafe au lait_" + +"Well, the money will be very useful to poor David," said Mrs. Clutsam, +without turning her head. She was rather annoyed because she had found +that she had written "I am so glad you can kill pigs," instead of "I am +so glad you can come" to some one she had invited to stay with her. + +"There's plenty of money on this side of the duck pond, or whatever they +call it," said Lady Ruth severely. + +And it was then that Juliet had burst in. + +"I am sure Sir David has never given a thought to Miss Tarver's +money," she said. + +"Why not, my dear?" said Lady Ruth, turning upon her mild, surprised +eyes. "He is terribly badly off; it is his duty to marry money; but he +needn't have gone so far for it." + +"I don't believe he would marry for money. He would be above doing such a +thing!" Juliet declared. + +Julia, who had said nothing, stared at her, and laughed softly. She had a +very low, musical laugh. + +"I don't think you understand the position," said Mrs. Clutsam, turning +round at last and laying down her pen with an air of resignation. "David +Southern has inherited a lot of debts from his father, who only died last +year, and he had piled up a good many on his own account before then, +never suspecting that he would not be very well off. But he found the +place mortgaged up to the hilt. There is really nothing between his +mother and starvation, except her brother-in-law Ashiel's charity, and +that is not pleasant for her because she has never been on good terms +with him. It is very important that David should obtain money somehow, +for her sake more than for his own, and I'm sure he feels that deeply. He +is devoted to her." + +"But there are other ways of getting money than by marrying," +Juliet objected. + +"Yes, there are; but they are slow and uncertain, and David can't bear to +see his mother poor. I am sure it was for her sake that he proposed to +Miss Tarver." + +"I think he would have tried some other way first, unless he had been in +love with her," Juliet repeated, flushed and obstinate. + +"Mr. McConachan says Sir David is very fond of Miss Tarver, really," +said Julia, speaking for the first time. She spoke English fluently, but +with a slight foreign accent. "He says his cousin is so reserved that +he conceals his feelings as much as possible, but that, _au fond_, he +adores her." + +There was a short silence; Mrs. Clutsam seemed about to speak, but her +eyes met those of Lady Ruth fixed on her with an expressionless gaze, and +she turned round without a word and took up her discarded pen. + +They were both thinking the same thing. If David concealed his feelings +in the presence of Miss Tarver he was not so successful when he was in +Juliet's neighbourhood. Both women had noticed the change that came over +him when she was in the room. It was not that he did not try to appear +indifferent; he did not talk to her, or seek her society. On the contrary +he seemed to avoid it, and relapsed into silence at her approach. But +both Lady Ruth and Mrs. Clutsam had caught him looking at her when he +thought himself unobserved, and their observations had not left either of +them in any doubt as to how the land lay. + +Sir David Southern might be engaged to marry Miss Tarver, but he had +fallen in love with some one quite different, and some one who was, +moreover, or so they imagined, destined for quite another person. + +For what was Miss Juliet Byrne doing at Inverashiel Castle? + +This was a question which much exercised the minds of Lord Ashiel's +relations and, when she was not present, formed the subject of many +discussions. + +Where had this girl, this extremely pretty and attractive girl, suddenly +appeared from? Well, they all knew, of course, where she really had come +from; but why? Why had Lord Ashiel suddenly sprung her on them like +this? He had not even told Mrs. Haviland that he had invited her until +the day before she arrived. Why this mystery? Where had he met her? How +long had he known her? To a casual question Juliet had replied guardedly +that she had not known him very long, but that he knew her family. +Fervently did she hope that what she said was true. + +One thing, however, seemed certain. No matter how, where, or why, Ashiel +had made friends with Juliet Byrne, he was bent on becoming even better +acquainted. He appeared to be on excellent terms with her already, and +every day saw them grow more familiar, and, on Ashiel's side, almost +affectionate. If he went shooting or fishing Juliet must go too; to her +he addressed his remarks; it was she whom he consulted when he made plans +for the following days. His health was bad, he was subject to terrible +headaches, and if she were not present he grew quickly nervous and +irritable; when she was, he seldom took his eyes off her. He seemed to +watch her, Mrs. Clutsam thought, with a certain expectancy; but also with +a distinct and unmistakable pride. There was little doubt in the mind of +anyone in the house that there would soon be a second Lady Ashiel. + +As the party walked between the butts on that brilliant August day, Miss +Tarver tacked herself on to her host and strode on ahead with him, +keeping up a flow of interminable, drawling inanities, which made him +wonder for the fortieth time what David could see in her. + +The others tailed out after them, followed by dogs and loaders. + +Without knowing how it came about, Juliet found herself walking beside +David; and, as she was not used to the rough going on the hillside, they +insensibly dropped behind the rest of the long, straggling procession. +The way was uphill; Juliet panted and stumbled; and her companion seemed +disinclined to talk. + +They came to a burn, and he gave her his hand to cross from stone to +stone. The burn was high, and one stone was under water, leaving a space +too wide for Juliet to jump. David stepped on to the flooded rock, and +turned to her. + +"I will lift you over here," he said shortly. "Oh, I can wade quite +well," said she. "My shoes are wet already." + +But without more words he put his arms round her, and lifted her over. +When he put her down he found his tongue. + +"If Maisie stands with my uncle at the next drive," he said, "will you +come to my butt?" + +"I should like to," she said. For some reason his tone made her breath +come quickly. + +David stood looking down at her as though considering. + +"I can't go back on my word," he said at last inconsequently. "I shall +have to marry her, if she wants it, I suppose. But I can't bear you to +think that I care for her. I've got to think of other people." + +"You mustn't say that!" she cried. "Oh, you mustn't say that to me!" + +"Why not?" he said, looking at her strangely. "What have I said that +isn't right?" + +"Nothing, I suppose," Juliet faltered. "But--but--Oh," she cried, "if +you don't care for her, you must tell her so, and she will break it off. +Anything would be better than to go on with it!" + +"I think she knows," he answered gloomily. "She won't break it off, +because she wants to be 'my Lady,' It's a business matter, really. And +I'd have to stick to it for my mother's sake, anyhow." + +Juliet could think of nothing to say. "You ought not to marry her," she +stammered again. + +"If I didn't," he began hoarsely--"if she did let me go, I don't suppose +you'd ever care for me enough to marry me? Oh, I know I ought not to say +it," he broke off; "I'm a cad to speak like this. Forgive me, Juliet." + +Juliet's world revolved around her at an unusual pace for the space of a +second. She shut her eyes to steady herself; a mixture of misery and +happiness deprived her of speech or movement. Gradually the misery +predominated and she burst into tears. + +"Forgive me, forgive me," he was saying. He stood before her, looking as +wretched as a man can look. + +"Yes, yes," she sobbed. "Let us forget all about it. You must forget me." + +"You know I can't," he said. "Juliet, Juliet, don't cry. If you cry I +shall be simply obliged to kiss you." And he took a step towards her. + +They were still standing at the edge of the burn, screened from the +track ahead, partly by a little bush of alder which grew beside them, +partly by the winding of the path round the slope of the hill. As David +spoke a rabbit came scampering up to the other side of the bush, and +then, becoming aware of their proximity, turned at right angles and +darted down the bank. It was three or four yards away, and going hard, +when there was a loud report, and the branches of the alder cracked and +rattled. Several little boughs fell to the ground a foot or two away +from the spot on which Juliet stood. Surprise dried her tears and +restored David to his senses. + +"Hi!" he shouted, bounding on to the path, and waving his arms +frantically. "What are you shooting at? Look out, can't you?" + +Fifty yards up the track his Cousin Mark was standing, an open gun in his +hand; a scared ghillie was running towards them down the path beyond. + +"Good heavens, David," Mark ejaculated, "do you mean to say you were in +the burn? I thought you were on ahead! Why in the world did you lag +behind like that? Do you know I might easily have shot you?" + +"Do I know it? You precious near did shoot me, and Miss Byrne, too, I +tell you. If it hadn't been for that alder we should have been bound to +get most of the charge between us. It's not like you to be so careless." + +"I'm frightfully sorry, old man," said Mark, coming up; "it was careless +of me, but I felt sure there was no one back there. I saw that rabbit and +stalked it, meaning to overtake you all afterwards. They walk so +fearfully slow, you know, what with all these ladies, and Uncle Douglas +not feeling very fit. And Miss Byrne here, too! By Jove, I _am_ sorry! +Beastly stupid of me." + +He was plainly agitated, and could hardly blame himself severely enough. +And David, for his part, was not disposed to make light of what had +happened. Perhaps he was glad of a subject on which he could enlarge. + +"It was a rotten shot, too," he mumbled, as they all hurried on after +the others. "You were about four yards behind that rabbit." + +"Absolutely rotten," agreed Mark. "I don't know what's happened to my +shooting. I've hit every bird in the tail to-day, except when I've missed +'em clean, and that's what I've done most of the time. There's something +wrong with my eye altogether. If I don't get better, I shall knock off +shooting--for a few days, anyhow." + +All his usual self-possession seemed to have been shaken out of him by +the thought of the catastrophe he might have caused. Young, good-looking +and popular, he was accustomed to take the pleasure shown in his society +and the admiring approval of his associates, which had always contributed +so much to his comfortable feeling of satisfaction with himself, and +which had invariably strengthened his reluctance to harbour unpleasant +doubts as to his own perfections, as a matter of course; and the +heartiness with which he now cursed himself for a careless and dangerous +fool testified to the fright he had had. + +Even when David, relenting a little, though still reluctant to show +it, grunted surlily, "None of you cavalry soldiers are safe with a +gun." Mark did not, as he would generally have done, deny the +accusation resentfully, but displayed an astonishing meekness, which +proved how clearly he saw himself to be in the wrong. Juliet, who had +sometimes thought him rather selfish--a fault he shared with many +others of his kind, and one perhaps almost unavoidable in attractive +only sons--was touched by his unusual humility, and treated the matter +lightly, doing all she could to cheer him up and restore to him his +good opinion of himself. + +But Mark, while he smiled back gratefully in reply, would not allow her +to persuade him that he was less to blame than he asserted, and he was +still lamenting his carelessness when they came up with the rest of the +party, who were already stationed in the butts. + +Miss Tarver was beside Lord Ashiel, and Mark stopped a minute to relate +how nearly he had been the cause of an accident, although both David and +Juliet, by mutual consent, guessed what he was going to do, and tried to +dissuade him. + +"No need to say anything about it," David mumbled in his ear. + +"No, no, don't, please," Juliet murmured in the other. + +Yet he would not be tempted, and they walked on together in silence, +leaving him to tell the story. + +"I as near as makes no difference peppered David and Miss Byrne just +now," they heard him begin, and then Lord Ashiel's voice broke in in an +angry tone as they passed out of earshot. + +David's loader reported afterwards that that young gentleman and Miss +Byrne, when she waited with him in the butt, seemed to find very +little to talk about. And it was a long wait before any birds came up, +on that beat. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was a few days after this that Gimblet, taking up an evening paper at +the Club, was startled to see a sinister headline of "Murder," +immediately followed by the name of Ashiel. + +"MURDER OF A SCOTCH PEER." +"LORD ASHIEL SHOT DEAD IN HIS OWN HOUSE." +"ESCAPE OF MURDERER." + +"They've got him," he muttered between his teeth as he hastily began to +read the paragraph that followed: + +"News reaches us, as we go to press, of a dastardly crime, involving the +death of Lord Ashiel, which occurred late last night at his residence in +the Highlands of Scotland. Lord Ashiel was sitting quietly in his library +at Inverashiel Castle, when a shot was fired through the window by +someone in the grounds, which wounded his Lordship so severely that death +took place instantaneously. Although the household was immediately +alarmed and a thorough search made through the garden and grounds +surrounding the castle, the murderer contrived to escape. The police are +continuing their search in the neighbourhood, and it is believed that a +very strong clue to the scoundrel has been discovered. Douglas, Lord +Ashiel, was the seventh Baron. He was born in 1869, educated at Eton and +Oxford, and served for some years in the Diplomatic Service. He was a +widower and childless, and is succeeded in the title by his nephew, Mr. +Mark McConachan." + + +There was nothing more. + +Gimblet strode out of the Club and drove to New Scotland Yard. The +Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department was in, and +received him gladly. Gimblet held out the paper he had carried off from +the Club and pointed to the news of the tragedy. + +"Is all this correct?" he asked. + +"Yes, yes, indeed," replied Mr. Beech, the superintendent. "We heard of +it this morning. The Glasgow people have sent their men up, but it will +take them all day to get to the place. Inverashiel is on the West Coast, +and not what one would call easy to get at. They ought to be there about +five o'clock." + +"Who has gone?" asked Gimblet. + +"Macross has gone himself with one or two others. He has taken a +photographer and a finger-print man, and will get to work as soon as he +possibly can. This is a big business. Lord Ashiel is an important person; +apart from his being a Scotch landowner--he owns 90,000 acres of moorland +there--he is connected with half the great families in England. He has a +cousin in the Cabinet; cousins everywhere, in the Foreign Office, in +Parliament, in trade; he has one who owns a newspaper. He is rich; he is +a sleeping partner in some Newcastle iron works, he is part owner of a +small colliery in Yorkshire. Oh, there's going to be a fine to-do about +this case, you bet your life!" + +"I knew him," said Gimblet slowly. "He came to see me a fortnight ago. He +told me he expected an attempt might be made to kill him." + +"The deuce he did!" exclaimed Beech. "Did he say who it was he feared?" + +"Not exactly; but I gathered he had mixed himself up with some secret +society abroad. He refused to give me any explicit information, or to +appeal to you for protection, as I advised him to do. He told me he had +some document in his possession which his enemies were anxious to obtain +from him, and that if they failed to do so by peaceful methods he thought +it likely they might try to get him out of the way; though he added that +he did not anticipate any open assault, but thought it likely he might +die some death that should have all the appearances of being accidental. +He made me promise to take up the case if this should happen." + +"We are always glad of your help, my dear fellow," said Beech. + +"He gave me certain instructions, in the event of my being able to +satisfy myself that his death is the work of his Nihilist friends," said +Gimblet, who thought it unnecessary to mention his disconcerting +experience with the veiled lady, "And contrariwise, if I can make sure +that they have no hand in it, it was his wish that I should then leave +the whole thing alone. So I had better see what I can make of it before I +go into this any further with you." + +"I can't say I agree with that idea," protested the superintendent. +"However, I know you insist on working on your own lines, and that I have +really no influence with you, in spite of the show you make, humbug that +you are! of consulting my opinion. Well, good luck go with you; and let +me know if you hit on anything that escapes our men." + +Gimblet walked back to his flat, his mind full of the tragedy which he +had an uneasy feeling he might, in some way, have averted. How, he hardly +knew. Lord Ashiel could not have lived all his life encircled by a cordon +of police and detectives; and, without such precautions, a man condemned +by Nihilist societies is practically sure to fall a victim to their +excellent organization and disregard for the lives of their own members. + +Still Gimblet had liked the dead peer, and could not get the pale +aristocratic face and tired, feverish blue eyes out of his head. Surely +he might have found some way of preventing this catastrophe. + +He found a telegram at his flat. It was signed Byrne, and ran: + +"Please come immediately to investigate death of Lord Ashiel certain +some mistake." + +It had been sent off at four o'clock that day. + +"Higgs," called Gimblet to his servant, as he filled up the prepaid reply +form, "I am going North to-night, by the eight o'clock from Euston. Pack +me things for a week; country clothes; and put in plenty of chocolate." + +He collected several things he wanted packed, and then retired to his +sitting-room, where he buried himself in an enormous file of typewritten +papers he had borrowed from Scotland Yard, and which related to the +various Nihilists known to be living in England. He had to return them +before he left London, and when he dropped them at the Yard about seven +o'clock, on his way to the station, he learnt that no word had yet come +from the Scotch authorities as to any further developments at +Inverashiel. + +A few minutes past eight he was travelling North as fast as the Scotch +express could carry him. + +It was midday on the following day when he got off the steamer that had +brought him from Crianan, and landed with his luggage on the wooden pier +which displayed, painted on a rough board, the name of Inverashiel. + +One of the deck hands dumped his luggage out on to the side of the loch +and the boat moved on again. + +A track led across the moor, and down it Gimblet saw a farm cart +advancing, driven by a man who shouted as he approached: + +"The young leddy's comin' doon tae meet ye, sir." + +And behind him, on the near skyline, the detective beheld the hurrying +figure of a girl. + +Leaving the man with the cart to grapple with his luggage, which was not +of large dimensions, Gimblet walked to meet Juliet. As they drew near, +she stopped and held out her hand. + +"Mr. Gimblet?" she asked. + +"Yes," he said; "and you are Miss Byrne, are you not?" + +He looked at her keenly as he spoke, noticing that her eyes were red and +swollen, and that her whole bearing was eloquent of sorrow and want of +sleep. She lifted a miserable face to him. + +"Yes," she said. "I am so glad you have come, but it has seemed a long +while. I suppose you couldn't get here before. Do you know all that has +happened?" + +"I know that Lord Ashiel is dead," said the detective. "Hardly more +than that. Will you tell me all there is to tell before we go up to +the castle?" + +"I have left the castle, and am staying with Lady Ruth Worsfold, whose +house you can just see through the trees," she said. "Will you come there +first, or shall we go straight to the castle. It is about a mile through +the woods." + +"Let us walk straight up," said Gimblet. "You can tell me as we go. I +have, as you say, been a long while getting here, but it is fortunate +that the day is fine. I hope it has not rained during the last +thirty-six hours?" + +"I don't know," said the girl. "No; I believe it has been fine. But I +haven't taken much notice what the weather has been like." She was +disappointed and indignant that he should talk in this trivial strain, +when her own heart was nearly bursting, and her every nerve stretched and +tingling. She had pinned all her hopes on the arrival of the famous +detective. + +Gimblet heard the change in her tone. + +"You think I am talking platitudes about the weather," he said quickly, +"and you think I am unsympathetic for your distress; but, believe me, +what I said is very much to the point. If it has not rained the +murderer's footmarks will be very much more easily seen, and that is very +important." + +"You don't know," said Juliet in a voice that trembled ominously. "They +have found plenty of footmarks. The Glasgow detectives said they were +Sir--Sir David Southern's. They found his gun too, not cleaned; and they +say he did it, and they have taken him away, to--to prison." A sob +escaped her, but she controlled herself with a great effort and went on: +"You must prove that he didn't do it. I know he didn't. Anyone who knew +him must know he didn't. Oh you must, you must, find the real murderer!" + +Gimblet was silent for a moment before this appeal. It was difficult to +know what to say. He knew Macross well for a cautious, intelligent +officer; if he had arrested Sir David Southern it seemed pretty certain +that there was good evidence against that gentleman. On the other hand +Lord Ashiel had seemed to think it likely that his death might wear an +appearance calculated to mislead. Still Gimblet had a deep-rooted +prejudice against holding out hopes he could not see a good chance of +fulfilling, and he had so often been appealed to by distracted women to +save their friend and "find the real murderer." + +"Will you not begin at the beginning?" he said at last. "I know how you +came to be staying at Inverashiel, but I know nothing of what has +happened since your arrival, except the bare fact of Lord Ashiel's death. +Tell me every detail you can think of, but, first, who else was staying +at the castle besides yourself? I suppose they have left now?" + +"Yes, they have all gone," said Juliet. "The men went before it all +happened, and the others the next day. There were Lady Ruth Worsfold and +Mrs. Clutsam; they are both cousins of Lord Ashiel's, and he lends them +little houses that belong to him near here, but they were staying at the +castle for a week or two. Then there was Miss Julia Romaninov. She is +half a Russian, and Lord Ashiel's sister, who is away just now, had +invited her. An American girl, Miss Tarver, a great heiress, was there +too. The men were Sir George Hatch and Colonel Spicer, who are cousins of +Lord Ashiel's; and Mr. Mark McConachan and Sir David Southern, who are +his nephews, Mr. McConachan being the son of his dead brother, while Sir +David is his younger sister's child. + +"I have been here a fortnight. The time has gone quickly. Every one was +very nice to me; and, though nothing out of the way happened, it was all +new and delightful, and I enjoyed it very much. Lord Ashiel, especially, +was kindness itself; he was never tired of explaining to me the customs +and traditions of the countryside, and he spared no pains to see that I +was amused and entertained. I was with him most of the time, and grew to +know him very well. I thought him a wonderful man: so clever, so widely +read, so tolerant and sympathetic in his opinions. He was terribly +delicate, though; he had continual headaches, and was so easily tired; +but he told me it was a new thing for him to feel ill; up till a year or +so ago he had always had the best of health. Mrs. Clutsam told me she +thought he had been terribly worried over something; she didn't know what +it was; and of course it is not so very long since his wife and child +died. But he did not strike me as being troubled about anything; his eyes +had a sad expression, and sometimes he looked at me in a wondering sort +of way; but I never saw him appear worried, and he was always cheerful +and lively while I was with him." + +"Was he not equally so with the rest of the party?" asked Gimblet. "Did +he show his likes and dislikes plainly?" + +"I am afraid he did, rather. I think feeling ill and tired made him +irritable, and his temper was very quick. But he was always nice to me." + +"Who wasn't he nice too?" + +"Well, I don't think he liked Miss Romaninov much, In fact, she seemed to +get on his nerves, and sometimes he was so rude to her that I used to +wonder that she stayed. But she is such a quiet, good-tempered little +thing; she never seems to mind anything, and she was really sorry and +upset when he died. And he didn't much like the other girl, Miss Tarver, +but he made an effort, I think, to bear with her for his nephew's sake. +He said to me how glad he was that the boy would be well provided for." + +"Which nephew?" asked Gimblet. "I don't understand. What had Miss Tarver +to do with it?" + +"Sir David Southern was engaged to marry her. She has thrown him over +now," said Juliet, and in spite of herself there was a trace of elation +in her voice. "As soon as Sir David was suspected of the murder she broke +off the engagement." + +"Ah," said Gimblet, stooping to pick a piece of bracken, and waving it +before him to keep at bay the flies, which were buzzing round them in +clouds. He offered another bit silently to his companion, and she took it +absently, without a word. + +"He seemed very fond of Mr. McConachan," she said, "and I think he liked +every one else as well. Yes, I am sure he did, though he did have a +dreadful quarrel with Sir David two days before he was killed; and he was +angry with him once before that." + +"Ah," said Gimblet again. "How was that?" + +"The first time it was my fault, or partly my fault," Juliet went on. "It +was out shooting, and I couldn't go as fast as the others, so I lagged +behind and nearly got shot by accident, as Mr. McConachan thought we were +in front of him. Sir David was with me, and Lord Ashiel was fearfully +angry with him, and said he'd no business to let me get in a place where +I might have been killed. He was rather cross with him for the next few +days, though I told him it was my fault; and then the other day, when Sir +David annoyed him again, there was a frightful row." + +"Was that your fault too?" asked Gimblet with a smile. + +"No, it really wasn't. Sir David had a dog, a retriever, to which he was +devoted, but which Lord Ashiel hated. It was not a well-trained dog, I +must admit, and it used to pay very little attention to its master, +except at meal times, when it became very affectionate, not only to him, +but to every one. The truth is that he spoilt it, and never punished it +when it did wrong, or took any trouble to make it behave better. I heard +that before I arrived there was trouble about it, as it did a lot of +damage in the garden, trampling down the flower-beds, and knocking Lord +Ashiel's favourite plants to pieces--he was very fond of gardening--and +the very first day they went out shooting it ran away for miles, and Sir +David after it, which delayed one of the drives half an hour. His uncle +had been very cross about that, they said, and told Sir David he must +keep it on a chain; but the next day it ate a grouse it was supposed to +be retrieving, and Lord Ashiel was furious, and said that if it did +anything more of the kind he'd have it killed. + +"However, after that, all went well. The dog was kept tightly chained, +and nothing happened till the other day. We were all out on the moors, +waiting in the butts for the last drive to begin. Everything had gone +badly with the shooting that day; the birds all went the wrong way; there +were hardly enough guns for driving, anyhow; there was a high wind, and +the shooting had been shocking; no one had shot well except Mr. +McConachan, who is such a good shot; every one had been wounding their +birds, and that always annoyed Lord Ashiel. He was in a very bad temper, +and though he was not cross with me, I was rather afraid he might be, so +I went and stood with Sir David. Miss Tarver was watching Sir George +Hatch in the next butt, and then came Colonel Spicer, with Mr. McConachan +and Lord Ashiel right at the end of the line. + +"We had been waiting some time, when Sir David whispered to me that the +birds were coming, and crouched down under the wall of the butt. His +loader was kneeling behind him ready to hand him his second gun, with two +cartridges stuck between his fingers to reload the first one. We were all +intent on the grouse, and no one noticed that that wretched dog had +worked his head out of his collar and was roaming about behind us. Just +at that moment a mountain hare came lolloping along the crest of the +hill, and, deceived by the stillness, came to a pause just opposite us +and sat up on its hind legs to brush its whiskers with its paw. Its +toilette didn't last long, however, for by that time the dog had caught +its wind, and with a series of yelps had hurled itself upon it. The hare +was off in a second, and away they went, straight down the line, the dog +making as much noise as a whole pack of hounds as he bounded and leapt +over the thick heather. Sir David started up with an exclamation of +dismay, and I, too, stood up and looked over the top of the butt. +Following the direction of his eyes, I saw clouds of grouse streaming +away to the left, all turning as they came over the hill, and wheeling +away from us towards the north. + +"The drive was absolutely spoilt. The hare and its pursuer had by this +time gone the whole length of the butts, and looked like going till +Christmas. Lord Ashiel had come out into the open, and we saw him put his +gun to his shoulder. The dog gave one last leap, and rolled over before +the report reached our ears. It was a quarter of a mile away from us." + +Juliet paused; she was out of breath; they had been walking fast and were +within sight of the castle gates. The way led along the side of Loch +Ashiel, and the castle rose in front of them on a tall rocky promontory, +which jutted far into the water. + +"Let us rest here a few minutes," said Gimblet. "It is too much to ask +you to talk while we are walking up that hill, and I don't want you to +leave out any details, however unimportant they may appear to you." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +They had reached a place where a wide horseshoe of beach ran down to the +loch. For more than a week there had been no rain to speak of. The season +as a whole had been dry, and the water was very low; tufts of grass +dotted the shore; brambles and young alders were springing up bravely, +determined to make the most of their time. At the back stretched a +meadow, part of which had been cut for hay; the rest of it was so full of +weeds and wild flowers, ragweed, burdock and the red stalks of sorrel, +that it had been left untouched, and filled the foreground with colour. +The grass had gone to seed and turned a rich reddish purple; beneath it +grew wild geraniums whose leaves were already scarlet. Bluebells and +scabious made a haze of mauve, and everywhere the warm, sandy stalks of +the dried grasses shone yellow through the patch. + +They sat down at the edge of the beach and leant back against the +overhanging turf. Opposite to them the little town of Crianan clung to +the steep rocks below Ben Ghusy, the houses looking as if they stood +piled one on top of another in a rough pyramid; and the whole surmounted +by the high walls and tower of the Roman Catholic monastery which +dominated the scene, and always seemed to Juliet to wear a look of stern +defiance, as if it were offering a challenge to that other fortress that +frowned back at it. She could imagine the monks in the old days, standing +on its parapet and daring the Lords of Inverashiel to do their worst. Far +away down the loch lay the hills, scarce more deeply grey than the water; +beyond them more distant tops melted into the sky. The grey ripples +lapped gently on jagged shingle, and a persistent housefly buzzed loudly +round their heads; at that hour there were as yet few midges, and it was +very peaceful, very solitary, very desolate. + +"I don't know," said Juliet, going on with her story where she had left +off, "which was more angry, Lord Ashiel or Sir David. After the first few +minutes, in which they both said things I am sure they regretted +afterwards, neither of them would speak to the other, and it was a very +uncomfortable evening for every one. The next day was better. Colonel +Spicer and Sir George left by the morning train, both going on to shoot +in other parts of Scotland. Mrs. Clutsam went away too; she had some one +coming to stay with her at her own house near by. Both the young men went +stalking on different parts of the forest, and Lord Ashiel and I, with +the two other girls, spent the morning on the loch trolling for salmon; +but we didn't get a rise. + +"In the afternoon I walked up the river with Julia Romaninov; we talked +about our schooldays. She had been at school in Germany, and I in +Switzerland. After a while she got tired and went home, but I went on by +myself, for I had a lot of things to think of, and was glad to be alone. +I came at last to a great pool among the rocks, where the river comes +down in a fall from far above in a cloud of spray and foam. I stood on a +stone at the water's edge and watched the trout rising in the pool. The +river was low and the water very clear. Standing on the rocks above it, +it seemed as if I could see every pebble at the bottom, except where they +were hidden in the ripples which spread away from beneath the fall. The +pool is like the bottom of a well; high rocks rear themselves round it to +a great height; they are veiled in a greenness of fern and moss, and near +the top many trees have found a roothold in the crevices and bend forward +towards each other over the water, as divers poise themselves before +leaping down. Through a narrow opening opposite the fall the river makes +its way onward. As I stood there a stone must have come down from the +heights above. I did not see it, and the noise of the waterfall deadened +any sound of its descent, but suddenly I felt a heavy blow between the +shoulders, and I must have tumbled forward into the pool below. + +"The next thing I remember was looking up into the anxious friendly face +of Andrew Campbell, one of the ghillies at Inverashiel. It seemed to be +hanging above me in the sky, which was the only other thing I could see, +and I wondered vaguely why I saw it upside down. My head was aching +cruelly and I couldn't imagine what was the matter, though I was too weak +and faint to care. To cut my adventure short, Andrew had come to a pool +lower down the river just as I floated into it on top of the current; he +had fished me out, and was now restoring me to life again. I was got back +to the house, how I hardly know, put to bed, and actually wept over by +Lord Ashiel. By the evening I had so far recovered that I was able to +come down to dinner, though I should not have done so if it had not been +for the anxiety of my host, as my head still felt as if it was going to +split. I received many congratulations on my escape, and Lord Ashiel, +when he spoke of it, was so much moved that every one was quite +embarrassed, and I myself was touched beyond expression at the affection +he did not attempt to conceal. He was very silent after that, but in +spite of him dinner that night was a merry meal. Every one was in the +best of spirits, or else assumed them for the time being. We all joked +and laughed over my adventure, and Mr. McConachan said I bore a charmed +life, since I had escaped being killed by his careless shot, and now the +river refused to drown me. It was not till the servants had left the +room, and we were preparing to do the same, that Lord Ashiel spoke again. + +"Lady Ruth had got up, and was moving towards the door, and the other +girls and I were following her, when he called her back. 'Will you wait a +minute, Ruth,' he said. 'I have something to tell you and my young +friends here.' He smiled round at all of us, including Sir David, to whom +he hadn't spoken since the affair of the dog. 'I have some good news +which I want you to share with me.' He took me by the hand and drew me +forward. 'I want,' said he, 'to introduce you all to a young lady whom +you do not know. This is Juliet McConachan, my dear and only daughter.' + +"I was not really so surprised as he expected. His behaviour to me had +made me suspicious, and during the last few days especially I had allowed +myself to nourish a hope that we were related. But I was glad. I can't +tell you how glad and thankful. Every one else was tremendously +surprised. They all clustered round us with questions and exclamations, +but Lord Ashiel would say no more just then, and only smiled and beamed, +and nodded mysteriously. 'I am not going to answer any questions till I +have had a talk with Juliet,' he said. 'This is as much news to her as it +is to any of you, and it is only fair that she should be the first to +hear the story. For I won't deny that there is a story. Come to me +presently, my child,' he went on, addressing himself to me. 'Come to the +library in half an hour's time. You will find me there, and I will tell +you all about it.' + +"I went to the drawing-room, my aching head almost forgotten. I was, of +course, intensely excited; indeed I think I scarcely took in any of the +kind things that Lady Ruth and the others said to me that evening; at all +events I have hardly any idea what they were, and none at all as to what +I answered. My one overmastering desire was to be alone; to have time to +think; to realize all that the news meant to me; and after a quarter of +an hour had passed I made some excuse, and left the room. The nearest way +to my bedroom was by a back stair, and to reach it I had to pass through +a passage leading to the gun-room. The door of that room was ajar, and as +I went by Sir David Southern came out. + +"'What have you been doing in there at this time of night?' I asked; and +oh, Mr. Gimblet, I was so foolish as to repeat this to the Glasgow +detective when he questioned me. To think that my careless words have led +them to believe Sir David capable of such a crime! But I had no idea of +the meaning they would attach to it. You will understand presently how it +was. 'I went to clean my rifle,' he answered, shutting the door behind +him. 'I always see to that myself. And where are you off to so fast, +Cousin Juliet? That is what you are to me, it appears.' And so we +talked: about me, and our newly discovered relationship. I need not +repeat all that, need I? And, besides, I do not remember everything we +said," added Juliet, flushing. + +"After a little while, though, I told him how badly my head ached, and he +was very sympathetic about it. 'You ought not to have come down to +dinner,' he said, 'the dining-room gets so hot and stuffy; it is a low +room, and Uncle Douglas never will have the window open, even on a lovely +night like this.' There is a door at the foot of the stairs, opposite the +gun-room, and as he spoke he drew back the bolt. 'Come out into the +garden for a few minutes,' he said, holding the door open for me to pass, +'a little fresh air will do you more good than anything.' + +"The night was warm, I suppose, for Scotland, but cool enough to seem +wonderfully fresh and invigorating after the enclosed air within the +house. It was very dark, and the sky was overcast, though just above us a +star or two was shining, very large and clear. Otherwise I could hardly +distinguish anything at all, except the line, about fifty yards away, +where the lawn came to an end, and the ground dipped abruptly down +towards the loch, so that the level edge of the grass showed up against +the less opaque darkness of the sky, like a black velvet border to a +piece of black silk. + +"We stood there a little while, till I remembered I must go to the +library. My head was already much better when I turned back into the +house; Sir David didn't follow me; he seemed to be staring through the +gloom in front of him. 'I am going in,' I said. 'What are you looking +at?' 'I thought I saw something move over there on the skyline,' he +replied; 'do you see anything?' I looked, but could make out nothing. +'Well,' he said, 'if you are going in, I think I'll just go over and see +if there's anyone about; you might leave the door open, will you?' + +"And so I left him, and made my way to the library. As I passed through +the billiard-room, Mr. McConachan, who was knocking the balls about, +asked me if I had seen his cousin, and I told him Sir David was outside +on the lawn by the gun-room door. + +"Lord Ashiel--my father--was waiting for me, and he came to meet me and +kissed me tenderly. We were both very much agitated: I was still feeling +the effects of my escape from drowning, and he, poor dear, was weak and +ill. In short, neither of us was in a fit state to meet the situation +calmly; and, if my tears flowed, they were not the only ones that were +shed. For a few moments we cried like babies, in each other's arms, and +then I pulled myself together, for I knew how bad it was for his health +to get into this nervous state. Mr. Gimblet, I needn't tell you all the +conversation that followed between us. He told me that you know the whole +story, that you are the one person in the world in whom he had confided; +so it is unnecessary for me to repeat what he said of his marriage to my +mother, of her death, and of his resolve never willingly to look upon me, +the baby who had taken her from him. He told me also of the years that +had intervened between that day when he had shuffled off his +responsibilities on to Mrs. Meredith, and the day, not long ago, when he +at last decided to hunt out his daughter. + +"He told me of his fears that she should prove to be none other than +Julia Romaninov, and of how, in desperation, he had applied to you for +help, and of how you had discovered my existence. + +"He said he had never really doubted from the moment he first set eyes on +me that I was Juliana's child. But he dared not hint such a thing to me +till he was certain, and anxious though he was to see a likeness between +me and her, or himself, he had not been able to tell himself, truthfully, +that he could really see one, until that day. It was when I was brought +home that afternoon, so white and faint, so changed by my pallor from +what he chose to describe as my usual gay brilliance, that the +resemblance suddenly showed itself. He hardly knew that it was I; it +might have been Juliana that they were carrying. He said there could be +no doubt that I was her daughter; that he for one, required no further +proof; though we should probably get it now it was no longer wanted. Sir +Arthur Byrne might be able to suggest some way of tracing things. Not +that it mattered, for he could not in any case leave me his title, and, +on the other hand, he had full control of his money, which would be mine +before very long. + +"I cried out at that, that he must not say so; that it was not money I +wanted, but a father, affection, friendship. He repeated that all the +same I should have it in course of time. That it was all settled already. +Even before he was certain that I was his own child, he liked me well +enough to make up his mind about that. He asked me if I remembered that +he had stayed at home the other day while the rest of us were on the +hill? He said he had made his will that day, and I was the principal +legatee, though he had not alluded to me in it by my own name. But he +worded it carefully, so that that should make no difference; and though +he believed it was quite clear as it was, he would make it over again, +as soon as he could obtain legal proof of my birth. + +"I supposed I murmured some sort of thanks for his care of my future, and +he went on again, saying that he only wished the title could come to me +too, when he died; but that it would go to Mark, since the little boy his +second wife had given him was dead, and I was a girl. + +"He said he was afraid that Mark might be a little disappointed, for, if +he hadn't found me, Mark and David would have shared his fortune between +them; but they would soon get over it, for they were good lads, +especially Mark; and David would have plenty of money through this very +satisfactory marriage of his. I couldn't help interrupting that money +wasn't everything. I am telling you all these trivial things, Mr. +Gimblet, because you said I was to try and remember everything, however +unimportant." + +"Yes," said Gimblet, "that is what I want. Pray go on." + +"He only smiled when I said that," Juliet resumed, "and said that +different opinions were held on that subject by different people. Then he +went on talking about my future life, and said again how glad he would +always be that he had consulted you, and how grateful he was for what you +had done for him, and that if any trouble cropped up, I was to be sure +and send for you at once. He looked to you to protect my interests, and, +if necessary, to avenge his death. + +"I couldn't think what he meant, and said so; but he only smiled again +and said he hoped there would be no need for it. He said he had some +papers he must send to you to take care of, some papers that were rather +dangerous to their owner, he was afraid, though at the same time they +were a safeguard to him. But he shouldn't like me to have anything to do +with them, or the boys either, and he must get them away from Inverashiel +as soon as he could. In the meantime they were in a safe place where no +one would find them, and he would write to you that night and tell you +how to look for them, just on the chance that something should happen +before he could send them off. His will was with them, too, for the +present, but he would send that up to Findlay & Ince. He wouldn't tell me +where the papers were; he didn't want me to have anything to do with +these tiresome things. + +"He said all this with hesitation; with long pauses between the +sentences. It seemed to me that he would have liked to tell me more, and +I didn't know what to say. Indeed, he seemed to be talking rather to +himself than to me, and I am not sure if he heard me when I said that if +he had any anxiety I should like to share it, if it were possible. +Presently he seemed to take a sudden resolution. He said that there was +no reason, at all events, why he should not explain to me how to find the +papers. He had written directions in cipher once before and given you the +key, but you had lost it, and might do so again. It would be just as well +that I should know about it too, in any case. He had had to think out a +new method, and at present it was known to no one except himself, which +was perhaps not very wise. However, he would send it to you that night, +and would explain it to me at once. But first I must promise him, very +faithfully, never to mention it to anyone, whatever happened, not to let +anyone, except you, ever guess that there was such a thing in existence. + +"I promised solemnly; still he hardly seemed satisfied, and looked at me +very searchingly, while he said he wondered if I were old enough to +understand the importance of this, and if I realized that I was promising +not to tell my nearest or dearest; not my adopted father, Sir Arthur +Byrne, nor my lover, if I had one. That it was a matter of life and +death, that his life was in danger then, and that I would inherit the +risk unless I did as he said. + +"Rather indignant, though completely mystified, I promised again. He +seemed satisfied, and said he would write the whole thing down for me. He +moved from the hearth, where we had been sitting, to the writing-table, +which stands in the middle of the room, in front of the window. He sat +down at it, and I stood a little behind him, looking on as he took a +sheet of notepaper and turned over the pens in the tray in search of a +pencil. The room was very hot; the tufts of peat smouldering in the +grate, and the two lamps, combined with the fumes of Lord Ashiel's cigar +to render the atmosphere oppressive to a person with a violent headache. +I glanced longingly towards the window. It was not entirely hidden by the +heavy curtains which were drawn across it, for they did not quite meet in +the middle, and I could see perfectly well that the window was shut. For +a moment I hesitated, torn between the desire for fresh air and the fear +that my father might feel too cold. He was terribly chilly. I decided to +ask him, and turned to him again as he took up the pencil and examined +the point critically. + +"'Would you mind,' I was beginning; but at that instant a loud report +sounded just outside the window. Lord Ashiel fell forward on to the table +with a low cry, his hand clasped to his ribs. 'Oh, what is it?' I cried, +bending over him; 'you are hurt; you are shot! Oh, what shall I do!' He +was making a great effort to speak, I could see that plainly enough; but +no words would come, and he seemed to be choking. At last he managed to +get out a few words. 'Gimblet,' he gasped, 'the clock--eleven--steps--' +and then with a groan his hand dropped from his side, his head rolled +back upon the table, and a silence followed, more horrible to me than +anything that had gone before. + +"I saw now that his shirt was already soaked with blood; and, as in +terror I called again upon his name, the dreadful truth was borne in upon +me, and I knew that he was dead." + +Juliet's voice failed her; she spoke the last few words in a quavering +whisper, and if Gimblet had looked at her at that moment he would have +beheld a countenance drawn and distorted by horror. + +But he was very much occupied, and did not look up. With a notebook open +on his knee, he was busily writing down what she had said. + +"You are sure of the words?" he asked, as his pencil sped across the +page. "'Gimblet--the clock--eleven--step,' is that it?" + +His matter-of-fact voice soothed and reassured her. This little +grey-haired man, sitting at her side, was somehow a very comfortable +companion to one whose nerves were badly overwrought. Juliet pulled +herself together. + +"Steps," she corrected, and her voice sounded almost natural again. +"Not step." + +"Do you suppose," asked the detective, "that he meant the English word, +steps, or the Russian, steppes?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet, surprised. "I never thought of it. But, Mr. +Gimblet, I have not told anyone but you that he spoke after he was hit. I +thought perhaps that he might have wished those last words of his to be +kept private." + +"Quite right," said Gimblet approvingly. "He did right to trust your +discretion. And now, please, go on," he added, putting down his pencil; +"what happened next?" + +And Juliet answered him in a tone as calm as his own: + +"I think I must have fainted." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +"The next thing I remember, was finding myself lying on the floor, and, +when I tried to get up, seeing everything in the room swinging about me +like the swinging boats at a fair. I don't know how long I had been +unconscious, but when, at last, I managed to stand up, and clinging, +faint and giddy, to the back of a chair, looked again at the motionless +figure that sprawled across the writing-table, there was a great pool of +blood on the polished oak of the floor beneath it, which grew slowly +broader, as drop after drop dripped down to swell it With a great effort +I conquered my faintness, and staggered out of the room and down the +long passage. + +"In the billiard-room Mr. McConachan was still practising his game. He +must have been making a break, for I remember hearing him speak, as I +opened the door. 'Twenty-seven,' he said aloud. My voice wouldn't come, +and I stood holding on to the doorpost, while he, with his back to me, +went on potting the red. + +"'That you, Miss Byrne?' he said, without looking round. Then, as I +didn't answer, he glanced up and saw by my face, I suppose, that +something was very wrong. He came quickly to me, his cue in his hand. +'What's the matter?' he said. 'Do you feel ill?' 'Lord Ashiel is dead,' I +said; 'in the library. Some one shot him. Didn't you hear?' 'Dead?' he +cried; 'Uncle Douglas shot! Do you know what you're saying! I heard a +shot, it is true, five minutes ago, but surely that was the keeper +shooting an owl or something.' + +"I shook my head. 'He is dead,' I repeated dully. He looked at me, still +incredulous, and then darted forward and caught me by the arm. 'Here, sit +down,' he said, and half pushed, half led me to a chair. I saw him run to +the bell and tug violently at the rope. Then I believe I fainted again. + +"I think that is all there is to tell you, Mr. Gimblet. You know already +that the murderer got clear away, and the next morning footmarks were +found outside the window which proved to have been made by Sir David +Southern. I was so idiotic, when I was questioned, as to mention having +spoken to him outside the gun-room door, and to repeat, incidentally, +that he had said he had been cleaning his rifle. I never dreamt that +anyone could be so mad as to suspect him. But they looked at the rifle, +and found that it was dirty, so that it must have been discharged again +since I saw him. And it appears he did not join in the search for the +murderer, and was not seen until it was all over. And so they arrested +him and took him away. No amount of evidence could ever make me believe +for a moment that he had a hand in this dreadful thing, but oh, Mr. +Gimblet, I see only too well how black it looks against him. What shall I +do if you, too, now that I have told you everything, think he did it? You +don't, do you?" + +"My dear young lady," said the detective. "I really can't give you an +opinion at present. There are a score of points I must investigate, a +dozen other people besides yourself whom I must question, before I can +form any kind of conclusion. I hope that Sir David Southern may prove to +be a much wronged man. But beyond that I can't go, just at present; and I +shouldn't build too much on my help if I were you. I'm not infallible; +far from it. And I certainly can't prove him innocent if he is guilty." + +He stood up, shaking the sand out of his clothes. + +"Let us go on, up to the castle," he said. + +The gates were near at hand; in silence they breasted the steep incline +of the drive, which wound and zigzagged up between high banks covered +with rhododendron and bracken, and grown over with trees. After a quarter +of a mile these gave place to an abrupt, grass covered slope, whose top +had been smoothed and levelled by the hand of man, and from which on the +far side rose the castle of Inverashiel, its stout and ancient framework +disguised and masked by the modern addition to the building which faced +the approach; a mass of gabled and turreted stonework in the worst style +of nineteenth century architecture which in Scotland often took on a +shape and semblance even more fantastically repulsive than it assumed in +the south. The great tower that formed the principal remaining portion of +the old building could just be discerned over the top of the flaring +facade, but the nature of the site was such that most of the ancient +fortress was invisible from that part of the grounds. Juliet stopped at +the turn of the road. + +"I will leave you here," she said, "you will not want me, I suppose? +After you have finished, will you come to Lady Ruth Worsfold's house, and +tell me what you think? It is just past the station turning; you will +easily find your way, though the house is hidden by the trees. Your +luggage will be there already, as Lady Ruth is going to put you up." + +Mr. Mark McConachan, or rather Lord Ashiel, as he had now become, was in +the act of ending a solitary meal, when Gimblet was announced. He went +to meet the detective, forcing to his trouble-lined face a smile of +welcome that lit up the large melancholy eyes with an expression few +people could resist. + +"I thought it was another of those newspaper fellows, but, thank +goodness, I believe they're all gone now," he said. "I am exceedingly +glad to see you, Mr. Gimblet. I should myself have asked you to come to +our aid, but I found that Miss Byrne had been before me. I suppose you +have seen her?" + +"Yes," said Gimblet. "She met me at the station. I'm afraid I'm rather +late on the scene. I hear that the Glasgow police have come and gone, +taking with them the author of the crime." + +"It is a dreadful business altogether," returned young Ashiel. "I don't +know which part of it is the worst. There's my uncle dead, shot down like +a rat by some cold-blooded scoundrel; and now my cousin David, poor chap, +in jail, and under charge of murder. It seems impossible to believe it of +him, and yet, what is one to believe? One can only suppose that he must +have been off his head if he did it. But have you had lunch, Mr. Gimblet? +Sit down and have something to eat first of all; you can ask me any +questions you wish while you are eating." + +And he insisted on Gimblet's doing as he suggested. + +"The household is naturally a bit disorganized," he said when the +servants had left the room and the detective was busy with some cold +grouse. "I had a cold lunch myself to save trouble; would you rather +have something hot? I expect that a chop or something could be produced, +if you are cold after your journey." + +Gimblet assured him that he could like nothing better than what he +already had. + +"You have had Macross up here, haven't you?" he asked. "It is really +disappointing to find the whole thing over before I arrive. I am afraid +there is nothing left for me to do." + +Mark looked at him quickly. Was it possible he accepted Macross's verdict +without inquiring further himself? + +"We are hoping you will undo what has been done," he said. "I look to you +to get my cousin out of prison. Surely there must be some other +explanation than that he did it. I simply won't believe it." + +"If there is any other explanation," said Gimblet, "I will try and +find it; but the affair looks bad against Sir David Southern from what +I can hear." + +"Why should he have shot through the window?" said Ashiel. "They were +both in the same house. Why should my cousin go into the garden, when +he had nothing to do but to open the library door and shoot, if he +wanted to?" + +"Oh," said Gimblet, "ordinary caution would suggest the garden. He did +not know perhaps, whether his uncle would be alone; and as a matter of +fact, he was not, was he?" + +"No, Miss Byrne was with him. By Jove," said Mark, bending forward to +light a cigarette, "I shall never forget the fright it gave me when I +saw her face. She looked as if--oh, she looked perfectly ghastly! I was +in the billiard-room when she came in, as white as a sheet, and stood +there without speaking for a minute, while I imagined every sort of +catastrophe except the real one. And all the time I kept thinking it +would turn out to be nothing really, as likely as not; women will look +hideously frightened and upset if they cut their finger, or see a rat, +or think they hear burglars. One never knows. And then at last she got +out a few words, 'Lord Ashiel has been shot,' or something of the sort, +and fainted." + +"What did you do?" asked Gimblet. + +"Well, I had to see to her, you know. I couldn't very well leave her in +that state, could I? I hung on to the bell for all I was worth, and the +butler and footmen came running. I told them to look after the young lady +and to call her maid, and then I ran off to the library, followed by old +Blanston, the butler. You know what we found there. My poor old uncle, +dead as a door nail; a hole in the window where the bullet came in, and +the floor around him all covered with blood. Ugh!" Mark shuddered, "it +was horrid. We only stayed to make sure he was dead, and then we left him +as we had found him and rushed back to rouse the rest of the household, +and to start a chase after the murderer. Of course the first person I +looked for was David Southern, but he wasn't to be found, so I and three +menservants ran out at once with sticks and lanterns, and hunted all over +the grounds without seeing or hearing anything or anyone. The hall boy +had been sent down to fetch up the stablemen and chauffeur, and to rout +out some of the gardeners and anyone else he could find, so that we were +a decently large party, and I don't think there was an inch of ground we +didn't go over, of all that lies within the policies. The murderer, +however, had plenty of time to get right away, and as it was hopeless to +scour the whole country side in that darkness--for it was as black as +your hat--I decided, after an hour of groping about in the shrubberies, +that we must leave off and wait for daylight." + +"What time was it when you abandoned the hunt?" asked Gimblet. + +"It was past midnight. I didn't see that any good could be done by +sitting up all night. On the contrary, I thought it important that we +should get some sleep while we could, so as to be fresher for the chase +when daylight came. At this time of the year it gets light fairly early, +so I sent every one to bed, except two of the ghillies, whom I told to +row across the loch to Crianan and fetch the doctor and police, which I +suppose I ought to have thought of before. Then I went to bed myself." + +"And when did Sir David Southern turn up?" asked Gimblet. + +"Oh, he appeared soon after we started to beat the policies. I hadn't +time then to ask him where he'd been, and he was as keen on catching +the murderer as anyone. Of course it never occurred to me to +cross-question him." + +"Naturally. Please go on with your narrative." + +"Well, we slept, to speak for myself, for three or four hours, and then +James and Andrew came back with the people I had sent for. And now, Mr. +Gimblet, I come to a strange thing, a thing I've been careful not to +mention to anyone but you, though I'm afraid it's bound to come out at +the trial. When Blanston and I went out of the library, we locked the +door behind us, but when I opened it again, to let in the doctor and the +police, my uncle's body had been moved." + +"Moved? How?" Gimblet repeated after him. + +"Oh, not far, but it had been touched by some one, I am ready to swear, +though I said nothing about it at the time. When we first found him, he +was lying forward on the table with one arm under his head and the other +hanging beside him. When I went in for the second time he was sitting +sideways in his chair with his head and arm in quite a different place. +Instead of being in the middle, on the blotting-pad, they were further to +the right, on the bare polished wood." + +Gimblet looked at him keenly. + +"You are perfectly certain of this?" he said. + +"Absolutely. Besides, you can ask Miss Byrne and Blanston. They both saw +him as he was at first. And the police and Dr. Duncan can tell you what +his position was when they went into the room. I said nothing about it +to any of them, because I thought at once that it must be David who had +been there." + +"Why did you think that?" + +"Because he knew where the key was. I took it out of my pocket when we +were alone in the smoking-room before going up to bed, and asked him what +I should do with it. + +"'Oh, put it in a drawer,' he said, pointing to the writing-table, and I +put it there, as he suggested. Of course I see now that some one else may +have found the key in that drawer, but at first it did look as if David +must, for some reason, have taken it, and been in the library, after I'd +gone to bed." + +"It seems very unlikely that anyone else would have hit on the place +where you had put it," said Gimblet reflectively. "And if they had +done so, would they have recognized the key? Is the library key +peculiar in any way?" + +"It is rather an uncommon pattern," said Mark. "It is very old and +strong. I think anyone who knew the key would have recognized it +all right." + +"It is hardly likely that anyone would have found it if they had had to +search all through the house for it in the middle of the night," +commented Gimblet. "Is there no other way of getting into the library?" + +"No, there is only one door." + +"How about the window? It was broken; could not anyone have put in a +hand, or raised the sash?" + +"I don't think anyone could have got in. It isn't a sash window. There +are stone mullions and small leaded casements in the old part of the +castle where the library is, and I doubt if anyone larger than a child +could squeeze through; in fact, a child couldn't; there are iron bars +down the middle, which make it too narrow." + +"H'm," murmured Gimblet. "I should like to have a look at them. And what +was the doctor's report?" + +"He said that the injuries to the heart were such that death must have +been instantaneous, or practically so." + +"Did anything else come out?" + +"Nothing, except the evidence against poor old David, I'm sorry to say." + +"You haven't told me that yet," said Gimblet. "Go on from when the police +arrived on the scene." + +"As soon as it was daylight we started off again on our search. But right +at the beginning of it, they came upon the footsteps." + +"Ah, where were they?" + +"The flower-bed outside the library window showed them plainly; the +ground beyond that was mossy, and there were no other marks. We divided +into two parties, one going west down the side of the loch, and the other +north and east over the hills. Till ten o'clock or later we beat the +country, searching behind every rock, and going through the woods and +bracken in a close line. But we saw no sign of a stranger, and came back +at last, dead beat, for food and a rest. When we got back we found that +the policeman left in charge had been nosing about, and whiling away his +time by collecting the boots of every one in the house and fitting them +to the footprints on the flower-bed. As bad luck would have it, David's +shooting-boots exactly fitted the marks." + +"His shooting-boots?" said Gimblet. "He wouldn't be wearing +shooting-boots after dinner." + +"That's what he said himself, and there seems no imaginable reason why he +should have worn them, unless--" Mark hesitated for a moment, and then +went on in a tone perhaps rather too positive to carry complete +conviction to a critical ear. "Of course not. He can't have put them on +after dinner. The idea is ludicrous. He must have made those footmarks +earlier in the day." + +"Is that what he himself says?" asked the detective. He had finished +eating, and was leaning back in his chair with that air of far-off +contemplation which those best acquainted with him knew was +habitually his expression when his attention and interest were more +than usually roused. + +"No," admitted Mark regretfully. "He doesn't. He sticks to it that he'd +never been near the flower-bed, with boots, or without them; it's my +belief his memory has been affected by the shock of all this. And he +would insist on talking to the police, though they warned him that +what he said might be used against him. I did all I could to stop him, +but it was no good. It really looked as if he was doing his best to +incriminate himself." + +"How was that? What else did he say?" + +"You see," said Mark, "when the Crianan man had got hold of the boots +that matched the footprints, he was no end excited by his success. +Pleased to death with himself, he was. And he was as keen as mustard on +following up his rotten clue. The next thing he did was to want a look at +David's guns. Of course we didn't make any objection to that, though if +I'd known--well, it's no earthly thinking of that now. So off we all +marched in procession to the gun-room, and it didn't take long to see +that the only one of the whole lot there that hadn't been cleaned since +it was last fired was the Mannlicher David had shot his stag with the day +before. The silly ass of a constable took it up and squinted through it +as solemn as a judge, and then he just handed it to my cousin, and 'What +have you to say to this, Sir David?' says he. Infernal cheek! 'I shot it +off yesterday, and haven't had time to clean it since,' said David, and +I, for one, could have sworn he was speaking the truth. Why not, indeed? +There was nothing improbable about it. But the dickens of the thing was +that while we were all out of the house, and he had the place to himself, +the policeman had routed out poor Miss Byrne and badgered her for an +account of all that had happened the evening before; and she, without a +thought of doing harm to any of us--I'm convinced she's as sorry for it +now as I am myself--had mentioned incidentally that David had told her, +when she saw him half an hour before the murder, that he'd just been +cleaning his rifle. She'd told me so, too, as far as that goes, when she +passed through the billiard-room on her way to the library. I happened to +ask her if she knew what he was up to." + +"Decidedly awkward for Sir David," said Gimblet meditatively, "but +after all, some one else might have fired off the rifle after he had +cleaned it." + +Mark shook his head gloomily. + +"There are difficulties about that," he said. "It happens that David is +very fussy about his guns, always cleans them himself, you know, and +won't let another soul touch 'em. And though he keeps them in the gunroom +like the rest of us, he's got his own particular glass-fronted cupboard +which he keeps the key of himself. My uncle and I share one between us, +and generally leave the key in the lock, so that the keeper can get at +the guns, which we never bother to clean ourselves. Not so David. Ever +since we were boys he's had his own private cupboard, and no one but +himself has ever been allowed to open it. We always spent our holidays +here, and my uncle let us behave as if we were at our own house. David +took out the key for the sergeant to use, and when he was asked if anyone +else could have got at the rifle, he replied that it was impossible, as +the key had been in his pocket the whole time, except for an hour or two +while he was asleep, when it had lain on the table by his bedside." + +"Did he deny having told Miss Byrne he had cleaned the rifle?" +asked Gimblet. + +"Yes; he said he hadn't told her so. It was all very unpleasant, and the +police sergeant was as suspicious as you like, by this time. 'What were +you doing when the alarm was given?' he asked David. 'I was out in the +grounds,' said David, and that was rather a facer for the rest of us, I +must confess. He went on to say that he had fancied he saw some one +hanging about at the edge of the lawn--which is the opposite side of the +house from the library--and gone out to make sure, but he had found no +one, though he hunted about for nearly an hour, till he saw lights +approaching and fell in with our party of searchers. He said that it was +then he first heard what had happened." + +Gimblet nodded his head thoughtfully. + +"Miss Byrne said she saw him start off to look for some one," he +remarked. + +"Yes," said Mark eagerly, "there's no doubt he saw a man lurking in the +darkness. And it was dark too," he added, "never saw such a black night +in my life; I must say it beats me how he could have seen anyone. But his +eyes were always rather more useful than mine," he concluded hastily. + +"The police, however, seem to have thought it improbable," said Gimblet, +"since they arrested your cousin for the murder." + +"Stupid brutes!" said Mark viciously. "No, they would have it it was +impossible he should have seen anyone. And what clinched it was the +unlucky fact that David and my uncle had had a violent row the day +before. My uncle shot David's dog; I must say I think it was uncalled +for, and poor David was absurdly fond of the beast. He felt very savage +about it, and all the ghillies heard what he said to Uncle Douglas." + +"What did he say?" + +"Oh, a lot of rot. He lost his temper. The idiotic thing he said was, +that he'd a good mind to shoot _him_ and see how he liked it. Pure +temper, you know. I don't believe David would hurt a hair of his head." + +"Well, it was decidedly an indiscreet remark." + +"It was imbecile. And of course the police heard all about it from the +servants and keepers, and it fitted in only too well with all the rest +about the footmarks and his absence from the house at the time, and the +rifle and everything. By the by, the bullet was a soft-nosed one which +fitted David's rifle; but for that matter it fitted mine--which is a .355 +Mannlicher like his--or a dozen others on the loch side. It's a very +common weapon on a Scotch forest. But taking one thing with another there +was a good deal of evidence against him, so they made up their minds he +had done it; and Macross, when he arrived from Glasgow with his +myrmidons, agreed with the local idiots, and took him off. I'm certain +there must be a mistake somewhere, but so far it seems jolly hard to hit +on it. I hope you'll put your finger on the spot." + +"I hope so," said Gimblet, but his voice was full of doubt. "It's hard to +see how anyone else could have used his rifle after he cleaned it, since +he admits that he locked it up and kept the key on him. Yes," he murmured +to himself, "the rifle speaks very eloquently. What other interpretation +can be put on these facts? I'm sure you must see that yourself," he went +on, glancing up at Mark, who was feeling in his pocket for another +cigarette. "Sir David told Miss Byrne he had cleaned his rifle; he told +the police he then locked it up and that the key had been in his +possession ever since. But the rifle was found to have been fired again +since he had cleaned it. His only explanation was to contradict what he +had previously said to Miss Byrne. Do those facts appear to you to leave +any possible loophole of doubt as to his guilt?" + +Mark struck a match and lighted his cigarette before he answered. When +at length he did so his reluctance was very plain, and his voice full +of regret. + +"Poor old chap," he said. "I'm afraid he must have done it in some fit of +madness. As you say, there is no other imaginable alternative." + +Gimblet nodded philosophically. + +"Is there anything else?" he asked. + +Mark hesitated. + +"There's a letter which arrived for Uncle Douglas this morning," he said, +"which you may think worth looking at. I daresay it's of no importance, +but it struck me as rather odd." + +He took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to the detective, who +opened it and read as follows: + +"Si Milord ne rend pas ce qu'il ne doit pas garder, le coup de foudre lui +tombera sur la tete." + +There was no signature, nor any date. + +Gimblet turned the sheet over thoughtfully. The message was typewritten +on a piece of thin foreign paper; the postmark on the envelope was Paris, +and the stamps French. He folded it again and replaced it in its cover. + +"It seems the usual threatening anonymous communication," he observed. +"Have you any idea who it's from?" + +Mark shook his head. + +"None," he confessed. "It looks, though, as if my uncle had in his +possession something belonging to the writer, doesn't it? Don't you +think it might have something to do with the murder?" + +"I don't see why the murderer should send a threatening letter after the +deed was done," said the detective. "Still less could he have posted it +in Paris on the very day the crime was committed." + +"No, that's true enough," Mark admitted reluctantly. + +"Has any suspicious looking person been seen about this place, this +summer? Any foreigner, for instance?" asked the detective. + +"No; no," Mark replied. "I should have heard of it for certain if there +had been. It would have been an event, down here." + +Gimblet dropped the subject. + +"If I may," he said. "I will keep this. It may lead to something," +he added, tucking the letter away in an inside pocket. "That's all, +I suppose?" + +Mark was silent for a minute. He seemed to be thinking. + +"That's all I know about the murder," he said at last, "but there are +plenty of complications apart from that. I suppose Miss Byrne told you +that my uncle electrified us all by saying she was his daughter, only an +hour or so before he died?" + +Gimblet nodded. "Yes," he said, "she told me." + +"It makes it very awkward for me," said Mark. "I want to do the right +thing, but I'm hanged if I know what I ought to do. You see, my uncle +used to say that he'd left his property between me and David; he never +made any secret of it, and as a matter of fact I've had a communication +from his London lawyers, telling me they have a very old will, made when +I was a small boy, long before the birth of his son, and that everything +is left to me. There were reasons why he may have thought David would be +provided for--he was engaged to marry a very rich American, but she +dropped him yesterday like a red-hot coal as soon as it began to look as +if he'd be suspected. She's gone now, I'm glad to say. As a matter of +fact, if David can only be cleared of this horrible charge, I shall +insist on dividing my inheritance with him. That is, if I can't get Miss +Byrne to take it, or Miss McConachan, as I ought to call her now." + +"Lord Ashiel could leave his money where he liked, couldn't he?" +Gimblet inquired. + +"Yes, he could, but he would naturally have left it to his daughter, if +she really was his daughter. In fact, Miss McConachan says he told her he +had done so, but I haven't come across the will so far, though I had a +good hunt through his papers this morning; Blanston and the housekeeper, +who say they witnessed some document which may have been a will, have no +idea where it is. Of course, my uncle may have intended to say that he +was going to make one, and Miss McConachan may have misunderstood him, +but she seems to think he had some secret hiding-place of his own, and I +hope to goodness you'll be able to hit on it, if he had. I can't stand +the idea of profiting by a lost will, and I'd far rather simply hand over +the money than bother to look for this missing paper." + +"Oh, I daresay it will turn up," said Gimblet. "You haven't had much time +to find it yet." + +"My uncle was a very methodical man. Everything is in its place. You wait +till you see his papers! If he made a will he must have hidden it +somewhere where we shall never dream of looking for it. It's just waste +of time hunting about, and I shall have another try at persuading my new +cousin to let me make over everything to her." + +"It is not every young man in your position who would part so readily +with a large fortune," observed Gimblet. + +But Mark awkwardly deprecated his approving words. + +"Oh," he said, "I'm sure any decent chap would do the same in my place." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +"And now," said Gimblet, "may I visit the scene of the crime?" + +Mark took him first to his uncle's bedroom; a room austere in its +simplicity, with bare white-washed walls and uncarpeted floor. No one +could have hidden a sheet of paper in that room, thought the detective, +as he gazed round it, after he had looked, with a feeling akin to +guilt, on the features of the dead peer. He had not known how to +protect this man from the dreadful fate that had struck him down from a +direction so utterly unexpected, and he held himself, in a way, +responsible for his death. + +Then young Ashiel led him away, down a wide corridor into the +billiard-room, and so into another passage, at the end of which a door of +stout and time-darkened oak gave access to the library. It creaked +noisily on its hinges, as he pushed it open and ushered Gimblet in. They +stepped into a square room, comfortably furnished, with deep arm-chairs, +and a large chippendale writing-table which stood at right angles to the +bow window, so placed that anyone writing at it should have the light +upon his left. It was rather a dark room, the walls being lined with +books from floor to ceiling, except at two points: opposite the window an +alcove, panelled in ancient oak, appeared in the wall; and above the +fireplace, opposite the door, the wall was panelled in the same manner +and covered by an oil painting, representing Lord Ashiel's grandmother. +The polished boards were unconcealed by any rug or carpet, and reflected +a little of the light from the window. An ominous discoloration near the +writing-table showed plainly upon them. + +In the glass of the mullioned casement was the small round hole made by +the fatal bullet. + +Gimblet glanced at the bureau on which the writing materials were set out +in perfect order, and could not conceal his annoyance. + +"Everything has been moved, I see," he said. "Why couldn't they leave it +as it was for a few hours longer?" + +"Nothing was touched till after the police had gone," said Mark. "I +confess I did not think it necessary to leave things alone once they were +out of the house. Not only have the housemaids been at work in here, but +I spent most of the morning here myself, going through the papers in that +bureau. Will it matter much?" He spoke with evident dismay. + +"Never mind," said Gimblet, "I suppose Macross's people photographed +everything, and I can get copies from them, I have no doubt. By the by, +what did Sir David Southern say about having been in the room while you +were in bed? Did he admit it; and did he say why he moved the body?" + +"He said he'd not been near the place," replied Mark, looking more +perplexed and worried than ever. "I can't understand it at all," he +added. "Why should he deny it to me?" + +Gimblet opened a drawer in the bureau. Papers filled it, tied together in +bundles and neatly docketed. They seemed to be receipted bills. He +glanced at the pigeon-holes, and opened one or two more drawers. +Everywhere the most fastidious order reigned. + +"You have been through all these?" he asked. + +"Yes, but there is a cupboard full in the smoking-room. I thought of +looking into those this afternoon." + +"It would be a good plan," Gimblet agreed. "Don't let me keep you," And +as the young man still lingered, "I prefer," he confessed, "to do my +work alone. If you will kindly get me a shooting-boot of Sir David +Southern's, I shall do better if I am left to myself." + +"If that is really the case," said Mark, "I have no choice but to leave +you. I admit I should have liked to see your methods, but if I should be +a hindrance--" + +Gimblet did not deny it, and Mark departed to fetch the boots. + +"This is not the identical pair," he said when he returned. "The police +took those; but these come from the same maker and are nearly the same, +so Blanston tells me." + +"Ah, yes, Blanston," said Gimblet. "I must see him presently. Thanks +very much." + +Left alone, Gimblet examined the window, opening one of the small-paned +casements, and measuring the space between the mullions and the central +bars of iron. Satisfied as to the impossibility of any ordinary-sized +person passing through those apertures, he took one more look round, and +then with a swift movement drew each of the heavy curtains across the +bay. They did not quite meet in the middle, as Juliet had observed. Then +he made his way out into the garden through the door just outside, at the +end of the passage which led from the billiard-room to the library. + +The library was at the far end of the oldest portion of Inverashiel +Castle. To Gimblet, examining it from the outside, it looked as if the +room had been hewn out of the solid walls of the ancient fortress; for +beyond the mullioned, seventeenth-century window, the wall turned sharply +to the left and was continued with scarce a loophole in the stupendous +blocks of its surface for a distance of fifty yards or so, where it was +succeeded by the lower, less heavy battlements of the old out-works. In +the angle formed by the turn and immediately opposite the window of the +library, a long flower-bed, planted with standard and other rose trees, +with violas growing sparsely in between, stretched its blossoming length, +and continued up to the actual stones of the library wall. At the farther +end of it, a thick hedge of holly bordered on the roses at right angles +to the end of the battlements; while the lawn on his left was spangled +with geometrically shaped beds showing elaborate arrangements of +heliotrope, ageratum, calceolarias, and other bedding-out plants. + +Gimblet walked slowly along the lawn at the edge of the bed, his eyes on +the black peaty mould, where it was visible among the flowers. About +twenty yards from the hedge, he stopped with a muffled exclamation. The +bed in front of him was covered with footprints of all shapes and sizes; +but plainly distinguishable among the rest were the neat nail-encrusted +marks which matched the boot he held in his hand. He put it down on the +ground and carefully made an imprint with it in the soil, beside the +existing footmarks. It was easy to single out its fellows. + +"Two extra nails," murmured Gimblet to himself, "but otherwise, the same. +Probably made on the same last." + +Stepping cautiously in the places where his predecessors had walked, he +followed the tracks that had betrayed Sir David Southern. They were +numerous and distinct; he counted fourteen of each separate foot. First +Sir David would seem to have walked straight across the bed, then +returned and taken up his position near the middle. He was not contented +with that, it seemed, for he had walked backwards five or six paces and +then moved sideways again till he was exactly opposite the opening +between the curtains. Here the ground was trampled down as if he had +several times shifted slightly from one place to another. Whether or not +he was exactly in line with the writing-table Gimblet could not see, as +its position was hidden in the obscurity behind the drawn curtains. It +would want a light there to prove that, thought Gimblet; still there was +no reason to doubt that it was so. There were four or five more +footmarks leading back to the lawn, and over these Gimblet stooped with +particular interest. + +With a tape measure, which he took from his pocket, he measured the +distances between the prints, entering the various figures in his +notebook, beside carefully drawn diagrams. Then he picked his way to the +edge of the lawn, and stood a moment considering. + +Apparently he was not satisfied, for presently he retraced his steps +delicately to the middle of the bed, till he was once more just behind +the place where the earth was trodden down. After pausing there an +instant, he turned once more, and ran quickly back to the grass, without +this time troubling himself to step in the chain of footprints used +previously by the police. But he had not even yet finished; and was soon +crouching down again, with the tape measure in one hand and the notebook +in the other, poring over the evidence preserved so carefully by the +impartial soil. + +At last he got up, put his measure back in his pocket, and walked slowly +towards the hedge. He had nearly reached it when something at his feet +arrested his attention. He bent over it curiously. + +Near the edge of the grass and parallel to it, there was an indentation a +little over an inch wide and about the same depth. It extended in a +straight line for perhaps nine inches, and what could have caused it was +a puzzle to Gimblet. The turf was unbroken, and it looked as if an +oblong, narrow, heavy object had rested there, sinking a little into the +ground so as to leave this strange mark. Gimblet rubbed his forehead +pensively, as he looked at it. + +Suddenly as his introspective gaze wandered unconsciously over the ground +before him, his attention was arrested by a second mark of the same +perplexing shape, which he could see behind a rose-bush, more than +half-way across the bed. Stepping as near the hedge as he could, the +detective proceeded to examine this duplicate of the riddle. It seemed +absolutely the same, though deeper, as was natural on the soft mould, and +he found, by measuring, that it lay exactly parallel to the other. What +could it be, he asked himself. A moment later, still another and yet +stranger impression caught his eye. It was about the same width, but not +more than half as long, and rounded off at each end to an oval. It was +situated about a foot from the deep indentation and rather farther from +the holly hedge. A tall standard rose-tree, covered with blossoms of the +white Frau Karl Drouski rose, grew near it, interposing between it and +the house. + +Gimblet measured it with painstaking precision; then with the help of +his measurements, he made a life-size diagram of it on the page of his +notebook, and studied it with an expression of annoyance. He had seldom +felt more at a loss to explain anything. At length he turned and went +back towards the grass. + +"What a track I leave," he thought to himself, looking down ruefully at +his own footprints. "What I want is--" He stopped abruptly as a sudden +idea struck him; then a look of relief stole slowly over his face, and he +permitted himself a gratified smile, "To be sure!" he said, and seemed to +dismiss the subject from his mind. + +Indeed, he turned his back upon the rose-bed, and strolled away by the +side of the hedge, which was of tall and wide proportions, providing a +spiky, impenetrable defence against observation, from the outside, of the +rectangular enclosed garden. Half-way along it he came upon an arched +opening. Passing through this, he found himself in an outer thicket, and +immediately upon his right hand beheld a small shed, which stood back, +modest and unassuming, in a leafy undergrowth of rhododendrons. + +Gimblet pushed open the door and stepped inside. + +The place was evidently a tool-house, used by the gardeners for storing +their implements. Rakes, spades, forks and hoes leant against the walls; +a shelf held a quantity of odds and ends: trowels, seedsmen's catalogues, +a pot of paint, a bundle of wooden labels, the rose of a watering-can, +and a dozen other small objects. On the floor were piled boxes and empty +cases; flowerpots stood beside a bag which bore the name of a patent +fertilizer; a small hand mowing-machine blocked the entrance; and a +plank, too long to lie flat on the ground, had been propped slantwise +between the floor and the roof. Bunches of bass hung from nails above the +shelf; and on the wall opposite, a coloured advertisement, representing +phloxes of so fierce an intensity of hue that nature was put to the +blush, had been tacked by some admirer of Art. + +Five minutes later, when Gimblet emerged once more into the open, he +carried in one hand a garden rake. With this he proceeded to thread his +way through the shrubbery, keeping close to the line of the holly hedge. +When he thought he had gone about fifty yards, he lay down and peered +under the leaves. The hedge was rather thinner at the bottom; and, by +carefully pushing aside a little of the glossy, prickly foliage, he was +able to make out that the end of the rose-bed he had lately examined was +separated from him now only by the dividing barrier of the hedge. With +the rake still in his hand, he drew himself slowly forward, gingerly +introducing his head and arms under the holly, till he was prevented +from going farther by the close growing trunks of the trees that formed +the hedge. + +It took some manoeuvring to insert the head of the rake through the +fence, but he did it at last, and found a gap which his arms would pass +also. Between, and under the lowest fringe of leaves on the farther side, +he could see the track of his own footsteps, where he had walked on the +bed. They were all, by an effort, within reach of his rake, and he +stealthily effaced them. He could not see whether the garden was still +untenanted, or whether the peculiar phenomenon of a rake moving without +human assistance was being observed by anyone from the castle. He +fervently hoped that it was not: he did not wish the attention of anyone +else to be called to the puzzling marks that had mystified him; and, as +the only window which looked into the garden was that of the library, he +thought there was a good chance that there was no one in sight. + +Cautiously and almost silently he worked his way back, and replaced the +rake in the tool-house where he had found it. Then he took the small +oil-can used for oiling the mowing-machine, and concealing it under his +coat made towards the house. The little garden was still lonely and +deserted as he walked quickly over the lawn and in at the passage door. + +The library was empty as he had left it, and his first act was to draw +back the curtains to their former positions on either side of the window. +Then he went to the door, and, with a glance to right and left along the +passage, and an ear bent for any approaching footstep, he quickly and +effectually oiled the hinges and lock, so that the door closed +noiselessly and without protest. When he was quite satisfied on this +point, he shut it gently, and took back the oil-can to the shed. + +"Now," said he to himself, "for the gun-room." + +He took up Sir David Southern's shooting-boots, which he had left in the +tool-house during his last proceedings, and made his way through the +billiard-room into the main corridor beyond. On his right, through an +open door, he peeped into a large room, obviously the drawing-room, and +saw that it looked on to the front of the house. The room wore a forlorn +aspect; no one, apparently, had taken the trouble to put it straight +since the night of the tragedy. The blinds had been drawn down, but the +furniture seemed awry as if chairs had been pushed back hastily, a little +card table still displayed a game of patience half set out, and even the +dead flowers in the glasses had not been thrown away. + +The air was stuffy in the extreme, and Gimblet, with a disgusted sniff, +pulled aside one of the blinds and threw open the window. But all at once +a thought seemed to strike him. For a moment he stood irresolute, then he +slowly closed the casement again, but without latching it, and after +frowning at it thoughtfully walked away. He went back into the hall. + +Opposite, across the corridor, rose the main staircase, wide and +imposing; on each side of it a smaller passage led away at right angles +to the entrance, the right-hand one giving access to rooms in the new +front of the castle, one of which he knew to be the dining-room. He +listened for a minute outside a door beyond it, and heard the sound of +rustling papers; the smell of tobacco came to him through the key-hole. +It was plain that here was the smoking-room, and that the new Lord Ashiel +was at that moment engaged in it, and deep in his uncle's papers. + +The little detective, as he had said, preferred to work without an +audience when he could, so he left Mark to his search, and stole silently +away down the passage. + +He passed two more rooms, and paused at the last door, opposite the foot +of a winding stair. + +This, from what Juliet had said, must be the door of the gun-room. + +The door opened readily at his touch, and he stepped inside and shut it +behind him. + +It was a small bare room, with one large deal table in the middle of it. +Gun-cases and wooden cartridge-boxes were ranged on the linoleum-covered +floor, and three glass-fronted gun-cabinets were hung upon the walls. +One, the smallest of these, was of a different wood from the others, and +bore in black letters the initials D. S. + +Three or four guns were ranged in it: two 12-bore shot-guns, an air-gun, +and a little 20-bore. Another rack was empty; no doubt it had held the +Mannlicher rifle, which the police had carried away to use as evidence +in their case for the prosecution. The door was locked and there was no +sign of a key. + +Gimblet turned to the other cupboards. + +There were more weapons here, and a few minutes' examination showed him +that, as Mark had said, he and his uncle were less particular as to where +their guns were kept, for the first two that the detective glanced at +bore Lord Ashiel's initial, and the next was an old air-gun with M. McC. +engraved on a silver disk at the stock. + +Side by side were the rifles used by the uncle and nephew for stalking, +Gimblet knew from Mark that the Mannlicher was his, while Lord Ashiel had +apparently used a Mauser or Ross sporting rifle, as there was one of each +in the case. + +Gimblet lifted down the Mannlicher and laid it on the table. This, then, +was the kind of weapon with which the deed had been done. It was a .355 +Mannlicher Schonauer sporting weapon of the latest pattern. He opened it +and examined the mechanism, which he soon grasped. He squinted down the +glistening tunnel of the barrel and even closely scrutinized the +workmanship of the exterior, repressing a shudder at the meretricious +design of the chasing on the lock, and passing his fingers caressingly +over the wood of which the stock was made. It shone with a rich bloom, as +smooth and even as polished marble, except at the butt end which was +criss-crossed roughly to prevent slipping; but wood in any shape has a +homely friendly feeling, as different from any the polisher can impart to +a piece of cold stone as the forests, where it once stood, upright and +lofty, are from the inhospitable rocks on the peaks above them. + +These unpractical reflections flitted through the detective's mind, +together with others of a less fantastic nature, as he put the rifle back +in the rack he had taken it from. He closed the glass doors of the +cabinet, leaving them unlocked, as he had found them. Then, going back to +the table, he took an empty pill-box from his pocket, and with the utmost +care swept into it a trace of dust from off the bare deal top. + +There was barely enough to darken the cardboard at the bottom of the box, +but he looked at it, before putting on the lid, with an expression of +some satisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Gimblet left the gun-room quietly; and after some more exploring +discovered the way to the back premises. + +In the pantry he found Blanston, whom he invited to follow him to the +deserted billiard-room for a few minutes' conversation. + +"You know," he told him, "Miss Byrne and your new young master want me to +examine the evidence that Sir David Southern is the author of this +terrible crime." + +"I'm sure I wish, sir," said the man, "that you could prove he never did +it. A very nice young gentleman, sir, Sir David has always been; it seems +dreadful to think of him lifting his hand against his uncle. I'm sure it +ought to be a warning to us all to keep our tempers, but of course it was +very hard on Sir David to have his dog shot before his very eyes." + +"No doubt," agreed Gimblet. "You weren't there when it happened, I +suppose?" + +"No, sir, but I heard about it from one of the keepers, and Sir David was +very much put out about it, so he says; and I quite believe it, seeing +how fond he was of the poor creature. Always had it to sleep in his room, +he did, sir, though it was rather an offensive animal to the nose, to my +way of thinking. But these young gentlemen what are always smoking +cigarettes get to lose their sense of smell, I've often noticed that, +sir. Oh, I understand he was very angry indeed, sir, but I should hardly +have thought he would go so far as to take his uncle's life. Knowing him, +as I have done, from a child, I may say I shouldn't hardly have thought +it of him, sir." + +"Life is full of surprises," said Gimblet, "and you never know for +certain what anyone may not do; but, tell me, you were the first on the +scene of the crime, weren't you?" + +"Hardly that, sir. Miss Byrne was with his lordship at the time." + +"Yes, yes, of course. But you saw him shortly after the shot was fired. +Did you hear the report?" + +"No, sir. The hall is quite away from the tower, and so is the +housekeeper's room; and the walls are very thick. We were just finishing +supper, which was very late that night on account of the gentlemen coming +in late from stalking, and one thing and another. I'm rather surprised +none of us heard it, sir." + +"I daresay there was a good deal of noise going on," said Gimblet. "How +many of you are there in the servants' quarters?" + +"Counting the chauffeur and the hall boy," replied Blanston, "and +including the visitors' maids, who are gone now, we were sixteen servants +in the house that night. I am afraid there may have been rather a noise +going on." + +"Were you all there?" asked Gimblet. "Had no one left since the beginning +of supper?" + +"No one had gone out of the room or the hall since supper commenced," +Blanston assured him. "We were all very glad of that afterwards, as it +prevented any of us being suspected, sir. Though in point of fact I was +saying only last night, when the second footman dropped the pudding just +as he was bringing it into the room, that we could really have spared him +better than what we could Sir David, sir; but of course it's natural for +the household to be feeling a bit jumpy till after the funeral to-morrow. +When that's over I shan't listen to no more excuses." + +"Quite so," said Gimblet. "What was the first intimation you got that +there was anything wrong?" + +"About half-past ten the billiard-room bell rang very loud, in the +passage outside the hall. Before it had stopped, and while I was calling +to George, the first footman, to hurry up and answer it, there came +another peal, and then another and another. I thought something must be +wrong, so I ran out of the room and upstairs with the others. When we got +to the billiard-room there was Miss Byrne fainting on a chair, and Mr. +McConachan beside her, looking very upset like. 'There's been an accident +or worse,' he says, 'to his lordship. Come on, Blanston, and let's see +what it is. And you others look after Miss Byrne. Fetch her maid; fetch +Lady Ruth.' + +"And with that he makes for the library door, at a run, with me +following him close, though I was a bit puffed with coming upstairs so +fast. Just as we came to the library door, he turns and says to me, with +his hand on the knob, 'From what Miss Byrne says, Blanston, I'm afraid +it's murder.' And before I could more than gasp he had the door open, +and we were in the room. + +"There was his poor lordship lying forward on the table, his head on the +blotting-book, and one arm hanging down beside him. Quite dead, he was, +sir, and his blood all on the floor, poor gentleman. We left him as we +found him, and went back. + +"Mr. McConachan locked the door and put the key in his pocket. 'No one +must go in there till the police come,' he says. 'But in the meantime we +must get what men we can together, and see if the brute who did this +isn't lurking about the grounds. It will be something if we can catch +him, and avenge my poor uncle,' he said." + +Gimblet considered for a moment. + +"Are you sure you remember the position you found the body in?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," replied Blanston, in some surprise. "It was like I told you. +His head on the blotting-book and one arm with it. He must have fallen +straight forward on to the table." + +"Thank you," said Gimblet. "One more question. I hear you witnessed a +will for Lord Ashiel a day or two before he died?" + +"Yes, sir--I and Mrs. Parsons, the housekeeper." + +"How did you know it was the will?" + +"We didn't exactly know it was, sir, but afterwards, when it came out his +lordship had told Miss Byrne he had made one, we thought it must have +been that." + +"I see," said Gimblet. "Thank you. That is all I wanted to know." + +He sent for the other servants and interrogated them one by one, but +without adding anything fresh to what he had already learned. + +He went thoughtfully away and sought out Mark in the smoking-room, where +he found him surrounded by packets of papers, which lay in heaps upon +the floor and tables. + +"There's a frightful lot to look through," said the young man +despondently, looking up from his self-imposed task. "I haven't found +anything interesting yet. How did you get on? Do you think those +footmarks can possibly be anyone's but David's?" + +"The boot you gave me fits them too well to admit of doubt, I'm afraid," +said Gimblet. And as the other made a half-gesture of despair, "You must +give me more time," he said; "I may find some clue in the course of the +next two or three days. By the by, is your cousin a short man?" + +"No," said Mark, "he's about my height. Why do you ask?" + +"Oh, I had an idea," said Gimblet evasively. "But if he's as tall as you, +I had better begin again. I think I'll take a little stroll through the +grounds," he added, "and then back to Lady Ruth Worsfold's house, and get +a bath and a change." + +"I shall see you at dinner-time," said Ashiel. "I am dining at the +cottage. Au revoir till then." + +Gimblet went out of the front door, and proceeded to make a tour of the +Castle buildings. + +Turning to his left round the front of the house, he passed the gun-room +door, and went down a short path, which led to the level of the servants' +quarters. These were built on the slope of the hill, so that what was a +basement in the front of the house was level with the ground at the back. + +Here more remains of the old fortress were to be seen. The various +outbuildings that straggled down towards the loch had all once formed +part of old block-houses or outlying towers; and, as the path descended +farther down the hill, the detective found himself walking round the +precipitous rock from which the single great tower still standing--the +one in whose massive shell the room had been cut which was now the +library--dominated the scene from every side. + +It had been built at the very edge of the hill which here fell almost +sheer to the level of the lake, and the old McConachans had no doubt +chosen their site for its unscalable position. Indeed, the place must +always have been impregnable from that side, the rock offering no +foothold to a goat till within twenty feet of the base of the tower, +where the surface was broken and uneven, and had, in places, been built +up with solid masonry. In the crevices up there, seeds had germinated and +grown to tall plants and bushes. Ivy hung about the face of the +escarpment like a scarf, and in one place a good-sized tree, a beech, had +established itself firmly upon a ledge and leant forward over the path +below in a manner that turned the beholder giddy. Its great roots had not +been able to grow to their full girth within the cracks and crannies of +the rocks; some of them had pushed their way in through the gaps in the +masonry, and the others curled and twisted in mid air, twining and +interlacing in an outspread canopy. + +Beyond the tower ran the battlemented wall of the enclosed garden, its +foundations draped in the thrifty vegetation of the rocks. + +At Gimblet's feet, on the other side of the path, brawled a burn, +hurrying on its way to the loch, and he followed its course slowly down +to the place where it mingled with the deep waters. A little beyond he +saw the point of a fir-covered peninsula, and wandered on under the +trees till he came to the end of it; there he sat down to think over what +he had heard and seen that afternoon. The wild beauty of the place +soothed and delighted him, and he felt lazily in his pocket for a +chocolate. + +Below him, grey lichen-grown rocks jutted into the loch in tumbled, +broken masses, piled heedlessly one on the other, as if some troll of +the mountain had begun in play to make a causeway for himself. The great +stones, so old, so fiercely strong, stood knee-deep in the waters, over +which they seemed to brood with so patient and indifferent a dignity +that human life and affairs took on an aspect very small and +inconsiderable. They were like monstrous philosophers, he thought, +oblivious alike to time and to the cold waves that lapped their feet; +their heads crowned here and there with pines as with scattered locks, +the little tufts of heather and fern and grasses, that clung to them +wherever root hold could be found, all the clothing they wore against +the bitter blasts of the winds. + +While he sat there a breeze got up and ruffled the loch; the ripples +danced and sparkled like a cinematograph, and waves threw themselves +among the rocks with loud gurglings and splashings. The air was suddenly +full of the noise and hurry of the waters. He got up and went to the end +of the peninsula. In spite of the dancing light upon the surface and the +merry sounds of the ripples, the water, he could see, was deep and dark; +a little way out a pale smooth stone rose a few feet above the level of +it, its top draped in a velvet green shawl of moss. A fat sea-gull sat +there; nor did it move when he appeared. + +A little bay ran in between the rocks, its shore spread with grey sand, +smooth and trackless. At least so Gimblet imagined it at first, as his +eye roved casually over the beach. Then suddenly, with a smothered +ejaculation, he leaped down from his perch of observation, and made his +way to the margin of the water. + +There, scored in the sand, was a deep furrow, reaching to within a foot +of the waves, where it stopped as if it had been wiped out from a slate +with a damp sponge. Gimblet had no doubt what it was. A boat had been +beached here, and that lately. A glance at the stones surrounding the +bay showed him that the water was falling, for in quiet little pools, +within the outer breakwater of rocks, a damp line showed on the granite +a full quarter of an inch above the water. By a rapid calculation of the +time it would take for that watermark to dry, the detective was able to +form some idea of the rate at which the loch was falling, and he thought +he could judge the slope of the beach sufficiently well to calculate +about how long it was since the track in the sand had reached to the +brink of the waves. + +It was a rough guess, but, if he were right, then a boat had landed in +that bay some forty-two hours ago. But there were other traces, besides, +the tracks of him who had brought the boat ashore. From where Gimblet +stood, a double row of footprints, going and returning, showed plainly +between the water and the stones to which the sand quickly gave place. +They were the tracks left by large boots with singularly pointed toes, +and with no nails on the soles. Emphatically not boots such as any of the +men of those parts would be likely to wear. + +Gimblet bent over the sand. + +When he rose once more and stood erect upon the beach, he saw under the +shadow of the pines the figure of a tall thin man with a lean face and +straggling reddish moustache, who was watching him with an eye plainly +suspicious. He was dressed in knickerbockers and coat of rough tweed of a +large checked pattern, and carried a spy-glass slung over his back. The +detective went to him at once. + +"Are you employed on the Inverashiel estate?" he asked civilly. + +"I'm Duncan McGregor, his lordship's head keeper," was the reply, given +in the cold tones of one accosted by an intruder. + +Gimblet hastened to introduce himself and to explain his presence, and +McGregor condescended to thaw. + +"I should be very much obliged," said Gimblet, "if you would take a look +at the sands where you saw me standing. I'd like to know your opinion on +some marks that are there." + +The keeper strode down to the beach. + +"A boat will have been here," he pronounced after a rapid scrutiny. + +"Lately?" asked Gimblet. + +He saw the man's eyes go, as his own had done, to the watermarks on +the rocks. + +"No sae vary long ago," he said, "I'm thinkin' it will hae been the nicht +before lairst that she came here." + +"Ah," said Gimblet, "I'm glad you agree with me. That's what I thought +myself. Do boats often come ashore on this beach?" + +McGregor considered. + +"It's the first time I ever h'ard of onybody doin' the like," he said at +last. "The landin' stage is awa' at the ether side o' the p'int; it's aye +there they land. There's nae a man in a' this glen would come in here, +unless it whar for some special reason. It's no' a vary grand place tae +bring a boat in. The rocks are narrow at the mouth." + +"Do strangers often come to these parts?" + +"There are no strangers come to Inverashiel," said the keeper. "The +high road runs at the ether side o' the loch through Crianan, and the +tramps and motors go over it, but never hae I known one o' that kind on +our shore." + +Gimblet observed with some amusement that the man spoke of motors and +tramps as of varieties of the same breed; but all he said was: + +"Could you make inquiries as to whether anyone on the estate happens to +have brought a boat in here during the last week? I should be glad if you +could do so without mentioning my name, or letting anyone think it is +important." + +He felt he could trust the discretion of this taciturn Highlander. + +"I'll that, sir," was the reply. + +And Gimblet could see, in spite of the man's unchanging countenance, that +he was pleased at this mark of confidence in him. + +"Could you take me to the head gardener's house?" he asked, abruptly +changing the subject. "I should rather like a talk with him." + +McGregor conducted him down the road to the lodge. + +"It's in here whar Angus Malcolm lives," he remarked laconically. "Good +evening, sir." + +He turned and strode away over the hillside, and Gimblet knocked at the +door. It was opened by the gardener, and he had a glimpse through the +open doorway of a family at tea. + +"I'm sorry I disturbed you," he said. "I will look in again another day. +Lord Ashiel referred me to you for the name of a rose I asked about, but +it will do to-morrow." + +The gardener assured him that his tea could wait, but Gimblet would not +detain him. + +"I shall no doubt see you up in the garden to-morrow," he said. "The roses +in that long bed outside the library are very fine, and I am interested +in their culture. I wonder they do so well in this peaty soil." + +"Na fie, man, they get on splendid here," said Malcolm. He liked nothing +better than to talk about his flowers, but, being a Highlander, resented +any suggestion that his native earth was not the best possible for no +matter what purpose. "We just gie them a good dressin' doon wie manure +ilka year." + +"Do you use any patent fertilizer?" Gimblet asked. + +"Oh, just a clean oot wie a grain o' basic slag noo and than," said the +gardener. "And I just gie them some lime ilka time I think the ground is +needin' it." + +"Well, the result is very good," said the detective. "By the way, have +you been working on that bed lately? I picked this up among the violas. +Did you happen to drop it?" + +He took from his pocket a small paper notebook, and held it out +interrogatively. + +"Na, I hinna dropped it," answered the gardener. "It micht have been some +one fay the castel. I hinna been near that rose-bed for fower or five +days. And it couldna hae been lying there afore the rain." + +Indeed, the little book showed no trace of damp on its green cover. + +"I asked in the castle, but no one claimed it," said Gimblet. "Perhaps +it belongs to one of your men?" + +"There's been naebody been workin' there this week. So it disna belong +tae neen o' the gair'ners, if it's there ye fund't," repeated Malcolm. +"There's been nae work deen on that bed for the last fortnicht or mair. I +was thinkin' o' sendin' a loon ower't wie a hoe in a day or twa. Ye see, +wie the murrder it's been impossible tae get ony work done; apairt fay +that we've been busy wie the fruit and ether things." + +"I didn't notice any weeds," said Gimblet. "But I won't keep you any +longer, now. Perhaps to-morrow afternoon I may see you in the garden, and +if so I shall get you to tell me the name of that rose." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Juliet failed to extract much comfort from Gimblet when, about six +o'clock, she met him coming up through the garden to Inverashiel Cottage. + +All the afternoon she had possessed her soul in what patience she could +muster, which was not a great deal. Still, by dint of repeating to +herself that she must give the detective time to study the facts, and +opportunity to verify them at his leisure and in his own way, she had +managed to get through the long inactive hours, and to force herself not +to dwell upon the vision of David in prison, which, do as she would, was +ever before her eyes. + +Events had followed one another so fast during the last few days that her +mind was dulled, as by a succession of rapid blows, and she was hardly +conscious of anything beyond the unbearable pain caused by the cumulative +shocks she had undergone. + +First had come the heart-rending knowledge that David loved her; +heart-rending only because he was bound to Miss Tarver, for, if it had +not been for that paralyzing obstacle, she knew she would have gladly +followed him to the ends of the earth. Indeed, in spite of everything, +his betrayal of his feelings towards her had filled her with a joy that +almost counterbalanced the hopeless misery to which, on her more +completely realizing the situation, it gradually gave place. + +Then had come the swift physical disaster from which she had barely +escaped with her life. She had not had time to recover from this when, a +few hours later, she had been called upon to face the emotions and +agitations aroused by the news of her relationship to Lord Ashiel, and +the history of her birth and parentage. In the midst of this excitement +had come the sudden tragedy of which she had been a witness, and which +had overwhelmed and prostrated her with grief and horror. Next day she +had been obliged to undergo the ordeal of being cross-questioned by the +police, and close upon that had come the final catastrophe of David's +arrest and departure. This last shock so overshadowed all the rest of her +misfortunes that it stimulated her to action, and she had herself run +most of the way to the post office two miles down the road, to send the +telegram of appeal to Gimblet. + +Once that was dispatched, hope revived a little in her heart. + +Lord Ashiel, her father, had told her to send for the detective if she +were in trouble. Well, she was in trouble; she had sent for him; he would +come, and somehow he would find a way of putting straight this hideous +nightmare in which she found herself living. How happy, in comparison, +had been her life in Belgium, in the household of her adopted father and +stepmother! She could have found it in her heart to wish she had never +left their roof; but that would have involved never making the +acquaintance of David, a possibility she could not contemplate. + +Even now the remembrance of the rapidity with which Miss Tarver had +packed her traps, renounced her betrothed and all his works, and fled +from the scene of disaster by the first available train, did much to +cheer her in the midst of all her depression. + +It was not, however, until some time after Lady Ruth Worsfold had asked +her to stay with her for the present, and she had removed herself and her +belongings to the cottage, that she realized how impossible it was for +her to make good her position as Lord Ashlers daughter and heir. She had +his word for it, and that was enough for her; but she understood, as soon +as it occurred to her, that more would be required by the law before she +could claim either the name or the inheritance which should be hers. + +In the meantime, though touched by the generosity of the new Lord Ashiel, +who offered to waive his rights in her favour, and indeed suggested other +plans for enabling her to remain at the castle as its owner, she felt +that what he proposed was absolutely impossible, and while she thanked +him, declined firmly to do anything of the sort. + +At the back of her mind was the conviction that the will her father had +spoken of would come to light. It would surely be found, if not by +herself, then by Gimblet. She acceded to Mark's request that she should +join him in looking through his uncle's papers. They went over those in +the library together before she left the house. + +Now that Gimblet had come back from the castle, where he had spent half +the day, he must have good news for her, she felt persuaded. But to all +her questions he would only reply that he had nothing definite to tell +her, and that she must wait till to-morrow or even longer. Indeed, she +thought he seemed anxious to get away from her, and asked at once if he +might see his room. + +"I want a bath more than anything," he said. And then, taking pity on her +distress, "I wouldn't worry myself too much about Sir David's safety if I +were you," he added, looking at her with a very kind, friendly light in +his eyes. But as she exclaimed joyfully and pressed him to be more +explicit, his look changed to one of admonition, and he held a finger to +his lips. "Not a word to a living soul, whoever it may be," he cautioned +her, "and be careful not to show any hope you may be so optimistic as to +feel," he added, smiling, "or you may ruin the whole thing. This is a +very dark and dangerous affair, and the less it is spoken about, even +between friends, the better." + +"Mayn't I even tell Lady Ruth?" she asked. "She is very anxious, I know." + +"Better not," he warned her. "It may be better for Sir David in the +long-run, if his friends think him guilty a few days longer. It will be +wisest if you let it appear that even you can hardly continue to cling +to the idea of his innocence. You can be trusted to act a part where +such great issues are involved, can you not? More may depend on it than +you think." + +"I'll be silent as the grave," she cried. "As the grave," she repeated +more soberly, and turned away, reproaching herself silently, since in her +anxiety for David her sorrow for her father had been a moment forgotten. + +When Gimblet came down again, clean and refreshed, he found no one but +his hostess, Lady Ruth Worsfold. + +Lady Ruth's hair was white, in appearance she was short and squat, and +she had a curiously disconnected habit of conversation, but for all that +she was a person of great discernment, and uncommonly wide awake. She +sided staunchly with Juliet in her belief in David's innocence. + +"Never," she said, "will I credit such a thing of the lad. You may say +what you like, Mr. Gimblet, you can prove till you're black in the +face that he murdered every soul in the house, it won't make any +difference to me." + +"Who do you think did do it, Lady Ruth?" Gimblet asked. + +"What do I know? An escaped lunatic, one of the keepers, the under +housemaid, anyone you like. What does it matter? It wasn't David, even +though his namesake did kill Goliath, and I always disliked the name, +having suffered from a Biblical one myself. I said to his mother when he +was born. 'For goodness' sake give the poor child a name he won't be +expected to live up to. Just fancy how his friends will hate to be known +as Jonathans, let alone thingamy's wife. You're laying up a scandal for +your son,' I told her, and if my words haven't come true it's more thanks +to him than to his parents. A nice pink and white baby he was, poor boy. +There's just one good side to this dreadful affair," she went on without +a pause, "and that is that the young lady with the dollars whom he was to +have married, and hated the sight of, has thrown him over. The first +least little breath of suspicion was enough for her, and the moment he +was downright accused she was off. And he's well rid of her, dollars and +all An Englishman of his birth and looks doesn't need to go to Chicago +for a wife." + +"Was Sir David in need of money?" asked Gimblet. + +"He hasn't got a penny," said Lady Ruth. "Not a red cent, as that +terrible young woman put it. His father left everything to the +moneylenders, so to speak, and David couldn't bear to see his mother +poverty-stricken. He did it entirely for her sake--got engaged, I +mean--but I don't think he'd have been such a self-sacrificing son if +he'd met Miss Juliet Byrne a little earlier in the day." + +"Indeed!" said Gimblet. "I thought Miss Byrne seemed very much worried +about his arrest." + +"Worried? Poor child, she's the ghost of what she was a few days ago. +Half-drowned, too, when it happened, which made it worse for her." + +"She must have had a narrow escape," Gimblet remarked. "What was the name +of the man who pulled her out of the river?" + +"Andy Campbell. He had been stalking with Mark McConachan." + +"Was young Lord Ashiel with him?" + +"No, he was on ahead. He saw Juliet in the distance, just going up to the +waterfall, but he seems to have taken her for Miss Romaninov, which is +odd, because they aren't in the least like one another, one being tall +and the other short, in the first place, and one fair and the other dark +in the second. He can't have looked very carefully. However, he was very +positive about it till they both assured him that Julia Romaninov had +turned and gone home some time before she had reached the top pool. And I +certainly should have in her place. It doesn't amuse me scrambling over +rocks and scratching my legs in bramble bushes. The path Andy came by +goes along high above the water for half a mile. I hate walking on a +height myself. And for most of that distance the river is not in sight. +If he hadn't been thirsty and come down to the water-side for a drink at +a spring near by, he would never have seen Miss Byrne floating down the +stream, and she would have been in the loch pretty soon. It just shows +how much better it is to drink water than whisky." + +"It was lucky he did," said Gimblet. "Does the path pass in sight of the +pool she fell into?" + +"No. The banks are high there, and you can't see down into the pool +unless you go to the very edge of the precipice. I did it once, to look +at the waterfall, and I very nearly joined it. It's a nasty giddy place, +though why one should feel inclined to throw oneself down I can't +imagine; but it seems a natural instinct, and it's certainly easier to go +down than up." + +"It appears almost miraculous that she wasn't drowned," said Gimblet. +"She certainly can have been in no fit state to bear the events that +followed." + +"No, indeed. She has lost everything: father, family and lover at one +blow. You know Lord Ashiel said she was his daughter, and told her he'd +made a will leaving everything to her. For that matter the lawyers say he +didn't--not that I should ever believe anything a lawyer said. They +always mean something you wouldn't expect from their words. They do it, I +believe, to keep in practice for trials, you know, where they have to +make the witnesses say what they don't mean, poor things. And what I +shall have put into my mouth by them, if I'm called as a witness against +poor David, doesn't bear thinking of. But the Lord knows what Ashiel did +with the will, and, as I was saying, it can't be found." + +"So I heard," said Gimblet "You talk of being called as a witness, Lady +Ruth. Do you know anything about the case? Where were you when the shot +was fired?" + +"Oh no," she said, "I shouldn't have anything to tell, but I don't +suppose that will matter. They'll twist and turn my words till I find +myself saying I saw him do it with my own eyes. My poor dear husband, +when I first met him, was an eminent Q.C., as you may know, Mr. Gimblet, +so I have a very good idea what they're like. I refused him point-blank +when he proposed, but he proved to me in three minutes that I'd really +accepted him; and it was the same thing ever after. A wonderfully +brilliant man, though slightly trying at times, especially in church, +where he always snored so unnecessarily loud--or so it seemed to me. I +often think deafness has its compensations, though I'm sure I ought to be +thankful at my age that my hearing is still so acute. However, I didn't +hear the shot the other night, but the castle walls are thick even in +that detestable modern addition, and besides, Julia Romaninov has got +such a tremendously powerful voice,'' + +"Were you talking to her?" + +"Oh dear no! I was playing patience, and she was singing, while Miss +Tarver murdered the accompaniment. We little thought at the time that +some one else was murdering poor Ashiel while we were sitting there in +peace. I must say that girl sings remarkably well, and it was a pity +there was no one who could play for her. Though it wasn't for want of +practice on Miss Tarver's part. The moment we were out of the +dining-room she would sit down at the piano, and they would neither of +them stop till bedtime." + +"Had they both been playing and singing all that evening?" + +"Yes, they hadn't ceased for a moment, and I found it prevented the Demon +from coming out, as I couldn't help counting in time with the music. It +was all right when it was one, two, three, but common time muddled it +dreadfully, though now I come to think of it, Julia was not actually in +the room when we heard the bad news. She'd gone upstairs to look for a +song or something. Of course there's no legal proof that Juliet really is +his child," Lady Ruth continued; "she admits that he was rather vague +about it, fancied a resemblance, in fact. Not that I or anyone else had +any notion he had been married as a young man, but that's a thing he +would be likely to be right about. I must say Mark has behaved extremely +well about it, even quixotically. He wanted her to take his inheritance, +and when she refused--and of course she couldn't decently do otherwise-- +I'm blessed if he didn't ask her to marry him." + +Gimblet looked up with more interest than he had yet shown. + +"Do you mean to say he proposed that, merely as a way out of the +difficulty?" + +"Well, more or less. I don't say he isn't attracted by the pretty face of +her, as much as his cousin was; privately I think he is, but I don't +really know. Anyhow, it certainly would be a very good solution; but it +was tactless of him to suggest it with David at the foot of the gallows, +poor boy." + +"She didn't tell me that," murmured Gimblet. + +At that moment Juliet came into the room, and they talked of other +things. + +"I hear the post is gone," Gimblet said presently. + +"I particularly wanted to catch it. I suppose there is no means of +posting a letter now?" + +The last train had gone south by that time, however, so there was nothing +to be done till the next day. + +He retired again to his room and gave himself up to his correspondence. + +First a long letter to Macross in Glasgow, begging for the loan of prints +of the photographs taken by the police during their visit, together with +any details they might see fit to impart as to their observations and +conclusions. "I have arrived so late on the scene that you have left me +nothing to do," he wrote deceitfully. "But for the interest of the case I +should like to have a look at the photographs." + +He did not expect to get much help from Macross. + +Then he took from his pocket the pill-box in which he had stored the dust +so carefully collected in the gunroom. He wrapped it carefully in paper, +and addressed the small parcel to an expert analyst in Edinburgh. He +wrote one more letter, and then went downstairs again. + +The dressing-bell sounded as he opened his door, and at the foot of the +staircase he met the two ladies on their way to dress. + +"Dinner is at eight, Mr. Gimblet," Lady Ruth told him. + +"I was just coming to find you," Gimblet answered her. "I want to ask if +you would mind my not coming down? I am subject to very bad headaches +after a long journey; and, as I want particularly to be up early +to-morrow, I think the best thing I can do is to go straight to bed and +sleep it off. It is poor sort of behaviour for a detective, I am aware, +but I hope you will forgive it." + +"You must certainly go to bed if you feel inclined to," said Lady Ruth; +"but you will have some dinner in your room, will you not? They shall +bring you up the menu." + +"No, really, thanks, I shall be better without anything. I know how to +treat these heads of mine by now, I assure you, and I won't have anything +to eat till to-morrow morning. The only thing I need is quiet and sleep. +If you will be so very kind as to give orders that I shall not be +disturbed...." + +"Of course, of course," said his hostess, full of concern. "And you must +let me give you an excellent remedy for headaches. It was given me years +ago by dear old Sir Ronald Tompkins, that famous specialist, you know, +who always ordered every one to roll on the floor after meals, and I +invariably keep a bottle by me." + +And she hurried off to fetch it. + +Gimblet accepted it gratefully, and as he passed a hand across his aching +brow said he felt sure it would do him good. + +Once again within his own room, however, the detective's headache seemed +to have miraculously vanished, and he showed himself in no hurry to go to +bed. Instead, having locked the door and drawn down the blind, he sat +down in an arm-chair and gave himself up to reflection. Mentally he +rehearsed the facts of the case as far as they were known to him, and was +obliged to admit that he found several of them very puzzling. + +There were other problems, too, not directly connected with the murder, +of which he could not at present make head or tail. For instance, where +was he to find the documents which he knew it was Lord Ashiel's wish he +should take charge of. He had promised that he would do so, and the +recollection of his failure to guard the first thing the dead peer had +entrusted him with made him the more determined that he would carry out +the remainder of his promise. But how was he to begin his search? He had +so little to go on, and he dared not hint to anyone what he wished to +find. Yet, if he delayed, it was possible that young Ashiel would come +across the papers in his hunt for his uncle's will, and Gimblet felt +there was danger in their falling into the hands of anyone but himself. + +He took out his notebook and studied the dying words of his unfortunate +client. + +"Gimblet--the clock--eleven--steps." Or was it steppes? + +Considering that he had lived in dread of a blow which should descend on +him out of Russia, the last seemed the more likely. + +There was the strange circumstance of the body's being found by the +police in a position differing from that described by those who first saw +it. Young Ashiel, Juliet and the butler all agreed that it had fallen +forward on to the blotting-book in the middle of the table; but Mark had +told him that on his return with the police the attitude had been +changed. Had he been mistaken? Macross's photographs would show. But if +not, and the murdered man had really shifted his position, what did it +prove? That they had been wrong in thinking him dead? The doctor's +evidence was that the wound he had received must have been instantly +fatal, or almost instantly. Then some one must have moved the body, and +who but David knew where the key of the room had been put away? But why +should David have moved him? + +Then there was the letter which had come two days after the murder; the +letter written in French and posted in Paris, but probably not written by +a Frenchman, and so timed as to reach its destination too late. Was it +intentionally delayed, or would Lord Ashiel's death come as an entire +surprise to the writer? It certainly would, if the police were right, and +Sir David Southern guilty of his uncle's death. + +But was he guilty? Gimblet thought not. + +These and other questions occupied the detective's mind so completely +that half an hour passed like a flash, and it was only when the noise of +the dinner-bell broke in upon his meditations that he roused himself and +pulled out his watch. Then he sat upright, and listened. + +His room was above the drawing-room, and he could hear Lady Ruth's clear, +rather high voice mingling with the deep tones of a man's, in a confused, +murmuring duet which after a few moments died away and was followed by +the distant sound of a closing door. + +It was not difficult to deduce from these sounds that Lord Ashiel had +arrived, and that the little party of three had gone in to dinner. + +It was half an hour more before Gimblet rose, and walked quietly over to +the window. He drew the blind cautiously aside and looked out. Already +the days were growing shorter, and the little house, embowered in trees, +and shut in by a tall hill from the western sky, was nearly completely +engulfed in darkness. Below him, on the right, he could just discern the +top of the porch, and beyond it a faint glow of light rose from the +window of the dining-room. + +It did not need a very remarkable degree of activity to clamber from the +window to the porch, and so down to the ground. To Gimblet it was as easy +as going downstairs. In two minutes he was stealing away under the trees +in the direction of Inverashiel Castle. + +"The worst of this Highland air," he said to himself as he walked along, +"is that it makes one so fearfully hungry, even here on the West Coast. I +could have done very nicely with my dinner. But such is life. And it's +lucky I am not entirely without provisions." + +So saying, he took a box of chocolates from his pocket and began to +demolish the contents. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +By the time he reached the castle, the night was dark indeed. He +approached it by the path along the burn, and felt his way cautiously up +the steep zigzags of the hill, and past the servants' quarters, where a +dog barked and gave him an uneasy minute till he found that it was tied +up, and that the noise which issued from a brilliantly lighted +window--which he guessed to be the servants' hall--did not cease or +diminish on account of it. + +There were no other lights to be seen, and he edged his way round to the +front of the house, which loomed very black and mysterious against the +liquid darkness of the moonless sky. A little wind had risen, and the +sound of a million leaves rustling gently on the trees of the woods +around was added to the distant murmur of the burn, so that the night +seemed full of noises, and every bush alive and watching. + +Keeping on the grass, and with every precaution of silence, Gimblet crept +along till he thought he was outside the drawing-room. + +It did not take him long to find the window he had left unlatched that +afternoon, but it was an anxious moment till he made sure that no one had +noticed it and that it was yet unfastened. If a careful housemaid had +discovered it and shut it, he would have to begin housebreaking in +earnest. Luckily it opened easily at his touch, and he lost no time in +climbing in, though it was rather a tight squeeze through the narrow +imitation Gothic mullions, and he was thankful there were no bars as in +the library. + +He had more than once during his career found himself obliged to enter +other people's houses in this unceremonious, not to say burglarious +fashion. But it was always an exciting experience; and his heart beat a +trifle faster than usual as he stood motionless by the window, straining +his ears for the sound of any movement on the part of the household. +Nothing stirred, however, and by the help of an occasional gleam from his +pocket electric torch Gimblet made his way to the door, and through the +deserted house to the distant passage leading to the old tower. Once +inside the library he breathed more freely, and when, after holding his +breath for some minutes, he had made certain that the absolute silence of +the place continued unbroken by any suspicion of noise, he felt safer +still. His first act was to draw the curtains, and to fasten them +together in the middle with a large safety-pin he had brought for the +purpose. Then, secure from observation, he switched on his torch, placed +it on the table with its back to the window, and set about what he had +come to do. + +As he had not failed to observe, earlier in the day, the book-lined walls +of the library were broken, opposite the window, by a panelled alcove +where a small table stood, beyond which, against the wall, was a very +large and tall grandfather's clock of black and gold lacquer, in +imitation of the Chinese designs so popular in the eighteenth century. + +Among Lord Ashiel's last words, "The clock" had been uttered immediately +after the detective's own name. No doubt they formed part of a message he +wished to convey; and, though they might refer to any clock in or out of +the house, it seemed to Gimblet worth while to begin his investigations +with the one nearest at hand, and he turned his attention to it without +loss of time. + +Gimblet was a connoisseur of the antique, and a few minutes' examination +proved to him that this was a genuine old clock, untouched by the +restorer's hand, and in an excellent state of preservation. The works +appeared all right as far as he could make out, but through the narrow +half-moon of glass, so often inserted in the cases of old clocks for the +purpose of displaying the pendulum, that article was not to be seen, and +he found that it was missing from inside the case, as were also the +weights, so that it was impossible to set it going. There was one odd +thing about it, which the detective had already remarked: it was firmly +fixed to the wall by large screws, and he thought that there must be some +opening through the back into a receptacle contrived in the panelling +behind it. The case was so large that he was able to get inside it, and +examine inch by inch the wood of the interior, which was lacquered a +plain black. + +But his most careful tappings and testings could discover no hidden +spring, nor, even by the help of the electric torch--which he passed all +over the smooth surfaces of the walls--could he discern the slightest +join or crack. Could there be a hiding place up among the wheels of the +motionless works? His utmost endeavours could discover none. The clock +was fully eight feet high, but with the help of a stool, which he put +inside on the floor of the case, he was able to explore even the topmost +corners. All to no purpose. + +Presently he abandoned that field of research, replaced the stool whence +he had taken it, and gave his attention to the surrounding walls. He +examined each panel with the most painstaking care, but could find +nothing. There was no sign of secret drawer or cupboard anywhere. + +It was disappointing, and he drew back, baffled for the moment + +"The clock--eleven--steps." + +What was the connection between those broken words? + +If eleven o'clock had anything to do with the answer to the riddle, it +could not refer to this particular clock, which pointed unwaveringly to +thirteen minutes past four. Could it be possible that at eleven there +appeared some change in its countenance? Was it controlled by some +invisible mechanism? Well, if so, he would witness the transformation, +but such a solution did not seem likely. Was there no other meaning +applicable to the words? He would try the last ones and assume that +eleven steps from somewhere, the clock, probably, would bring him to the +hiding-place where the precious papers had been deposited. + +Placing his heel against the bottom of the black-and-gold case, he walked +forward for eleven paces, which brought him right into the bow of the +window. Here he bent down, and, with the torch in one hand, and a small +magnifying lens that he was never without in the other, searched the +floor eagerly for some join in the boards, which should denote the edge +of a trap-door or an opening of some sort. + +He could find none. + +Again and again he tried, till at last he had examined the whole flooring +of the embrasure of the window. + +No other part of the room was wide enough to allow him to take eleven +steps, and he reluctantly came to the conclusion that he must be on the +wrong tack. + +There seemed no more to do but to wait till eleven should strike, in the +faint hope that something would happen then; and Gimblet sat down in one +of the large arm-chairs and prepared for an hour's lonely vigil. He put +his lamp in his pocket and sat in the dark, for he had an uneasy feeling +that Mark might return from the cottage and catch him pursuing his +investigations in a way which might not appeal to the average +householder. True, it seemed unlikely that anyone would come so late to +that side of the castle; but one never knew, and the thought of being +caught at his housebreaking added to the irritation produced by the +failure of his search. + +"The clock--eleven--steppes." What had Lord Ashiel been trying to say? +Why in the world had he put off writing till so late? These and like +questions Gimblet asked himself fretfully, as he waited, curled in a deep +arm-chair among the black shapes of furniture which loomed around him, +indefinite and almost invisible, even to eyes accustomed to the darkness, +as his now were. + +Suddenly he raised his head and listened, holding his breath in strained +attention. He had caught the sound of distant footsteps. + +In an instant he was up and had leapt to the window, where his fingers +fumbled with the safety-pin that held the curtains together. No tell-tale +mark of his presence must be left. + +But where should he hide? The sounds were becoming more distinct every +second; no escape seemed possible. There was no help for it, and he was +bound to be discovered; he must put as good a face on it as he could +contrive. The person approaching might, after all, not come into the +library, but go back again along the passage. It might only be some one +coming to see that the door to the garden was properly bolted. + +These thoughts flashed through the detective's mind so quickly as to +be practically simultaneous, and then almost at the same moment he +realized that the footsteps did not come from the passage at all, but +from under the room he was waiting in. In a flash he had grasped the +full significance of this unexpected fact, and was tiptoeing across +to the door. + +The handle turned noiselessly in his fingers, thanks to the precaution he +had taken of oiling it, and he slipped outside. + +In the dark and empty passage he took to his heels and ran swiftly back +to the drawing-room, nor paused till he was outside on the lawn once +more. There he hung for an instant in the wind; bearings must be taken, +the nearest way to the enclosed garden decided on, any dangerous reefs +that lay on the way steered clear of. Then he was off again on the new +tack. This led him round to the back of the holly hedge, and the arched +opening by the gardeners' tool-shed. + +He turned in under it and sped silently over the turf, till he found +himself outside the door to the old tower. From the library window a +narrow shaft of light was issuing out on to the flower-bed. + +Gimblet took off his coat and threw it on to the bed. He put a foot upon +one sleeve, and, stooping down, spread the other out in front of him as +far as it would go. Then he stepped upon that one and twisted the coat +round under him to repeat the process. In this way he arrived under the +window without leaving any imprint of his boots upon the soft earth. Once +there he raised himself cautiously and peered into the room. + +By the writing-table, and so close to him that he could almost have +touched her if they had not been separated by the glass, stood a +young woman. + +She held a little electric lantern, much like his own, in her left hand, +while with the other she turned over the leaves of a bundle of papers. An +open drawer in the writing-table betrayed whence they had been taken; and +she was so entirely engrossed in what she was about that the detective +felt little fear of being noticed by her, concealed as he was in the +outer darkness. + +He saw that she was short and slight, with a beautiful little head set +gracefully upon her upright slender figure. Her expression was proud and +self-contained, but the large dark eyes that glowed beneath long black +lashes were in themselves striking evidence of a passionate nature +sternly repressed, and an eloquent contradiction to the firm, tightly +compressed lips. Here, thought Gimblet, was a nature which might pursue +its object with cold and calculating tenacity, and then at the last +moment let the prize slip through its fingers at some sudden call upon +the emotions. + +For the time being her thoughts were evidently fixed upon her present +purpose, to the exclusion of all considerations such as might have been +expected to obtrude themselves upon the mind of a young girl engaged in a +nocturnal raid. The dark solitude, the lateness of the hour, the +surreptitious manner of her entry into the room, all these, which might +well have occasioned some degree of nervousness in the coolest of +housebreakers, appeared to produce, in her, nothing of the sort. As +calmly as if she were sitting by her own bedside, she examined the +documents in Lord Ashiel's bureau, sorting and folding the contents of +one drawer after another as if it were the most commonplace thing in the +world to go over other people's private papers in the dead of night. + +And what was she looking for? + +Gimblet felt no doubt on that subject. This could surely be no other than +Julia, the adopted daughter of Countess Romaninov, whom Lord Ashiel had +for so long supposed to be his daughter. In some way or other she must +have discovered the problematic relationship, and now she was hunting for +proof of her birth, or perhaps for the will which should deprive her of +her inheritance. It was even possible that the dead peer had been +mistaken, and that Julia was indeed his daughter and not unaware of the +fact. But what was she doing here, and where did she come from? Surely +Juliet had told him that all the guests had left the castle. + +Gimblet had never seen her before; but, as he watched her slow +deliberate movements and quick intelligent eyes, he had an odd feeling +that they were already acquainted. She reminded him of some one; how, he +couldn't say. Perhaps it was the features, perhaps merely the +expression, but if they had never previously met, at least he must have +seen some one she resembled. Rack his brains as he might, he could not +remember who it was. He put the thought aside. Sooner or later the +recollection would come to him. + +The night was a warm one, and Gimblet felt no need for his coat, though +he was a little uneasy lest his white shirt should show up against the +dark background if she should chance to look out. Behind him the trees in +the wood stirred noisily and untiringly in the wind, and from time to +time an owl cried out of the gloom; but no sound from within the castle +reached his ears throughout the long hour during which he stood watching +while deftly and methodically the young lady in the library went about +her business. He wondered if this girl, who stealthily, in the night, by +the gleam of a pocket lantern, was engaged in such questionable +employment, were unwarrantably ransacking the belongings of her former +host, or believed herself to be exercising a daughter's right in going +over the papers of a dead parent. + +The time came when the last paper was examined, the last drawer quietly +pushed back into its place; then, with every sign of disappointment, she +slowly rose, and taking up her torch made the tour of the room as if +debating whether she had not left some corner unexplored. But the library +was scantily furnished, apart from the books that lined the walls, and +though she drew more than one volume from its place, and thrust a hand +into the back of the shelf, it was with a dispirited air. Soon, with a +glance at her watch, she abandoned the search, and slowly and +hesitatingly moved in the direction of the door and laid her fingers upon +the handle. + +She did not turn it, however, but stood irresolute, her eyes on the +floor. After a moment of indecision, the detective saw her mouth compress +firmly, and with a quick movement of the head, as if she were shaking +herself free from some persistent and troublesome thought, she turned +and walked deliberately towards the alcove at the end of the room. + +"Now," thought Gimblet, "we shall see where the secret door is +concealed." + +Judge of his surprise and excitement, when the girl stopped before the +tall case of the lacquered clock and, opening it, stepped inside and drew +the door to behind her. For five minutes, with nose pressed to the pane +of the window, the detective waited, expecting her to reappear; then an +idea struck him, and he clapped his hand against his leg in his +exasperation at not having guessed before. + +He turned immediately, and using the same precautions as before made +good his retreat, and returned by way of the drawing-room window to +the library. + +All was silent there, and the empty room displayed no sign of its +nocturnal visitors. Gimblet did not hesitate. He went straight to the +clock and pulled open the door. The black interior was as empty and bare +as when he had previously examined it, but he betrayed neither +astonishment nor doubt as to his next action. + +Stooping down he ran his hand over the painted wooden flooring. As he +expected, his fingers encountered a small knob in one of the corners, +and he had no sooner pressed it when the whole bottom of the case fell +suddenly away beneath his touch. As he stretched down the hand that held +the electric torch, the light fell upon an open trap-door and the +topmost step of a narrow flight of stairs, which descended into the +thickness of the wall. + +Gimblet stepped into the case, and lowered himself quickly through the +hole at the bottom. + +The stairs proved to be but a short flight, ending in a low passage, +which wound away through the wall of the ancient building. The +detective felt little doubt that it led to another concealed opening in +some distant part of the castle. But he had other things to think of +for the moment. + +"The clock--eleven--steps." The meaning of Lord Ashiel's dying words was, +he thought, plain enough now. + +Running up the stairs again, he descended more slowly, counting the +treads as he went. + +There were fifteen. + +Gimblet bent down and held his torch so that the light fell bright upon +the eleventh step. + +It presented identically the same appearance as the rest, the rough-hewn +stone dipping slightly in the middle as if many feet had trodden it in +the course of the centuries which had elapsed since it was first placed +there, but in every respect the worn surface resembled those of the steps +above and below it, as far as Gimblet could see. + +He tapped it, and it gave forth the same sound as its neighbours. Then he +lowered the torch and ran its beams along the front of the step; high up, +under the overhanging edge of the tread above it, it seemed as if there +were a flaw or crack in the stone. He knocked upon it, and it gave back a +different sound to the stone around it. + +Clearly it was wood, not stone, though so cleverly painted to imitate its +surroundings that it was a thousand to one against anyone ever noticing +it; and yes, there was a little circular depression in the middle of it. +Gimblet's thumb pressed heavily against the place, and immediately there +was a click, and a long narrow drawer flew out. + +In it lay a single sheet of paper, and Gimblet's fingers shook with +excitement as he drew it forth. + +A moment's pause while he perused the writing upon it, and then the +exultation on his face dwindled away. He could perceive no meaning in +these apparently random sentences. + +"Remember that where there's a way there's a will. Face curiosity and +take the bull by the horn." + +Was this the cipher, of which he had never received the key? The papers +he had hoped to find must be hidden elsewhere. No doubt in some place +whose whereabouts was indicated, if he could only understand it, by the +incomprehensible message he held. + +He stared at it for some minutes in an endeavour to find the translation; +then, reflecting that this was neither the time nor place for deciphering +cryptograms, he placed it carefully in an inner pocket, and after a hasty +exploration of the passage beyond which did not reveal anything +interesting except from an archaeological point of view, he thoughtfully +mounted to the room above. + +Closing the trap-door, and making sure that everything in the library was +left as he had found it, Gimblet made his exit from the castle in the +same manner as he had entered it, and groped his silent way home through +the darkness. + +A convenient creeper made it easy to climb on to the porch of Lady Ruth's +house, now wrapped in peaceful slumber; and so in at his own window once +more. The noise of the wind, which had now freshened to the strength of +half a gale, drowned any sound of his return, and he lost no time in +getting to bed and to sleep. The puzzle must keep till to-morrow. It was +one of Gimblet's rules to take proper rest when it was at all possible, +for he knew that his work suffered if he came to it physically exhausted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Gimblet was up early next morning, refreshed by a sound and +dreamless sleep. + +For two hours before breakfast he wrestled with the cryptic message on +the sheet of paper, trying first one way and then another of solving the +riddle it presented, but still finding no solution. He was silent and +preoccupied during the morning meal, replying to inquiries as to his +headache, alternately, with obvious inattention and exaggerated +gratitude. Neither of the ladies spoke much, however, and his +absent-mindedness passed almost unnoticed. + +Lord Ashiel was to be buried that day. Before they left the dining-room +sombre figures could be seen striding along the high road towards +Inverashiel: inhabitants of the scattered villages, and people from the +neighbouring estates, hurrying to show their respect to the dead peer for +the last time. + +The tragic circumstances of the murder had aroused great excitement all +over the countryside, and a large gathering assembled at the little +island at the head of the loch, where the McConachans had left their +bones since the early days of the youth of the race. + +From the surrounding glens, from distant hills and valleys, and even from +far-away Edinburgh and Oban, came McConachans, to render their final +tribute to the head of the clan. It was surprising to see how large was +the muster; for the most part a company of tall, thin men, with lean +faces and drooping wisps of moustache. + +To a mournful dirge on the pipes, Ashiel was laid in his rocky grave, and +the throng of black-garmented people was ferried back the way it had +come. Gimblet, wrapped to the ears in a thick overcoat, and with a silk +scarf wound high round his neck, shivered in the cold air, for the wind +had veered to the north, and the first breath of the Arctic winter was +already carried on it. The waters of the loch had turned a slaty black; +little angry waves broke incessantly over its surface; and inky black +clouds were gathering slowly on the distant horizon. It looked as if the +fine weather were at an end; as if Nature herself were mourning angrily +at the wanton destruction of her child. The pity and regret Gimblet had +felt, as he stood by the murdered man's grave, suddenly turned to a +feeling of rage, both with himself and with the victim of the crime. + +Why in the world had he not managed to guard against a danger of whose +imminence he had had full warning? And why in the name of everything that +was imbecile had Lord Ashiel, who knew much better than anyone else how +real the danger was, chosen to sit at a lighted window, and offer so +tempting a target to his enemy? + +Suddenly, in the midst of his musings, a sound fell on the detective's +ear; a voice he had heard before, low and musical, and curiously +resonant. He looked in the direction from which it came and saw two +people standing together, a little apart, in the crowd of those waiting +at the water's edge for a craft to carry them ashore. There were only two +or three boats; and, though the ghillies bent to their oars with a will, +every one could not cross the narrow channel which divided the island +from the mainland at one and the same time. A group had already formed on +the beach of those who were not the first to get away, and among these +were the two figures that had attracted Gimblet's attention. + +They were two ladies, who stood watching the boats, which had landed +their passengers and were now returning empty. + +The nearest to him, a tall woman of ample proportions, was visibly +affected by the ceremony she had just witnessed, and dabbed from time to +time at her eyes with a handkerchief. + +But it was her companion who interested him. She was short and slender; +her slightness accentuated by the long dress of black cloth and the small +plain hat of the same colour which she wore. A thick black veil hung down +over her face and obscured it from his view, but about her general +appearance there was something strangely familiar. In a moment Gimblet +knew what it was, and where he had seen her before. He had caught sight, +in her hand, of a little bag of striped black satin with purple pansies +embroidered at intervals upon it. Just such a bag had lain upon the table +of his flat in Whitehall a few weeks ago, on the day when its owner had +stolen the envelope entrusted to him by Lord Ashiel. + +"It is she," breathed the detective, "the widow!" + +And for one wild moment he was on the point of accosting her and +demanding his missing letter. Wiser counsels prevailed, however, and he +moved away to the other side of the small group of mourners gathered on +the stony beach. + +When he ventured to look at her again, it was over the shoulder of a +stalwart Highlander, whose large frame effectually concealed all of the +little detective except his hat and eyes. A further surprise was in store +for him. The lady had lifted her veil and displayed the features of the +girl he had watched in the library on the preceding night. + +Gimblet had seen enough. He turned away, and found Juliet at his elbow. + +She would have passed him by, absorbed in her sorrow for the father she +had found and lost in the space of one short hour, but he laid her hand +upon her arm. + +"Tell me," he begged, "who are those two ladies waiting for the boat?" + +Juliet's eyes followed the direction of his own. + +"Those," she said, "are Mrs. Clutsam and Miss Julia Romaninov." + +"Ah," Gimblet murmured. "They were among your fellow-guests at the +castle, weren't they?" + +"Yes." + +Juliet's reply was short and a little cold. She could not understand why +the detective should choose this moment to question her on trivial +details. It showed, she considered, a lamentable lack of tact, and +involuntarily she resented it. + +"But surely you told me that every one had left Inverashiel," persisted +Gimblet, unabashed. + +He seemed absurdly eager for the information. No doubt, Juliet reflected +bitterly, he admired Julia. Most men would. + +"Mrs. Clutsam lives in another small house of my father's, near here," +she replied stiffly. "She asked Miss Romaninov to stay with her for a +few days till she could arrange where to go to. This disaster naturally +upset every one's plans." + +"She has a beautiful face," said Gimblet. "Who would think--" he +murmured, and stopped abruptly. + +"Perhaps you would like me to introduce you?" + +Juliet spoke with lofty indifference, but the dismay in Gimblet's tone as +he answered disarmed her. + +"On no account," he cried, "the last thing! Besides, for that matter," he +added truthfully, "we have met before." + +"Then you will have the pleasure of renewing your acquaintance," Juliet +suggested mischievously. Gimblet had shown himself so genuinely aghast +that her resentful suspicions had vanished. + +"I expect to have an opportunity of doing so," he agreed seriously. "That +young lady," he went on in a low, confidential tone, "played a trick on +me that I find it hard to forgive. I look forward, with some +satisfaction, to the day when the laugh will be on my side. I admit I +ought to be above such paltry considerations, but, what would you? I +don't think I am. But please don't mention my presence to her, or her +friend. I imagine she has not so far heard of it." + +"I won't if you don't like," said Juliet. "I don't suppose I shall +see them to speak to. But why do you feel so sure she doesn't know +you are here?" + +"Oh, how should she?" Gimblet returned evasively. "I don't suppose my +presence would appear worth commenting upon to anyone but yourself or +Lord Ashiel, unless Lady Ruth should mention it." + +"I don't think she will," said Juliet. "She said she could not speak to +anyone to-day, and she and Mark have gone off together in his own boat. +I said I would walk home." + +"Won't you drive with me?" Gimblet suggested. + +He had hired a "machine" from the distant village of Inverlegan to carry +him to and from the funeral. But Juliet preferred to walk, finding in +physical exercise the only relief she could obtain from the aching +trouble that oppressed and sickened her. + +Gimblet drove back alone to the cottage. He had much to occupy his +thoughts. + +Once back in his room he turned his mind to the writing on the +sheet of paper. + +"Remember that where there's a way there's a will. Face curiosity and +take the bull by the horn." + +The message, as Gimblet read it, was as puzzling as if it had been +completely in cipher. + +If certain of the words possessed some arbitrary meaning to which the key +promised by Lord Ashiel would have furnished the solution, there seemed +little hope of understanding the message until the key was found. The +word "way," for instance, might stand for another that had been +previously decided on, and if rightly construed probably indicated the +place where the papers were concealed. "Will," "face," "curiosity," +"bull" and "horn" were likely to represent other very different words, or +perhaps even whole sentences. + +Without the key it was hopeless to search along that line; such search +must end, as it would begin, in conjecture only. He would see if anything +more promising could be arrived at by taking the message as it was and +assuming that all the words bore the meaning usually attributed to them. +For more than an hour Gimblet racked his brains to read sense into the +senseless phrases, and at the end of that time was no wiser than at the +beginning. + +"Where there's a way there's a will." Was it by accident or design that +the order in which the words way and will were placed was different from +the one commonly assigned to them? Had Lord Ashiel made a mistake in +arranging the message? Or did the "will" refer to his will and testament? +If so, why should he take so roundabout a way of designating it? +Doubtless because something more important than the will was involved; +indeed, if anything was clear, from the ambiguous sentence and the +precaution that Ashiel had taken that though it fell into the hands of +his enemies it should convey nothing to them, it was that he considered +the mystification of the uninitiated a matter of transcendental +importance. It was plain he contemplated the possibility of the Nihilists +knowing where to look for his message; and at the thought Gimblet shifted +uneasily in his chair, remembering his first encounter with their +representative. + +"Face curiosity and take the bull by the horn." Perhaps those words, as +they stood, contained some underlying sense, which at present it was hard +to read in them. What it was, seemed impossible to guess. To take the +bull by the horn, is a common enough expression, and might represent no +more than a piece of advice to act boldly; on the whole that was not +likely, for would anyone wind up such a carefully veiled communication +with so trite and everyday a saying, or finish such an obscure message +with so ordinary a sentiment? + +"Face curiosity," however, was perhaps a direction how to proceed. The +only trouble was to know what in the world it meant! + +Whose curiosity was to be faced? The behaviour of members of a Nihilist +society could hardly be said to be impelled by that motive. Gimblet could +not see that anyone else had shown any symptom of it. Had "curiosity," +then, some other meaning? + +The detective, as has been said, was an amateur of the antique. When not +at work, a great part of his time was passed in the neighbourhood of +curiosity shops, and the merchandise they dealt in immediately occurred +to him in connection with the word. + +Did the dead man refer to some peculiarity of the ancient keep? Was +there, perhaps, the figure or picture of a bull within the castle whose +horn pointed to the ultimate place of concealment? It would have seemed, +Gimblet thought, that the hidden receptacle in the secret stair was +difficult enough to find; but the reason the papers were not placed in +there was plain to him after a minute's reflection. It was doubtless +because they were too bulky to be contained in the shallow drawer. At all +events, there was certainly another hiding-place; and, on the whole, the +best plan seemed to be to see if the castle could produce any curiosity +that would offer a solution of the problem. + +To the castle, accordingly, he went, and asked to see Lord Ashiel. He was +shown into the smoking-room, where Mark was kneeling on the hearth-rug +surrounded by piles of folded and docketed papers. The door of a small +cupboard in the wall beside the fireplace stood open, revealing a row of +deep shelves stacked with the same neat packets. + +"Still hunting for the will, you see," he said, looking up as Gimblet +entered, "I'm beginning to give up hope of finding it, but it's a mercy +to have something to do these days." + +"Rather a tedious job, isn't it?" said the detective, looking down at the +musty tape-bound bundles. + +"Well, it gives one rather a kink in the back after a time," Mark +admitted. "But I shan't feel easy in my mind till I've looked through +everything, and I'm getting a very useful idea of the estate accounts in +the meantime. It _is_ rather a long business, but I'm getting on with it, +slow but sure. There are such a fearful lot." + +"Are all these cupboards full of papers?" Gimblet asked, looking round +him at the numerous little doors in the panelling. + +"Stuffed with them, every blessed one of them," Mark replied rather +gloomily. "And the worst of it is, I'm pretty certain they're nothing but +these dusty old bills and letters. But there's nowhere else to look, and +I know he kept nearly everything here." + +Gimblet sauntered round the room, pulling open the drawers and peeping in +at the piles of documents. + +"What an accumulation!" he remarked. "None of these cupboards are locked, +I see," he added. + +"No, he never locked anything up," said Mark. "I've heard him boast he +never used a key. Do you know, if one had time to read them, I believe +some of these old letters might be rather amusing. It looked as if my +grandfather and his fathers had kept every single one that ever was +written to them. I've just come across one from Raeburn, the painter, and +I saw another, a quarter of an hour ago, from Lord Clive." + +"Really," said Gimblet eagerly, "which cupboard were they in? I should +like to see them immensely some time." + +"They were in this one," said Mark, pointing to the shelves +opposite him. + +Gimblet stood facing it, and looked hopefully round him in all directions +for anything like a bull. There was nothing, however, to suggest such an +animal, and he reflected that interesting though these old letters might +be it would be going rather far to refer to them as curiosities. Suddenly +an idea struck him. + +"I suppose you haven't come across anything concerning a Papal Bull?" +he inquired. + +"No," said Mark, looking up in surprise. "It's not very likely I should, +you know." + +"No, I suppose not," said Gimblet. "Still, you old families did get hold +of all sorts of odd things sometimes, and your uncle was a bit of a +collector, wasn't he?" + +"Uncle Douglas," said Mark, "not he! He didn't care a bit for that kind +of thing. You can see in the drawing-room the sort of horrors he used to +buy. He was thoroughly early Victorian in his tastes, and ought to have +been born fifty years sooner than he was." + +"Dear me," said Gimblet. "I don't know why I thought he was rather by way +of being a connoisseur. Well, well, I mustn't waste any more time. I +wanted to ask you if you would mind my going all over the house. I may +see something suggestive. Who knows? At present I have only examined the +library and your uncle's bedroom." + +"By all means," said Mark. "Blanston will show you anything you want to +see. Oh, by the by, you like to be alone, don't you? I was forgetting. +Well, go anywhere you like; and good luck to your hunting!" + +On a writing-table in one of the bedrooms, Gimblet found a paper-weight +in the bronze shape of a Spanish toro, head down, tail brandishing, a +fine emblem of goaded rage. But there was nothing promising about the +round mahogany table on which it stood: no drawer, secret or otherwise +could all his measurings and tappings discover; the animal, when lifted +up by the horn and dangled before the detective's critical eye, +proclaimed itself modern and of no artistic merit. It was like a hundred +others to be had in any Spanish town, and by no expanding of terms could +it be considered a curiosity. + +Except for this one more than doubtful find, he drew the whole house +absolutely blank. There were very few specimens of ancient work in the +castle, which like so many other old houses had been stripped of +everything interesting it contained in the middle of the nineteenth +century, and entirely refurnished and redecorated in the worst possible +taste. With the exception of some family portraits, the lacquered clock +in the library was the one genuine survival of the Victorian holocaust, +and though Gimblet passed nearly half an hour in contemplating it he +could not see any way of connecting it with a bull, nor was he a whit the +wiser when he finally turned his back on it than he had been at the +beginning. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Blanston, to whom he appealed, could give no useful information. Yes, +some of the plate was old, but that was all at the bank in London. Mrs. +Haviland, his lordship's sister, had liked it on the table when his +lordship entertained in his London house, and it had not been carried +backwards and forwards to Scotland since her ladyship's death. + +He knew of nothing resembling a bull in his lordship's possession, unless +it was the picture of cows that hung in the drawing-room opposite the one +of the dead stag. + +Gimblet had already exhausted the possibilities of that highly varnished +oil-painting, and he went forth from the house in a state of deep +dejection. + +As he descended the drive he heard his name called, and looking back +perceived the short, sturdy figure of Lady Ruth hurrying down the road +behind him. + +"If you are going back to the cottage, Mr. Gimblet," she panted, "let us +walk together. I ran after you when I saw your hat go past the window, +for I couldn't stand those frowsty old papers of Mark's any longer." + +Gimblet waited till she came up, still talking, although considerably out +of breath. + +"We will go by the road, if you don't mind," she said, "the lochside is +rather rough for me. I have been paying a visit of charity, and very hard +work it is paying visits in the country when you don't keep a conveyance +of any kind, and I really can't afford even a donkey. You see the +Judge's income died with him, poor dear, in spite of those foolish +sayings about not being able to take your money with you to the better +land, where I am sure one would want it just as much as anywhere else, +for the better life you lead, the more expensive it is. No one could be +generous, or charitable, or unselfish, with nothing to give up or to give +away. That's only common sense, and I always say that common sense is +such a help when called upon to face problems of a religious kind. + +"My uncle was a bishop and a very learned theologian, I assure you; but +he always held that it was impious to apply plain common sense to matters +so far above us, and that is why he and my poor husband were never on +speaking terms; not from any fault of the Judge's, who had been trained +to think about logic and all that kind of thing which is so useful to +people at the Bar. + +"But it takes all sorts to make a world, as he often used to say to +himself, and if every one was exactly alike one would feel almost as +solitary as if the whole earth was empty and void, while, as for virtues +and good qualities, they would automatically cease to exist, so that a +really good man would simply long to go to hell and have some opportunity +to show his goodness. That always seemed very reasonable to me, but I am +just telling you what my husband used to say, because I really don't know +much about these things, and he was such a clever man, and what he said +was always listened to with great interest and respect at the Old Bailey. +If it hadn't been, of course he would have cleared the court. + +"But as I was telling you, his money went with him, though I know he +always meant to insure his life, which is such a boring thing to think of +when a man has many calls on his purse. And so, I live, as you see, in a +very quiet way up here, and sometimes get down to the South for a month +or six weeks in the winter, where I have many kind friends. But I find +the hills rather trying to my legs as time goes on, and I don't very +often walk as far as I have to-day. Still charity, as they say, covers a +multitude of miles, and I really thought it my duty to come and see how +poor Mark was bearing up all alone at Inverashiel. I was afraid he would +be terribly unhappy, poor boy, so soon after the funeral, and Juliet +Byrne having refused him, and everything. Though of course he can't be +pitied for inheriting Inverashiel, such a lovely place, is it not? And +quantities of property in the coal district, you know, besides. He is +really a very lucky young man." + +"It is indeed a most beautiful country," Gimblet observed, as Lady +Ruth's breath gave out completely, and she stopped by the roadside to +regain it. He was deep in thought, and glad to escape the necessity of +frequent speech. + +"Yes," she said, as they moved slowly on, "I had a delightful walk here, +and found him much more cheerful than I had feared. It is such a good +thing he has all those papers to look over. It is everything, at a time +like this, to have an occupation. It is so dreadful to think of dear +David with absolutely nothing to do in that horrid cell. I wonder if they +allow him to smoke, or to keep a tame mouse, which I remember reading is +such a comfort to prisoners. I do hope, Mr. Gimblet, that you will soon +be able to get him out of it." + +Before Gimblet could reply, the silence was broken by the rumble of +wheels; and a farmer's cart came up behind them, driven by a thin man +in a black coat, who had evidently attended the funeral earlier in the +day. The road, at the point they had reached, was beginning to ascend; +and the stout pony between the shafts slowed resolutely to a walk as he +leant against the collar. The man lifted his hat as Lady Ruth wished +him good day. + +"I saw you at the funeral, Angus McConachan," she said. "A sad business. +A terrible business." And she shook her head mournfully. + +The farmer stopped the willing pony. + +"That it is, my leddy," he assented. "It's a black day indeed, when the +heed o' a clan is struck doon by are o' his ain bleed. It's a great peety +that the lad would ha' forgot what he owed to his salt. But I'm thinkin' +they'll be hangin' him afore the year's oot." + +"Oh, Angus," cried Lady Ruth, in horrified tones, "don't talk in that +dreadful way. I'm quite, quite sure Sir David never had any part in the +thing. It's all a mistake, and this gentleman here is going to find out +who really fired the shot." + +"Well, I hope ye'll be richt, my leddy," was all the farmer would commit +himself to, as he gathered up the reins. Then he hesitated, looking down +on the hot, flushed countenance of the lady in the road beneath him. "If +yer leddyship will be tackin' a seat in the machine," he hazarded, "it'll +maybe save ye the trail up the brae." + +Lady Ruth accepted the suggestion with great content. She was getting +very tired, and was finding the walk more exhausting than she had +bargained for. She lost no time in climbing up beside Angus, and the fat +pony was induced to continue its reluctant progress. + +Near the top of the hill the road forked into two branches, that which +led to the right continuing parallel with the loch, whilst the other +diverged over the hill towards Auchtermuchty, a town some fifteen miles +distant. The stout pony unhesitatingly took the turning to the left. + +The farmer looked at Lady Ruth inquiringly. + +"Will ye get doon here, my leddy?" he asked; "or will ye drive on as far +as the sheepfold? It will be shorter for ye tae walk doon fay there, by +the burn and the Green Way." + +"I should like to do that;" said Lady Ruth, "if you don't mind taking me +so far. Perhaps you would give Mr. Gimblet a lift too, now that we're on +top of the hill?" + +The man readily consented, and Gimblet, who was following on foot, was +called and informed of the proposed change of route. He scrambled into +the back of the cart and they rattled along the upper road, the stout +pony no doubt wearing a very aggrieved expression under its blinkers. + +When another mile had been traversed, they were put down at a place where +a rough track led down across the moor by the side of an old stone +sheepfold. + +The cart jogged off to the sound of a chorus of thanks, and Lady Ruth and +Gimblet started down the heather-grown path. They rounded the corners of +the deserted fold, and walked on into the golden mist of sunset which +spread in front of them, enveloping and dazzling. The clouds of the +morning had rolled silently away to the horizon, the wind had dropped to +a mere capful; and the midges were abroad in their hosts, rejoicing in +the improvement in the weather. + +"I don't believe it's going to rain after all," said Lady Ruth. "The sun +looks rather too red, perhaps, to be quite safe, though it _is_ supposed +to be the shepherd's delight. I can only say that, if he was delighted +with the result of some of the red sunsets we get up here, he'd be easily +pleased, and for my part I'm never surprised at anything. These midges +are past belief, aren't they?" + +They were, Gimblet agreed heartily. He gathered a handful of fern and +tried to keep them at bay, but they were persevering and ubiquitous. Soon +the path led them away from the open moor, and into the wood of birches +and young oaks which clung to the side of the hill. A little farther, and +Gimblet heard the distant gurgling of a burn; presently they were picking +their way between moss-covered boulders on the edge of a rocky gully. +Great tufts of ferns dotted the steep pitch of the bank below; the stream +that clattered among the stones at the bottom shone very cool and shadowy +under the alders; and a clearing on the other side revealed, over the +receding woods, the broken hill-tops of a blue horizon. + +The path wound gradually downward to the waterside, and in a little while +they crossed it by means of a row of stepping-stones over which Lady Ruth +passed as boldly as her companion. + +Another hundred yards of shade, and they came out into a long narrow +glen, carpeted with short springy turf, and bordered, as by an avenue, +with trees knee-deep in bracken. The rectangular shape and enclosed +nature of the glade came as a surprise in the midst of the wild +woodlands. The place had more the air of forming part of pleasure grounds +near to the haunts of man, and the eye wandered instinctively in search +of a house. The effect of artificiality was increased by a large piece of +statuary representing a figure carved in stone and standing upon a high +oblong pediment, which stood a little distance down the glen. + +Gimblet did not repress his feeling of astonishment. + +"What a strange place!" he exclaimed. "Who would have expected to +find this lawn tucked away in the woods. Or is there a house +somewhere at hand?" + +"No," Lady Ruth answered, "there is nothing nearer than my cottage half a +mile away; and this short grass and flat piece of ground are entirely +natural. Nothing has been touched, except here and there a tree cut out +to keep the borders straight. The late Lady Ashiel, the wife of my +unfortunate cousin, was very fond of this place. Although it is farther, +she always walked round by it when she came to see me at the cottage. +That absurd statue was put up last year as a sort of memorial to her--a +most unsuitable one to my mind, she being a chilly sort of woman, poor +dear, who always shivered if she saw so much as a hen moulting. I'm sure +it would distress her terribly if she knew that poor creature over there +had to stand in the glen in all weathers, year in and year out, with only +a rag to cover her. And a stone rag at that, which is a cold material at +the best. Yes, this is only the beginning of a track which runs for miles +across the hills to the South. It is so green that you can always make it +out from the heights, and there are all sorts of legends about it. It is +supposed to be the road over which the clans drove back the cattle they +captured in the old days when they were always raiding each other. They +have a name for it In the Gaelic, which means the Green Way." + +"The Green Way," Gimblet repeated mechanically. For a moment his brain +revolved with wild imaginings. + +"Yes," repeated Lady Ruth. "Sometimes they call it 'The Way,' for short. +It is a favourite place for picnics from Crianan. My cousin used to allow +them to come here, and the place is generally made hideous with +egg-shells and paper and old bottles. One of the gardeners comes and +tidies things up once a week in the summer. People are so absolutely +without consciences." + +"Is there a bull here?" cried Gimblet. He was quivering with excitement. + +"Goodness gracious, I hope not!" said Lady Ruth. "Do you see any cattle? +I can't bear those long-horned Highlanders!" + +"No," said Gimblet. "I thought perhaps--But what is the statue? The +design, surely, is rather a strange one for the place." + +"Most extraordinary," assented Lady Ruth. "He got it in Italy and had it +sent the whole way by sea. It took all the king's horses and all the +king's men to get it up here, I can tell you. And, as I say, nothing +less apropos can one possibly imagine. That poor thin female with such +very scanty clothing is hardly a cheerful object on a Scotch winter's +day, and as for those little naked imps they would make anyone shiver, +even in August." + +They had drawn near the sculptured group. It consisted of the slightly +draped figure of a girl, bending over an open box, or casket, from which +a crowd of small creatures, apparently, as Lady Ruth had said, imps or +fairies, were scrambling and leaping forth. + +Gimblet gazed at it intently, as if he had never seen a statue +before. In a moment his face cleared and he turned to Lady Ruth with +burning eyes. + +"It is Pandora," he cried. "Curiosity! Pandora and her box. Is it +not Pandora?" + +Lady Ruth stared at him amazed. + +"I believe it is," she said, "that or something of the sort. I'm not very +well up in mythology." + +"Of course it is," cried Gimblet. "Face curiosity! And here's the bull, +or I'll eat my microscope," he added, advancing to the side of the group +and laying a hand upon the pedestal. + +Lady Ruth followed his gaze with some concern. She was beginning to doubt +his sanity. But there, sure enough, beneath his pointing finger, she +perceived a row of carved heads: the heads of bulls, garlanded in the +Roman manner, and forming a kind of cornice round the top of the great +rectangular stone stand. + +Gimblet glanced to right and left, up the glen and down it. There was no +one to be seen. The sun had fallen by this time beneath the rim of the +hills; a greyness of twilight was spread over the whole scene, and under +the trees the dusk of night was already silently ousting the day. He +turned once more to Lady Ruth. + +"Lady Ruth," he said, "can you keep a secret?" + +"My husband trusted me," she replied. "He was judicious as well as +judicial." + +"I am sure I may follow his example," Gimblet said, after looking at her +fixedly for a moment. "So I will tell you that I believe I am on the +point of discovering Lord Ashiel's missing will--and not that alone. +Somewhere, concealed probably within a few feet of where we are standing, +we may hope to find other and far more important documents, involving, +perhaps, not only the welfare of one or two individuals but that of +kings and nations. Apart from that, and to speak of what most immediately +concerns us at present, I am convinced that within this stone will be +found the true clue to the author of the murder." + +"You don't say so," gasped Lady Ruth, her round eyes rounder than ever. + +"I found some directions in the handwriting of the murdered man," went on +Gimblet, "which I could not understand at first. But their meaning is +plain enough now. 'Take the bull by the horn,' he says. Well, here are +the bulls, and I shall soon know which is the horn." + +He walked round to the front of the statue, so that he faced the stooping +figure of Pandora, and laid his hand upon one of the curved and +projecting horns of the left-hand bull. Nothing happened, and he tried +the next There were seven heads in all along the face of the great block, +and he tested six of them without perceiving anything unusual. Was it +possible that he was mistaken, and that, after all, the words of the +message did not refer to the statue? + +When he grasped the first horn of the last head, the hand that did so was +shaking with excitement and suspense. It seemed, like the rest, to +possess no attribute other than mere decoration. And yet, and yet--surely +he had missed some vital point. He would go over them again. There +remained, however, the last horn, and as he took hold of it with a +premonitory dread of disappointment, he felt that it was loose in its +socket, and that he could by an effort turn it completely over. With a +triumphant cry he twisted it round, and at the same moment Lady Ruth +started back with an exclamation of alarm. + +She was standing where he had left her, and was nearly knocked down by +the great slab of stone which, as Gimblet turned the horn of the bull, +swung sharply out from the end of the pediment, till it hung like a door +invitingly open and disclosing a hollow chamber within the stone. + +Within the opening, on the floor at the far end, stood a large tin +despatch-box. + +The door was a good eighteen inches wide; plenty of room for Gimblet to +climb in, swollen with exultation though he might be. In less than three +seconds he had scrambled through the aperture and was stooping over the +box. It seemed to be locked, but a key lay on the top of the lid. He lost +no time in inserting it, and in a moment threw open the case and saw that +it was full of papers. + +Suddenly there was another cry from Lady Ruth as, for no apparent cause +and without the slightest warning, the stone door slammed itself back +into position, and he was left a prisoner in the total darkness of the +vault. He groped his way to the doorway and pushed against it with all +his strength. He might as well have tried to move the side of a mountain. +But, after an interval long enough for him to have time to become +seriously uneasy, the door flew open again, and the agitated countenance +of Lady Ruth welcomed him to the outside world. + +"Do get out quick," she cried. "If it does it again while you're half in +and half out, you'll be cracked in two as neatly as a walnut." + +Gimblet hurried out, clutching the precious box. No sooner was he safely +standing on the turf than the door shut again with a violence that gave +Pandora the appearance of shaking with convulsions of silent merriment. + +"I wasn't sure how it opened," said Lady Ruth, "but I tried all the horns +and got it right at last. How lucky I was with you!" + +"Yes, indeed," said Gimblet. "I am very thankful you were." + +They twisted the horn again, and stood together to watch the recurring +phenomenon of the closing door. + +"It must be worked by clockwork," the detective said, and taking out his +watch he timed the interval that elapsed between the opening and +shutting. "It stays open for thirty seconds," he remarked after two or +three experiments. "No doubt the mechanism is concealed in the thickness +of the stone. At all events it seems to be in good working order." + +Squatting on the grass, he opened the tin box, and examined the papers +with which it was filled. A glance showed him that they were what he +expected, and he replaced the box where he had found it, while Lady Ruth +manipulated the horn of the bull. + +"I have no right to the papers," he explained to her, as they walked +homeward in the gathering dusk. "It would be more satisfactory if a +magistrate were present at the official opening of the statue, and I will +see what can be done about that to-morrow. In the meantime, and +considering that we have been interfering with other people's property, I +shall be much obliged if you will keep our discovery secret." + +And talking in low, earnest tones, he explained to her more fully all +that was likely to be implied by the papers they had unearthed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +With her white paint and her scarlet smokestack, the _Inverashiel_--one +of the two small steamers that during the summer months plied up and +down the loch, and incidentally carried on communication between +Inverashiel and Crianan--was a picturesque addition to the landscape, +as she approached the wooden landing-stage that stood half a mile below +the promontory on which the castle was built. It was the morning of +Friday, the day following the funeral, and clouds were settling slowly +down on to the tops and shoulders of the hills in spite of the +brilliant sunset of the previous evening. The loch lay dark and still, +its surface wore an oily, treacherous look; every detail of the +_Inverashiel's_ tub-like shape was reflected and beautifully distorted +in the water, which broke in long low waves from her bows as she +swerved round to come alongside the pier. + +As the few passengers who were waiting for her crossed the short gangway, +a shower burst over the loch and in a few minutes had driven every one +into the little cabin, except the two or three men who constituted the +officers and crew of the steamer. One of these was in the act of +slackening the rope by which the boat had been warped alongside, when a +running, gesticulating figure appeared in the distance, shouting to them +to wait for him. + +Waited for accordingly he was; and in a few minutes Gimblet, rather out +of breath after his run, hurried on board, and with a word of apology and +thanks to the obliging skipper turned, like the other passengers, towards +the shelter of the cabin. + +With his hand on the knob of the door he hesitated. Through the glass top +he had just caught sight of a figure that seemed familiar. He had seen +that tweed before; the short girl with her back to him was wearing the +dress in which he had seen her on the Wednesday night, searching among +Lord Ashiel's papers in the library at the castle. It was Julia Romaninov +beyond a doubt, and Gimblet drew back quickly and took up his position +behind the funnels on the after-deck. In spite of the rain he remained +there until the boat reached Crianan, leaning against the rail with his +collar turned up and his soft felt hat pulled down over his ears, so that +little of him was visible except the tip of his nose. + +His mind, always active, was busier than usual as he watched the +ripples roll away in endless succession from the sides of the +_Inverashiel_--which looked so strangely less white on closer +inspection--or followed the smooth soaring movements of the gulls that +swooped and circled around her, as she puffed and panted on her way +across the black, taciturn waters. + +As they drew near to Crianan he concealed himself still more carefully +behind a pile of crates, and not till Miss Romaninov had left the steamer +did he emerge from his hiding-place and step warily off the boat. + +The young lady was still in sight, making her way up the steep pitch of +the main street, and the detective followed her discreetly, loitering +before shop windows, as if fascinated by the display of Scottish +homespuns, or samples of Royal Stewart tartan, and taking an +extraordinary interest in fishing-tackle and trout-flies. + +But, though the girl looked back more than once, the little man in the +ulster who was so intent on picking his way between the puddles did +not apparently provide her with any food for suspicion; and she made +no attempt to see who was so carefully sheltered beneath the umbrella +he carried. + +At last they left: the cobble-stones of the little town and emerged upon +the high road, which here ran across the open moorland. + +It was difficult now to continue the pursuit unobserved: and Gimblet +became absorbed in the contemplation of an enormous cairngorm, which was +masquerading as an article of personal adornment in the window of the +last outlying shop. + +From this position--not without its embarrassments, since a couple of +barefooted children came instantly to the door, where they stood and +stared at him unblinkingly--he saw the Russian advancing at a rapid pace +across the moor; and, look where he would, could perceive no means of +keeping up with her unobserved upon the bare side of the hill. + +Just as he decided that the distance separating them had increased to an +extent which warranted his continuing the chase, he joyfully saw her +slacken her pace, and at the same moment a man, who must have been +sitting behind a boulder beside the road, rose to his feet out of the +heather, and came forward to meet her. For ten long minutes they stood +talking, driving poor Gimblet to the desperate expedient of entering the +shop and demanding a closer acquaintance with the cairngorm. It is +humiliating to relate that he recoiled before it when it was placed in +his hand, and nearly fled again into the road. However, he pulled himself +together and held the proud proprietress, a gaunt, grey-haired woman with +knitting-needles ever clicking in her dexterous hands, in conversation +upon the theme of its unique beauties until the subject was exhausted to +the point of collapse. + +Every other minute he must stroll to the door and take a look up and down +the road. A friend, he explained, had promised to meet him in that place; +and though the shopwoman plainly doubted his veracity, and kept a sharp +eye that he did not take to his heels with the cairngorm, she did not go +so far as to suggest his removing himself from the zone of temptation. + +At last, when for the twentieth time he put his nose round the doorpost, +he saw that the pair had separated, and were walking in opposite +directions, the girl continuing on her way, while the man returned to the +town. He was, indeed, not a hundred yards off. + +Gimblet plunged once more into the shop, and fastened upon some pencils +with a zeal not very convincing after his disappointing vacillation over +the brooch. The gaunt woman cheered up, however, when he bought the first +seventeen she offered him, and, the stock being exhausted, finished by +purchasing a piece of india-rubber, a stylographic pen, and a penny paper +of pins, which she pressed upon him as particularly suited to his needs +and charged him fourpence for. + +By the time he issued forth into the open air, his pockets full of +packages, the stranger had passed the shop and was turning the corner of +the next house. To him, now, Gimblet devoted his powers of shadowing. + +There was no great difficulty about it. The man walked straight before +him, looking neither to the right nor to the left, and as he strode along +the wet roads Gimblet noted with satisfaction the long, narrow, pointed +footprints that were deeply impressed in the muddy places. He had no +doubt they were the same as those he had noticed on the beach on the day +of his arrival at Inverashiel. + +The stranger turned into the Crianan Hotel, which stands on the lake +front, fifty yards from the landing-place of the loch steamers. Gimblet +passed the door without pausing and went down to the loch, where he +mingled with the boatmen and loafers who congregated by the waterside. + +He kept, however, a strict eye on the door of the hotel, and after a +quarter of an hour saw the object of his attentions emerge with +fishing-rod and basket, and cross the road directly towards him. Gimblet +had not been able to see his face before, but now he had a good look as +he passed close beside him. + +He was a tall, fair man, evidently a foreigner, but with nothing very +striking about his appearance. A pointed yellow beard hid the lower part +of his face, and, for the rest, his nose was short, his eyes blue and +close together, and his forehead high and narrow. He looked closely at +Gimblet as he went by, and for a moment the eyes of the two men met, both +equally inscrutable and unflinching; then the stranger glanced aside and +strode on to where a small boat lay moored. The detective turned his back +while the fair man got in and pushed off into the loch. + +"Gentleman going fishing?" he remarked to a man who lounged hard by upon +the causeway. + +"He's axtra fond o' the feeshin'," was the reply, "for a' that he's a +foreign shentleman." + +Waiting till the boat had become a distant speck on the face of the +waters, Gimblet made his way into the inn and entered into conversation +with the landlord, on the pretext of engaging rooms for a friend. The +landlord was sorry, but the house was full. + +"If ye wanted them in a fortnicht's time," he said, "ye could hae the +hale hotel; but tae the end o' the holidays we're foll up. Folks tak' +their rooms a month in advance; they come here for the fishin' on the +loch, and because my hoose is the maist comfortable in the Hielands." + +"Indeed, I can well believe that," Gimblet assured him. "I suppose you +get a lot of tourists passing through, though, Americans, for instance?" + +"We hardly ever hae a room tae tak' them in. No, I seldom hae an American +bidin' here; they maistly gang doon the loch," said the innkeeper. + +"I thought," said Gimblet, "that was a foreign-looking man whom I saw a +little while ago, coming out of the hotel." + +"We hae ae gintleman bidin' here wha belongs tae foreign pairts," the +landlord admitted. "A Polish gintleman, he is, Count Pretovsky, a vary +nice gintleman. I couldna just cae him a tourist. He's vary keen on the +fishin' and was up here for it last year as well. He has his ain boat and +is aye on the water trailin' aefter the salmon." + +"A great many sporting foreigners come to our island nowadays," Gimblet +remarked. "Does he get many fish?" + +"Oh, it's a grand place for salmon," said the inn-keeper with obvious +pride. "And there's troots tac. And pike, mair's the peety," he added. + +"Dear me," said Gimblet, "just what my friend wants. I'm sorry you +can't take him in. I must tell him to write in good time next year if +he wants a room." + +As he parted from the landlord upon the doorstep of the Crianan Hotel, +the _Rob Roy_--the second of the two loch steamers--was edging away from +the pier, under a cloud of black smoke from her funnel The rain had +stopped; the passengers were scattered on the deck, and in the bows of +the vessel the detective caught sight of Julia Romaninov's tweed-clad +form. She was leaning against the rail, and gazing at a distant part of +the loch where a black speck, which might represent a rowing boat, could +faintly be discerned. She had come back, then, from her moorland walk. It +was as Gimblet had expected; and, though he chafed at the delay, he +regretted less than he would have otherwise that he could not catch the +_Rob Roy_. + +The _Inverashiel_ would be due on her homeward trip in a couple of hours' +time, and meanwhile he had other business that must be attended to. + +He went first to the post office, where he registered and posted to +Scotland Yard a packet he had brought with him. Then, after asking +his way of the sociable landlord of the hotel, he proceeded to the +police station, a single-storied stone building standing at the end +of a side street. + +Here he made himself known to the inspector, and imparted information +which made that personage open his eyes considerably wider than was +his custom. + +"If you will bring one of your men, and come with me yourself," said +Gimblet, at the conclusion of the interview, "I think I shall be able to +convince you that a mistake has been made. In the meantime there will be +no harm done by a watch being kept on the foreign gentleman who is at +this moment trolling for salmon on the loch." + +The inspector agreed; and when the _Inverashiel_ started, an hour later, +on her voyage down the loch, she carried the two policemen on her deck, +as well as the most notorious detective she was ever likely to have the +privilege of conveying. + +It was nearly three o'clock when they landed on the Inverashiel pier. + +The weather, which for the last few hours had looked like clearing, had +now turned definitely to rain; clouds had descended on the hills, and the +trees in the valleys stooped and dripped in the saturated, mist-laden +air. Gimblet conducted the men to the cottage, where Lady Ruth anxiously +awaited them. + +"If you don't mind their staying here," he suggested to her, "while I go +up to the castle and consult Lord Ashiel about a magistrate, it will be +most convenient, on account of the distance." + +"By all means," said Lady Ruth. "I feel safer with them. I expect you +will find Miss Byrne up there. She has not come in to lunch, and I think +she probably met Mark and went to lunch at the castle. She ought to know +better than to go to lunch alone with a young man, and I am just +wondering if she has changed her mind and accepted him after all. Girls +are kittle cattle, but I've got quite fond of that one, and I hope she's +not forgotten poor David so soon. I really am feeling anxious about her." + +"I daresay she has only walked farther than she intended," said Gimblet, +"or perhaps she came to a burn or some place she couldn't get over, and +has had to go round a mile or two. Depend on it, that's what's happened. +But I promise you that if she is at the castle I will bring her back when +I return." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +Behind the shrubberies, which lay at the back of the holly hedge that +surrounded the little enclosed garden outside the library, beyond the. +end of the battlements, and reached by a disused footpath, a great tree +stood upon the edge of the steep hillside and thrust its sweeping +branches over the void. + +Its trunk was grey and moss-grown; moss carpeted the ground between its +protruding roots, but the bracken and heather held back, and left a +half-circle beneath it, untenanted by their kind. It would seem that all +vegetation fears to venture beneath the shade of the beech; and for the +most part it stands solitary, shunned by other growing things except +moss, which creeps undaunted where its more vigorous brothers lack the +courage to establish themselves. + +Here came Juliet that morning. + +A week ago, David Southern had shown her the path to the tree. It had +been a favourite haunt of his when he was a boy, he told her. It was a +private chamber to which he resorted on the rare occasions when he was +disposed to solitude; when something had gone wrong with his world he had +been used to retire there with his dog, or, more seldom, a book. There he +had been accustomed to lie, his back supported by the tree, and hold +forth to the dog upon the troubles and difficulties of life and the +general crookedness of things; or, if a book were his companion, he +would gaze out, between the pages, at distant Crianan clinging faintly to +the knees of Ben Ghusy, and watch the swift change of passing cloud and +hanging curtain of mist upon the faces of the hills and loch. + +It had been a place all his own; secret from every one, even from Mark, +his companion during all those holidays that he had spent at Inverashiel. +Somehow, David told Juliet--and it was a confidence he had seldom before +imparted to anyone--he had never quite managed to hit it off with Mark. +He couldn't say why, exactly. No doubt it was his own fault; but there +was no accounting for one's likes and dislikes. + +And with quick regret at having betrayed his carefully suppressed +feelings in regard to his cousin, David had laughed apologetically, and +spoken of other things. + +Here, then, just as the steamer _Rob Roy_ was drawing close to the wooden +landing-stage at the edge of the loch, with Julia Romaninov still +standing in the bows; here, because she had once been to this place with +him, because without her he had so often sat upon these mossy roots, came +Juliet to dream of her love. + +Like him, she seated herself against the tree trunk at the giddy brink of +the precipitous rock; like him, her eyes rested on the smooth waters +below her, or on the far-away misty distance where Crianan slumbered; +but, unlike him, her eyes, as they looked, were filled with tears. Where +was he now? Oh, David, poor unjustly treated David! In what narrow cell, +lighted only by a high, iron-barred window--for so the scene shaped +itself in her mind--with uncovered floor of stone, bare walls and a bench +to lie on, was the man she loved wearing away his days under the burden +of so frightful an accusation? + +For the thousandth time Juliet's blood boiled within her at the +thought, and she grew hot with anger and indignant scorn. That anyone +should have dared to suspect him! Why were such fools, such wicked, +evil-working imbeciles as the police allowed to exist for one moment +upon the face of the globe? But no doubt they had some hidden motive in +arresting him, for it was quite incredible that they really imagined he +had committed this appalling crime. She could not understand their +motive, to be sure, but without doubt there must have been some reason +which was not clear to her. + +Oh, David, David! Was he thinking of her, as she was thinking of him? Did +he know, by instinct, that she would be doing all that could be done to +bring about his release? But was she? Again her mind was filled with the +disquieting question, was there nothing that might be done, that she was +leaving undone? Had she forgotten something, neglected something? She was +sure Gimblet did not believe David to be guilty, but was he certain of +being able to prove his innocence? He did not seem to have discovered +much at present. + +Suddenly, in the midst of her distress, she smiled to herself. + +At least Miss Tarver had shown herself in her true colours, and was no +more to be considered. Juliet felt that she could almost forgive her for +her readiness to believe the worst. It was dreadful, yes, and shameful +that anyone else should think for a moment that David could be capable of +such a deed, but in Miss Tarver, perhaps, the thought had not been +inexcusable. On the whole, it was so nice of her to break the engagement +that she might be forgiven the ridiculous reason she had advanced for +doing it. Of course, Juliet assured herself, it was a mere pretext, +because _no_ one could possibly believe it. And in this manner she +continued to reiterate her conviction that the suspicions entertained of +her lover were all assumed for some darkly obscure purpose. + +So the morning wore away. A shower or two passed down the valley, but +under the thick tent of the beech leaves she scarcely felt it. She was, +besides, dressed for bad weather; and the grey and mournful face of the +day was in harmony with her mood. + +There was something comforting in this high perch. She seemed more aloof +from the troubles and despair of the last few days than she had imagined +possible. There was a calm, a remoteness, about the grey mountains, +disappearing and reappearing from behind their screen of cloud but +unchanged and unmoved by what went on around and among them, that was in +some way reassuring. + +The burn that ran at the bottom of the hill on which she sat, hurrying +down to the loch in such turbulent foaming haste, she was able to +compare, with a sad smile, to herself. The loch, she thought, was wide +and impassive as justice, which did not allow itself to be influenced by +the emotions. The burn would get down just the same without so much +turmoil and fuss; and she would see David's name cleared, equally surely, +if she waited calmly on events, instead of burning her heart out in +hopeless impatience and anxiety. + +As she gazed, with some such thoughts as these, down to the stream +that splashed on its way below her, her attention was caught by a +movement in the bushes half-way down the steep slope at the top of +which she was sitting. + +The day was windless and no leaf moved on any tree. There must be some +animal among the shrubs that covered the embankment, some large animal, +since its movements caused so much commotion; for, as she watched, first +one bush and then another stirred and bent and was shaken as if by +something thrusting its way through the dense growth. + +What could it be? A sheep, perhaps; there were many of them on the +hillsides. This must be one that had strayed far from the rest. And yet +would a sheep make so much stir? Juliet drew back a little behind the +trunk of the beech-tree. Could it be a deer? She could not hear any sound +of the creature's advance, for the air was full of the clamour of the +burn, but she could trace the direction of its progress by shaking leaves +and swinging boughs. It seemed to be gradually mounting the slope. + +Suddenly a head emerged from the waving mass of a rhododendron, and with +astonishment Juliet saw that it was that of Julia Romaninov. + +Her first impulse was to lean forward and call her, but as she did so the +cry died unheard upon her lips. For the manner of Julia's advance struck +her as very odd. The girl was bending nearly double, and moving with a +caution that seemed very strange and unnecessary. What was the matter? +Was she stalking something? Crouching as she was in the bushes, she would +not be seen by anyone on the path below. Did she not want to be seen? It +looked more and more like it. But why in the world should Julia creep +along as if she feared to be observed? Where was she going, and why? + +Suddenly Juliet came to a quick decision: she would find out what Julia +Romaninov was doing. + +She backed hurriedly into the bracken, and made her way slowly and +cautiously around the clearing under the beech-tree to the edge of the +hill again, keeping under cover of the fern and heather. When she peered +over, Julia had disappeared from view beneath the rhododendrons. + +For a minute Juliet's eyes searched the side of the slope below. Then she +drew back her head quickly, for she had caught sight of another bush +shaking uneasily a little way beyond the gap in which she had had her +first glimpse of the cause of the disturbance. Cowering low in the +bracken she crept along the top, keeping a foot or two from the edge, +where the rock fell nearly perpendicularly for a few yards before its +angle changed to the comparatively gradual, though actually steep slope +of the hill which Julia was climbing. + +From time to time she looked cautiously between clumps of fern or heath, +to make sure that she was keeping level with her unconscious quarry. + +The front of the hill swung round in a bold curve till it reached the +castle; and it soon became evident that, if both girls continued to +advance along the lines they were following, they would converge at a +point where the end of the battlemented wall met the great holly hedge +that formed two sides of the garden enclosure. + +Juliet perceived this when she was not more than a dozen yards from the +corner, and dropped at full length to the soft ground, at a spot where +she could see between the stalks and under the leaves, and yet herself +remain concealed. She had not long to wait. In a minute, Julia's face +appeared over the brow of the hill. She pulled herself up by a young fir +sapling that hung over the brink, and stood for a moment, flushed and +panting after her long climb. She was dressed in a greenish tweed, which +blended with the woodland surroundings, and her shoulder was turned to +the place where Juliet lay wondering whether she would be discovered. + +Fronting them, the end of the little turret, with which the wall of the +old fortress now came to a sudden termination, could be seen rearing its +grey stones above the dark glossy foliage of the hedge, which grew here +with peculiar vigour and continued to the extreme edge of the cliff, and +even farther. + +What was Juliet's surprise to see Julia, when she had found her breath, +and taken one quick look round as if to satisfy herself she was +unobserved, suddenly cast herself down, in her turn, upon the damp earth, +and inserting her head beneath the prickly barricade of the holly leaves, +begin to crawl and wriggle forward until she had completely disappeared +under it. What in the world could she be doing? + +Minutes passed, and she did not reappear. Juliet waited, her nerves +stretched in expectation, but nothing happened. Overhead little birds, +tomtits and creepers, played about the bark of the fir-trees; a robin +came and looked at her consideringly, with a bright sensible eye; from +two hundred feet below, the murmur of the burn rose constant and +insistent; but no other sound broke the stillness, nor was there any sign +of human life upon the top of the cliff. + +At last the girl could stand it no longer. Her patience was exhausted. +Curiosity urged her like a goad; and, if she had not much expectation of +making any important discovery, she was at least determined to solve the +mystery that now perplexed her. + +Without more ado she got to her feet, and ran to the holly hedge. There, +throwing herself down once more, she parted the leaves with a cautious +hand, and followed the path taken by the Russian. + +The hedge was old and very thick, more than three yards in width at this +end of it. In the middle, the trunks of the trees that formed it rose in +a close-growing, impassable barrier; but just opposite the place where +Julia had vanished Juliet found that there was a gap, caused, perhaps, by +the death in earlier days of one of the trees, or, as she afterwards +thought more likely, by the intentional omission or destruction of one of +the young plants. It was a narrow opening, but she managed to wriggle +through it. + +On the other side, progress was bounded by the wall, whose massive +granite blocks presented a smooth unbroken surface. Where, then, had +Julia gone? The branches did not grow low on this, as on the outer side +of the hedge, and there was room to stand, though not to stand upright. +Stooping uncomfortably, the girl looked about her, and saw in the soft +brown earth the plain print of many footsteps, both going and coming, +between the place where she crouched and the end of the wall. She looked +behind her, and there were no marks. Clearly, Julia had gone to the end; +but what then? The corner of the wall was at the very edge of the +precipice; from what she remembered to have seen from below, the rock +was too sheer to offer any foothold; besides why, having just climbed to +the summit should anyone immediately descend again, and by such an +extraordinary route? While these thoughts followed one another in her +mind, Juliet had advanced along the track of the footsteps, and clinging +tightly to the trunk of the last holly bush she leant forward and looked +down. + +As she thought, the descent was impossible: the rock fell away at her +feet, sheer and smooth; there was no path there that a cat could take. It +made her giddy to look, and she drew back hurriedly. + +Where, then, could Julia have gone? Not to the left, that was certain, +for then she would have emerged again into view. To the right? That +seemed impossible. Still, Juliet leant forward again, and peered round +the corner of the wall. + +There, not more than a couple of feet away, was a small opening, less +than eighteen inches wide by about a yard in height. Hidden by the +overhanging end of the hedge, it would be invisible from below. Here was +the road Julia had taken. + +Juliet did not hesitate. She could reach the aperture easily, and it +would have been the simplest thing in the world to climb into it, but +for the yawning chasm beneath. Holding firmly to the friendly holly, and +resisting, with an effort, the temptation to look down, she swung +herself bravely over the edge and scrambled into the hole with a gasp of +relief. It was, after all, not very difficult. She found herself +standing within the entrance of a narrow passage built into the +thickness of the wall. Beside the opening through which she had come, a +little door of oak, grey with age and strengthened with rusty bars and +cross-pieces of iron, drooped upon its one remaining hinge. Two huge +slabs of stone leaning near it, against the wall, showed how it had +been the custom in former centuries to fortify the entrance still more +effectively in time of danger. + +Juliet did not wait to examine these fragments, interesting though they +might be to archaeologists, but hurried down the passage as quickly as +she could in the darkness that filled it, feeling her way with an +outstretched hand upon the stones on either side. As her eyes became +accustomed to the obscurity, she saw that though the way was dark it was +yet not entirely so: a gloomy light penetrated at intervals through +ivy-covered loopholes pierced in the thickness of the outer wall; and she +imagined bygone McConachans pouring boiling oil or other hospitable +greeting through those slits on to the heads of their neighbours. But +surely, she reflected, no one would ever have attacked the castle from +that side, where the precipice already offered an impregnable defence; +the passage must have been used as a means of communication with the +outer world, or, perhaps, as a last resort, for the purpose of escape by +the beleaguered forces. + +After fifty yards or so of comparatively easy progress, the shafts of +twilight from the loopholes ceased to permeate the murky darkness in +which she walked, and she was obliged to go more slowly, and to feel her +way dubiously by the touch of hands and feet. + +The floor appeared to her to be sloping away beneath her, and as she +advanced the descent became more and more rapid, till she could hardly +keep her feet. She went very gingerly, with a vague fear lest the path +should stop unexpectedly, and she herself step into space. + +Presently she found herself once more upon level ground, when another +difficulty confronted her: the walls came suddenly to an end. Feeling +cautiously about her in the darkness, she made out that she had come to a +point where another passage crossed the one she was following, a sort of +cross-road in this unknown country of shade and stone. Here, then, were +three possible routes to take, and no means of knowing which of them +Julia Romaninov had gone by. + +After a little hesitation, she decided to keep straight on. It would at +all events be easier to return if she did, and she would be less likely +to make a mistake and lose her way. So on she stumbled; and who shall say +that Fate had not a hand in this chance decision? + +Though the distance she had traversed was inconsiderable, the darkness +and uncertainty made it appear to her immense, and each moment she +expected to come upon the Russian girl. At every other step she paused +and listened, but no sound met her ears except a slight, regular, +thudding noise, which she presently discovered, with something of a +shock, to be the beating of her own heart. The sound of her progress was +almost inaudible. As the day was damp, she was wearing goloshes, and her +small, rubber-shod feet fell upon the stone floor with a gentle patter +that was scarcely perceptible. + +At last she nearly fell over the first step of a flight of stairs. + +She mounted them one by one with every precaution her fears could +suggest. For by now the first enthusiasm of the chase had worn off, and +the solitude and darkness of this strange place had worked upon her +nerves till she was terrified of she knew not what, and ready to scream +at a touch. + +Already she bitterly regretted having started out upon this enterprise +of spying. Why had she not gone and reported what she had seen to Mr. +Gimblet? That surely would have been the obvious, the sensible course. It +was, she reflected, a course still open to her; and in another moment she +would have turned and taken it, but even as the thought crossed her mind +she was aware that the darkness was sensibly decreased, and in another +second she had risen into comparative daylight. As she stood still, +debating what she should do, and taking in all that could now be +distinguished of her surroundings, she saw that the stairs ended in an +open trap-door, leading to a high, black-lined shaft like the inside of a +chimney, in which, some two feet above the trap, an odd, narrow curve of +glass acted as a window, and admitted a very small quantity of light. A +streak of light seemed to come also from the wall beside it. + +Juliet drew herself cautiously up, till her head was in the chimney, and +her eyes level with the slip of glass. + +With a sudden shock of surprise she saw that she was looking into the +room which, above all others, she had so much cause to remember ever +having entered. + +It was, indeed, the library of the castle, and she was looking at it from +the inside of that clock into which Gimblet had once before seen Julia +Romaninov vanish. + +The curtains were drawn in the room, but after the absolute blackness of +the stone corridors the semi-dusk looked nearly as bright as full +daylight to Juliet, and she had no difficulty in distinguishing that +there was but one person in the library, and that person Julia. + +She was standing by a bookshelf at the far end, near the window, and +seemed to be methodically engaged in an examination of the books. Juliet +saw her take out first one, then another, musty, leather-bound volume, +shake it, turn over the leaves, and put it back in its place after +groping with her hand at the back of the shelf. Plainly she was hunting +for something. But for what? She had no business where she was, in any +case, and Juliet's indignation gathered and swelled within her as she +watched this unwarrantable intrusion. + +She would confront the girl and ask her what she meant by such behaviour. +But how to get into the library? + +Looking about her, she saw that the streak of light in the wall beside +her came through a perpendicular crack which might well be the edge of a +little door. + +She pushed gently and the wood yielded to her fingers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Later on in the afternoon, when Gimblet arrived at the castle, he was +immediately shown into the presence of Lord Ashiel, who was pacing the +smoking-room restlessly, a cigarette between his teeth. He looked pale +and haggard, the strain of the last few days had evidently been too +much for him. + +Gimblet greeted him sympathetically. + +"You have not found your uncle's will, I can see," he began, "and you are +fretting at the idea of keeping his daughter out of her fortune. But set +your mind at rest; we shall be able to put that right. Is she here, by +the way?" he added, remembering Lady Ruth's anxiety. + +"Here, of course not! What do you mean?" cried Mark, stopping suddenly +in his walk. + +"Well, I was sure she was not," Gimblet replied, "but I promised to ask. +Lady Ruth is rather upset because Miss Byrne did not come in to lunch. I +told her she had probably gone for a longer walk than had been her +intention," he added soothingly, for Mark was looking at him with a +disturbed expression. + +He seemed relieved, however, by the detective's suggestion. + +"Yes, no doubt, that would be the reason," he murmured, lighting a fresh +cigarette, and throwing himself down in an easy-chair, with his hands +clasped behind his head. "No, I haven't found any will, and there's not +a corner left that I haven't turned inside out. I suppose he never really +made it. Just talked about it, probably, as people are so fond of doing. +And now I'm at a loose end; all alone in this big house with no one to +speak to and nothing to do with myself. It's a beast of a day, or I +should go out and try for a salmon, in self-defence. To-morrow I shall go +South. And you, have you found out anything new about the murder yet?" + +"I have found out one thing which you will be glad to hear," said +Gimblet, "and that is the place where the missing will is concealed." + +"What!" cried Mark, leaping to his feet. "Where is it? What does it say? +Give it to me!" + +"I haven't got it," Gimblet told him. "I don't know what it says, but I +know where to look for it. It is in the statue your uncle put up on the +track known as the Green Way. I have found a memorandum of his which sets +the matter beyond a doubt." + +And he related at length the story of the half-sheet of paper with the +mysterious writing, and of how he had learnt by accident of the manner in +which the statue fitted in with the obscure directions, omitting nothing +except the fact that he had already acted on the information so far as to +make certain of the actual existence of the tin box, and saying that he +should prefer the papers to be brought to light in the presence of a +magistrate. + +"I believe there are other documents there besides the will," he said, +without troubling to explain what excellent reasons he had for such a +belief. "I understood from your uncle that there might be some of an +almost international importance. In case any dispute should subsequently +arise about them, I wish to have more than one reliable witness to their +being found. Can you send a man over to the lodge at Glenkliquart, and +ask General Tenby to come back with him. I am told that he is a +magistrate." + +Gimblet did not think it necessary to relate how he had obtained +possession of the sheet of paper bearing the injunction to "face +curiosity." His adventures on that night savoured too strongly of +house-breaking to be drawn attention to. + +"Your uncle must have posted it to me in London the day before he died," +he said mendaciously. "It was forwarded here, and at first I could make +neither head nor tail of it." + +"Why didn't you tell me?" Mark asked impatiently. "And yet," he added +reflecting, "I might not have seen to what it referred. Yes, of course I +will send over for General Tenby. He can't come for three or four hours, +though, which will make it rather late. Are you sure we had not better +open the thing sooner? The bull's horn at the south-east corner turns +like a key, you say? Suppose some one else finds that out and makes off +with whatever may be hidden there." + +"I am absolutely sure we needn't fear anything of the sort, because I +have the best of reasons for being positive that no one has the slightest +inkling of the secret," Gimblet assured him. "There is a whole gang of +scoundrels after the document of which your uncle told me, who are ready +to spend any money, or risk any penalty, in order to obtain it. They will +not be deterred even by having to pay for it with their lives. You may be +quite sure that if anyone had suspected where it was concealed, it would +not have been allowed to remain there, and we should find the _cache_ +empty. But we may safely argue that they have not found it, since in that +case they certainly would not hang about the neighbourhood." + +"Do you mean to say," cried Mark, "that you think there are any of +these Nihilist people lurking about? That letter which came for +Uncle Douglas--the letter from Paris--I guessed it meant something +of the sort." + +"There is a foreigner staying at Crianan," said Gimblet, "whom I have +every reason to suspect. More than that, there has been a Russian in your +very midst who, I am afraid, you will be shocked to hear, is hand in +glove with him." + +"Whom do you mean?" exclaimed Mark, "not--not Julia Romaninov?" It seemed +to the detective that he winced as he uttered the name of the girl. +Silently Gimblet bowed his head, and for a minute the two men stood +without a word. "Then," stammered Mark, "you think that she--that +she--Oh," he cried, "I can hardly believe that!" + +Gimblet did not reply, but after a few moments walked over to the +writing-table and spread out a piece of notepaper. He kept his back +turned towards the young man, who seemed thankful for an opportunity to +recover his composure. + +His face was still working nervously, however, when at length the +detective turned and held out a pen towards him. + +"Will you not write at once to General Tenby?" he suggested. + +Mark sat down before the blotting-pad. + +"He will be at home," he said mechanically. "This weather will have +driven them in early if they have been shooting." + +The note was written and dispatched by a groom on horseback, and then +Gimblet bade an revoir to his host at the door of the castle. + +"I will go back to the cottage," he said; "I have an accumulation of +correspondence that absolutely must be attended to, and I do not think +there is anything to be done up here before General Tenby comes. Once we +have the Nihilist papers in our hands I have a little plan by which I +think our birds may be trapped. Will you meet me at the cottage at +half-past six? The General will have to pass it on the way to +Inverashiel, and we can stop him as he goes by." + +"It will be about seven o'clock, I expect," said Mark, "when he gets down +from Glenkliquart. I'll be with you before he is. The Lord knows how I +shall get through the time till he comes. I loathe writing letters, but +this afternoon I'm dashed if I don't almost envy you and your +correspondence." + +"I know it is the waiting that tells on one," Gimblet said, his voice +full of kindly sympathy. "What you want is to get right away from this +place. Its associations must be horrible to you. No one could really be +astonished if you never set foot in it again." + +Mark laughed rather bitterly. + +"That's just what I feel like," he said shortly. "My uncle killed; my +cousin arrested; my friend accused. Miss Byrne refusing to let me behave +decently to her about the money. Oh well," he pulled himself up, and +spoke in a more guarded tone, "one gets used to everything in time, no +doubt, but just at present, I'm afraid, I am rather depressing company. +See you later." + +They went their ways, Gimblet going forth into the drenching rain which +was now falling down the road, through the soaking woodlands to the +cottage, where the Crianan policemen still smoked their pipes +undisturbed. Lady Ruth met him at the gate, running down in her +waterproof when she saw him approaching. + +"Where is Juliet?" she cried. "Wasn't she at Inverashiel?" + +"Hasn't she come back?" asked Gimblet, answering her question by another. + +"No sign of her. What can have happened? Mr. Gimblet, I am really getting +dreadfully anxious. She must have gone on to the hills and lost her way +in the mist." + +"She is sure to get back in time," Gimblet tried to reassure her, though +he himself was beginning to wonder at the girl's absence. "Perhaps," he +added, "she is at Mrs. Clutsam's. I daresay that's the truth of it." + +"She can't be there," Lady Ruth answered. "Mrs. Clutsam told me she was +going out all day, to-day, to visit her husband's sister who is staying +somewhere twenty miles from here on the Oban road, and longing, of +course, to hear all about the murder at first hand. Relations are so +exacting, and if they are relations-in-law they become positive Shylocks. +Juliet may have gone to the lodge though, all the same, and stayed to +keep the Romaninov girl company." + +She seemed to be satisfied with this explanation; and Gimblet had tea +with her, and then went to write his letters. + +Soon after six one of the policemen went down to the high road to lie in +wait for General Tenby, and about twenty minutes past the hour wheels +rattled on the gravel of the short carriage-drive, and the General drove +up to the door. He was a tall, soldierly-looking man of between fifty and +sixty, with a red face and a keen blue eye, and a precise, jerky manner. + +"Ah, Lady Ruth! Glad to see you bearing up so well under these tragic +circumstances," he said, shaking hands with that lady, who came to the +door to welcome him. "Poor Ashiel ought to have had shutters to his +windows. Dreadful mistake, no shutters: lets in draughts and colds in the +head, if nothing worse. These old houses are all the same. No safety in +them from anything. Young McConachan wrote me an urgent note to come +over. Don't quite see what for, but here I am. Eh? What do you say? Oh, +detective from London, is it? How d'ye do? Perhaps you can tell me what +the programme is?" + +"Young Lord Ashiel promised to meet us here at half-past six," Gimblet +told him. "We expect to put our hands on some important documents, and I +was anxious you should be present." + +"Quite unnecessary. Absolutely ridiculous. Still, here I am. May as well +come along." + +The General went on talking to Lady Ruth, but after a few minutes the +inspector from Crianan sent in to ask if he could speak to him, and they +retired together to Lady Ruth's little private sitting-room, where they +remained closeted for some time. While the old soldier was listening to +what the policeman had to tell him, Gimblet began to show signs of +restlessness. He went to the door and looked about him. The weather was +clearing, the clouds breaking and scudding fast before a wind which had +arisen in the North; a tinge of blue showed here and there in the +interstices between them, while a veil of mist that trailed after them +shone faintly orange in the rays of the hidden sun. + +Gimblet went back and sat down in the drawing-room with the _Scotsman_ in +his hand. He put it down after a few minutes, however, and began +fidgeting about the room. Then he went and conferred with the second of +the two policemen, and as he was talking to him the General and the +inspector reappeared. + +"I think," said Gimblet, coming towards them, "that we will not wait any +longer for Lord Ashiel." + +General Tenby, staring at him with rather a strange expression, +nevertheless silently assented, and the four men started on their walk to +the green way. + +As they went up the glen a ray of sunshine emerged from between the +flying clouds, and fell upon the statue at the end of the enclosed glade. +Away to the right their eyes could follow the track of a distant shower; +and as they went a rainbow curved across the sky, stretching from hill to +hill like some great monumental arch set up for the celestial armies to +march under on their return from the conquest of the earth. + +"That statue," Gimblet remarked to the General, who walked beside him, +"is a specimen of the worst modern Italian sculpture. The figure of +Pandora is modelled like a sack of potatoes; the composition is weak and +unsatisfactory; and the pediment on which the whole group is poised large +enough to support three others of the same size." + +The General grunted. + +"I always understood that the late Lord Ashiel knew what he was +about," he said stiffly. "He told me himself that it cost him a great +deal of money." + +Gimblet sighed. He could not help feeling that it was a pity Lord Ashiel +had not earlier fallen into the habit of consulting him. + +Still, he was bound to admit that though the stone group, regarded as +a work of art, was altogether deplorable, the general effect of the +erection, in its rectangular setting of forest, was excellent. The +whole scene was one of peaceful and romantic beauty. Poets might have +sat themselves down in that moist and shining spot; and, forgetful of +the possibilities of rheumatism, found their muse inspiring beyond +the ordinary. + +Gimblet was at heart something of a poet, but he felt no inclination to +communicate the feelings which the place and hour aroused in him to any +of his companions; and it was in a silence which had in it something +dimly foreboding that the party drew near to the statue. + +In silence, Gimblet approached the great block of stone and laid his hand +upon the projecting horn of the bull. Equally silently the two policemen +had taken up positions at the end of the pedestal; the General stood +behind them, alert and interested. + +After a swift glance, which took in all these details, Gimblet turned the +horn round in its socket. + +The hidden door swung open, and there was a sound of muttered +exclamations from the police and a loud oath from the General. Gimblet +sprang round the corner of the pedestal, and there, as he expected, +cowering in the mouth of the disclosed cavity, and looking, in his fury +of fear and mortification, for all the world like some trapped vermin, +crouched Lord Ashiel, glaring at his liberators with a rage that was +hardly sane. + +Beyond him, on the floor at the back, they could see the tin dispatch +box standing open and empty. + +The two policemen, acting on instructions previously given them, made one +simultaneous grab at the young man and dragged him into the open with +several seconds to spare before the door slammed to again, in obedience +to the invisible mechanism that controlled it. They set him on his legs +on the wet turf, and stood, one on each side of him, a retaining hand +still resting on either arm. + +For a moment Mark gazed from the General to the detective, his eyes full +of hatred. Then he controlled himself with an effort, and when he spoke +it was with a forced lightness of manner. + +"I have to thank you for letting me out," he said. "The air in there was +getting terrible." He paused, and filled his lungs ostentatiously, but +no one answered him. Losing something of his assumed calmness, he went +on, uneasily: "I just thought I'd come along and see if there was any +truth in Mr. Gimblet's story; and I was quite right to doubt it, since +there isn't. He's not quite as clever as he thinks, for he was as +positive as you like that my uncle's will was hidden here, but as a +matter of fact it's not, as I was taking the trouble to make sure when +that cursed statue shut me in. There's nothing in it of any sort except +an empty tin box." + +"There's nothing in it now," said Gimblet, speaking for the first time, +"because I had no doubt you meant to destroy the will if you found it, so +I removed it to a safe place last night. As for the other papers, I have +sent them to London, where they will be still safer. I knew you would +give yourself away by coming here. That's why I told you the secret of +the bull's horn." + +Mark's face was dreadful to see. He made a menacing step forward as if +he would throw himself upon the detective. But the strong right hands of +Inspector Cameron and Police Constable Fraser tightened on his arms and +restrained his further action. He seemed for the first time to be +conscious of their presence. + +"Leave go of my arm," he shouted. "What the devil do you mean by putting +your dirty hands on me?" + +"My lord," said the inspector, "you had better come quietly. I am here to +arrest you for the murder of your uncle, Lord Ashiel, and I warn you that +anything you say may be used against you." + +"Are you going to arrest the whole family?" scoffed Mark. "Where's your +warrant, man?" + +"I have it here, my lord," replied the inspector, fumbling in his pocket +for the paper the astonished General had signed when the inspector had +imparted to him, in Lady Ruth's little sitting-room, the information he +had received from Mr. Gimblet. + +As Inspector Cameron fumbled, the young man, with a sudden jerk which +found them unprepared, threw off the hold upon his arms and leaped aside. + +As he did so, he plunged his hand into his pocket and drew forth a +little phial. + +"You shall never take me alive," he cried, and lifted it to his lips. + +"Stop him!" shouted Gimblet. + +Throwing his whole weight upon the uplifted arm, he forced the phial away +from Mark's already open mouth; the other men rushed to his assistance, +and between them the frustrated would-be suicide was overpowered, and +held firmly while the inspector fastened a pair of handcuffs over his +wrists. When it was done he raised his pinioned hands, as well as he +could, and shook them furiously at Gimblet. + +"It's you I have to thank for this," he shouted. "Curse you, you +eavesdropping spy. But there are surprises in store for you, my friend. +You've got me, it seems, and you say you've got the will. You'll find it +more difficult to lay your hands on the heiress!" + +The words and still more the triumphant tone in which they were uttered +cast a chill upon them all. + +"What do you mean?" cried Gimblet. + +But not another syllable could be got out of the prisoner; and the +inspector, besides, protested against questions being addressed to him. + +With all the elation over his capture taken out of him, and with a mind +full of brooding anxiety, Gimblet hurried on ahead of the returning +party, and burst in upon Lady Ruth with eager inquiries. + +But Juliet had not returned. + +How was anyone to know that she had that morning made her way into the +secret passage of the old tower, and watched through the slip of glass in +the case of the clock what Julia Romaninov was doing in the library? + +But leaving Gimblet and Lady Ruth to organize a search for her, we will +return to Juliet in her hiding-place and see what was the end of her +adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +When Juliet, incensed and indignant at the Russian's behaviour, +discovered the door in the clock and was on the point of opening it +and making her presence known, a noise of steps in the passage made +her pause. As she listened, there was the sound of a key turning in +the lock, the library door was thrown suddenly open, and Mark stepped +into the room. + +Juliet saw Julia's expression as she sprang round to face the newcomer. +She saw it change, swift as lightning, from a look of horrified dismay to +one of sudden transforming tenderness, as the girl recognized the +intruder, that the hand already in the act of pushing open the door of +the clock fell inert and limp to her side, and if she had been able to +move she would have lost no time in retreating. She knew instinctively +that she was seeing a secret laid bare which she had no right to spy +upon. And yet, though her impulse was to fly from the place in +embarrassment and confusion, something stronger than her natural +discretion and delicacy held her where she stood. For Julia had not come +here for the purpose of meeting Mark. She had come with a purpose less +personal: something, Juliet felt convinced, that was in some way vaguely +discreditable, and at the same time menacing. It could be for no harmless +reason that she had taken this secret, dangerous way into the castle. + +And so Juliet kept her ground, blushing at her role of spy, and averting +her eyes as Julia dropped the book she was holding and ran forward to +meet Mark, with that tell-tale look upon her face. + +But Mark did not show the same pleasure. He stood, holding the handle of +the door, which he had closed gently behind him, and looking with a +certain sternness at the girl. + +"Julia," he said, "you here! What are you doing?" + +"Oh, Mark," she cried, not answering his question, "aren't you glad to +see me? It is so long, oh, it is so long since I saw you!" + +She threw her arms round his neck with a happy laugh, and drew his face +down to hers. + +"Darling! darling!" she murmured. "How can we live without each other for +one single day!" + +She spoke in a low, soft voice. To Juliet, to whom every purling syllable +was painfully audible, it sounded cooingly, like the voice of doves. + +To the surprise of the girl to whom Mark had proposed marriage two days +before, when she ventured to peep through her spy window, Mark's arms +were round Julia and he was kissing her ardently. + +But after a moment he released himself gently. + +"You haven't told me, dear," he said, "what you are doing here." + +His voice held a note of authority before which Julia's assurance +vanished. + +"I--I wasn't doing anything," she muttered. + +"Julia!" he remonstrated. + +"Well," she said, with some show of defiance, "I suppose anyone may take +a book from the library." + +"Of course," he said, "you may take anything of mine you want Still, as +you are not staying in the house--In short, it seems to me that the +more obvious course would have been to have said something to me about +it; and besides," he added, struck by a sudden thought, "how in the world +did you get in? The door was locked, and the key is on the outside." + +"Oh, if you're going to make such a fuss about nothing," she exclaimed +petulantly, her toe beginning to tap the boards, "it's not worth +explaining anything to you." She turned away and walked towards the +fireplace. + +"I'm not making a fuss," Mark said quietly, "but you must tell me, Julia, +what you are doing here, and how you came. To speak plainly, I don't +believe you came for a book." + +"If you don't believe me, what's the good of my saying anything?" she +retorted. "Oh, how horrid you are to-day, Mark. I don't believe you love +me a bit, any more." And leaning her head against the mantelpiece, she +burst into tears. + +"You know it isn't that, Julia," he said, looking at her fixedly. "Don't +cry, there's a dear, good girl. You know that I love you. Why, you're the +only thing in the whole world that I really want. But you must tell me +how you came here. Tell me," he repeated, taking her hands from her face, +and forcing her to look at him, "what you want in the library. Tell me, +Julia, I want to know." + +She seemed to struggle to keep silence, but to be unable to resist his +questioning eyes. + +"I suppose I must tell you," she murmured; "it's not that I don't want +to. But they would kill me if they knew. Oh, Mark, I ought not to tell +you, but how can I keep anything secret from my beloved? Swear to me +that you will never repeat it, or try to hinder me in what I have to do?" + +He bent and kissed her. + +"Julia," he said, "can't you trust me?" + +"I do, I do," she cried. "While you love me, I trust you. But if you left +off, what then? That is the nightmare that haunts me. Mark, Mark, what +would become of me if you were to change towards me?" + +He kissed her again, murmuring reassuring words that did not reach +Juliet's ears. "So tell me now," he ended, "what you were doing here." + +"Mark," she said nervously, "you know where my childhood was passed?" + +"In St. Petersburg," he replied wonderingly. + +"Yes, in Petersburg. And you know how things are there. It is so +different from your England, my England. For I am English really, Mark, +although that thought always seems so strange to me; since during so many +years I believed myself to be a Russian. I am the daughter of English +parents; my father was a very respectable London plumber of the name of +Harsden, whose business went to the bad and who died, leaving my mother +to face ruin and starvation with a family of five small children, of whom +I was the last. When a lady who took an interest in the parish in which +we lived suggested that a friend of hers should adopt one of the +children, my mother was only too thankful to accept the proposal, and I +was the one from whom she chose to be parted. I have never seen her +since, but she is still alive, and I send her money from time to time. + +"The lady who adopted me was Countess Romaninov, and I believed +myself her child till a day or two before she died, when she told me, +to my lasting regret, the true story of my origin. But I was brought +up a Russian, and I shall never feel myself to be English. Somehow the +soil you live on in your childhood seems to get into your bones, as +you say here. It is true that I speak your language easily, but it was +Russian that my baby lips first learned. My sympathies, my point of +view, my friends, all except yourself, are Russian. And I have one +essentially Russian attribute, I am a member of what you would call a +Nihilist society." + +Mark interrupted her with an interjection of surprise, but she nodded her +head defiantly, and continued: + +"All my life, all my private ends and desires must be governed by the +needs of my country. First and foremost I exist that the rule of the +Tyrant may be abolished, and the Slav be free to work out his own +salvation; he shall be saved from the fate that now overwhelms and +crushes him; dragged bodily from under the heel of the oppressor. I am +not the only one. We are many who think as one mind. And the day is not +far distant when our sacrifices shall bear fruit. Ah, Mark, what a great +cause, what a noble purpose, is this of ours! Perhaps I shall be able to +convert you, to fire your cold British blood with my enthusiasm?" + +She stopped and looked at him inquiringly. But he made no reply, and +after a moment she continued, placing her hand fondly upon his shoulder +as she spoke. + +"Our plan is to terrify the rulers into submission. We must not shrink +from killing, and killing suddenly and unexpectedly, till they abandon +the wickedness of their Ways. They must never know what it is to feel +safe. And we see to it that they do not. Death waits for them at the +street corner, on their travels, at their own doorsteps. They never know +at what moment the bomb may not be thrown, or the pistol fired. It is +sad that explosives are so unreliable. There are many difficulties. You +would not believe the obstacles that we find placed in our path at every +turning. And for those who are suspected there is Siberia, and the +mines. But it is worth it. It is worth anything to feel that one is +working and risking all for one's country, and one's fellow-countrymen. +It is an honour to belong to a band of such noble men and women. But now +and then one is admitted who turns out to be unworthy. Yes, even such a +cause as ours has traitors to contend with. And your uncle, Lord Ashiel, +was one of them." + +"What," said Mark incredulously, "Uncle Douglas a Nihilist? Nonsense. +It's impossible." + +"He was, really. For he joined the 'Friends of Man' when he was at the +British Embassy at Petersburg long years ago; and no sooner had he been +initiated than he turned round and denounced the society and all its +works. Worse still, he declared his intention of hindering it from +carrying out its programme. He would have been got rid of there and +then, but as ill-luck would have it he had, by an unheard-of chain of +accidents, become possessed of an important document belonging to the +society. It was, indeed, a list of the principal people on the executive +committee that fell into his hands, and he took the precaution of +sending it to England, with instructions that if anything happened to +him it should be forwarded to the Russian Police, before he made known +his ridiculous objections to our programme. Here, as you will +understand, was a most impossible situation with which there was +apparently no means of coping. + +"For years that one man hampered and frustrated our entire organization. +He was practically able to dictate his own terms, for he announced his +intention of publishing the list of names if we carried out any important +project, and no device could be contrived to stop his being as good as +his word. The tyrant has walked unscathed except by mere private +enterprise, and the government we could have caused to crumble to the +ground has flourished and continued to work evil as before. We have been +crippled, paralysed in every direction. It was only last year that there +seemed reason to think that Lord Ashiel had removed the document from the +Bank of England where it had for so long been guarded, and there appeared +to be a possibility that he now kept it in his own house. If that were +so, there seemed a good chance of getting hold of it, and how proud I am, +Mark, to think that it was I who was chosen to make the attempt! + +"I came to England with the best introductions into society, and had no +difficulty in making friends with your aunt and obtaining an invitation +to stay here. Last year I did not succeed in gaining any information. +Your uncle, for some reason, seemed rather to avoid me, and I did not +make any headway towards gaining his confidence. I never could be sure if +he suspected me. This year there was a question of replacing me by some +one else, but it was judged that Lord Ashiel's suspicions would be +certainly awakened by the appearance of another Russian, so, in the hope +that I was not associated in his mind with the people to which he had +behaved so basely, I was ordered to try again. + +"A member of the society, who occupies a high and responsible position on +the council, accompanied me to the neighbourhood, and from time to time I +report to him and receive his advice and instructions. He stays in +Crianan, so that I have some one within reach to go to for advice. At +least, so I am officially informed, but I know very well he is really +there to keep watch on me, for it is not the habit of the society to +trust its members more than is unavoidable. If it is possible, I go once +a week to Crianan and make my report, but I can't always manage to go, +and then he rows across the loch after dark and I go out and meet him. He +was to come on the night of the murder, and my first thought when I heard +of it was that he might be caught in the shrubberies and mistaken for the +murderer. But it appears that he had already taken alarm, and I am +thankful to say he was able to escape in good time." + +"So David really did see some one wandering about that night," Mark +commented thoughtfully. "Ah, Julia, if you'd told me all this earlier +everything might have been different. Poor old David need never have been +dragged into it at all." + +She looked at him a moment, as if puzzled, and then continued her story. + +"It was thought that I might be able to bring about your uncle's death by +some means that should have all the appearance of an accident, and so +perhaps not involve action on the part of those who hold the +document--that is, if it should prove not to be in his own keeping--for +he had always assured the council that no decisive step would be taken +except as a retort to signs of violence on our part, whether directed +towards himself or others. + +"I have not been able to find any trace of the list. I thought I had it +one day in London, when I followed Lord Ashiel to a detective's office, +and managed to gain possession of an envelope given him by Lord Ashiel, +but as far as I could make out it contained nothing of any importance. It +was a bitter disappointment. You can imagine the consternation into which +we were thrown by the murder. It seemed certain that his death would be +attributed to our organization, and if anyone held the list for him it +would be published immediately. Four days have passed, however, and my +superior has received a cable saying that so far all is well. It looks +more and more as if the list had been kept here, but I have hunted +everywhere and found nothing. Oh, I have searched without ceasing since +the moment I heard of his death! I came here even on the very night of +the murder, and moved the body with my own hands in order to get at the +bureau drawers. There is a secret way into the room through that old +clock there, which leads into the grounds; I found it long ago, one day +when I was exploring outside in the shrubberies. I have often been here, +and searched, and searched again. Do you know anything of this document, +Mark? If you do, I beg and implore you to give it to me. Otherwise I +cannot answer for your life; and, as for our marriage, that is out of the +question unless I am successful in my undertaking." + +It may be imagined with what amazement and growing horror Juliet listened +to this avowal. That Julia, the girl with whom she had associated on +terms of easy familiarity which had been near to becoming something like +intimacy in the close contact and companionship of a country-house life, +that this girl, an honoured guest in Lord Ashiel's house, should have +gained her footing there for her own treacherous ends, or at the bidding +of a band of political assassins! Juliet could scarcely believe her ears +as she heard the calm, indifferent tone in which Julia spoke of the +drawbacks to "getting rid" of Lord Ashiel, and of the contemplated +"accident" which was to have befallen him. She would have fled from where +she stood, if mingled fear and curiosity to hear more had not rooted her +to the spot. Her alarm was tempered by the presence of Mark. If this girl +should discover her hiding there and show signs of the violence that +might be expected from such a character, Mark would be there to protect +her. She could trust him to know how to deal with the Russian, whose true +nature must now be apparent to him. + +But Mark, to her astonishment, had not drawn away from Julia with the +repugnance and disgust that were to be expected. Instead, he was looking +at her, strangely, indeed, but almost eagerly. + +"It was you, then, who moved the body! To think that I never guessed!" he +murmured, half to himself. "If I had known, I might have spared myself +the trouble to--" Then more loudly he reproached his companion. + +"And you have never said a word to me! Oh, Julia, you didn't trust me." +He shook his head at her mournfully. + +"Trust you!" she retorted. "Did you trust me? But I would have trusted +you," she added, gazing fondly into his eyes, "if I had dared risk the +punishment that will surely be meted out to me if it is known I have done +so. You don't know how rigid the rules of our society are. But you +haven't told me yet if you have the list." + +"Not I," he said. "I never heard of its existence. I suppose that +anonymous letter that came addressed to Uncle Douglas after his death had +something to do with that." + +"Did a letter come from Paris? They sent them to him from time to time. +It prevented his suspecting me. But you will give me the list if you find +it, won't you? It means everything to me." + +"Of course I will," he promised. "It is no earthly good to me, so far as +I know. But you, when you were looking for it, did you, among all the +papers you examined, ever come across such a thing as a will?" + +"No, never," she replied. "Mrs. Clutsam told me it could not be found. +You may be sure, if I had discovered one which did not leave you +everything, I should have destroyed it." + +"Dear little Julia!" Mark drew her to him and kissed her. "How sweet you +are. There is no one like you!" + +"Really? Do you really love me, Mark?" + +"Darling, of course I do." + +"Will you always? Are you quite, quite sure that I am the one girl in all +the world for you, as you are the one man for me?" + +"Darling, you are the only one in the world I have ever so much as +looked at." + +"Would you never, never forget me, or marry anyone else, no matter what +happened?" + +"Never," he assured her, "never." + +She sighed contentedly. + +"What should I do if you forgot me, Mark? I should die. But," she added +in a different tone, "I think I should kill you first!" + +Mark laughed a little uneasily. + +"Hush, hush," he said, "you mustn't talk so much about killing. A minute +ago you were talking of killing my poor old uncle. If I took you +seriously what should I think? It is lucky I love you as I do, otherwise +doesn't it occur to you that it might get you into trouble to talk in +this wild way?" + +"You can take me as seriously as you like," she answered gravely. "I am +serious enough, God knows. But I shouldn't talk about it, even to you, if +I didn't _know_ it was safe. You see, I know you are like me." + +"Like you? I'm dashed if I am! How do you mean? I am like you?" + +She looked at him squarely, and nodded. + +"Yes," she said, "you are like me. You would not hesitate to kill if you +thought it necessary. You think just the same as me on that subject. Only +you have gone farther than I have--yet." + +"Julia," he cried, "what do you mean?" + +"I mean that I know all about you, Mark," she replied gravely. "I know +what you think you have kept secret from me. I know it was you who killed +your uncle." + +With a muffled cry Mark shook himself free, and sprang away from her. + +"What are you saying?" he whispered hoarsely. "You are mad, girl! But I +won't have such lies uttered, I won't have it, I tell you." + +With terrified amazement Juliet saw his face change, become ugly, +distorted. But Julia showed no sign of alarm. + +"Why get so excited?" she asked calmly. "What does it matter? Do you +imagine I would betray you? I, who would sell my soul for you! I know you +did it. It is no use keeping up this pretence of innocence to me, who had +more right to kill him than you. Why shouldn't you kill who you wish? But +don't say you didn't do it. It is foolish. I saw you." + +"It is a lie. You can't have seen me," Mark declared again, but with less +assurance. "You were in the drawing-room all the time. Lady Ruth and +Maisie Tarver both said so. The drawing-room doesn't even look out on the +garden. There is no room that does, except the library, and you weren't +there then, anyhow." + +"I didn't see you fire the shot," said Julia, "but I saw you afterwards +when you went to put back your rifle in the gun-room. I told you that +after the first search in the grounds was over, and everyone had gone +up to bed, I slipped out of the house by the door near the gunroom, and +came round to the library to see if Lord Ashiel had carried the list on +him. When I came back, I let myself in quietly by the door which I had +left unbolted, and had just got half-way up the back stairs when I +heard footsteps in the passage below, and crouched down behind the +banisters. I saw you come along the passage, carrying an electric +lantern in one hand and your rifle in the other. I saw you look round +anxiously before opening the gun-room door and going in. When you had +vanished, I hurried on up to my room, for it was not the time or place +to tell you what I had seen, but I left a crack of my door open, and +after rather a long while saw you pass along the passage to your own +room; this time without your gun. I knew, of course, that you had been +cleaning it and putting it away." + +She spoke with the indifference with which one may refer to a regrettable +but incontrovertible fact, and Mark seemed to feel it useless to deny +what she said. + +"You had no right to spy on me," he exclaimed angrily when she had done. + +"Oh, Mark," she cried, dismayed, "I wasn't spying. It was the merest +accident. And I think it's horrid of you to mind my knowing. Why didn't +you tell me all about it before. I might have helped you, I'm sure." + +But he would have none of her endearments, and threw off the hand she +laid upon his arm with a rough gesture. + +"Mark, oh, Mark," she wailed, "don't be angry with me! You know I can't +bear it. I can bear anything but that. Don't, don't be angry with me." + +She had but one thought; it was for him, and he who ran might read it +shining in the depths of her great eyes. After a few minutes of sulking, +Mark relented. + +"No one could be angry with you for long, Julia," he declared. + +Instantly she was once more all smiles. + +"Don't ever be angry with me again," she urged, her hands in his. "And +now that you have forgiven me, tell me all about it. What made you do +such a dreadful thing, Mark? You must have had some good reason, I know. +I never would doubt that." + +"There's nothing much to tell," he said unwillingly. "I had a good +reason, yes. I must have money. It is for your sake, darling, that I must +get it. I can't marry you without it. I hadn't meant to kill him, if I +could get it without. He was ill, and had left his fortune to me. I +thought I should get it in time, by letting Nature take her course. It +was that or ruin, and I really had to do it for your sake, darling. I +didn't want to hurt the old boy. Why should I? It's not a pleasant thing +to have to do. But I had no choice--there was no other way of getting +enough money, and I simply had to get it. It was his life or mine. You +don't understand. I can't explain. It just had to be done, and there's an +end of it. Everything was going wrong. That girl, that Byrne girl, I +imagined he was going to marry her. You know we all did. That would have +spoilt everything. At first I thought she could be got out of the way, +but she seemed to bear a charmed life." + +"What?" cried Julia, "did you try to kill her too?" + +"Why, if anyone had to be got rid of," he admitted defiantly, "it seemed +better to go for a stranger, like her, than for my own uncle. Come, you +must see that, surely! She was nothing to me, and, anyhow, my hand was +forced. It's very hard that I should have been put in such a position. +I'm the last person to do harm to a fly, but one must think of oneself." + +Since it was no use denying the murder, he seemed to find some sort of +satisfaction in telling Julia of his other crimes. And yet, though he +tried hard to speak with an affectation of indifference, it was plain +that he kept a watchful eye upon his listener, and was ready to fasten +resentfully upon the first sign of horror, or even disapproval. For all +his efforts, the tone of his disclosures was at once swaggering and +suspicious; but he need have had no anxiety as to the spirit in which +they would be received. It was clear that Julia brought to his judgment +no remembrance of ordinary human standards of conduct. To her he was +above such criticisms, as the Immortals might be supposed to be above +the rules that applied to dwellers upon earth. What he did was right in +her eyes, because he did it, and she admired his brutality, as she adored +the rest of him, whole-heartedly, without reservation. + +"I had a shot at her," he went on, "one day on the moor when she was with +David; but I missed her. It was a rotten shot. I can't think how I came +to do it. Then when she fell into the river--I saw her standing by it as +I came home from stalking.... I had walked on ahead, and where the path +runs along above the waterfall pool I happened to go to the edge and look +over. There she was on a stone right at the edge, by the deepest part. It +looked as if she'd been put there on purpose, and I should have been a +fool to miss such a chance. It's no good going against fate. As a matter +of fact I thought I'd got her sitting this time. I caught up the nearest +piece of rock and dropped it down on her. That was a good shot, though I +say it, but it hit her on the shoulder instead of the head as luck would +have it, which was bad luck for me. However, in she went, and I thought +all was well and lost no time in getting away from the place. If it +hadn't been for that meddling fool Andy!... Well, then, at dinner, Uncle +Douglas came out with the news that she was his daughter, not his +intended, and everything looked worse than ever. Afterwards when she went +to talk to him in the library, and passed through the billiard-room where +I was knocking the balls about and feeling pretty savage, I can tell you, +I happened, by a fluke, to ask her if she knew where David was. She said +he'd gone into the garden. + +"Then I saw my chance, and it seemed too good to miss. Why should I let +my inheritance be stolen from me? I ran off to the gun-room for a gun. I +meant to take David's rifle, but I found he hadn't cleaned it, so I left +it alone and took mine, as the thing was really too important to risk +using a strange gun unless it was absolutely necessary, and his is a +little shorter in the stock than I like. I nipped back and let myself out +of the passage door into the enclosed garden. It was a black night, +though I knew my way blindfolded about there. But the curtains of the +library were drawn, and I couldn't see between them without stepping on +the flower bed. I knew too much to leave my footmarks all over them, but +I had to get on to the bed to have a chance of getting a shot. So I got +the long plank the gardeners use to avoid stepping on the flower beds +when they're bedding out, from the tool-house behind the holly hedge +where I knew it was kept, and put it down near the hedge. It is held up +clear of the ground by two cross pieces of wood, one at each end, you +know, so there would be no marks left to identify me by. + +"When I walked to the end of the plank, I could see straight into the +middle of the room; but they must have been sitting near the fire, for no +one was in sight. I could see the writing bureau and the chair in front +of it, and dimly in the back of the room I could make out the face of the +clock, but that was all. + +"Well, I stood there for what seemed a long while. You've no idea how +cramping it is to stand on a narrow plank with no room to take a step +forward or back, for long at a time. And I don't mind telling you I got a +bit jumpy, waiting there. If anyone chanced to come along, what could I +say by way of explanation? I couldn't think of anything the least likely +to wash. And somehow, in the dark, one begins to imagine things. I saw +David coming at me across the lawn every other minute. And it seemed so +hideously likely that he should come. I knew he was somewhere out in the +grounds. By Jove, if he had, he'd have got the bullet instead of Uncle +Douglas! But he didn't come. Those beastly shadows and shapes and +whisperings and rustlings that seemed to be all round me, hiding in the +night, turned out to be nothing after all. But when I didn't fancy him at +my elbow, I imagined he was in the gunroom, wondering where the dickens +my rifle had got to. + +"Oh, I had a happy half-hour among the roses, I tell you! A rifle is a +heavy thing too. I leant it up against a rose-bush and tried to sit down +on the plank, but it wouldn't do, and I saw I must bear it standing, or +Uncle Douglas might cross in front of the slit between the curtains +without my having time to get a shot. You must remember I'd been on the +hill all day, so that I was very stiff to begin with. It got so bad that +I began to think it was hardly worth the candle at last--and it's a +wonder I didn't miss him clean--when, just as I was on the point of +giving the whole thing up and going in again, he came suddenly into my +field of vision, and actually sat down at the table. + +"I took a careful aim and fired. I saw him fall forward, and then I +jumped off the plank and hurled it back under the hedge before I ran for +the house. I had left the door ajar, and I just stayed to close it, and +then darted into the empty billiard-room and thrust my rifle under a +sofa. It was a quick bit of work. I had counted on Juliet Byrne waiting a +moment or two to see if she could do anything to help him before she +roused the house, or it roused itself, and she was rather longer than I +expected. I don't mind owning I got into a panic when minutes passed and +no one appeared, and I began to think I must have missed the old boy +altogether. I was within an ace of going to make certain, when the door +opened and in she came. Oh well, you know all the rest. That silly old +ass, David, was still mooning about in the garden, thinking of her, I +suppose, which was very lucky for me." + +Julia had listened with absorbed interest. + +"I think it is wonderful," she said, "that you should have gone through +all that for my sake. I shall always try to deserve it, my dear. Was it +all, all for me, that you did it, truly?" + +"Yes," Mark assured her, gruffly monosyllabic. + +"But how was it," she asked caressingly, "that Sir David's footprints +were found all over the rose-bed. What was he doing there?" + +"That was an afterthought," Mark admitted. "It was a tophole idea. After +every one had gone upstairs, I crept down and got my Mannlicher from +where I had hidden it, and took it to the gun-room, where I cleaned it +and put it in its usual place. It was lucky for me that David had left +his weapon dirty. It was jolly unlike him to do it. I was thinking what a +good thing it was, and how well things looked like turning out--for I +thought I could manage the girl if she was able to prove that she really +was a McConachan--and it struck me I ought to be able to contrive that +the business should look a bit blacker against poor old David. Every one +knew he'd had a row with Uncle Douglas about his beastly dog, and if I +could only manufacture a little more evidence against him I knew I should +be pretty safe, one way and another. I was going back to the garden to +put by the gardener's plank, when I thought of using his boots. It didn't +take long to find them among all the boots used that day by the +household, which were ranged in a row in the place where they clean them +in the back premises. His bootmakers' name was in them. I took them, and +when I got to the garden door I put them on, and went out and trampled +about among the roses till I was pretty sure that even the blindest +country bobby couldn't fail to notice the tracks I'd left, though of +course I couldn't see them myself in the dark. Then I got the plank out +of the hedge and put it away where I'd found it. After that, I took the +boots back, and went to bed; and very glad I was to get there. Now you've +heard the whole story." + +"How clever you are," murmured the girl. "There's no one like you," she +said, "no one." Mark smiled rather fatuously. He evidently shared her +opinion that his brains were something slightly out of the way. "And +everything happened just as you'd planned," she went on admiringly. "They +suspected Sir David from the first. I should have, myself, if I hadn't +known it was you who had done it." + +"Yes," said Mark, "they suspected him, the silly idiots! They might have +known he hasn't the initiative to do a thing like that. And the girl +can't prove her relationship to Uncle Douglas, just as I expected. I +thought there might be some difficulty about that. But I wish I could +find the will he made in her favour. I should feel safer then, for she +told me he said he'd worded it so that she should get the money whether +she was proved his daughter or not. And who knows what other mad clauses +he may have put in it. Lately, for some reason I could never make out, I +felt sure he had changed towards me. He let fall a hint one day that his +legacies to me were conditional on my good behaviour. I don't feel easy +about it at all. Some one must have been telling him things--poisoning +his mind. But I've hunted high and low, and found nothing. I'm sick of +looking over musty old bills." + +"Oh, we shall find it between us now," said Julia hopefully. "I wish I +had some idea where the list I want is, though," she added. + +"There's that detective, too," pursued Mark. "That fellow Gimblet. I'm +rather fed up with him. Not that he seems any use at his work, though +he's supposed to be rather first-class at it, I believe." + +"Gimblet! Is that who it is? Mrs. Clutsam told me a London detective +was here, but I didn't know who it was. I have met him before, and +found him very easy to manage. I don't think you need be afraid of +anything he may do." + +"I shall be glad when he's off the place, anyhow," said Mark. + +"I shall be glad when the whole business is over and forgotten," Julia +rejoined. "I wish we could be married at once, Mark darling. But why +can't it be given out that we are engaged. I don't understand why we +should keep it a secret now. I can't stand seeing so little of you as I +have these last few days." + +"Be patient, darling, wait just a little longer. There are reasons, as I +have told you. I must get my financial affairs straight, for one thing, +before I allow you to tie yourself to me. Suppose I turn out to be a +beggar? I couldn't let you marry me then, you know." + +"Mark!" Julia's voice was full of reproach. "You know perfectly well how +little I care about your money. I would be only too glad to marry you if +you hadn't a penny. But perhaps you mean that if you were poor you +wouldn't want to burden yourself with a wife?" + +"You know how I adore you, Julia. How can you suggest such a thing? I +couldn't even dream of a life without you. You show how little you know +me. But, believe me, it is wisest to wait a short time longer before we +are publicly engaged. You must take my word for it, and not made me +unhappy by imagining such cruel things. Come, let us look for this list +of yours. What were you doing--searching among the books?" + +"Yes," said she, rising, as he went towards a bookshelf, and following +him. "I thought it might be hidden between the leaves of one of these old +volumes. One reads of such things." + +"I wonder," he said absently. "The will, too, may be here. Is there a +Bible anywhere? I believe that's a favourite place of concealment. Then, +when the heir is virtuous and reads his Bible, he gets the legacy, you +know; while, if he isn't, he doesn't. A sort of poetic justice is meted +out. If I find it in that way I shall take it as a sign that I am really +the virtuous one and that Heaven absolves me from all blame." + +He spoke mockingly, but Julia answered very seriously: + +"Of course you ought to have it; and if I don't blame you, why should +anyone else?" + +"Well," he said after a pause, "at all events I mean to get it, whether +or no, if I have to pull down every stone of the place. That reminds me," +he added, "where is the secret entrance you use? Through this old clock? +Who would have thought it?" + +In a moment Juliet realized that she was going to be caught. She had +been so absorbed in listening to the dreadful revelations that had been +made during the last half-hour that not till now had she considered how +dangerous was her position. + +As he spoke, Mark threw open the door of the clock case. Too late, she +turned to fly; he caught her by the arm and, with a stifled oath, dragged +her into the room. + +"How long have you been there?" he cried, and fell to swearing horribly; +while Julia stood by, not speaking, but looking at Juliet with an +expression which frightened her more than all his violence. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +It did not occur to Juliet to deny that she had overheard their talk. She +had been found in the act of spying on them, and it was inconceivable +that they should believe she had not done so. Besides, she was raging at +the thought of what she had heard, and her anger gave her a courage she +might otherwise have found it hard to maintain. + +"I have been there all the time," she declared stoutly. "I heard all you +said, you wicked, wicked man. A murderer! Oh, how horrible it all is!" + +Julia laid a hand on Mark's arm. + +"She will tell what she knows," she said, trembling. + +"She shall not," Mark stammered furiously. He seemed to be half +suffocating with rage. "She shall not go unless she swears to say +nothing. Swear it, I say!" + +He seized Juliet by the shoulder and shook her violently to emphasize +his words. + +"I won't swear anything of the kind," she retorted, trying to break from +his grasp. "Do you suppose you can kill me, too, without being found out? +There is a detective here now, and Sir David Southern is not at hand to +lay the blame on. You coward! How dare you touch me!" + +The truth of her words seemed to strike home to Mark, for he left go of +her suddenly, and stood, biting his nails and scowling, the picture of +irresolution and malignance. + +Juliet lost no time in following up any advantage she might have gained. + +"I can't help knowing that you care for him," she said, addressing +herself to Julia, "though I wouldn't have listened to that part if I +could have helped it. But how can you? How can you? I can't understand +how you can feel as you do about killing people, but at least if you did +such a thing you would imagine it was for the good of your country, while +this man thinks of nothing but his own selfish ends. Money, that is all +he wants! How can you condone such a crime as his? To kill Lord Ashiel, +that good, kind man who had treated him like a son all his life, who did +everything for him. And just for the sake of money! It's not even as if +he wanted it really. He's not starving. He had everything, in reason, +that he wanted. If he needed more, urgently, I believe he had only to +tell his uncle, and it would have been given to him. Oh, it is beyond all +words! He must be a fiend." + +Indignation choked her. She spoke in bursts of trembling anger, her words +sounding tamely in her own ears. All she could say seemed commonplace and +inadequate beside the knowledge that this man was her father's murderer. + +Even Julia, indifferent to every aspect of the case that did not touch +upon her relations with her lover, was shaken by the scornful disgust +with which the broken sentences were poured forth; and, if her +infatuation for Mark was too complete to allow her to consider any +action of his unjustifiable, still she realized, perhaps for the +first time, the feelings with which other people would view the thing +that he had done. + +"You don't understand him," she faltered. "He didn't want money for +himself alone. It was for me he did it. He was too proud to ask me to +marry a poor man. You could never understand his love for me. How can I +blame him? How many men would run such risks for the girl they loved? I +am proud, yes proud, to be loved like that!" + +"You believe his lies," Juliet cried contemptuously. "You believe he +loves you so much? Why it is not two days since he came to me and asked +me to marry him." + +"What!" Julia spoke in a panting whisper. Her face had suddenly lost +every particle of colour. "Say it's not true," she begged, turning +miserably to the man. + +He made an effort to deny the charge. + +"Of course. Not a word of truth in it. Damned nonsense," he blustered. + +But his eyes fell before Juliet's scornful gaze, and Julia was not +deceived. + +"It can't be true, oh, it can't," she moaned. "No man could be so vile." + +"No other man could," Juliet amended. In spite of herself she was sorry +for the girl, whose stricken face showed plainly the anguish she was +undergoing. "Forget him, Julia; he is not worthy to tie your shoe-lace. +He came to me after they had taken David away, and asked me first if I +would take his inheritance even though I couldn't prove my birth, which +he must have known perfectly that I should never dream of doing, and then +proposed I should marry him, saying that he was very fond of me, and that +in that way justice would be done as regards Lord Ashiel's money, +however things turned out for me. I thought it honourable and generous at +the time, and so did Lady Ruth when I told her--oh yes, she knows about +it and can tell you it is true--but now I see that all he wanted was to +be on the safe side, and, if I had accepted him and had turned out to +have no claim upon his uncle's fortune, he would have broken the +engagement on some easy pretext. Can you deny it?" she demanded of Mark. + +But he could not face her, though he made an effort again to +brazen it out. + +Every word she had spoken seemed to strike Julia like a blow. She shrank +quivering away, and threw herself down on to a chair, her face hidden in +her hands. Juliet went to her and touched her gently on the shoulder. + +"Don't think of him any more," she said. "Presently you will hate +yourself for having cared for a murderer. Just now, I know, your love for +him makes you gloss over his crimes, but when you are yourself you will +see how odious they are. Poor Julia, I hate to hurt you so, but it is +better, isn't it, that you should know? You will forget this madness. He +is not worth your wasting another thought on. Think how shamefully he has +deceived you. Think of all his lying words, of how he told you he had +never looked at another woman." + +Julia raised her head and showed a face, white as chalk, in which the +great brown eyes seemed to burn like fires of hatred. + +"Yes," she said in a hard, even voice. "I am thinking of it. I shall not +forget him. No. Instead, I shall think of him day and night, be sure of +that. I shall laugh as I think of him; laugh at the thought of him in +his place in the dock, or in his prison cell. I shall laugh when I give +my evidence against him, and most of all I shall laugh on the day when he +is hanged. If his grave is to be found, I shall dance upon it. Oh, it +will be a merry day for me, that day when the cord is tightened round his +false neck!" + +She went near to Mark, and hissed the last words into his face, leaning +forward, with one hand on her own throat. But he seemed to shrink less +before her vindictive passion than he had under the colder scorn of +Juliet's denunciations. + +"Come, Juliet," said Julia, calming herself a little, although hate was +still blazing in her eyes, "let us leave this place. We must send for +the police." + +"Julia," said Mark, stepping forward, and speaking with some of his +former assurance, "you condemn me unheard. Why should you believe this +girl before me? It is not like you, Julia. It is not like the girl I +love. For I do love you, darling, in spite of what you may think; and, +till a few moments ago, I thought you loved me too. But I see now what +your love is. One whiff of suspicion, one word of accusation, and without +proof or evidence you condemn me, and your so-called affection +disappears. Julia, I think you have broken my heart." + +Juliet gave vent to a derisive sound which can only be called a snort; +but it was plain that his words, and more especially the manner of sad +yet tender reproach in which they were uttered, were not without their +effect on the other girl. Her eyes wavered uneasily; she twisted and tore +at her handkerchief. + +"I have heard what you have to say," she murmured. "I saw that you could +not deny what Juliet told me." + +"I did deny it. But what is the use of talking to you when you are in +such a state? You are determined beforehand to disbelieve me. And I have +no wish to justify myself to Miss Byrne, though I am willing to swallow +my pride and do so to you." + +"Well," she said after a moment's hesitation, "justify yourself if you +can. No one shall say I would not listen. God knows I shall be glad +enough if you can clear yourself." + +"To begin with," said Mark, "I admit that, superficially, there is truth +in what you have heard. But only superficially, for the person I deceived +was not yourself but this young lady. I certainly, as she suggests, never +had the slightest intention of marrying her. For one thing I was +absolutely certain she would refuse me, but it seemed a good +precautionary move to make what might appear a generous proposal, and at +the same time get a sort of mandate from the possible heiress herself to +stick to my uncle's fortune. You may be sure I should never have given it +up, in any case, but it is as well to keep up appearances. The business +was only a move in the game I am playing, and no more affects the +sincerity of my love for you than any of the social equivocations we all +find necessary from time to time. I love you, Julia, and you alone. How +can you doubt it? I love you so much that I am willing to overlook your +want of confidence in me, and to forgive the cruel things you said just +now. Darling, how can I tell you, before a third person, what I feel for +you? You are everything to me; and, if you no longer love me, I don't +care what happens. Give me up to the police if you like. The gallows is +as good a place as another, without your love." + +Long before he had finished, all traces of resentment had vanished. When +he ceased speaking, she gave in completely, and threw herself upon his +breast, sobbing passionately, and begging his forgiveness for having +doubted him for an instant, while he soothed and comforted her in a low +tone. Juliet did not know what to do or which way to look. The two stood +between her and the door, and she felt an absurd awkwardness about trying +to pass them. Was it likely she would be allowed to go out free to +denounce them? She was afraid of trying. + +At last Julia was calm again, and there came a silence, during which the +pair glanced at Juliet and then at each other. + +"What's to be done?" Julia asked at length, and then suddenly, without +waiting for an answer, "I have an idea, Mark, that will save you. If her +mouth can be stopped for a time, will you be able to get clear away?" + +"I shall have to try, I suppose," he replied, with a trace of his former +sulkiness. "To think that everything should miscarry because of a slip +of a girl!" + +"You had better go to Glasgow and get on board some ship there which will +take you to a place of safety. I shall have to stay behind till the +matter of the list is settled one way or the other. But then, when I have +reported to my superiors, I can join you, and we can begin life together +in some far-off country. I shall be as happy in one place as in another +with you, Mark; are you sure you will be, too, with only me?" + +Mark hastened to reassure her on that point, but his tone as he said it +did not carry conviction to Juliet. Julia, however, seemed satisfied. + +"Miss Byrne can choose," she continued. "Either she swears not to say a +word till we are both safe away, or else we can shut her in the dungeon +of the castle. I know where it is, in the wall of this tower. She will +never be found there, and I can take her food from time to time till I am +ready to join you. Isn't that a good plan?" + +Mark considered. + +"I don't think we will give her the option of swearing not to tell," he +said presently. + +"As if I would ever promise such a thing!" Juliet interrupted, indignant. + +"But," he went on, ignoring this outburst, "otherwise I think your idea +is good. Where is this dungeon? We may be disturbed at any minute, and +enough time has been wasted already." + +"I will go first and show the way," said Julia. "I have an electric +torch," and she stepped into the clock and lowered herself through the +trap-door. + +Mark motioned to Juliet to follow. + +"Ladies first," he said with a sneer. + +Juliet turned and made a dash for the door. + +"I won't go! I won't! I won't!" she cried desperately, though in her +heart she knew she could not resist if he chose to use force. Perhaps if +she screamed, some one would hear. Oh, where was Gimblet? Why did he +leave her to the mercy of these people? "Help! Help!" She lifted up her +voice and shrieked as loud as she could. + +With a vicious scowl Mark sprang upon her, and clapped a hand over her +mouth. Then, as she still continued to produce muffled sounds of +distress, he stuffed his handkerchief in between her teeth and, lifting +her bodily in his arms, thrust her before him into the clock, and +pushed her roughly down the hidden stair. Half-way down she lost her +footing, and fell to the bottom, where Julia was standing with her +little lamp in her hand. + +Mark was following close behind, and between them they picked her up and +hurried her, limping and bruised, along the narrow passage. She was +allowed to take the handkerchief out of her mouth, for no cry could +penetrate the immense thickness of these blocks of stone. At the point +where there was a break to right and left in the walls of the passage, +Julia came to a standstill. + +"Here it is," she said, turning her light on to the opening in the wall +on the left-hand side. "The door is gone, so you will have to fetch +something to block it up with." + +It seemed to be a small, cell-like chamber, built into the side of the +tower. It may have contained a dozen cubic yards of space, and had +neither door nor window. + +"There are some slabs of stone at the end of the passage," said Julia. +"They are heavy, but you are strong, you will be able to bring them. We +must leave a little space at the top of the door to admit some air, and +for me to pass food through to our prisoner." She laughed with a feverish +merriment. "It will be like feeding the animals at the Zoo," she said. + +Mark signified his approval by a nod. + +"And is this the way?" he asked, turning round and starting off in the +opposite direction. + +"No, no!" Julie cried, laying a detaining hand upon his arm. "I don't +know what there is down there. I think it is a well. See, you are on the +very edge." + +She cast the light on to a round dark opening in the ground some six feet +in front of and below them. From where they stood the floor began to +slant suddenly and steeply downward, so that if Mark had taken another +step, it looked as if nothing could have prevented his sliding down into +the gaping circle of blackness at the bottom. + +Julia shuddered violently. + +"Oh," she cried, "if you had gone over! Come away, do come away!" + +"It's a funny sort of well," he said, "Looks to me like something else. +Did you ever hear of _oubliettes_, Julia?" + +Juliet, as she heard him, grew white with terror. + +"Julia, Julia," she cried, "you won't let him throw me down there?" + +"No, no," said Julia. "He would not. There is no reason.... Mark," she +urged, "come away from here." + +But he only laughed shortly. + +"Don't be so hysterical," he said, and continued to bend his gaze upon +the hole at the bottom of the slope. It seemed to have a sort of +fascination for him. Finally he picked a piece of loose mortar from the +wall and threw it down into the gap. A second later there was a dull +sound which might have been a splash. "Perhaps it is a well after all. +Did you think it sounded as if it had fallen into water?" + +"Yes," said Julia, "I am sure it did. Do come away. I hate being here." + +And indeed she was shivering from head to foot, and not Juliet herself +seemed more anxious to leave the place. + +"Just one more shot," said Mark. "Here, Julia, stoop down, and roll that +bit of stone slowly down the slope, while I hold on to our prisoner. We +shall hear better that way. Give me your lamp." + +Anxious to satisfy him, Julia picked up the fragment he had knocked +from the rough wall, and stooping down stretched out her hand to set the +stone in motion. But, as she did so, Mark loosened his grip on Juliet, +and bending quickly behind this poor girl who loved him seized her by +the shoulders and threw her forward on to her face. The steep pitch of +the floor finished what the impetus given by his onslaught had begun. +Julia shot head first down the slope, and disappeared into the black +chasm of the well. + +One long agonized scream came up to them out of the darkness, and rolled +its echoes through the lonely passages. + +Then the distant sound of a splash; and silence. + +Back against the wall, Juliet cowered, her whole body shaken by great +sobs. She was petrified with terror of this fiendish man, but her fears +for herself gave way before the horror of what she had seen. + +"Oh, what have you done, what have you done?" she wept. + +Mark tried to summon up a jeering smile. The lantern threw no light upon +his white and twitching face. + +"You don't suppose I meant to let her go free, after the taste she gave +me of her temper?" he asked, in a voice he could not keep from shaking a +little. "Do you suppose I like having to do these things? You women have +never the slightest sense of common justice. The whole thing is perfectly +beastly to me. But how could I live with a girl who would be ready to +threaten me with the gallows every time she got out of bed wrong foot +first? It's not fair to blame me for other people's faults." + +He spoke querulously, with the air of a much-injured man. Though Juliet +was beyond any coherent reply, he seemed afraid of meeting her eyes, and +looked resolutely away from her, his glance shifting and wavering from +the walls to the floor, from the floor to the stones of the low roof; up, +down, and sideways, but never resting on her. At last, as if drawn there +irresistibly and against his will, they fell once more on the dark circle +of the mouth of the pit, and he started back, shuddering violently. + +"As if I hadn't enough to bear without being saddled with hideous +memories for the rest of my life!" he cried with bitter irritability. "If +you had an ounce of common fairness in your composition you would admit I +could do no less. Why, any day she might have got jealous, or something, +and flown into a passion again, and denounced me to the police. Besides, +I have no wish to be obliged to fly the country. Why should I? She was +the only person who knew the truth; except you. That is why you must +follow her." + +"No, no!" cried Juliet despairingly, but without avail, for her feeble +strength could offer him no effective opposition, and he thrust her +easily on to the slope. She felt instinctively that at that angle the +merest push would make her lose her balance, and sank quickly to her +knees, catching him round the ankle with one hand, and clinging +desperately. + +He swore furiously, and bent down to unclasp her fingers from his leg. +Then he flung her hand away from him; and cut off from all assistance she +began instantly to slide backwards, slowly but irresistibly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Juliet dug her nails into the cracks of the stone floor with all the +energy of despair, but in a moment her feet were over the edge of the pit +and she was falling. Her fingers gripped the edge with a fierce tenacity, +and for some minutes she hung there, minutes that seemed longer than all +the rest of her life put together. + +And so she hung, her knees drawn up in a frantic effort to pull herself +out of the depths, till her muscles refused any longer to contract, and +she felt herself gradually straightening out and growing, it seemed, +heavier and heavier, till she knew that in one more second her fingers +would slip from their hold, and all would be over. + +But as she dropped into a straight position, and wearily abandoned her +efforts to raise herself, one of her feet suddenly touched some firm +substance beneath it. Something narrow it was, for the other foot as +yet still hung in space, but some blessed solid thing on which it was +possible to stand. As, with a feeling of thankfulness and relief such +as she had never before experienced, she allowed her weight to rest on +it and found that it did not give, she felt a sharp blow on the +knuckles of her left hand, which made her withdraw it quickly and lean +against the wall to steady herself. Mark was throwing stones at her +fingers to make her leave go sooner. Another missed her narrowly, and +shot over her head. + +She drew down her right hand, and still leaning against the wall felt +about with her other foot for a support. + +She soon found it, a little farther back it seemed than the first +foothold; but more experimental investigation showed that it was really +part of the same object. There appeared, indeed, to be several of them +about, all near to the wall, so that it was plain that poor Julia, as she +shot over the brink, had fallen outside, and beyond them. What the bars +were that she seemed to be standing on, Juliet could not at first +imagine, and it was not till Mark, growing tired of waiting for a splash +that never came, reached the conclusion that his ears had deceived him, +and took himself and Julia's lantern off to other spheres of usefulness, +that she perceived that a faint light penetrated into the upper part of +the pit. When her eyes had become accustomed to it, she was able to make +out that she was perched upon a portion of the roots of a tree, which had +grown in through holes in the wall. + +Three great roots there were, curling into and across the shaft of the +pit and disappearing down into the darkness below, where Juliet did not +dare to look. + +She managed, with great caution, to stoop down and catch hold of the +highest of the roots, and so to settle herself in a fairly comfortable +position, sitting on the middle root of the three, with her feet on the +lowest, and her back against the top one. + +"They might have been made on purpose," she told herself, her naturally +high spirits and brave young optimism coming nobly to her rescue again. + +And she set herself to try and enlarge one of the holes in the wall; but +she could not make much perceptible difference there. What it had taken +centuries, and the growth of a great tree to effect, could not be much +improved on in an hour by one young girl, however strong the necessity +that urged her. + +By the time she had exhausted her efforts and must needs lean back and +rest awhile, the biggest hole was just wide enough to put her hand +through, and she saw no prospect of enlarging it further. + +Through it she could see a corner of the loch and the grey foot of Ben +Ghusy, but that was all. It showed, however, on which side of the tower +she was, and she remembered the great beech that clung to the precipice +below the place where the foundations of the castle sprang from the rock. +At least she had always imagined it was below the foundations, but now +she knew better. + +She thrust her hand out and waved it, but did not dare leave it there. +The terror Mark had instilled in her was too recent and too real If she +put out her hand, he would see it, and perhaps shoot it off; or at least +know that he had failed to kill her as yet. Better he should think her +dead, like poor Julia. But was Julia really dead? + +She leant over and called down into the darkness: + +"Julia! Julia!" + +But no answer came, although she waited, holding her breath, and called +again and again. + +Then she had fallen into the water? She must be drowned even if the fall +did not kill her. Poor, misguided Julia. Better dead, after all, thought +Juliet, with eyes full of tears, than alive, and at the mercy of that +terrible man. What disillusionments must have come to her sooner or +later; final disillusionings that could not be explained away. How +horrible to find that the man you loved was like that. Nothing else in +the world could be so appalling. Yes, Julia was better dead. As Juliet +thought of the dreadful manner in which death had come to the unfortunate +girl, she forgot her faults, forgot her strange views upon the +justifiability of taking human life, forgot even that she had approved of +Lord Ashiel's assassination and contemplated bringing about his death +herself, and remembered only the frightful nature of her punishment. + +And while she sat there, clinging precariously to the twisted roots of +the beech tree, Juliet's tears streamed down into the watery grave. + +Hours passed, and darkness fell upon the world without. In the patch of +loch that was visible to her, she could see a star mirrored; it cheered +her somehow. What there was comforting about it she could not have said, +but in some way it seemed to be an emblem of her hopes. She wedged +herself tightly between the roots, laid her head down upon the uppermost +of them, and, such is the adaptability of youth and health, slept on her +dangerous perch like a bird upon a bough. + +With the day she awoke, stiff and hungry. How long would it be before she +was found? She felt braver under this new stimulus of hunger and more +ready to risk detection by Mark. After all, he could hardly get at her +here, and someone else might see her if she signalled. She took off her +shoes and stockings and pushed them through the hole in the wall, then +her handkerchief, and finally the white blouse she wore was taken off and +thrust out between the stones. She kept her hold upon one of the sleeves, +and wedged it down between the wall and the beech root, so that the +blouse might hang out on the face of the rock like a flag and catch the +attention of some passer-by. From time to time, too, she squeezed her +hand through the gap and fluttered her fingers backward and forward. She +knew that the path by the burn ran below, and it was used constantly by +the ghillies and by the household. Only of course so early in the morning +there was not likely to be anyone about. And she remembered with a +sinking heart that people seldom look up as they walk. + +Yet in the course of the day some one would surely see it. She sternly +refused to allow herself to expect an immediate rescue. She would not, +she told herself, begin to get really anxious about it till evening. It +would be long to wait, of course. She looked at the little watch which +Sir Arthur had given her on her last birthday. It was six o'clock. She +must be patient. + +But in spite of all her forced cheerfulness the time passed terribly +slowly. She found an old letter in her pocket, and a pencil, with which +she scrawled painstaking directions for her rescue. She would push it +through the hole, she thought, if she heard any sound of voices above the +clamour of the burn. After that there remained nothing more to do, and +the hours seemed to creep along more and more slowly, till each second +seemed like a minute and each minute an hour. She tried to divert herself +by repeating poetry, and doing imaginary sums; and it was about eleven +o'clock, when she was in the middle of the dates of the Kings of England, +that she heard Gimblet's voice hailing her in a shout from below. + +It was not till after her rescue, not till after she was given safely +over to the affectionate ministrations of Lady Ruth, that Juliet gave +way under the strain to which she had been subjected, and broke down +altogether. + +Up till that moment, the urgency of her own danger had prevented her from +feeling as acutely as she would have in other circumstances the terrible +fate of the Russian girl; but, as soon as she herself was safe, the full +horror of it settled upon her mind till thought became an agony. She was +shaken by alternate fits of shuddering and weeping, until Lady Ruth, who +had a scathing contempt for doctors, was on the point of sending for one. + +The arrival of Sir Arthur, an hour or so after her release, did much to +calm her. He had started post haste from Belgium as soon as he heard of +the tragedy, which was not till three days after it had occurred, and had +spent the long journey in incessant self-reproach that he had ever +allowed Juliet to go alone among these murderous strangers. The sight of +his familiar face was full of comfort to the distracted girl; and the +knowledge that Mark was arrested and powerless to harm her, with the +gladsome news that David was free again, combined to soothe her nerves +and restore her self-control. + +The fear of one cousin began to give place insensibly to the dread lest +the other should find her red-eyed and woe-begone; and soon the +importance of looking her best when David should return occupied her mind +almost to the exclusion of the terrors she had experienced. Thus does the +emotion of love monopolize the attention of those it possesses, so that +individuals may fall thick around him and the surface of the earth be +convulsed with the strife of nations, and still your lover will walk +almost unconscious among such catastrophes, except in so much as they +affect himself or the object of his affections. + +But not yet was Juliet to see David. His mother's health had broken +down under the distress and worry of the accusation brought against +him, and it was to her side that he hurried as soon as he was released +from prison. + +While Lady Ruth carried Juliet off at once to the cottage, there to be +comforted, fed, made much of and put to bed, Gimblet and the men who had +assisted him in the work of rescue stayed behind in the walls of the +tower, to rig up, with ropes and buckets, an apparatus by which to +descend to that lowest depth of the _oubliette_ where poor Julia's body +must be lying. + +They had little hope of finding her alive; nor did they do so. She was +floating, face downwards, in the water at the bottom of the pit. + +In a grim, wrathful silence the men raised the poor lifeless body, +and with some difficulty brought it back to the light of day. When +the gruesome business was done, Gimblet returned to the cottage, +tired out with his night's work; for, like all the men on the place, +he had been scouring the moors since the previous evening, when +Mark's derisive words had first sent them, hot foot, to assure +themselves of Juliet's whereabouts. As he reached the cottage, the +daily post bag was being handed in, and among his letters was one +from the colonel of Mark's regiment: + +"MY DEAR SIR," it ran, "I have sent you a wire in answer to your letter +received to-day, since in view of what you say I see that it is necessary +to disclose what I hoped, for the sake of the regiment, to continue to +keep secret. But if, as you tell me, the innocence and even the life of +Sir David Southern is involved, and you have such good reason to +consider McConachan the man guilty of his uncle's death, it becomes my +duty to put aside my private feelings and to confess to you that I am +unable to look upon Mark McConachan as entirely above suspicion. When he +was a subaltern in the regiment I have the honour to command, he was a +source of grave worry and trouble to me. + +"From the day he joined I had misgivings, and, though his good looks, +lively spirits, and recklessness with money made him popular with others +of his age, I soon discovered that his moral sense was practically +nonexistent, and considered him a very undesirable addition to our ranks. +Still, I hoped he might improve, and for a year or two nothing occurred +to force me to take serious notice of his behaviour. Unknown to me, +however, he took to gambling very heavily, and must have lost a great +deal more than he could afford, for he appears to have got deep in the +clutches of moneylenders long before I heard anything about it. So +desperate did his financial affairs become, that shortly before he left +the regiment he was actually driven to forging the name of a brother +officer, a rich young man, with whom he was on very friendly terms. The +large amount for which the cheque was drawn drew the attention of the +bankers to it, and in spite of the extreme skill with which, I am told, +the signature had been counterfeited, the forgery was detected, and the +matter was brought before me. + +"The victim of the fraud was as anxious as myself to avoid a public +scandal, and it was arranged that nothing should be done for a year, to +give time to McConachan to refund the money; if, however, he failed to do +so within that time, there would be nothing for it but to make the matter +public. These terms were agreed on and McConachan was told to send in his +papers at once. + +"The year allowed is now drawing to a close, and the money has not been +forthcoming, so that there is no doubt that Mark McConachan's need of +obtaining a large amount is extremely pressing. My knowledge of his +character obliges me to add that I consider him one of the few men I ever +knew whom I could imagine going to almost any length to provide himself +with what he so urgently requires. + +"Please consider this letter confidential unless you obtain actual proof +of his guilt.--I am, sir, yours faithfully, + +"T. G. URSFORD, + +"Colonel commanding 31st Lancers." + +Gimblet put the letter away with the other items of evidence of Mark's +guilt: the telegram from the analyst in Edinburgh, the measurements of +the footprints on the rose-bed, and of those other marks near the hedge +by which he had at first been mystified. It was another thread in the +thin cord that, like the silken line Ariadne gave to Theseus, had led him +to come successfully out of the bewildering labyrinth into which the +investigation of the crime had beguiled him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +It was after dinner that night, as he sat in the little drawing-room of +the cottage with Lady Ruth and Sir Arthur, that his hostess asked him to +explain to them how he had contrived to detect the way in which the +murder had been committed. + +"You promised to tell me all about it," Lady Ruth reminded him, "if I +would keep silent about your finding the papers in the statue." + +"Tell us the whole thing from the beginning," Sir Arthur urged him. + +"I will willingly tell you anything that may interest you," Gimblet +consented readily. "Every one enjoys talking about their work to +sympathetic listeners such as yourselves. It is a bad thing to start on a +case with a preconceived idea, and I can't deny that when I first came +here I was very near having an _idee fixe_ as to the origin of the crime. +I tried to deceive myself into thinking that I kept an open mind on the +subject; but I don't think I ever really doubted for a minute that the +Nihilist society to which Lord Ashiel had formerly belonged was +responsible for the murder. Even after my conversation with the new peer, +which showed me that things looked blacker against Sir David Southern +than I had expected, I was far from convinced that he was guilty, though +I was obliged to admit that there was some ground for the conclusion come +to by the police. + +"But what was the evidence against him? Sir David was known to have +quarrelled with his uncle; he had even been heard to say he had a good +mind to shoot him. But that was more than twenty-four hours previous to +the crime, and the words were uttered in a moment of anger, when he +probably said the first thing that came into his head. Was he likely to +have hugged his rage in silence for the hours that followed, and then to +have walked out into the garden and shot his uncle in cold blood and +without further warning? It did not appear to me probable, but then I did +not know the young man. + +"He was not to be found when the deed was discovered, and a hunt +instituted for the murderer. Well, he had an answer to that which fitted +in with my own theory. He said he saw some one hanging about the grounds, +and went to look for him. But it was said that the night was so dark as +to make it improbable that anyone should have been seen, even if there +had been anyone to see. That cut both ways, to my mind. For it would +account for the intruder making his escape undiscovered. + +"Then there was the matter of the rifle, which he had told Miss Byrne he +had cleaned that evening, in which case it had certainly been fired since +then. He owned that he had locked it up and that the key never left his +possession afterwards, but now denied that he had told the young lady +that he had cleaned it. I asked young Lord Ashiel if he could put any +possible interpretation on these facts except the one accepted by the +police, and he replied that he could not. That, for the first time, made +me wonder if he were really anxious to believe his cousin innocent. For I +could put quite different interpretations on them myself. + +"In the first place, though it was possible that Sir David lied in +making his second statement to the effect that he had not said he had +cleaned his rifle, it was equally possible that the first statement that +he _had_ cleaned it was not strictly accurate. For some reason, which he +did not care to divulge, he might have told Miss Byrne he had been +cleaning his gun when he had been really doing something entirely +different. But had he told her he had cleaned it? His words, as repeated +by her to me, were, 'I went in there to clean my rifle,' but not, 'I have +been cleaning my rifle,' which would be another thing altogether, he +probably had not yet begun cleaning it when he heard Miss Byrne coming +and went out to speak to her; it is possible some feeling akin to shyness +might make him reluctant to confess this afterwards in public. Indeed I +now feel quite sure that this is the explanation of the matter. Later on, +when I questioned her again, she did not appear certain which of the two +forms of words he had used; but there was, at all events, a considerable +doubt. There were other possibilities also. Some one might possess a +duplicate key to the gun-cabinet. It seemed to me impossible that none of +these considerations should have occurred to young Ashiel, if he were +really reluctant to believe in Sir David's guilt. But at the same time I +remembered the almost incredible lack of reasoning powers shown by most +members of the public where a deed of violence has been committed, and +knowing that there is nothing so improbable that it will not find a host +of ready believers, I did not attach much importance to the circumstance +until later. + +"Still on the whole, after talking to young Lord Ashiel, I felt more +disposed to believe that there might be some truth in the accusation +that had been made than I had previously thought likely. But on that +point I reserved my opinion till I should have had an opportunity of +examining the scene of the tragedy for myself. So I prevailed upon the +new owner of the castle to leave me alone--which he was the more ready to +do since he had urgent need to be first in examining some papers of his +uncle's which were in another room--and proceeded to make a cast round +the garden from which the shot had been fired, in the hope of lighting +upon some trifle which had escaped the notice of Macross. + +"It was when I came upon the footprints in the rose-bed which had done so +much to prove the guilt of Sir David Southern in the eyes of his +accusers, that I began to be certain of his innocence; and a very little +examination convinced me absolutely that whoever had shot Lord Ashiel it +was not his youngest nephew. For the tracks on the flower-bed left no +room for doubt. + +"It is true they corresponded exactly with the shooting-boots Sir David +had been wearing on the day the crime was committed. I had provided +myself with a pair that I was assured was exactly like those particular +boots which fitted the tracks and which the police had taken away with +them, and I found that there was indeed no difference, except for the +matter of an extra nail or two on the soles. There was no doubt that Sir +David's boots had made those impressions, but to my mind there was +equally no doubt that Sir David had not been in them when they made them. +For the track which was so plainly distinguishable on the soft mould of +the flower-bed had certain peculiarities which I could hardly overlook. + +"There was first a row of footmarks leading from the lawn to the middle +of the bed; then more marks as if the wearer of the boots had moved from +one position to another hard by; and finally, a track leading back again +to the mossy lawn at the side. Now all this was well enough till it came +to the last row of footsteps, those which led off the bed, and which had +presumably been taken after the fatal shot was fired. But was it +conceivable that a man who had that moment committed a cold-blooded +murder should leave the scene of his crime with the same slow, deliberate +footsteps with which he had approached it? Surely not. + +"And yet this is what the wearer of the boots had done. The imprints, as +they advanced towards the lawn, were deep and well defined from toe to +heel. Not only that, but they were, if anything, closer together than +those which preceded them. Now a man, running, leaves a deeper impression +of his toe than he does of his heel, and his steps are much farther apart +in proportion to his increase in speed. I, myself, ran from the middle of +the bed, to the lawn, alongside of the footmarks of the soi-disant +murderer, and though I am a short man, while Sir David's legs are +reported long, I left only two footprints to his five. To me it was as +certain as if I had seen it happen that the wearer of the boots trampled +his way off the rose-bed as slowly as he had trampled on. Those +footprints had been made by some one who was determined they should be +seen, not by some one whose only thought was to get away from the place; +not, in short, by a man who had that moment fired a murderous shot +through the darkness. The tracks had undoubtedly been made as a blind and +with the intention of diverting suspicion to the wrong man probably after +the deed itself was done. + +"I was satisfied, then, that the shot had not been fired from this +particular part of the rose-bed, and I proceeded to search for other +footprints farther down the bed. I did not feel much hope of being +successful, since, if our man had had the forethought to leave so many +traces of some one else's presence, it was unlikely he would have +neglected to ensure that his own should be absent. And as I expected, I +found none. + +"But at the end of the garden, where it is bounded by the holly hedge, I +came across something which puzzled me. There were two narrow depressions +on the flower-bed, about an inch wide by less than a foot long. They were +parallel to each other, and at right angles to the hedge, and separated +by a distance of six or seven feet. Near one, which was almost in the +middle of the bed, was another mark which I could not understand. It was +only a few inches long and, in shape, a narrow oval. I could not at first +imagine what any of them represented, and it was only quite suddenly, as +I was giving it up and going away, that the truth flashed across my mind. +I had been looking regretfully at the track I myself had left by the side +of the hedge on my way to and from the middle of the bed. + +"'What I want,' I said to myself, 'is one of those planks raised off +the ground by two little supports, one at each end, that gardeners use +to avoid stepping on the beds when they are going through the process +of bedding out,' And even as I said it, I realized that the same idea +had occurred to some one else, and that the marks I had been examining +might have been made by just such a contrivance as the one I was +thinking of. A short search showed me the plank itself, kept in a +tool-house conveniently near the spot, and, with a rake taken from the +same place, I seized the opportunity of raking out my own footmarks +from the rose-bed. + +"And now who could this be who had so carefully manufactured a false +scent, and so cleverly avoided being himself suspected? My previous +theory, that some envoy of the Nihilists had been lurking in the +neighbourhood, seemed not to meet the new conditions. For how could a +mere stranger have gained possession of the misleading boots, or how +returned them to their proper place? And how, for that matter, could a +stranger have obtained the use of Sir David's rifle, if his rifle had +indeed been used? + +"That brought me to consider again whether after all there was any proof +that his rifle had been used by anyone. Supposing, as I saw no reason to +doubt, he spoke the truth when he said that Miss Byrne had misunderstood +him and that he had not cleaned the weapon since coming in from stalking, +was I driven back on the theory that some one possessed a duplicate key +to the case where the guns were kept? Not in the least. The shot might +have been fired from a rifle that had never, at any time, been within the +walls of the castle. Certainly, the bullet fitted Sir David's Mannlicher +rifle, but that, as young Lord Ashiel said himself, was equally true of +his own rifle, or probably of a dozen others in the neighbouring forests, +since a sporting Mannlicher is a weapon in common use in the Highlands. + +"The shot, then, might well have been fired by my hypothetical Russian as +far as the rifle was concerned; but he would have found it difficult to +borrow Sir David's boots, and it seemed unlikely that any stranger would +not only have dared to do so, but afterwards have had the audacity to +return them. No, on the whole the footmarks seemed to clear the +character of the Russian nation from any reasonable suspicion of being +directly concerned in the crime. + +"And yet, in spite of reason, I could not help feeling that the Society +of the Friends of Man must be at the bottom of the whole thing in some +way I had not yet fathomed. I made every inquiry as to whether any +foreigner had visited the castle or been seen in the neighbourhood, but +the only strangers among the visitors had been Miss Julia Romaninov and +Miss Juliet Byrne's French maid, both of whose alibis appeared so far +unimpeachable. I had it on Lady Ruth's authority that Miss Romaninov had +been in the drawing-room with the other ladies at the time of the murder, +and all the servants were at supper in the servants' hall. Otherwise I +should have been inclined to look on Julia Romaninov with a suspicious +eye, as being the only Russian I knew to be on the spot. The last word +the dying man had been able to pronounce, too, was, according to Miss +Byrne, 'steps' which might very well have been intended for steppes, and +have some connection with the enemies he dreaded. + +"With these considerations running in my mind, I made my way to the +gun-room, not indeed with much expectation of its having anything to +tell me, but as part of the day's work of inspection, which must not be +shirked. I took down young Ashiel's rifle to examine. He had told me it +was of the same description as his cousin's, and I was not very +familiar with the make. It was owing to my wish to see for myself with +what kind of weapon the deed had been done that a very important clue +fell into my hands. + +"As I put the rifle down on the bare deal table which forms the +principal piece of furniture in the gun-room, I saw a grain of something +dark, which looked like earth, fall off the butt end on to the boards +beneath. I picked up the rifle, and looked closely at the butt; it was +criss-crossed with small cuts, as they sometimes are, with the idea of +preventing them from slipping, and in the cuts some dust, or earth, +seemed, as I expected, to be adhering. I knocked the rifle upon the +table, and a little shower fell from it. Except for the first grain, it +might have been nothing but the ordinary dust of disuse, but I could not +help thinking it was of a darker hue than the accumulations of years +generally take upon themselves, and, further, I knew that the rifle had +lately been used for stalking. It was, moreover, specklessly clean in +every other part. I felt certain it had been leant upon the ground at no +distant date; and I remembered the mark I had not been able to account +for at the foot of the rose-bush, near the place where the plank had been +used and, as I was persuaded, the cowardly shot actually fired. If a gun +had been leant up against the large standard rose that grew there, it +would have left just such a mark upon the soft ground. + +"All this, of course, was a mere surmise, and rather wild at that, but +the deer forests of Scotland are not muddy, whatever else they may be, +and I felt an unreasoning conviction that the rifle had not accumulated +dust while engaged upon its legitimate business on the mountain tops. The +peaty moorland soil on which the castle stood would hardly be the best +thing in the world for rose-trees, I imagined, and it seemed not too much +to hope that some other kind of earth might be artificially mingled with +it. I carefully collected the dust in a pill-box, and promised myself to +lose no time in obtaining the opinion of an expert analyst, as to +whether or no some trace of patent fertilizer, or other chemical, could +not be traced in it. + +"It was now for the first time that suspicion of young Lord Ashiel began +to oust my theory of the Nihilist society's responsibility for the +murder. He had, as I remembered, struck me as taking his cousin's guilt +for granted with somewhat unnecessary alacrity. His rifle, I already +believed, perhaps in my turn with needless alacrity, had fired the fatal +bullet, and it seemed perfectly possible that it was his finger that +pressed upon the trigger. He was, I knew, in the billiard-room, and +alone, both before and after the murder was committed. It would have been +quite easy for him to fetch his rifle, place the gardener's plank in +position, fire his shot and return to the house, provided Miss Byrne did +not rush immediately from the room. He knew her to be a brave girl and +not likely to fly without making some attempt at offering assistance. +But, if she had rushed from the spot and met the murderer outside the +library door, it would be simple enough to convey the impression that he +had heard the shot, and that he was either dashing to their help, or +making for the garden in the attempt to catch the villain red handed. The +rifle was the only thing likely to provoke an awkward question, but he +could have dropped it in the dark and returned for it afterwards without +much fear of detection. As it happened, he thought it safer to risk +carrying it indoors, and hid it under the billiard-room sofa till he had +a chance to clean it and take it to the gun-room, as we now know. + +"You can imagine the scene: Lord Ashiel falling forward upon the +writing-table under the light of the lamp; the scoundrel leaping from +his post upon the plank, but not so quickly that he did not see the +girl throw herself on her knees at the side of the fallen man. I can +fancy the frenzied haste with which McConachan thrust the plank into the +hedge and ran like a deer towards the door, which he had no doubt left +open. I imagine him, then, tiptoeing to the door of the library and +bending to listen, every nerve astretch. What he heard, no doubt +reassured him; it may have been the voice of the girl calling upon her +father, or it may have been the thud of her body falling upon the floor +when she fainted. Perhaps, even, he may have stayed outside long enough +to see her sink to the ground. Then he would steal back, shut the door +as gently as he had opened it, and not breathe again till he found +himself in the empty billiard-room, his tell-tale rifle still in his +hand. No doubt he wished he had left it in the hedge at that moment, for +he must have opened the billiard-room door with most lively +apprehensions. Supposing the shot had been heard, and the household was +rushing to the scene of the disaster? Supposing he opened the door to +find the room full of people demanding an explanation of himself and his +weapon? What explanation had he ready, I wonder? It must have taken all +his nerve to turn the handle of the door.... + +"But no one can deny the man his full share of courage and decision. + +"I felt more and more sure that in some such manner the crime had been +gone about; and yet there were many complications, and more than once it +seemed as if my convictions had been too hastily formed. Later that same +afternoon I found, upon the sand of a little bay below the castle, marks +that told me as plainly as they told one of the keepers who joined me +there that a strange man had landed from a boat on the night of the +murder, and even, if our calculations were right, not far off the very +hour in which the deed was done. From the tracks left by his boots, which +were large and without nails and extraordinarily pointed for those of a +man, I felt sure that here one had landed who was no native of these +parts, and the theory of the unknown Russian seemed to take on new life +and vigour. The tracks, as we now know, were no doubt those of the member +of the Society of the Friends of Man who was living at Crianan, and who +hoped to have word with Julia Romaninov. It was no doubt he whom Sir +David saw lurking in the grounds, and it is natural to suppose that when +he perceived himself to be observed he retreated to his boat and made +off, abandoning his proposed meeting for that night. + +"I was to be further bewildered before my first day of investigation +came to an end. Young Lord Ashiel had spent the day in searching for the +will; and, if my inward certainty that he himself would prove to be the +guilty man should turn out to be right, I could very well understand +that he was anxious to find it. For, from what his uncle had said to +Miss Byrne, it seemed possible that he had so worded his last will and +testament, that whoever succeeded to the great fortune he had to +bequeath, it might not be Mark McConachan. But the will was not to be +found, and there was no doubt to whose interest it was that it should +never be found; so that I felt pretty sure that, if the successor to the +title were once able to lay his hands on it, no one else would ever do +so. However, he hadn't found it yet, or the search would not be +continued with such unmistakable ardour. + +"Now I had a fancy myself to have a look for the will. I took the last +words of the dead man to be an effort to indicate how I was to do so, and +I had no idea of prosecuting my search under the eye of his nephew. Young +Ashiel was to dine at the cottage here, with Lady Ruth; so I excused +myself under pretence of a headache from appearing at dinner, and hurried +back to the castle as soon as I could do so unobserved. I got in by a +window which I had purposely left open, and made my way to the library. +The words that Lord Ashiel, as he lay dying, had managed to stammer out +to his daughter, were only five. 'Gimblet--the clock--eleven--steps.' I +had decided to take the clock in the library as the starting-point of +investigation. He might, of course, have referred to any other clock, but +only one could be dealt with at a time, and a beginning must be made +somewhere. Moreover, I had noticed a curious feature about that +particular timepiece. It was clamped to the wall, which struck me as very +suggestive; and I thought it quite likely I should be able to discover +some kind of secret drawer concealed within, or behind, the tall black +lacquered case, where the will and other papers of which Lord Ashiel had +told me might be hidden. But in spite of my best efforts I came across +nothing of the kind. + +"I then examined the floor of the room at spots on its surface which were +at a distance of about eleven steps from the clock, in the hope of +finding some opening between the oak boards; but all to no purpose. I +began to think that by some specially contrived mechanism the +hiding-place might only be discernible at eleven o'clock, and though the +idea seemed farfetched, I don't like to leave any possibility untested, +so I sat down to wait till the hour should strike. + +"While I was waiting, I suddenly heard footsteps which appeared to come +from inside the wall of the room, or from below the floor. I concluded +instantly that there was a secret passage within the walls although I had +failed to find the entrance, so I left the library quickly and quietly, +and made my way to the garden, from which I was able to look back into +the room through the window. By the time I took up my post of observation +the person I had heard approaching had entered. To my surprise it was a +young lady about whom I seemed to recognize something vaguely familiar, +but whom I was not aware of ever having seen before. She was occupied in +examining the papers in Lord Ashiel's writing bureau, and after watching +her for some time, I concluded that she must be Julia Romaninov; partly +from certain foreign ways and gestures which she displayed, and partly +from her present employment, as I knew of no one else who was interested +in the papers of the dead man. I imagined that she knew of the possible +relationship which Lord Ashiel supposed might exist between himself and +her, and that she was searching for evidence of her birth. Whether she +was staying at the castle, which I was told all visitors had left, or +whether, like myself, she had made her way into it from outside, was a +question I could not then determine, though the next day I discovered +that she was stopping with Mrs. Clutsam at the fishing lodge, near by. + +"The fact of her being still in the neighbourhood, the business I found +her engaged upon--an unusual one, to put it mildly, for a young girl--and +the hour, at which she had chosen to go about it, all gave me much food +for thought, and I felt sure she could tell me news of the stranger who +had landed in the bay and who wore such uncommonly pointed boots. When I +recognized in her, on the following day, a young person who had, a few +weeks previously, made me the victim of a barefaced and audacious +robbery, I could no longer doubt that she and the unknown boatman were in +league together; and, since no Englishman would be likely to wear boots +so excessively pointed at the toes, I did not hesitate to conclude that +they were both members of the Society of the Friends of Man, a conclusion +which became a certainty when I subsequently saw them together. This +discovery rather shook my belief in the guilt of young Ashiel, although I +had an inward conviction that in spite of everything he would turn out to +be the murderer. Still, I was after the Nihilist brotherhood as well, and +I determined if possible to put a spoke in the wheel of that association +when I had finished with the first and most important business. + +"In the meantime, as I stood in the dark garden, watching the girl +ransack the private papers of her dead host, I felt no fear of her +finding what she was looking for. Lord Ashiel had convinced me that he +would hide his secret affairs more carefully than that; and, as I +expected, the time came when she gave up the search and departed the way +she had come. And that way, to my astonishment, was through the +grandfather's clock I had spent so much time in examining. No sooner had +she gone than I returned to the library, where I soon discovered that the +hidden entrance lay through the one part of the clock I had not +investigated. A trap in the floor could be opened by turning a small +knob, and I found beneath it the top of that flight of stairs which we +now know leads out to the door under the battlements. There were fifteen +steps in the flight, and my first idea was to examine the eleventh one of +them. I was rewarded by the discovery of a concealed drawer, which in its +turn disclosed a single sheet of paper. + +"On it were written some words that I could not at first understand, but +of which finally, by good luck, and with your help, Lady Ruth, I was able +to decipher the meaning. They referred, in an obscure and veiled fashion, +to the great statue erected by Lord Ashiel in that glen of which his wife +had been so fond; where the beginning of the track used by the cattle +drivers and robbers of old, which is known as the Green Way, leads up +over the hills to the south. Guided by Lady Ruth, I found on the pedestal +of the statue a spring, which has only to be pressed when a door in one +end of the erection swings open, and discloses the hollow chamber in the +middle of the pedestal. At the far end of the cavity was the tin box, of +which the key lay temptingly on the top. I lost no time in springing +towards it, for here I felt sure was all I wanted to find, but as I +inserted the key in the lock the door slammed to behind me and I found +myself shut in the dark interior of the pedestal. Luckily Lady Ruth was +with me, and quickly let me out. I found that the door was controlled by +an elaborate piece of clockwork, which is set in motion by the pressure +upon the floor of the feet of any intruder, causing the door to shut +almost immediately behind him. But for you, Lady Ruth, I should be there +now. But the incident gave me an idea. + +"I returned to the cottage with the papers, and found two telegrams. One +was from the analyst in Edinburgh to whom I had sent the grains of dust +collected in the gun-room, saying that among other ingredients lime was +very predominant. Now there is no lime in a peaty soil such as this, and +the gardener, to whom I talked of soils and manures, with an air of +wisdom which I hope deceived him, told me that the rose-bed outside the +library had received a strong dressing of it. There was also, said the +report, traces of steel and phosphates, of which there is a combination +known as basic slag, which the gardener had mentioned as being +occasionally used. I considered that it was tolerably certain, therefore, +that young Ashiel's rifle had been the weapon the imprint of whose butt +was still discernible on the bed when I went over it. + +"The second telegram contained an answer from the colonel of his +regiment, to whom I had written asking if there was anything in the +record of Mark McConachan which would make it appear conceivable that he +was badly in need of money, and likely to go to extreme lengths to obtain +it. I had told the colonel as much about the case as I then knew, and +pointed out that the life or death of a man whom I had strong reason to +think innocent might depend upon his withholding nothing he might know +which could possibly bear upon the matter. The telegram I received in +reply was short but emphatic. 'Record very bad,' it said, 'am writing,' +This was enough for me. I went over to Crianan, saw the police, and +imparted my conclusions to the local inspector. I then proposed that a +little trap should be laid, into which, if he were not guilty and had no +intention of destroying his uncle's will, there was no reason to imagine +young Lord Ashiel would step. The inspector consented, and I returned, +with himself and two of his men, to Inverashiel. You know how successful +was the ruse I indulged in. I simply went to the young man, and told him +I had discovered the place where his uncle had put his will and other +valuable papers. I explained to him where it was and how the pedestal +could be opened, but I said nothing about its shutting again. Neither, I +am afraid, did I confess that I had already visited the statue and taken +away the documents. I said, on the contrary, that I preferred not to +touch the contents except in the presence of a magistrate, and suggested +he should send a note to General Tenby at Glenkliquart to ask him to come +over and be present when we removed the papers. This he did, and I then +left him after he had promised to join us at the cottage in a couple of +hours. I knew very well where we should find him at the end of those +hours; and, as I expected, he was caught by the clockwork machinery of +the pedestal door." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +Sir Arthur Byrne took his adopted daughter back to Belgium on the +following day, since, although she would have to return to England to +give evidence against Mark in due course, some time must elapse before +his trial came on, and he judged it best to remove her as far as possible +from a place whose associations must always be painful. + +Then ensued a series of weary long weeks for Juliet, in which she had no +trouble in convincing herself that David had forgotten her. She heard +nothing from him directly, though indirectly news of him filtered through +in letters they received from Lady Ruth and Gimblet. He had not, it +appeared, taken his cousin's guilt as proved so readily as Mark had +affected to do in his own case, refusing absolutely to hear a word of the +evidence against him, and maintaining that the whole thing was a mistake +as colossal as it was ghastly. + +Only when he was persuaded unwillingly, but finally, that it was Juliet's +word which he must doubt if he were to continue to believe in Mark's +innocence, did he give in, and sorrowfully acknowledged himself +convinced. + +All this Lady Ruth wrote to the girl, together with the fact that Sir +David was still in attendance on his mother, now happily recovering from +the nervous shock she had sustained. + +From Gimblet, and from Messrs. Findlay & Ince, they heard that by the +will which the detective had found all Lord Ashiel's money and estate +were left to the adopted daughter of Sir Arthur Byrne, known hitherto as +Juliet Byrne, with a suggestion that she should provide for his nephews +to the extent she should think fit. + +The will, though not technically worded, was perfectly good and legal, +and Juliet could have all the money she was likely to want for the +present by accepting the offer of an advance which the lawyers begged to +be allowed to make. + +Gimblet wrote, further, that the list of names of members of the Nihilist +society entitled the "Friends of Man" which he had discovered at the same +time as the will and, contrary to Lord Ashiel's wishes, sent off by +registered post to Scotland Yard, had been communicated to the heads of +the police in Russia and the other European countries in which many of +those designated were now scattered, with the result that a large number +of arrests had been quietly made, and the society practically wiped out. +The foreign guest of the Crianan Hotel was still at large. The name of +Count Pretovsky was not on the list and nothing could be proved against +him. He had moved on to another hotel farther west, where he was lying +very low and continuing to practise the gentle art of the fisherman. A +member of the Russian secret police was on his way to Scotland, however, +and it was likely that Count Pretovsky would be recognized as one of the +persons on Lord Ashiel's list who were as yet unaccounted for. + +Gimblet told them, besides, that he had succeeded in finding the widow of +the respectable plumber named Harsden, whom Julia had mentioned as being +her father. Mrs. Harsden corroborated the story, and said that it was +certainly the Countess Romaninov to whom Mrs. Meredith had consigned the +little girl they had given her. + +Widely distributed advertisements also brought to light the nurses of the +two children; both the nurse who had taken Julia out to Russia and the +woman who had been with Mrs. Meredith when she took over the charge of +the McConachan baby, quickly claiming the reward that was offered for +their discovery. There was no longer any room for doubt that Juliet Byrne +was the same person as Juliana McConachan, or that Julia Romaninov had +begun life as little Judy Harsden. + +All this scarcely sufficed to rouse Juliet from the apathy into which she +had fallen. To her it seemed incredible to think with what excitement and +delight such news would have filled her a few months earlier. + +Now, since David plainly no longer cared for her, nothing mattered any +longer. Her depression was put down to the shock she had suffered, and +efforts were made to feed her up and coddle her, which she +ungratefully resented. + +She had nothing in life to look forward to now, so she told herself, +except the horrible ordeal of the trial which she would be obliged +to attend. + +It was in the dejection now becoming habitual to her, that she sat idly +one fine October morning in her little sitting-room at the consulate. She +had refused to play tennis with her stepsisters, not because she had +anything else to do, but because nothing was worth doing any more, and +because it was less trouble to sit and gaze mournfully through the open +window at the yellow leaves of the poplar in the garden, as from time to +time one of them fluttered down through the still air. + +How unspeakably sad it was, she thought to herself, this slow falling of +the leaves, like the gradual but persistent loss of our hopes and +illusions, which eventually make each human dweller in this world of +change feel as bare and forlorn as the leafless winter trees. + +On a branch a few feet away, a robin perched, and after looking at her +critically for a few moments lifted up its voice in cheerful song. + +But she took no heed of it, and continued to brood over her sorrows. + +All men were faithless. With them, it was out of sight, out of mind, and +she would assuredly never, never believe in one again. The best thing +she could do, she decided, was to put away all thought of such things, +and forget the man whom she had once been so vain as to imagine really +cared for her. + +And just as she told herself for the hundredth time that she had given up +all hope and had resigned herself to the role of broken-hearted maiden, +the door opened, and David was shown in. + +By good luck, she was alone. Lady Byrne was not yet down, and her +stepsisters were out; so there was no one to see her blushes and add to +her embarrassment. + +In the surprise of seeing him, all her presence of mind vanished, leaving +her speechless and trembling with agitation. + +For his part, David approached her with a confusion as obvious as her +own. + +"Juliet," he stammered as soon as they were left alone together, "I know +I oughtn't to have come, but I simply couldn't keep away." + +"Why oughtn't you to have come?" was all she could ask foolishly. + +"Because I know you can't want to see me," said the absurd young man, +"though I do think you liked me pretty well before, didn't you? when +Maisie Tarver tied my tongue; or ought to have, I'm afraid I should say. +But she had enough sense to drop me when I was arrested. She couldn't +stand a man arrested for murder any more than you or anyone else could?" + +He said the last words with an air of shamefaced interrogation. + +"Why," said Juliet, who was being carried off her feet on the top of a +rapturous flood, "what nonsense! You were as innocent as I was. What +would it matter if you were arrested twenty times!" + +"Well, I shouldn't care to be, myself," said David, without apparently +deriving much satisfaction from such a suggestion. "Once is enough for +me. And anyway," he added inconsequently, "you can't very well marry a +fellow who is first cousin to a man who's as good as hanged already!" + +"Oh, David, David," cried Juliet; "as if that mattered! But who do +you suppose I am--don't you know that he's my first cousin just as he +is yours?" + +"By Jingo," said David, "I never thought of that, somehow. Then +we're both in the same boat!" And he stepped forward and caught her +by the hands. + +"Yes, David," she said, as he drew her to him tenderly, "both in the same +boat. And what can be nicer than that?" + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Ashiel mystery, by Mrs. Charles Bryce + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASHIEL MYSTERY *** + +This file should be named 7ashl10.txt or 7ashl10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7ashl11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7ashl10a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Ashiel mystery + A Detective Story + +Author: Mrs. Charles Bryce + +Release Date: January, 2006 [EBook #9746] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 15, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASHIEL MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + THE ASHIEL MYSTERY + A DETECTIVE STORY + + + BY MRS. CHARLES BRYCE + + + + +_"It is the difficulty of the Police Romance, that the reader is always a +man of such vastly greater ingenuity than the writer._" + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +When Sir Arthur Byrne fell ill, after three summers at his post in the +little consulate that overlooked the lonely waters of the Black Sea, he +applied for sick leave. Having obtained it, he hurried home to scatter +guineas in Harley Street; for he felt all the uneasy doubts as to his +future which a strong man who has never in his life known what it is to +have a headache is apt to experience at the first symptom that all is not +well. Outwardly, he pretended to make light of the matter. + +"Drains, that's what it is," he would say to some of the passengers to +whom he confided the altered state of his health on board the boat which +carried him to Constantinople. "As soon as I get back to a civilized +sewage system I shall be myself again. These Eastern towns are all right +for Orientals; and what is your Muscovite but an Oriental, in all +essentials of hygiene? But they play the deuce with a European who has +grown up in a country where people still indulge in a sense of smell." + +And if anyone ventured to sympathize with him, or to express regret at +his illness, he would snub him fiercely. But for all that he felt +convinced, in his own mind, that he had been attacked by some fatal +disease. He became melancholy and depressed; and, if he did not spend his +days in drawing up his last will and testament, it was because such a +proceeding--in view of the state of his banking account--would have +partaken of the nature of a farce. Having a sense of humour, he was +little disposed, just then, to any action whose comic side he could not +conveniently ignore. + +When he arrived in London, however, he was relieved to find that the +specialists whom he consulted, while they mostly gave him his money's +worth of polite interest, did not display any anxiety as to his +condition. One of them, indeed, went so far as to mention a long name, +and to suggest that an operation for appendicitis would be likely to do +no harm; but, on being cross-examined, confessed that he saw no reason to +suspect anything wrong with Sir Arthur's appendix; so that the young man +left the consulting-room in some indignation. + +He remembered, as soon as the door had closed behind him, that he had +forgotten to ask the meaning of the long name; and, being reluctant to +set eyes again on the doctor who had mystified him with it, went to +another and demanded to know what such a term might signify. + +"Is--is it--dangerous?" he stammered, trying in vain to appear +indifferent. + +Sir Ronald Tompkins, F.R.C.S., etc. etc., let slip a smile; and then, +remembering his reputation, changed it to a look of grave sympathy. + +"No," he murmured, "no, no. There is no danger. I should say, no +immediate danger. Still you did right, quite right, in coming to me. +Taken in time, and in the proper way, this delicacy of yours will, I have +no hesitation in saying, give way to treatment. I assure you, my dear Sir +Arthur, that I have cured many worse cases than yours. I will write you +out a little prescription. Just a little pill, perfectly pleasant to the +taste, which you must swallow when you feel this alarming depression and +lack of appetite of which you complain; and I am confident that we shall +soon notice an improvement. Above all, my dear Sir, no worry; no anxiety. +Lead a quiet, open-air life; play golf; avoid bathing in cold water; +avoid soup, potatoes, puddings and alcohol; and come and see me again +this day fortnight. Thank you, yes, two guineas. _Good_-bye." + +He pressed Sir Arthur's hand, and shepherded him out of the room. + +His patient departed, impressed, soothed and comforted. + +After the two weeks had passed, and feeling decidedly better, he +returned. + +Sir Ronald on this occasion was absolutely cheerful. He expressed himself +astonished at the improvement, and enthusiastic on the subject of the +excellence of his own advice. He then broke to Sir Arthur the fact that +he was about to take his annual holiday. He was starting for Norway the +next day, and should not be back for six weeks. + +"But what shall I do while you are away?" cried his patient, aghast. + +"You have advanced beyond my utmost expectations," replied the doctor, +"and the best thing for you now will be to go out to Vichy, and take a +course of the waters there. I should have recommended this in any case. +My intended departure makes no difference. Let me earnestly advise you to +start for France to-morrow." + +Sir Arthur had by this time developed a blind faith in Sir Ronald +Tompkins and did not dream of ignoring his suggestion. He threw over all +the engagements he had made since arriving in England; packed his trunks +once more; and, if he did not actually leave the country until two or +three days later, it was only because he was not able to get a sleeping +berth on the night express at such short notice. + +The end of the week saw him installed at Vichy, the most assiduous and +conscientious of all the water drinkers assembled there. + +It was on the veranda of his hotel that he made the acquaintance of +Mrs. Meredith. + +She was twenty-five, rich, beautiful and a widow, her husband having been +accidentally killed within a few months of their marriage. After a year +or so of mourning she had recovered her spirits, and led a gay life in +English society, where she was very much in request. + +Sir Arthur had seen few attractive women of late, the ladies of Baku +being inclined to run to fat and diamonds, and he thought Lena Meredith +the most lovely and the most wonderful creature that ever stepped out of +a fairy tale. + +From the very moment he set eyes on her he was her devoted slave, and +after the first few days a more constant attendant than any shadow--for +shadows at best are mere fair-weather comrades. He seldom saw the lady +alone, for she had with her a small child, not yet a year old, of which +she was, as it seemed to Sir Arthur, inordinately fond; and whether she +were sitting under the trees in the garden of the hotel, or driving +slowly along the dusty roads--as was her habit each afternoon--the baby +and its nurse were always with her, and by their presence put an +effective check to the personalities in which he was longing to indulge. +It would have taken more than a baby to discourage Sir Arthur, however: +he cheerfully included the little girl in his attentions; and, as time +went on, became known to the other invalids in the place by the nickname +of "the Nursemaid." + +Mrs. Meredith took his homage as a matter of course. She was used to +admiration, though she was not one of those women to whom it is +indispensable. She considered it one of the luxuries of life, and held +that it is more becoming than diamonds and a better protection against +the weather than the most expensive furs. At first she looked upon the +obviously stricken state of Sir Arthur with amusement, combined with a +good deal of gratification that some one should have arisen to entertain +her in this dull health resort; but gradually, as the weeks passed, her +point of view underwent a change. Whether it was the boredom of the cure, +or whether she was touched by the unselfish devotion of her admirer, or +whether it was due merely to the accident that Sir Arthur was an +uncommonly good-looking young man and so little conscious of the fact, +from one cause or another she began to feel for him a friendliness which +grew quickly more pronounced; so that at the end of a month, when he +found her, for the first time walking alone by the lake, and proposed to +her inside the first two minutes of their encounter, she accepted him +almost as promptly, and with very nearly as much enthusiasm. + +"I want to talk to you about the child, little Juliet," she said, a day +or two later. "Or rather, though I want to talk about her, perhaps I had +better not, for I can tell you almost nothing that concerns her." + +"My dear," said Sir Arthur, "you needn't tell me anything, if you +don't like." + +"But that's just the tiresome part," she returned, "I should like you to +know everything, and yet I must not let you know. She is not mine, of +course, but beyond that her parentage must remain a secret, even from +you. Yet this I may say: she is the child of a friend of mine, and there +is no scandal attached to her birth, but I have taken all responsibility +as to her future. Are you, Arthur, also prepared to adopt her?" + +"Darling, I will adopt dozens of them, if you like," said her infatuated +betrothed. "Juliet is a little dear, and I am very glad we shall always +have her." + +In England, the news of Lena Meredith's engagement caused a flutter of +excitement and disappointment. It had been hoped that she would make a +great match, and she received many letters from members of her family and +friends, pointing out the deplorable manner in which she was throwing +herself away on an impecunious young baronet who occupied an obscure +position in the Consular Service. She was begged to remember that the +Duke of Dachet had seemed distinctly smitten when he was introduced to +her at the end of the last season; and told that if she would not +consider her own interests it was unnecessary that she should forget +those of her younger unmarried sisters. + +At shooting lodges in the North, and in country houses in the South, +young men were observed to receive the tidings with pained surprise. +More than one of them had given Mrs. Meredith credit for better taste +when it came to choosing a second husband; more than one of them had +felt, indeed, that she was the only woman in the world with an eye +discerning enough to appreciate his own valuable qualities at their true +worth. Could the fact be that she had overlooked those rare gifts? For a +week or so depression sat in many a heart unaccustomed to its presence; +and young ladies, in search of a husband, found, here and there, that +one turned to them whom they had all but given up as hopelessly +indifferent to their charms. + +Unconcerned by the lack of enthusiasm aroused by her decision, Lena +Meredith married Sir Arthur Byrne, and in the course of a few months +departed with him to his post on the Black Sea; where the baby Juliet and +her nurse formed an important part of the consular household. + +The years passed happily. Sir Arthur was moved and promoted from one +little port to another a trifle more frequented by the ships of his +country, and after a year or so to yet another still larger; so that, +while nothing was too good for Juliet in the eyes of her adopted mother, +and to a lesser extent in those of her father, it happened that she knew +remarkably little of her own land, though few girls were more familiar +with those of other nations. Nor were their wanderings confined to +Europe: Africa saw them, and the southern continent of America; and it +was in that far country that the happy days came to an end, for poor Lady +Byrne caught cold one bitter Argentine day, and died of pneumonia before +the week was out. + +Sir Arthur was heart-broken. He packed Juliet off to a convent school +near Buenos Ayres, and shut himself up in his consulate, refusing to meet +those who would have offered their sympathy, and going from his room to +his office, and back again, like a man in a dream. + +Not for more than a year did Juliet see again the only friend she had now +left in the world; and it was then she heard for the first time that he +was not really her father, and that the woman she had called "Mother" had +had no right to that name. She was fifteen years old when this blow fell +on her; and she had not yet reached her sixteenth birthday when Sir +Arthur was transferred back to Europe. + +"Your home must always be with me, Juliet," he had said, when he broke to +her his ignorance of her origin. "I have only you left now." + +But though he was kind, and even affectionate to her, he showed no real +anxiety for her society. She was sent to a school in Switzerland as soon +as they landed in Europe; and, while she used to fancy that at the +beginning of the holidays he was glad to see her return, she was much +more firmly convinced that at the end of them he was at least equally +pleased to see her depart. + +She was nineteen before he realized that she could not be kept at school +for ever; and when he considered the situation, and saw himself, a man +scarcely over forty, saddled with a grown-up girl, who was neither his +own daughter nor that of the woman he had loved, and to whom he had sworn +to care for the child as if she were indeed his own, it must be admitted +that his heart failed him. It was not that he had any aversion to Juliet +herself. He had been fond of the child, and he liked the girl. It was the +awkwardness of his position that filled him with a kind of despair. + +"If only somebody would marry her!" he thought, as he sat opposite to her +at the dinner-table, on the night that she returned for the last time +from school. + +The thought cheered him. Juliet, he noticed for the first time, had +become singularly pretty. He engaged a severe Frenchwoman of mature age +as chaperon, and made spasmodic attempts to take his adopted daughter +into such society as the Belgian port, where he was consul at this time, +could afford. + +It was not a large society; nor did eligible young men figure in it in +any quantity. Those there were, were foreigners, to whom the question of +a _dot_ must be satisfactorily solved before the idea of matrimony would +so much as occur to them. + +Juliet had no money. Lady Byrne had left her fortune to her husband, and +rash speculations on his part had reduced it to a meagre amount, which he +felt no inclination to part with. Two or three years went by, and she +received no proposals. Sir Arthur's hopes of seeing her provided for grew +faint, and he could imagine no way out of his difficulties. He himself +spent his leave in England, but he never took the girl with him on those +holidays. He had no wish to be called on to explain her presence to such +of his friends as might not remember his wife's whim; and, though she +passed as his daughter abroad, she could not do that at home. + +Juliet, for her part, was not very well content. She could hardly avoid +knowing that she was looked on as an incubus, and she saw that her +father, as she called him, dreaded to be questioned as to their +relationship. She lived a simple life; rode and played tennis with young +Belgians of her own age; read, worked, went to such dances and +entertainments as were given in the little town, and did not, on the +whole, waste much time puzzling over the mystery that surrounded her +childhood. But when her friends asked her why she never went to England +with Sir Arthur, she did not know what answer to make, and worried +herself in secret about it. + +Why did he not take her? Because he was ashamed of her? But why was he +ashamed? Her mother--she always thought of Lady Byrne by that name--had +said she was the daughter of a friend of hers. So that she must at least +be the child of people of good family. Was not that enough? + +She was already twenty-three when Sir Arthur married again. The lady was +an American: Mrs. Clarency Butcher, a good-looking widow of about +thirty-five, with three little girls, of whom the eldest was fifteen. She +had not the enormous wealth which is often one of her countrywomen's most +pleasing attributes, but she was moderately well off and came of a good +Colonial family. Having lived for several years in England, she had grown +to prefer the King's English to the President's, and had dropped, almost +completely, the accent of her native country. She was extremely well +educated, and talked three other languages with equal correctness, her +first husband having been attached to various European legations. +Altogether, she was a charming and attractive woman, and there were many +who envied Sir Arthur for the second time in his life. + +It was not, perhaps, her fault that she did not take very kindly to +Juliet. The girl resented the place once occupied by her dead mother +being filled by any newcomer; and was not, it is to be feared, at +sufficient pains to hide her feelings on the point. And the second Lady +Byrne was hardly to be blamed if she remembered that in a few years she +would have three daughters of her own to take out, and felt that a fourth +was almost too much of a good thing. + +Besides, there was no getting over the fact that she was no relation +whatever, and was on the other hand a considerable drain on the family +resources, all of which Lady Byrne felt entirely equal to disbursing +alone and unassisted. Finally, her presence led to disagreements between +Sir Arthur and his wife. + +The day came on which Lady Byrne could not resist drawing Juliet's +attention to her unfortunate circumstances. In a heated moment, induced +by the girl's refusal to meet her half-way when she was conscious of +having made an unusual effort to be friendly, she pointed out to Juliet +that it would be more becoming in her to show some gratitude to people on +whose charity she was living, and on whom she had absolutely no claim of +blood at all. + +The interview ended by Juliet flying to Sir Arthur, and begging, while +she wept on his shoulder, to be allowed to go away and work for her +living; though where and how she proposed to do this she did not specify. + +Sir Arthur had a bad quarter of an hour. His conscience, the knowledge of +the extent to which he shared his second wife's feelings, the remembrance +of the vows he had made on the subject to his first wife, these and the +old, if not very strong, affection he had for Juliet, combined to stir +in him feelings of compunction which showed themselves in an outburst of +irritability. He scolded Juliet; he blamed his wife. + +"Why," he asked them both, "can two women not live in the same house +without quarrelling? Is it impossible for a wretched man ever to have a +moment's peace?" + +In the end, he worked himself into such a passion that Lady Byrne and +Juliet were driven to a reconciliation, and found themselves defending +each other against his reproaches. + +After this they got on better together. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +One hot summer day, a few months after the marriage, Juliet, returning to +the consulate after a morning spent in very active exercise upon a tennis +court, was met on the doorstep by Dora, the youngest of the Clarency +Butchers, who was awaiting her approach in a high state of excitement. + +"Hurry up, Juliet," she cried, as soon as she could make herself +heard. "You'll never guess what there is for you. Something you don't +often get!" + +"What is it?" said Juliet, coming up the steps. + +"Guess!" + +"A present?" + +"No; at least I suppose not; but there may be one inside." + +"Inside? Oh, then it's a parcel?" asked Juliet good-humouredly. + +She felt a mild curiosity, tempered by the knowledge that many things +provided a thrill for the ten-year-old Dora, which she, from the advanced +age of twenty-three, could not look upon as particularly exciting. + +"No, not a parcel," cried Dora, dancing round her. "It's a letter. +There now!" + +"Then why do you say it's something I don't often get?" asked Juliet +suspiciously; "I often get letters. It's an invitation to the Gertignés' +dance, I expect." + +"No, no, it isn't. It's a letter from England. You don't often get one +from there, now, do you? You never did before since we've been here. I +always examine your letters, you know," said Dora, "to see if they look +as if they came from young men. So does Margaret. We think it's time you +got engaged." + +Margaret was the next sister. + +"It's very good of you to take such an interest in my fate," Juliet +replied, as she pulled off her gloves and went to the side-table for the +letter. As a matter of fact she was a good deal excited now; for what the +child said was true enough. She might even have gone further, and said +that she had never had a letter from England, except while Sir Arthur was +there on leave. + +It was a large envelope, addressed in a clerk's handwriting, and she came +to the conclusion, as she tore it open, that it must be an advertisement +from some shop. + + +"DEAR MADAM,--We shall esteem it a favour if you can make it convenient +to call upon us one day next week, upon a matter of business connected +with a member of your family. It is impossible to give you further +details in a letter; but if you will grant us the interview we venture to +ask, we may go so far as to say that there appears to us to be a +reasonable probability of the result being of advantage to yourself. +Trusting that you will let us have an immediate reply, in which you will +kindly name the day and hour when we may expect to see you.--We are, +yours faithfully, + +"FINDLAY & INGE, _Solicitors_." + +The address was a street in Holborn. + +Juliet read the letter through, and straightway read it through again, +with a beating heart. What did it mean? Was it possible she was going to +find her own family at last? + +She was recalled to the present by the voice of Dora, whom she now +perceived to be reading the letter over her shoulder with +unblushing interest. + +"Say," said Dora, "isn't it exciting? 'Something to your advantage!' Just +what they put in the agony column when they leave you a fortune. I bet +your long-lost uncle in the West has kicked the bucket, and left you all +his ill-gotten gains. Mark my words. You'll come back from England a +lovely heiress. I do wish the others would come in. There's no one in the +house, except Sir Arthur." + +"Where is he?" said Juliet, putting the sheet of paper back into the +envelope and slipping it under her waistband. "You know, Dora, it's not +at all a nice thing to read other people's letters. I wonder you aren't +ashamed of yourself. I'm surprised at you." + +"I shouldn't have read it if you'd been quicker about telling me what was +in it," retorted Dora. "It's not at all a nice thing to put temptation in +the way of a little girl like me. Do you suppose I'm made of cast iron?" + +She departed with an injured air, and Juliet went to look for the consul. + +"What is it?" he asked, as she put the envelope into his hand. "A letter +you want me to read? Not a proposal, eh?" He smiled at her as he unfolded +the large sheet of office paper. + +"Hullo, what's this?" + +He read it through carefully. + +"Why, Juliet," he said, when he had finished, "this is very interesting, +isn't it? It looks as if you were going to find out something about +yourself, doesn't it? After all these years! Well, well." + +"You think I must go, then," she said a little doubtfully. + +"Go? Of course I should go, if I were you. Why not?" + +"You don't think it is a hoax?" + +"No, no; I see no reason to suppose such a thing. I know the firm of +Findlay & Ince quite well by name and reputation." + +"Oh, I hope they will tell me who I am!" cried Juliet. "Have you no idea +at all, father?" + +"No, my dear, you know I have not. Besides, I promised Lena I would never +ask. You are the child of a friend of hers. That is all I know. I think +she scarcely realized how hard it would be for you not to know more when +you grew up. I often think that if she had lived she would have told you +before now." + +"If you promised her not to ask, I won't ask either," said Juliet +loyally. "But I hope they'll tell me. It will be different, won't it, if +they tell me without my asking?" + +"I think you might ask," said Sir Arthur. "It is absurd that you should +be bound by a promise that I made. And you may be sure of one thing. Your +asking, or your not asking, won't make any odds to Findlay & Ince. If +they mean to tell you, they will; and, if they don't, you're not likely +to get it out of them." + +"And when shall I go?" cried Juliet. "They say they want me to answer +immediately, you know." + +"Oh well, I don't know. In a few days. You will hardly be ready to start +to-morrow, will you?" + +"I could be ready, easily," said Juliet. + +"You're in a great hurry to get away from us," said Sir Arthur, with a +rather uneasy laugh. + +"Not from you." Juliet put her arm through his. "I could never find +another father half as nice as the one I've got. But you could do very +well without so many daughters, you know." She smiled at him mockingly. +"You're like the old woman who lived in a shoe. You ought to set up a +school for young ladies." + +"I don't believe I shall be able to get on without my eldest daughter," +he replied, half-serious. "Still I think it would be better for you if +your real parents have decided to own up to you. At all events, if they +do not turn out desirable, I shall still be here, I hope; so I don't see +how you can lose anything by taking this chance of finding out what you +can about them." + +At this point Lady Byrne came into the room, and the news had to be +retold for her benefit; the letter was produced again, and she joined +heartily in the excitement it had caused. + +"You had better start on Monday," she said to Juliet. "That will give you +two days to pack, and to write to an hotel for rooms. Are you going to +take her, Arthur?" she added, turning to her husband. + +"I would, like a shot," he replied, "but I can't possibly get away next +week. I've got a lot of work on hand just now. I suppose, my dear," he +suggested doubtfully, "that you wouldn't be able to run over with her?" + +Lady Byrne declared that it was impossible for her to do so: she had +engagements, she said, for every day of the following week, which it was +out of the question to break. Had Sir Arthur forgotten that they +themselves were having large dinner-parties on Tuesday and Friday? What +she would do without Juliet to help her in preparing for them, she did +not know, but at least it was obvious that some one must be there to +receive his guests. No, Juliet would have to go alone. She was really old +enough to be trusted by herself for three days, and there was no need, +that she could see, for her to be away longer. + +"She can go on Monday, see the lawyers on Tuesday, and come back on +Wednesday," said Lady Byrne. "The helplessness of young girls is the one +thing I disapprove of in your European system of education. It is much +better that they should learn to manage their own affairs; and Juliet is +not such a ninny as you seem to think." + +"I shall be perfectly all right by myself," Juliet protested. + +Sir Arthur did not like it. + +"Supposing she is detained in London," he said. + +"What should detain her," demanded his wife, "unless it is the discovery +of her parents? And, if she finds them, I presume they will be capable of +looking after her. In any case, she can write, or cable to us when she +has seen the solicitors, and it is no use providing for contingencies +that will probably never arise." + +So at last it was decided. A letter was written and dispatched to Messrs. +Findlay & Ince, saying that Miss Byrne would have pleasure in calling +upon them at twelve o'clock on the following Tuesday; and Juliet busied +herself in preparations for her journey. + +On Monday morning she left Ostend, in the company of her maid. + +It was a glorious August day. On shore the heat was intense, and it was a +relief to get out of the stifling carriages of the crowded boat train, +and to breathe the gentle air from the sea that met them as they crossed +the gangway on to the steamer. Juliet enjoyed every moment of the +journey; and would have been sorry when the crossing was over if she had +not been so eager to set foot upon her native soil. + +She leant upon the rail in the bows of the ship, watching the white +cliffs grow taller and more distinct, and felt that now indeed she +understood the emotions with which the heart of the exile is said to +swell at the sight of his own land. She wondered if the sight of their +country moved other passengers on the boat as she herself was moved, and +made timid advances to a lady who was standing near her, in her need of +some companion with whom to share her feeling. + +"Have you been away from England a long time," she asked her. + +"I have been abroad during a considerable period," replied the person she +addressed, a stern-looking Scotchwoman who did not appear anxious to +enter into conversation. + +From her severe demeanour Juliet imagined she might be a governess going +for a holiday. + +"You must be glad to be going home," she ventured. + +"It's a far cry north to my home," said the Scotchwoman, thawing +slightly. "I'm fearing I will not be seeing it this summer. I'll be +stopping in the south with some friends. The journey north is awful' +expensive." + +"I'm sorry you aren't going home," Juliet sympathized, "but it will be +nice to see the English faces at Dover, won't it? There may even be a +Scotchman among the porters, you know, by some chance." + +"No fear," said her neighbour gloomily. "They'll be local men, I have +nae doubt. Though whether they are English or Scots," she added, "I'll +have to give them saxpence instead of a fifty-centime bit; which is one +of the bonniest things you see on the Continent, to my way of thinking." + +Juliet could get no enthusiasm out of her; and, look which way she might, +she could not see any reflection on the faces of those around her of the +emotions which stirred in her own breast. It had been a rough crossing, +in spite of the cloudless sky and broiling sunshine, and most of the +passengers had been laid low by the rolling of the vessel. They displayed +anxiety enough to reach land; but, as far as she could see, what land it +was they reached was a matter of indifference to them. No doubt, she +thought, when the ship stopped and they felt better, they would be more +disposed to a sentimentality like hers. + +She found her maid--who had been one of the most sea-sick of those +aboard--and assisted her ashore, put her into a carriage and +ministered to her wants with the help of a tea-basket containing the +delicious novelty of English bread and butter. In half an hour's time +they were steaming hurriedly towards London. She was to lodge at a +small hotel in Jermyn Street; and on that first evening even this +seemed perfect to her. The badness of the cooking was a thing she +refused to notice; and the astonishing hills and valleys of the bed +caused in her no sensation beyond that of surprise. She was young, +strong and healthy, and there was no reason that trifling discomforts +of this kind should affect her enjoyment. To the shortcomings of the +bed, indeed, she shut her eyes in more senses than one, for she was +asleep three minutes after her head touched the pillow, nor did she +wake till her maid roused her the next morning. + +She got up at once and looked out of the window. It was a fine day again; +over the roofs of the houses opposite she could see a blue streak of sky. +Already the air had lost the touch of freshness which comes, even to +London in August, during the first hours of the morning; and the heat in +the low-ceilinged room on the third floor which Juliet occupied for the +sake of economy, was oppressive in spite of the small sash windows being +opened to their utmost capacity. But Juliet only laughed to herself with +pleasure at the brilliancy of the day. She felt that the weather was +playing up to the occasion, as became this important morning of her life. +For that it was important she did not doubt. She was going to hear +tremendous news that day; make wonderful discoveries about her birth; +hear undreamt-of things. Of this she felt absolutely convinced, and it +would not have astonished her to find herself claimed as daughter by any +of the reigning families of Europe. She was prepared for anything, or so +she said to herself, however astounding; and, that being so, she was +excited in proportion. Anyone could have told her that, by this attitude +of mind towards the future, she was laying up for herself disappointment +at the least, if not the bitterest disillusions; but there was no one to +throw cold water on her hopes, and she filled the air with castles of +every style of architecture that her fancy suggested, without any +hindrance from doubt or misgiving. + +She dressed quickly, in the gayest humour, but with even more care than +she usually bestowed upon her appearance; a subject to which she always +gave the fullest attention. + +"Which dress will Mademoiselle wear?" the maid asked her. + +"Why, my prettiest, naturally," she replied. + +"What, the white one that Mademoiselle wore for the marriage of Monsieur, +her papa?" inquired Thérèse, scandalized at the idea of such a precious +garment being put on before breakfast. + +"That very one," Juliet assured her, undaunted; and was arrayed in it, in +spite of obvious disapproval. + +After breakfast they went out, and, inquiring their way to Bond Street, +flattened their noses against the shop windows to their mutual +satisfaction. + +They had it almost to themselves, for there were not many people left in +that part of London; but more than one head was turned to gaze at the +pretty girl in the garden-party dress, who stood transfixed before shop +after shop. This amusement lasted till half-past eleven, when they +returned to the hotel for Juliet to give the final pats to her hair, and +to retilt her hat to an angle possibly more becoming, before she started +to keep her appointment with the solicitors. The next twenty minutes were +spent in cross-examining the hotel porter as to the time it would take to +drive to her destination, and, having decided to start at ten minutes to +twelve, in wondering whether the quarter of an hour which had still to +elapse would ever come to an end. + +At three minutes to twelve she rang the bell of the office of Messrs. +Findlay & Ince. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +A gloomy little clerk climbed down from a high stool where he sat +writing, and opened the door. + +"Oh yes, Miss Juliet Byrne," he said when Juliet had told him her name. +"Mr. Findlay is expecting you. Will you walk upstairs, Miss Byrne, +please. I think you have an appointment for twelve o'clock? This way, if +you please." + +He led the way up a steep and narrow flight of stairs, which rose out of +the black shadows at the end of the passage. + +"Ladies find these stairs rather dark, I'm afraid," he remarked +pleasantly, as he held open a door and ushered Juliet and her maid into +an empty room. "Will you kindly wait here," he continued. "Mr. Findlay is +engaged for the moment. You are a leetle before your time, I believe." He +pulled out his watch and examined it closely. "Not _quite_ the hour yet," +he repeated, and closed it with a snap. "But Mr. Findlay will see you as +soon as he is disengaged." + +With a flourish of his handkerchief he withdrew, shutting the door +behind him. + +Juliet sat down on a hard chair covered with green leather, and told her +maid to take another. Her spirits were damped. The sight of Mr. Nicol, as +the clerk was named, often had that effect upon persons who saw him for +the first time; indeed he was found to be a very useful check on +troublesome clients, who arrived full of determination to have their own +way, and were often so cowed by their preliminary interview with Nicol as +to feel it a privilege and a relief subsequently to be bullied by Mr. +Ince, or persuaded by Mr. Findlay into the belief that what they had +previously decided on was the last thing advisable to do. + +Mr. Findlay frequently remarked to Mr. Ince, when his partner's easily +roused temper was more highly tried than usual by some imbecile mistake +of the clerk's, that Nicol might have faults as a clerk and as a man, but +that, as a buffer, he was the nearest approach to perfection obtainable +in this world of makeshifts. + +To which Mr. Ince would reply with point and fluency that fenders could +be had by the dozen from any shipping warehouse, at a lower cost than one +week's salary of Nicol's would represent, and would be far more efficient +in the office. Still he did not suggest dismissing the man. + +Juliet, as she sat and looked round the musty little waiting-room, felt +that here was an end of her dreams of the resplendent family she was to +find pining to take her to its heart. She felt certain that she could +never have any feelings in common with people who could employ a firm of +solicitors which in its turn was served by the man who had received her. +Romance and the clerk could never, she thought, meet under one roof. And +such a roof! The room in which she sat was so dark, so gloomy, so bare +and cheerless, that Juliet began to wonder whether she would not have +been wiser not to have come. This was not a place, surely, which fond +parents would choose for a long-deferred meeting with their child, after +years of separation. She walked to the window, but the only view was of a +blank wall, and that so close that she could have touched it by leaning +out. No wonder the room was dark, even at midday in August. The walls +were lined with bookshelves, where heavy volumes, all dealing with the +same subject, that of law, stood shoulder to shoulder in stout bindings +of brown leather. + +There was a fireplace of cracked and dirty marble with an engraving hung +over it, representing the coronation of Queen Victoria. A gas stove +occupied the grate, and a gas bracket stuck out from the wall on either +side of the picture. + +On the small round mahogany table that stood in the middle of the room +lay a Bible, and a copy of the _St. James's Gazette_, which was dated a +week back. Juliet took it up and read an account of a cricket match +without much enthusiasm. Then she flung it down and wandered about the +room once more; but she had exhausted all its possibilities; and though +she took a volume entitled _Causes Célèbres_ from the shelf, and turned +its pages hopefully, she put it back with a grimace at its dullness and a +sort of surprise at finding anything drier than the cricket. + +She had waited half an hour, when the door opened and the face of Nicol +was introduced round the corner of it. + +"Will you please come this way," he said. + +Telling her maid to stay where she was, Juliet followed him. He opened +the other door on the landing, and announced her in a loud voice as, with +a quickened pulse, she passed him, and entered the room. + +There were two men standing by the hearth. One of them came forward to +receive her. + +"How do you do, Miss Byrne," he said; "I am glad you were able to come. +I am Jeremy Findlay, at your service." + +Mr. Findlay was a man of moderate height, with a long pointed nose which +he was in the habit of putting down to within an inch or two of his desk +when he was looking for any particular paper, for he was very short +sighted. It rather conveyed the impression that he was poking about with +it, and that he hunted for questionable clauses or illegalities in a +document, much as a pig might hunt for truffles in a wood. For the rest, +he was middle-aged, with hair nearly white, and small grey whiskers. He +beamed at Juliet through gold-rimmed eyeglasses. + +"Let me introduce my friend," he said, mumbling something. + +Juliet did not catch the name, but she supposed that this was Mr. Ince. + +The other man stepped forward and shook hands, but said nothing. He was a +thin, pallid creature, rather above the average height, and had the +drooping shoulders of a scholar. His face, which was long and narrow, +looked pale and emaciated, and though his blue eyes had a kindly twinkle +it seemed to Juliet that they burned with a feverish brightness. His nose +was long and slightly hooked, and beneath it the mouth was hidden by a +heavy red moustache; while his hair, though not of so bright a colour, +had a reddish tinge about it. He appeared to be about fifty years of age, +but this was due to a look of tiredness habitual to his expression, and, +in part, to actual bad health. In reality he was younger. + +"Pray take this chair, Miss Byrne," Mr. Findlay was saying. "We are +anxious to have a little conversation with you. I am sure you quite +understand that we should not have asked you to come all the way from +Belgium unless your presence was of considerable importance. How +important it is I really hardly know myself, but I repeat that I would +not have urged you to take so long a journey if I had not had serious +reason to think that it was desirable for your own sake that you should +do so. I may say at once that the matter is a family one; but before +going further I must ask your permission to put one or two questions to +you, which I hope you will believe are not prompted by any feeling of +idle curiosity on my part." + +He paused, and Juliet murmured some words of acquiescence. Mr. Findlay +took off his eyeglasses, glared at them, replaced them, and ran his nose +over the surface of the papers on his writing-table. + +"Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed triumphantly, pouncing on a folded sheet +and lifting it to his eyes. "Just a few notes," he explained. + +"We wrote you care of Sir Arthur Byrne," he resumed; "are you a member of +his family?" + +Here was a disturbing question for Juliet. She had imagined, until this +instant, that she was on the point of being told who her family was, and +now this man was asking for information from her. Tears of disappointment +would not be kept from her eyes. + +"I am a member of Sir Arthur's household," she stammered. + +"Are you not his daughter, then?" asked Mr. Findlay. + +"No, I am not really," Juliet replied. + +"Then may I ask what relation you are to him?" said the lawyer. + +"I am his adopted daughter," said Juliet. "I have always called him +'Father.'" + +"Are you not any relation at all?" pursued Mr. Findlay. + +"I believe not." + +"Then, Miss Byrne, I hope you will not think it an impertinent question +if I ask, who are you?" + +"I don't know," acknowledged poor Juliet. "I was hoping you would tell me +that. I thought, I imagined, that that was why you sent for me." + +"You astonish me," said Mr. Findlay. "Do you mean to say that your family +has never made any attempt to communicate with you?" + +"No, never." + +"And that Sir Arthur Byrne has never told you anything as to your birth? +Surely you must have questioned him about it?" + +"He has told me all he knows," said Juliet, "but that amounts to +nothing." + +"Indeed; that is very strange. He must have had dealings with the people +you were with before he adopted you. He must at least know their name?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. "He doesn't know either, I am sure. It +wasn't Sir Arthur who adopted me. It was the lady he married. A Mrs. +Meredith. She is dead." + +"But he must have heard about you from her," insisted Mr. Findlay. "He +would not have taken a child into his household without knowing anything +at all about it." + +"His wife told him that I was the daughter of a friend of hers, and +begged him not to ask her any more about me. He was very devoted to her, +and he did as she wished. He has been most kind to me; but I am sure he +would be as glad as I should be to discover my relations. I am dreadfully +disappointed that you don't know anything about them. We all thought I +was going to find my family at last." + +Juliet's voice quavered a little. She had built too much on this +interview. + +"I am really extremely sorry not to be able to give you any information," +Mr. Findlay said. + +He turned towards the other man with an interrogative glance, and was met +by a nod of the head, at which he leant back in his chair, crossed his +legs and folded his hands upon them, with the expression of some one who +has played his part in the game, and now retires in favour of another +competitor. The pale man moved his chair a little forward and took up the +conversation. + +"Are you really quite certain that Sir Arthur Byrne has told you all +he knows?" he said earnestly, fixing on Juliet a look at once grave +and eager. + +"Yes," she answered. "I can see that he is as puzzled as I am. And he +would be glad enough to find a way to get rid of me," she added bitterly. + +"I thought you said you were attached to him," said the stranger in +surprise, "and that he had been very kind to you?" + +"Yes," said Juliet, "he has, and I am as fond of him as possible. But he +has three stepdaughters now; he has married again, you know. And he is +not very well off. I am a great expense, besides being an extra girl. I +don't blame him for thinking I am one too many." + +There was a long pause, during which Juliet was conscious of being +closely scrutinized. + +"I think I may be able to give you news of your family," said the pale +man unexpectedly. "That is, if you are the person I think you are +likely to be." + +"Oh," exclaimed Juliet, "can you really?" + +"Well, it is possible," admitted the other. "I can't say for +certain yet." + +"Oh, do, do tell me!" cried the girl. + +"Out of the question, at present," he replied firmly. "I must first +satisfy myself as to whose child you are, and on that point you appear +able to give me no assistance. You must wait till I can find out +something further about this matter of your adoption. And even then," +he added, "it is not certain if I can tell you. You must understand +that, though certain family secrets have been placed in my possession, +it does not depend upon myself whether or not I shall ultimately reveal +them to you." + +Juliet's face fell for a moment, but she refused to allow herself to be +discouraged. + +"There is a chance for me, anyhow!" she exclaimed. "How I hope you +will be allowed to tell me in the end! But why," she went on, turning +to Mr. Findlay, "did you make me think you knew nothing at all about +me. I suppose the family secrets your partner speaks of are the +secrets of my family?" + +"My dear young lady," said Mr. Findlay, "Lord Ashiel is not my partner. +On the contrary, he is an old client of ours, and it was at his request +that we wrote to you as we did. We know no more about your affairs than +you have told us yourself." + +"Oh," murmured Juliet, confused at her mistake. "I thought you were Mr. +Ince," she apologized; "I am so sorry." + +"Not very flattering to poor Ince I'm afraid," said Lord Ashiel, smiling +at her. "He's ten years younger than I am, I'm sorry to say, and I would +change places with him very willingly. Now, if you had mistaken me for +Nicol, that undertaker clerk of Findlay's, who always looks as if he's +been burying his grandmother, I should have been decidedly hurt. What in +the world do you keep that fellow in the office for, Findlay? To frighten +away custom?" + +Mr. Findlay laughed. + +"He's a more useful person than you imagine," he said. "Though I must say +Ince agrees with you, and is always at me about the poor man. Some day I +hope you will both see his sterling qualities." + +"I am afraid you must think I have given you a great deal of trouble for +very little reason," Lord Ashiel said to Juliet. "But perhaps there will +be more result than at present can seem clear to you. I may go so far as +to say that I hope so most sincerely. But, if the secret of which I spoke +just now is ever to be confided to you, it will be necessary for you and +me to know each other a little better. I have a proposal to make to you, +which I fear you may think our acquaintance rather too short and +unconventional to justify." + +He paused with a trace of embarrassment, and Juliet wondered what could +be coming. + +"It is not convenient for me to stay in London just now," he went on +after a minute, "and I am sure you must find it very disagreeable at this +time of the year; and yet it is very important that I should see more of +you. It is, in fact, part of the conditions under which I may be able to +reveal these family secrets of yours to you. That is to say, if they +should turn out to be indeed yours. I came up from the Highlands last +night. I have a place on the West Coast, where at this moment I have a +party of people staying with me for shooting. My sister is entertaining +them in my absence, but I must get back to my duties of host. What I want +to suggest is that you should pay us a visit at Inverashiel." + +"Thank you very much," said Juliet doubtfully. "I should love to, but--I +don't know whether my father would allow me." + +"Your father?" exclaimed Lord Ashiel and Mr. Findlay in one breath. + +"Sir Arthur Byrne, I mean," she corrected herself. + +"You might telegraph to him," urged Lord Ashiel. "And I, myself, will +write. You might mention my sister to him. I think he used to know her. +Mrs. John Haviland. But, indeed, it is very important that you should +come, more important than you think, perhaps." + +He seemed extraordinarily anxious, now, lest she should refuse. + +"Perhaps," suggested Mr. Findlay, "Miss Byrne would like to think over +the idea, and let you know later in the day." + +"A very good plan," said Lord Ashiel. "Yes, of course you would like to +think it over. Will you telephone to me at the Carlton after lunch? +Thanks so much. Good-bye for the present." + +He seized his hat and stick and darted to the door. "You talk to her, +Findlay!" he cried, and disappeared. + +Juliet and Mr. Findlay were left confronting one another. + +"That will be the best plan," the lawyer repeated. "Think it over, Miss +Byrne. I am sure you would enjoy the visit to Scotland. Inverashiel is a +most interesting old place, both historically and for the sake of its +beautiful scenery. A week or two of Highland air could not fail to be of +benefit to your health, even if nothing further came of it, so to speak." + +"I should love it," Juliet said again. "But, Mr. Findlay, I don't know +Lord Ashiel, or hardly know him. How can I go off and stay with someone I +never met before to-day?" + +"The circumstances are unusual," said the lawyer. "I fancy Lord Ashiel is +anxious to lose no time. He is in bad health, poor fellow. I am afraid he +will worry himself a good deal if you cannot make up your mind to go." + +"You see," said Juliet, troubled, "I know nothing about him. I don't know +what my father--I mean, Sir Arthur would say." + +"I am sure your father would have no objection whatever to your making +friends with Lord Ashiel," Mr. Findlay assured her. "He is one of the +most respectable, the most domesticated of peers. Not very cheerful +company, perhaps, but no one in the world can justly say a word against +him in any way. He has had a sad time lately; his wife and only child +died within a month of each other, only two or three years ago. They had +been married quite a short time. Since then, his sister, Mrs. Haviland, +keeps house for him; but he does not entertain much, I am told, except +during the autumn in Scotland. You need have no hesitation in accepting +this invitation, Miss Byrne. I am a married man, and the father of a +family, and I should only be too delighted if one of my daughters had +such an opportunity." + +"Well," said Juliet, "I think I will risk it, and go. I am old enough to +take care of myself, in any case." This she said haughtily, with her nose +in the air. And then, with a sudden drop to her usual manner, she +exclaimed in a tone of gaiety, "What fun it will be!" + +"I am sure you will not regret your decision," repeated Mr. Findlay, as +she got up to go. "You won't forget to let Lord Ashiel know, will you?" + +"No, I will telephone to him at once. But I will telegraph home too, +of course." + +Excitement over this new plan had almost dispelled the earlier +disappointment, and if Juliet's spirits, as she drove back to Jermyn +Street, were not quite as overflowingly high as when she had started +out, they were good enough to make her smile to herself and to every one +she met during the rest of the day, and to hum gay little tunes when no +one was near, and altogether to feel very happy and pleased and +possessed by the conviction that something delightful was about to +happen. She sent off her telegram to Sir Arthur, spending some time over +it, and spoiling a dozen telegraph forms, before she could find +satisfactory words in which to convey her plans with an appearance of +deference to authority. Then she called up the Carlton Hotel on the +telephone, and was much put out when she heard that Lord Ashiel was not +staying there, or even expected. + +It was the hall porter of her hotel who came to the rescue, by +suggesting that she should try the Carlton Club, of which she had never +before heard. + +From the quickness with which Lord Ashiel answered her, he might have +been sitting waiting at the end of the wire, and he expressed great +pleasure at her acceptance of his invitation. Indeed, she could hear from +the tone of his voice that his gratification was no mere empty form. It +was arranged that she should travel down on the following night, Lord +Ashiel promising to engage a sleeping berth for her on the eight o'clock +train. He himself was going North that same evening. He had just been +writing a letter to Sir Arthur Byrne, he told her. He hoped she had some +thick dresses with her; she would want them in Scotland. + +"I am afraid I haven't," she said. "I only expected to stay in London for +a day or two, you know." + +"Well," said the voice at the end of the telephone, "perhaps you can get +a waterproof or something, between this and to-morrow night. I am afraid +I don't know the names of any ladies' tailors, but there are lots about," +he concluded vaguely. + +"I suppose I had better," said Juliet doubtfully. "I wonder if the +shops here will trust me. The fact is, I haven't got very much extra +money. I think perhaps I'd better wait a day or two till I can have +some more sent me." + +"My dear child," came the answer in horrified tones, "you must on no +account put off coming. Of course you are not prepared for all this extra +expense. You must allow me to be your banker. I insist upon it. Your +family, in whose confidence I happen to be, would never forgive me if I +allowed you to continue to be dependent on Sir Arthur Byrne." + +"It is very kind of you," Juliet began. "But suppose I turn out to be +some one different. You know, you said--" + +"If you do, you shall repay me," he replied. "In the meantime I will +send you round a small sum to do your shopping with. Let me see, where +are you staying?" + +An hour later a bank messenger arrived with an envelope containing £100 +in notes. Juliet had never seen so much money in her life, and thought it +far too much. "I shall be sure to lose it," was her first thought. Her +second was to deposit it with the proprietor of the hotel; after which +she felt safer. Then, in huge delight, she sallied forth again with her +maid, the alluring memory of some of the shop windows into which she had +gazed that morning calling to her loudly; she had never thought to look +at those fascinating garments from the other side of the glass. +Intoxicating hours followed, in which a couple of tweed dresses were +purchased that seemed as if they must have been made on purpose for her; +nor were thick walking shoes, and country hats, and other accessories +neglected. By evening her room was strewn with cardboard boxes, and on +Wednesday more were added, so that a trunk to pack them in had to be +bought as well. The shops were very empty; Juliet had the entire +attention of the shop people, and revelled in her purchases. Time flew, +and she was quite sorry, as she drove to Euston on the following evening, +to think that she was leaving this fascinating town of London. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +On Tuesday afternoon, when Juliet, having hung up the telephone through +which she had been conversing with Lord Ashiel, hurried out to see what +Bond Street could provide her with, a little man was sitting writing in a +luxuriously furnished room in a flat in Whitehall. He was small and thin, +and possessed a pair of extraordinarily bright and intelligent brown +eyes, which saw a good deal more of what happened around him than perhaps +any other eyes within a radius of a mile from where he sat. He was, in +other words, observant to a very high degree; and, what was more +remarkable, he knew how to use his powers of observation. There was not a +criminal in the length and breadth of the country who did not wonder +uneasily whether he had really left the scene of his crime as devoid of +clues as he imagined, when he heard that the celebrated detective, +Gimblet, had visited the spot in pursuit of his investigations. + +For this was the man, who, in a few years, had unravelled more apparently +insoluble mysteries, and caused the arrest of more hitherto evasive +scoundrels, than his predecessors had managed to secure in a decade. The +name of Gimblet was known and detested wherever a coiner carried on his +forbidden craft, or a blackmailer concocted his cowardly plans; burglars +and forgers cursed freely when he was mentioned, and there was hardly an +illicit trade in the country which had not suffered at one time or +another from his inquisitive habit of interesting himself in other +people's affairs. Scotland Yard officials were never too proud to call +upon him for help, and many a difficulty he had helped them out of, +though he refused an offer of a regular post in the Criminal +Investigation Department, preferring to be at liberty to choose what +cases he would take up. Above all things he loved the strange and +inexplicable. Gimblet had not always been a detective. Indeed, he often +smiled to himself when he thought of the extraordinary confidence which +the public now elected to repose in him. + +No one was more conscious than himself that he was far from being +infallible; in fact, his admirers appeared to him to be wilfully blind to +that elementary truth; so that when he failed to bring a case to a +successful issue people were apt to show an amount of disappointment that +he, for his part, thought very unreasonable. It was, perhaps, in the +nature of things that the puzzles he solved correctly received so much +more publicity than was given to his mistakes; but he often could not +avoid wishing that less were expected of him, and that his reputation had +not grown so tropically on what he could but consider insufficient +nourishment. + +In early days, after leaving Oxford, he had gone into an architect's +office and had flourished there; till one day an accident had turned his +energies in the direction they had since taken. + +A crime had been committed during the erection of a house he was +building, and, when the police were at a loss to know how to account for +the somewhat peculiar circumstances, the young architect, going his +ordinary rounds of inspection, had seen in a flash that there was +something unusual in the disposal of a portion of the building material; +which observation, with certain deductions following thereon, had led to +the detection and arrest of the criminal. From that time on he had been +more and more drawn to the fascination of tracing events to their +causes, when these appeared connected with deeds of violence and fraud, +till of late years he had completely dropped the study of the carrying +powers of wood and stone for the more interesting lessons to be derived +from the contemplation of the strange vagaries indulged in by his fellow +human beings. + +He kept, however, a strong taste for art and all that appertained to it; +more especially he was devoted to the collection of old and rare +bric-à-brac. There was not a curiosity shop in London that did not know +him, and he was equally happy when he had discovered some dust-hidden +treasure in the back regions of a secondhand furniture shop, or when he +was engaged in running to earth some human vermin who up till then had +lain snug in his own particular back region of crime, straining his ears, +in a mixture of contempt and anxiety, as the sounds of the hunt went by. + +Having finished his letter, Gimblet put his stylo in his pocket, and +turned round to look at the clock. + +"Twenty minutes to four," he said half-aloud. "I wish to goodness people +would keep their appointments punctually, or else not come at all." + +Five more minutes passed, and he got up and went into the hall. + +"Higgs," he called, and his faithful servant and general factotum came +out of the pantry. + +"I am going out," said his master, taking up his straw hat. "If anyone +calls, say I could not wait any longer. Ah, there's the front-door bell. +Just see who it is." + +He retreated to his sitting-room while Higgs went to the door of the +flat. A minute or two later Lord Ashiel was ushered in. + +"I'm very sorry I'm late," said he, as the door closed behind him, "but +you know what kept me." + +"Not the young lady, surely," said Gimblet; "you were to see her at +twelve o'clock this morning, weren't you?" + +"Yes, but she telephoned to me after lunch. By Jove, Gimblet, I believe +you have got hold of the right girl this time." Lord Ashiel's tone was +enthusiastic. "If she turns out to be half as nice as she looks, I shall +be ever grateful to you for routing her out." + +"Indeed, I am very glad to hear it," replied the detective. "And do you +observe a resemblance in her to your family; do you feel satisfied that +she is your daughter?" + +"I can't say I do see much likeness," Lord Ashiel confessed rather +reluctantly. "I thought at one moment, when she smiled, that she was like +her mother; but otherwise she did not strike me as resembling either of +us, I am sorry to say." + +"Did she know her history at all?" asked Gimblet. "Did she claim you +as father?" + +"No, she had never heard of me, as far as I could make out. And she +assured me that Sir Arthur Byrne has no idea whose child she is." + +"That certainly seems very improbable," Gimblet commented. + +"Yes, it does. Still, I feel sure she was speaking the truth. Why, +indeed, should she not do so? It seems that Byrne has married again, and +that his wife has already three daughters of her own; so, as she says, he +would probably be glad enough to get the fourth one off his hands, as +they are not well off." + +"Yes," said Gimblet. "I knew that. No, there seems no reason why Sir +Arthur Byrne should not have told her about you if he knew she was your +child. What is odd, is that he should not have known it." + +"He had promised his first wife not to make any inquiries, it seems," +said Lord Ashiel. + +"Well, he is an uncommon kind of man if he kept that promise," +Gimblet remarked. + +"He was devoted to his first wife, this girl told me," said Lord Ashiel. +"You never knew Lena Meredith, Gimblet, or you would not be surprised +that people kept their promises to her. She was my wife's friend, as I +told you, and I only saw her once, but I don't think I shall ever forget +her. It was just after my wife's death, and I was too heart-broken to +take much notice of anyone, but she was the sort of woman who sticks in +your memory, and I can quite understand a man being infatuated about her, +even to the point of curbing his curiosity for a lifetime on any subject +she wished him to leave alone. I went to see her, you know, about the +baby. I remember, as if it was yesterday, how I told her the whole story. +I told her how I had met Juliana two years before, and how, from the +first, we had both known we should never care for anyone else. I told her +about my old grandfather, from whom I had such great expectations, and +who wouldn't hear of my marrying anyone except the cousin, still in the +schoolroom, whom he had picked out as my future wife. + +"It was his wish that we should be married when I was twenty-five and +the girl eighteen; but I was not yet twenty-two, so that there were at +least three years of grace before he could begin to try and impose his +design upon us. And he was old and ill, and I had heard that the doctors +didn't give him more than a year or two, at most, to live. I thought +that if Juliana and I were married secretly he would die before the +question of my marriage had time to become one of practical politics; +and I persuaded her to agree to a private marriage, which we would +announce to the world as soon as my eccentric old grandfather was safely +out of it. There was no possible obstacle to our marriage except the old +man's domineering temper. Juliana Sandfort was my superior in every +possible sense, worldly or otherwise; but I came of a good family, was +to inherit an old name and title, and a more than sufficient fortune so +long as I kept on the right side of the old Lord, and we both knew that +there was no objection to be feared from her relations or from any other +one of mine. In short, much as she disliked doing things in that +hole-and-corner sort of way, and ashamed as I was at heart of asking her +to, we neither of us could see much actual harm in the idea, and we were +married accordingly at a registry office in London. Everything would +have been well, and all would have gone as we hoped, but for the one +unforeseen and horrible calamity. My wife died six months before my +grandfather, on the day her baby was born." + +Lord Ashiel paused, and sat gazing before him, over Gimblet's shoulder. +There was a look on his face which showed that for the moment he was +blind to the scene that lay in front of him, and that he saw in place of +the bureau which stood opposite to him, and of the Oriental china which +was the detective's special pride, and on which his eyes seemed to be +fixed, some vision of the past which was far more real than the +unsubstantial present. Presently he went on talking in a reflective +undertone: + +"All this I told Mrs. Meredith, and a great deal besides, for I was still +in the first violence of bitter, self-reproachful grief. I wanted to be +rid of the child, the cause of the catastrophe, whom I hated as +vehemently as I had loved its mother, and I begged Mrs. Meredith to help +me to dispose of it in such a fashion that, to me at least, the little +one should be to all intents and purposes as dead as she was. Babies, I +knew, had not a very strong hold on life, and I hoped, as a matter of +fact, that it might really die, but this I did not dare to say aloud. +Mrs. Meredith was kind to me. I remember well how good and sympathetic +she was. She had heard most of the story from Juliana, whose friend she +was, and it was at her house that the child was born. We had confided in +no one else. She sat silently for a while after I had finished what I had +to say, till at last she turned to me and tried to persuade me to alter +my intention of disowning the baby. But I repeated doggedly that unless +she had some alternative way to suggest of getting rid of it, I meant to +leave the little girl at the door of one of the foundling hospitals, and +that I would take her that very night. + +"At length, seeing that I was resolved, she said she thought she could +manage better than that. She had a friend, she said, an elderly Russian +lady, who was a widow and childless. This lady was anxious to adopt a +little English girl, and had lately written to ask her to find her a baby +whom she could bring up as her own child. There was no reason why +Juliana's baby should not be the one. She would write at once and suggest +it. I was greatly relieved at this idea. Although I had been determined +to do as I proposed, whatever opposition I might meet with, my conscience +had not been willing to let me leave my child on a doorstep without +protesting, and, little though I heeded its condemnation, I was glad to +be able to get my own way and at the same time to silence the voice of my +inward critic. + +"The plan seemed simplicity itself. My wife, as I have told you, had no +parents living. Her brothers and sisters, who were all married and +living in different parts of the country, had been led to believe that +her death was the result of an accident. Mrs. Meredith had even managed +to prevail on the doctor to lend himself to this fiction; for, my +grandfather being yet alive, there was still every reason not to declare +our marriage, while there seemed to be none in favour of doing so, and I +shrank from the questionings and scenes which publicity now would not +fail to bring upon me. Before I left Mrs. Meredith we had agreed that +she should at once communicate with her Russian friend, whose name I +refused to let her tell me. + +"I have told you before to-day, Gimblet, of all that has happened since. +How I took passionately to books as a refuge from my sorrow; how, at my +grandfather's suggestion, I had been by way of working for the +Diplomatic Service; of how I now worked in good earnest, and in course +of time, and after my grandfather's death, found myself attached to our +embassy at Petersburg. During the two years I spent there I made the +acquaintance of Countess Romaninov. One day when I was talking to her +she happened to mention that she had once known an English lady, Mrs. +Meredith, and I came to the conclusion that the little girl who lived +with her must be none other than my own child. As you know, I could not +stand living in the same town as she did, and for that, and for other +reasons, I left the Diplomatic Service and returned to England, where I +have lived a quiet life on my place in Scotland ever since. Eight years +ago, as you know, I married for the second time, and after a few years +of comparative happiness, found myself again a widower, my second wife +and her child dying within a few months of each other, when my boy was +only four years old. + +"It is more than a year, now," continued Lord Ashiel, after a pause, +"since the girl Julia Romaninov came to my sister in London, with a +letter of introduction from our ambassador in Russia. It was not until my +sister invited her down to Scotland that I heard anything about her. Not, +in fact, till the day before she arrived, for I always tell my sister to +ask any girls she pleases to Inverashiel, and she very seldom bothers me +about it. You can imagine my feelings when I heard that Julia Romaninov +was expected within a few hours, and had indeed already started from +London. It was too late to try and stop her, and my first impulse was +flight. But on second thoughts I changed my mind, and stayed. Time had +dulled the feelings with which I had contemplated her share in the +tragedy that attended her birth, and I was not without a certain +curiosity to see this young creature for whose existence I was +responsible. + +"I waited; she came; she stayed six weeks. You know the result. My sister +liked her; my nephews, my other guests, every one, except myself, was +charmed with her. And I, for some reason, could never stand the girl. I +told myself over and over again that it was mere prejudice; the remains +of the violent opposition I felt towards her when she was unknown to me; +a survival, unconscious and unwilling, of the hatred I had allowed myself +to nourish for the baby of a day old, which had made it impossible that +she and I should inhabit the same town when she was no more than a child +in pinafores. But I could not reason myself out of my dislike, and it +culminated a few weeks ago when I found that my sister was anxious to +have her with us in the North again this autumn. As you remember, I came +to you, and told you the facts. I made you understand how repulsive it +was to me to think that this girl might be my child, and begged you to +sift the matter as far as was possible, and to find out if there were not +a chance that I was mistaken in thinking it was Countess Romaninov who +had been Lena Meredith's friend." + +"Yes," said Gimblet, "and all I could discover at first was that the two +ladies had indeed been acquainted. It is difficult to get at the truth +when both of them have been dead for so many years, and when you will not +allow me so much as to hint that you feel any interest in the matter. +People are shy of answering questions relating to the private affairs of +their friends when they think they are prompted by idle curiosity, and in +this case it seems very doubtful whether anyone even knows the answers. +But in the course of my inquiries I soon discovered the fact that Mrs. +Meredith herself had adopted a child, and it certainly seems more than +possible that it may have been yours and her friend's. As far as I can +find out, both these young ladies are of about the same age, but no one +seems to know exactly when either of them first appeared on the scene. If +we can only get hold of the nurses! But at present I can find no trace of +them, and you won't let me advertise." + +"Gimblet, I shall be ever grateful to you," repeated Lord Ashiel. "I had +no idea that Mrs. Meredith had adopted a child. I never saw her again, as +I have told you, and only heard vaguely that she had married and was +living abroad. I purposely avoided asking for news of her. I wished to +forget everything that was past. As if that had been possible!" + +"I hoped," said Gimblet, "that you would have seen some strong likeness +in this young lady to yourself, or to your first wife. That would have +clinched the matter to all intents and purposes. But, as things are, I +shouldn't build too much on the hope that she is your daughter. It may +turn out to be the girl adopted by Countess Romaninov." + +"I hope not, I hope not," said Lord Ashiel earnestly. "I have got her to +promise to come to Scotland, and in a few days I may get some definite +clue as to which of them it is. It is a very odd coincidence that both +the girls bear names so much like that of my poor wife's." He paused +reflectively, and then added, "In the meantime you will go on with your +inquiries, will you not?" + +"I will," said Gimblet. "And I hope for better luck." + +A silence followed. Lord Ashiel half rose to go, then sat down again. +Evidently he had something more to say, but hesitated to say it. At +last he spoke: + +"When I was at St. Petersburg, twenty years ago, I was aroused to a +state of excitement and indignation by the social and political evils +which were then so much in evidence to the foreigner who sojourned in the +country of the Czars. I was young and impressionable, impulsive and +unbalanced in my judgments, I am afraid; at all events I resented certain +seeming injustices which came to my notice, and my resentment took a +practical and most foolish form. To be short, I was so ill-advised as to +join a secret society, and have done nothing but regret it ever since." + +"I can well understand your regretting it," said the detective. "People +who join those societies are apt to find themselves let in for a good +deal more than they bargained for." + +"It was so, at all events so far as I am concerned," said Lord Ashiel, "I +had, you may be sure, only the wildest idea of what serious and extremely +unpleasant consequences my unreflecting action would entail. Withdrawal +from these political brotherhoods is to all intents and purposes a +practical impossibility; but, in a sense, I withdrew from all +participation in its affairs as soon as I realized to what an extent the +theories of its leaders, as to the best means to adopt by which to +rectify the injustices we all agreed in deploring, differed from my own +ideas on the subject. And I should not have been able to withdraw, even +in the negative way I did, if accident had not put into my hand a weapon +of defence against the tyranny of the Society." + +Lord Ashiel paused hesitatingly, and Gimblet murmured encouragingly: + +"And that was?" + +"No," said Lord Ashiel, after a moment's silence, "I must not tell you +more. We are, I know, to all appearances, safe from eavesdroppers or +interruption; but, if a word of what I know were to leak out by some +incredible agency, my life would not be worth a day's purchase. As it is, +I am alarmed; I believe these people wish for my death. In fact, there is +no doubt on that subject. But they dare not attempt it openly. I have +told them that if I should die under suspicious circumstances of any +sort, the weapon I spoke of will inevitably be used to avenge my death, +and they know me to be a man of my word. For all these years that threat +has been my safeguard, but now I am beginning to think that they are +trying other means of getting me out of the way." + +"It is a pity," said Gimblet, "that you do not speak to me more openly. I +think it is highly probable, from what I know of the methods resorted to +by Nihilists in general, that you may be in very grave danger. Indeed, I +strongly advise you to report the whole matter to the police." + +"I wish I could tell you everything," said Lord Ashiel, "but even if I +dared, you must remember that I am sworn to secrecy, and I cannot see +that because I have, by doing so, placed myself in some peril, that on +that account I am entitled to break my word. No, I cannot tell you any +more, but in spite of that, I want you to do me a service." + +"I am afraid I can't help you without fuller knowledge," said Gimblet. +"What do you think I can do?" + +"You can do this," said Lord Ashiel. He put his hand in his pocket and +Gimblet heard a crackling of paper. "I am thinking out a hiding-place +for some valuable documents that are in my possession, and when I have +decided on it I will write to you and explain where I have put them, +using a cipher of which the key is enclosed in an envelope I have here +in my pocket, and which I will leave with you when I go. Take charge of +it for me, and in the course of the next week or so I will send you a +cipher letter describing where the papers are concealed. Do not read it +unless the occasion arises. I can trust you not to give way to +curiosity, but if anything happens to me, if I die a violent death, or +equally if I die under the most apparently natural circumstances, I want +you to promise you will investigate those circumstances; and, if +anything should strike you as suspicious in connection with what I have +told you, you will be able to interpret my cipher letter, find the +document I have referred to, and act on the information it contains. +Will you undertake to do this for me?" + +"I will, certainly," Gimblet answered readily, "but I hope the occasion +will not arise. I beg you to break a vow which was extorted from you by +false representations and which cannot be binding on you. Do confide +fully in me; I do not at all like the look of this business." + +"No, no," replied Lord Ashiel, smiling. "You must let me be the judge of +whether my word is binding on me or not. As you say, I hope nothing will +happen to justify my perhaps uncalled-for nervousness. In any case it +will be a great comfort and relief to me to know that, if it does, the +scoundrels will not go unpunished." + +"They shall not do that," said Gimblet fervently. "You can make your mind +easy on that score, at least. But I advise you to send your documents to +the bank. They will be safer there than in any hiding-place you can +contrive." + +"I might want to lay my hand upon them at any moment," said Lord +Ashiel, "and I admit I don't like parting with my only weapon of +defence. Still, I dare say you are right really, and I will think it +over. But mind, I don't want you to take any steps unless, you can +satisfy yourself that these people have a hand in my death. Please be +very careful to make certain of that. My health is not good, and grows +worse. I may easily die without their interference; but I suspect that, +if they do get me, they will manage the affair so that it has all the +look of having been caused by the purest misadventure. That is what I +fear. Not exactly murder; certainly no violent open assault. But we are +all liable to suffer from accidents, and what is to prevent my meeting +with a fatal one? That is more the line they will adopt, if, as I +imagine, they have decided on my death." + +"If ever there were a case in which prevention is better than cure," said +Gimblet, "I think you will own that we have it here. If I had some hint +of the quarter from which you expect danger, I might at least suggest +some rudimentary precautions. What kind of 'accident' do you imagine +likely to occur?" + +"That I can't tell," replied Lord Ashiel. "I only know that these enemies +of mine are resourceful people, who are apt to make short work of anyone +whose existence threatens their safety or the success of their designs. I +am, by your help, taking a precaution to ensure that I shall not die +unavenged. They must be taught that murder cannot be committed in this +country with impunity. And I am very careful not to trust myself out of +England. If I crossed the Channel it would be to go to my certain death. +Otherwise I should have gone myself to see Sir Arthur Byrne. But in this +island the man who kills even so unpopular a person as a member of the +House of Lords does not get off with a few years' imprisonment, as he may +in some of the continental countries; and the Nihilists, for the most +part, know that as well as I do." + +Gimblet followed Lord Ashiel into the hall with the intention of showing +him out of the flat, but the sudden sound of the door bell ringing made +him abandon this courtesy and retreat to shelter. + +He did not wish to be denied all possibility of refusing an interview to +some one he might not want to see. + +So it was Higgs who opened the door and ushered out the last visitor, at +the same time admitting the newcomer. + +This proved to be a small, slight woman dressed in deepest black and +wearing the long veil of a widow, who was standing with her back to the +door, apparently watching the rapid descent of the lift which had brought +her to the landing of No. 7. + +She did not move when the door behind her opened, and Lord Ashiel, +emerging from it in a hurry to catch the lift before it vanished, nearly +knocked her down. She gave a startled gasp and stepped hastily to one +side into the dark shadows of the passage as he, muttering an apology, +darted forward to the iron gateway and applied his finger heavily to the +electric bell-push. But the liftboy had caught sight of him with the tail +of his eye, and was already reascending. + +His anxiety allayed, Lord Ashiel turned again to express his regrets to +the lady he had inadvertently collided with, but she had disappeared into +the flat, of which Higgs was even then closing the door. + +Ashiel stepped into the lift and sat down rather wearily on the +leather-covered seat. + +Although, to some extent, the relief of having unburdened his mind of +secrets that had weighed upon it for so many years produced in him a +certain lightness of heart to which he had long been a stranger, yet +the very charm of the impression made upon him by Juliet Byrne, during +his first meeting with her that morning, led him to suspect uneasily +that his hopes of her proving to be his child were due rather to the +pleasure it gave him to anticipate such a possibility than to any more +logical reason. + +He was so entirely engrossed in an honest endeavour to adjust correctly +the balance of probabilities, as to remain unconscious that the lift had +stopped at the ground floor, and it was not until the boy who was in +charge had twice informed him of the fact, that he roused himself with an +effort and left the building. + +Still absorbed in his speculations and anxieties, he walked rapidly away, +and, having narrowly escaped destruction beneath the wheels of more than +one taxi, wandered down Northumberland Avenue on to the Embankment. He +crossed to the farther side, turned mechanically to the right and walked +obliviously on. + +It was not until he came nearly to Westminster Bridge that he remembered +the cipher that he had prepared for Gimblet, and that he had, after all, +finally left without giving it to him. It was still in his pocket, and +the discovery roused him from his abstraction. + +He took a taxi and drove back to the flats. A motor which had been +standing before the door when he had come out was still there when he +returned; so that, thinking it probably belonged to the lady he had met +on the landing, and guessing that if so the detective was still occupied +with her, he did not ask to see him again, but handed the envelope over +to Higgs when he opened the door, with strict injunctions to take it +immediately to his master. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The lady, whose visit to Gimblet dovetailed so neatly with the departure +of his other client on that summer afternoon, was unknown to him. + +He had scarcely re-entered the room and resumed his accustomed seat by +the window when Higgs announced her. + +"A lady to see you, sir." + +The lady was already in the doorway. She must have followed Higgs from +the hall, and now stood, hesitating, on the threshold. + +"What name?" breathed Gimblet; but Higgs only shook his head. + +The detective went forward and spoke to his visitor. + +"Please come in," he said. "Won't you sit down?" + +And he pushed a chair towards her. + +"Thank you," said the lady, taking the seat he offered. "I hope I do not +disturb you; but I have come on business," she added, as the door closed +behind Higgs. + +"Yes?" said Gimblet interrogatively. "You will forgive me, but I didn't +catch your name when my man announced you." + +"He didn't say it," she replied. "I had not told him. I am sure you would +not remember my name, and it is of no consequence at present." + +"As you wish," said the detective. + +But he wondered who this unknown woman could be. When she said he would +not remember her name, did she mean to imply that he had once been +acquainted with it? If so, she was right in thinking that he did not +recognize her now; but, if she did not choose to raise the thick crape +veil that hid her face, she could hardly expect him to do so. + +He wondered whether she kept her veil lowered with the intention of +preventing his recognizing her, or whether in truth she were anxious not +to expose grief-swollen features to an unsympathetic gaze. + +Her voice, which was low and sorrowful, though at the same time curiously +resonant, seemed to suggest that she was in great trouble. She spoke, he +fancied, with a trace of foreign accent. + +For the rest, all that he could tell for certain about her was that she +was short and slender, with small feet, and hands, from which she was now +engaged in deliberately withdrawing a pair of black suede gloves. + +He watched her in silence. He always preferred to let people tell their +stories at their own pace and in their own way, unless they were of those +who plainly needed to be helped out with questions. + +And about this woman there was no suspicion of embarrassment; her whole +demeanour spoke of calmness and self-possession. + +"I believe," she said at last, "that you are a private detective. I come +to ask for your help in a matter of some difficulty. Some papers of the +utmost importance, not only to me but to others, are in the possession of +a person who intends to profit by the information contained in them to do +myself and my friends an irreparable injury. You can imagine how anxious +we are to obtain them from him." + +"Do I understand that this person threatens you with blackmail?" +asked Gimblet. + +The lady hesitated. + +"Something of the kind," she replied after a moment's pause. + +"And you have so far given in to his demands?" + +"Yes," admitted the visitor. "Up till now we have been obliged to +submit." + +"Has he proposed any terms on which he will be willing to return you the +papers?" asked the detective. + +"No," she replied. "I do not think any terms are possible." + +"How did this person obtain possession of the papers?" Gimblet asked +after a moment. "Did he steal them from you?" + +"No." + +"From your friends?" + +She hesitated. + +"No--not exactly." + +"From whom, then?" asked Gimblet in surprise. "I suppose they were yours +in the first place?" + +"He has always had them," she said reluctantly; "but they must not +remain his." + +"Do you mean they are his own?" exclaimed Gimblet. "In that case it is +you who propose to steal them!" + +"No," replied the strange lady calmly. "I want you to do that." + +"I'm sorry," said Gimblet; "that is not in my line of business. I'm +afraid you made a mistake in coming to me. I cannot undertake your +commission." + +"Money is no object; we shall ask you to name your own price," urged +his visitor. + +But the detective shook his head. + +"It is a matter of life and death," she said, and her voice betrayed an +agitation which could not have been inferred from her motionless shrouded +figure. "If you refuse to help me, not one life, but many, will be +endangered." + +"If you can offer me convincing proof of that," said Gimblet, "I might +feel it my duty to help you. I don't say I should, but I might. In any +case I can do nothing unless you are perfectly open and frank with me. +Expect no assistance from me unless you tell me everything, and then only +if I think it right to give it." + +For the first time she showed some signs of confusion. The hand upon her +lap moved restlessly and she turned her head slowly towards the window as +if in search of suitable words. But she did not speak or rise, though she +gradually fidgeted round in her chair till she faced the writing-table; +and so sat, with her head leaning on her hand, in silent consideration. + +It was clear she did not like Gimblet's terms; and after a few minutes +had passed in a silence as awkward as it was suggestive he pushed back +his chair and stood up. He hoped she would take the hint and bring an +unprofitable and embarrassing interview to an end. + +But she did not appear to notice him, and still sat lost in her +own thoughts. + +Suddenly the door opened and Higgs appeared. + +Gimblet looked at him with questioning disapproval. + +It was an inflexible rule of his that when engaged with a client he was +not to be disturbed. + +Higgs, well acquainted with this rule, hovered doubtfully in the +doorway, displaying on the salver he carried the blue, unaddressed +envelope Lord Ashiel had told him to deliver at once. + +"It's a note, sir," he murmured hesitatingly. "The gentleman who was with +you a little while ago came back with it. He asked me to be sure and +bring it in at once." + +He avoided Gimblet's reproachful eye and stammered uneasily: + +"Put it down on that table and go," said the detective. He indicated a +little table by the door, and Higgs hastily placed the letter on it and +fled, with the uncomfortable sensation of having been sternly reproved. + +As a matter of fact Gimblet would have shown more indignation if he +had not at heart felt rather glad of the interruption. His visitor had +decidedly outstayed her welcome; and, though she stirred his curiosity +sufficiently to make him wish he could induce her to raise her veil +and let him see what manner of woman it was who had the effrontery to +come and make him such unblushing proposals, he far more urgently +desired to see the last of her. She was wasting his time and annoying +him into the bargain. + +As the door shut behind the servant he made a step towards her. + +"If, madam, there is nothing else you wish to consult me about," he +began, taking out his watch with some ostentation--"I am a busy man--" + +The lady gave a little laugh, low and musical. + +"I will not detain you longer," she said, also rising from her chair. "I +am afraid I have cut into your afternoon, but you will still have time +for a game if you hurry." + +She laughed again, and moved over to the writing-table, where, among a +litter of papers and writing materials, a couple of golf balls were +acting as letter weights. A putter lay on the chair in front of the desk, +and she took it up and swung it to and fro. + +"A nice club," she remarked. "Where do you play, as a rule? There are so +many good links near London; so convenient. Well, I mustn't keep you." +She laid down the putter and fingered the balls for a moment. "Where have +I put my gloves?" she said then, looking around to collect her +belongings. + +Gimblet was slightly put out at her inference that his plea of business +was merely an excuse to dismiss her in order that he might go off and +play golf. Heaven knew it was no affair of hers whether he played golf +that day or not! But as a matter of fact he had no intention of leaving +the flat that afternoon, and had merely been practising a shot or two on +the carpet after lunch before Lord Ashiel's arrival. Still it was true +that he had made business a pretext for getting rid of her, and this made +the injustice of the widow's further inference ruffle him more than it +might have if she had been entirely in the wrong. He was the most +courteous of men, and that anyone should suspect him of unnecessary +rudeness distressed him. + +He made no reply, however, in spite of the temptation to defend himself; +but stooped to pick up a diminutive black suede glove which his visitor +had dropped when she took up the putter. + +She thanked him and put it on, depositing, while she did so, her other +glove, her handkerchief, sunshade and a small brown-paper parcel upon the +writing-table at her side. + +Gimblet did not appreciate seeing these articles heaped upon his +correspondence. Without any comment he removed them, and stood holding +them silently till she should be ready. + +She took them from him soon, with a little inclination of the head which +he felt was accompanied by a smile of thanks, though through the thick +crape it was impossible to do more than guess at any expression. + +She drew on her other glove and held out her hand again. + +"My purse?" she said. "Will you not give me that too? Where have you put +it? And then I must really go." + +"I haven't seen any purse," said Gimblet. + +"Yes, yes!" she cried. "A black silk bag! It has my purse inside it. I +had it, I am sure." + +She turned quickly back to the chair she had been sitting in, and taking +up the cushion, shook it and peered beneath it. + +"What can I have done with it? All my money is in it." + +Gimblet glanced round the room. He did not remember having noticed any +bag, and he was an observant person. She had probably left it in a cab. +Women were always doing these things. Witness the heaped shelves at +Scotland Yard. + +"Perhaps you put it down in the hall?" he suggested. + +"I am sure I had it when I came in here," she repeated in an agitated +voice. "But it might be worth while just to look in the hall," she added +doubtfully, and moved towards the door. + +Gimblet opened it for her gladly; but she came to a standstill in +the doorway. + +"There is nothing there, you see;" she said dolefully. "Oh, what +shall I do!" + +Gimblet looked over her shoulder. The hall was shadowy, with the +perpetual twilight of the halls of London flats, but he fancied he +could perceive a darker shadow lying beside his hat on the table near +the entrance. + +"Is that it? On the table?" he asked. + +"Where? I don't see anything," murmured the lady; and indeed it was +unlikely that she could distinguish anything in such a light from +behind her veil. + +"On the table by my hat," repeated Gimblet; and as she still did not +move, he made a step forward into the hall. + +Yes, it was her bag, beyond a doubt. A silken thing of black brocade, +embroidered with scattered purple pansies. + +Gimblet picked it up and turned back to his visitor. After a second's +hesitation she had followed him into the hall and was coming towards him, +groping her way rather blindly through the gloom. + +"Oh, thanks, thanks!" she exclaimed. "How stupid of me to have left it +there. Thank you again. My precious bag! I am so glad you have found it." +She took the bag eagerly from him. "I am afraid I have been a nuisance, +and disturbed you to no purpose. You must forgive my mistake. But now I +will not keep you any longer. Good-bye." + +She showed no further disposition to loiter; and Gimblet rang the bell +for the lift and saw her depart with a good deal of satisfaction. + +In spite of her extremely hazy ideas on the subject of other people's +property, there was, he admitted, something attractive about her. Still +he was very glad she had gone. + +He returned to his room, taking up and pocketing Lord Ashiel's envelope +as he passed the little table by the door. + +He did it mechanically, for his mind was occupied with a question which +must be immediately decided. + +Was it, or was it not, worth while to have the woman who had just left +him followed and located, and her identity ascertained? + +Gimblet disliked leaving small problems unsolved, however insignificant +they appeared. On the whole, he thought he might as well find out who she +was, and he turned back into the hall and called for Higgs. + +If she were to be caught sight of again before leaving the house there +was not a moment to lose. But Higgs did not reply, and on Gimblet's +opening the pantry door he found it empty. Unknown to him, the moment the +lady had departed Higgs had gone upstairs to the flat above to have a +word with a friend. + +The detective seized his hat and ran downstairs, but he was too late. + +The widow lady, the porter told him, had gone away two or three minutes +ago in the motor that had been waiting for her. No, he hadn't noticed the +number of the car. Neither had he seen Higgs. + +Gimblet shrugged his shoulders as he went upstairs again. After all, the +matter was of no great consequence. + +The widow was a cool hand, certainly, he thought, to come to him and +propose he should steal for her what she wanted; but the fact of her +having done so made it on the whole improbable that she was a thief, or +she would not have had need of him. She was certainly a person of +questionable principles, and it seemed likely that in one way or another +a theft would be committed through her agency, if not by herself, as +soon as the opportunity presented itself. She was, in fact, a woman on +whom the police might do worse than keep an eye; but, reflected Gimblet, +he was not the police, and the dishonesty of this scheming widow was +really no concern of his. As he reached his door, a postman was leaving +it, and two or three letters had been pushed through the flap. He let +himself in and took them out of the box. They were not of great +importance. A bill, an appeal for a subscription to some charity, a +couple of advertisements and the catalogue of a sale of pictures in +which he was interested. He turned over the leaves slowly, holding the +pamphlet sideways from time to time to look at the photographs which +illustrated some of the principal lots. + +Presently he turned and went back into his room. He sat down in his +favourite arm-chair near the window, where he habitually passed so much +time gazing out on to the smooth surface of the river, and fell to +ruminating on the problem presented by Lord Ashiel's story. + +For a long while he sat on, huddled in the corner of an arm-chair, his +elbows on the arm, his chin resting on his hand, and in his eyes the look +of one who wrestles with obscure and complicated problems of mental +arithmetic. From time to time, but without relaxing his expression of +concentrated effort, he stretched out long artistic fingers to a box on +the table, took from it a chocolate, and transferred it mechanically to +his mouth. He always ate sweets when he had a problem on hand. He was +trying to think of some means by which his client could be protected from +the mysterious danger that threatened him; that it was a very real +danger, Gimblet accepted without question; he had only seen Lord Ashiel +twice in his life, but it was quite enough to make him certain that here +was a man whom it would take a great deal to alarm. This was no boy +crying "wolf" for the sake of making a stir. + +But the more he thought, the more he saw that there was nothing to be +done. A word to the police would suffice, no doubt, to precipitate +matters; for, if the Nihilist Society which threatened Lord Ashiel +contemplated his destruction, a hint that he might be already taking +reciprocal measures would not be likely to make them feel more mercifully +towards him. It was obvious that Ashiel would look with suspicion upon +any Russian who might approach him, but Gimblet determined to write him a +line of warning against foreigners of any description. Still, these +societies sometimes had Englishmen amongst their members, and ways of +enforcing obedience upon their subordinates which made any decision they +might come to as good as carried out almost as soon as it was uttered. + +The detective's cogitations were disturbed by Higgs, who had returned, +and now brought him in some tea. He poured himself out half a cup, which +he filled up with Devonshire cream. He had a peculiar taste in food, and +was the despair of his excellent cook, but on this occasion he ate none +of the cakes and bread and butter she had provided, the chocolates having +rather taken the edge off his appetite. + +From where he sat he could see, through the open window, the broad grey +stretches of the river, with a barge going swiftly down on the tide; +brown sails turned to gleaming copper by the slanting rays from the West. +The hum and rattle of the streets came up to him murmuringly; now and +then a train rumbled over Charing Cross Bridge, and the whistle of +engines shrilled out above the constant low clamour of the town. + +Gimblet leant out of the window and watched the barge negotiate the +bridge. Then he returned to his chair, and taking Lord Ashiel's envelope +out of his pocket looked it over thoughtfully before opening it. He had +no doubts as to what it contained; he had been on the point of reminding +the peer that he had forgotten to give him the key of the cipher he had +spoken of when the widow's ring at the door had driven him to a hurried +retreat, but he had not considered the omission of any particular +significance. His client would certainly discover it and either return to +give him the key, or send it to the flat. + +It would probably be some time before it was required for use here. In +the meantime, thought Gimblet, he would have a look at it before locking +it away in the safe. + +He turned over the envelope. To his surprise, the flap was open and the +glue had obviously never been moistened. + +It was the work of an instant to look inside, but almost quicker came the +conviction that it was useless to do so. + +He was not mistaken. + +The envelope was empty. + +Gimblet stared at it for one moment in blank dismay. Then he strode to +the door and shouted for Higgs. + +"Did you notice," he asked him, "whether the envelope Lord Ashiel gave +you for me was fastened, or was it open as this one is?" + +"Oh no, sir," replied Higgs, "it was sealed up. There was a large patch +of red sealing-wax at the back, with a coronet and some sort of little +picture stamped on it. I can't say I looked at it particularly, but there +may have been a lion or a dog, or some kind of animal. His lordship's +arms, no doubt" + +"You are quite certain about the sealing-wax?" Gimblet repeated slowly. + +"Yes, sir, I am quite certain about that," answered Higgs; and he could +not refrain from adding, "I put down the note on this little table, sir, +as you told me." + +"Thank you. That is all." + +Gimblet's tone was as undisturbed as ever, but inwardly he was seething +with anger and disgust; directed, however, entirely against himself. + +When Higgs had departed he allowed himself the unusual, though quite +inadequate relief of giving the chair on which his last visitor had sat a +violent kick. After that he felt rather more ashamed of himself than +before, if possible, and he sat down and raged at the simple way in which +he had been fooled. + +The widow had taken the envelope, of course. She must have snatched it up +during the few seconds he had turned his back on her in order to step +across the hall and retrieve her bag, and have replaced it at the same +instant with this empty one which she had no doubt taken from his own +writing-table while he stooped beside her to pick up her glove. + +Gimblet fetched one of his own blue envelopes and compared it with the +substitute. Yes, they were alike in every particular. The watermarks were +the same and showed that she had used what she found ready to her hand. + +It seemed, then, that the _coup_ was not premeditated. But why, why, had +he let her escape so easily? If only he had been a little quicker about +following her, and had not wasted time looking for Higgs! She had had +time to get clear away; and he, bungler that he was, had thought it of +little consequence, and had afterwards stood poring over a catalogue in +the hall, having decided that her morals were no business of his. Ass +that he had been! + +Who was she? Probably some one known to Lord Ashiel, or why should she +have wanted his letter? Well, Ashiel must have met her on his way out, +and would in that case at least be able to provide the information as to +who she was. Still, more people might know Ashiel than Ashiel knew, and +it was possible that that hope might fail. No doubt she was a member of +the society the peer had so rashly entangled himself with in the days of +his youth; one of those enemies of whom he had spoken with such grave +apprehension. Had she followed him into the house and forced her way in +on a trumped-up pretext, on the chance of hearing or finding something +that might be useful to her Nihilist friends, or had she known that Lord +Ashiel intended to leave some document in Gimblet's keeping, and come +with the idea, already formed, of stealing it? Such a plan seemed to +partake too much of the nature of a forlorn hope to be likely, but +whether or no she had expected to find that letter, Gimblet could hardly +help admiring the rapidity with which she had possessed herself of it +without wasting an unnecessary moment. + +She must have been safe in the street and away with it, in less than +five minutes from when she first saw it. Oh, she had been quick and +dexterous! And he? He had been a gull, and false to his trust, and +altogether contemptible. What should he say to Lord Ashiel? Why in the +world hadn't he locked up the letter when Higgs brought it in? This was +what came of making red-tape regulations about not being disturbed. After +all, he comforted himself, she would be a good deal disappointed when she +found what she had got. The key to a cipher; that was all. And a key with +nothing to unlock was an unsatisfactory kind of loot to risk prison for. +Evidently she expected something more important; perhaps the very +documents she had invited Gimblet to steal for her, regardless of +expense. This, he thought, was a reassuring sign for Lord Ashiel. For it +was plain they meant to steal the papers, if they could; but not so plain +that they looked to murder as the means by which to gain that end, since +they applied for help from him. + +Gimblet rang up the Carlton Club and asked for his client, but he was not +in, nor did he succeed in communicating with him that afternoon; and when +he rang up the Club for the fifth time after dinner he was told that Lord +Ashiel had already left for Scotland. + +With a groan, and fortifying himself with chocolates, the detective sat +down to write a long and full account of his failure to keep what had +been confided to his care, for the space of one hour. + +In a couple of days he had an answer. Ashiel did not seem much perturbed +at the loss of the cipher. + +"It is a nuisance, of course," he said. "I must think out another, and +will let you have it in a few days before sending you other things. No, I +did not recognize the person I met as I was leaving your rooms. In spite +of what you say as to your belief that theft and not murder is the object +of these people, I am still convinced that my life is aimed at. However, +I think that for the present I have hit on a way of frustrating their +plans. With regard to the other problem you are helping me to solve, I am +seeing a great deal of both the young people, and I believe there can be +no doubt as to the identity of one of them, but I will write to you on +this subject also in a few days' time." + +He sent Gimblet a couple of brace of grouse, which the detective devoured +with great satisfaction, and for the next week no more letters bearing a +Scotch postmark were delivered at the Whitehall flat. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +"Here they come again." + +Lord Ashiel spoke in a voice scarcely above a whisper, and Juliet +crouched low against the peaty wall of the butt. There was an instant's +silence, and then crack, crack, shots sounded from the other end of the +line. Another minute and Lord Ashiel's gun went up; she heard the whirr +of approaching wings before she covered both ears with her hands to +deaden the noise of the explosions she knew were coming. + +Then several guns seemed to go off at once. Bang! bang! bang! Bang! +bang! bang! + +Juliet did not really enjoy grouse-driving, but she tried to appear as if +she did, since every one else seemed to, and at all events there were +intervals between drives when she could be happy in the glory of the +hills and the wild free air of the moors. + +Meanwhile she knelt in her corner of the butt beside her host's big +retriever, and waited. There was a little bunch of heather growing +level with her nose, and she bent forward silently and sniffed at it. +But the honey-sweet scent was drowned for the moment by the smell of +gunpowder and dog. + +Bang! bang! bang! + +Presently Lord Ashiel turned and looked down at her, with a smile. + +"The drivers are close up," he said. "The drive is over." + +They went out of the butt, and she stood watching the dog picking up the +birds Lord Ashiel had shot. He found nineteen, and the loader picked up +three more. Juliet was glad her host shot so well. She thought him a +wonderful man. And how kind he was to her. But she could not help looking +over from time to time to the next butt, round which three other people +were wandering: Sir David Southern, and his loader, and Miss Maisie +Tarver, to whom he was engaged to be married. + +One of Sir David's birds had fallen near his uncle's butt, and presently +he strolled across to look for it, his eyes on the heather as he +zigzagged about, leading his dog by the chain which his uncle insisted on +his using. + +"There is something here," called Juliet. "Yes, it is a dead grouse. Is +this your bird?" + +Sir David came up and took it. + +"That's it," he said. "Thanks very much. How do you like this sort +of thing?" + +He leant against the butt and looked down at her. + +"Oh, it's so lovely here," began Juliet. + +"But you don't like the shooting, eh?" + +"I don't know," Juliet stammered. "I think it's rather cruel." + +"You must remember there wouldn't be any grouse at all if they weren't +shot," he said seriously, "and besides, wild birds don't die comfortably +in their beds if they're not killed by man. A charge of shot is more +merciful than a death from cold and starvation, or even from the attack +of a hawk or any of a bird's other natural enemies. Just think. Wouldn't +you rather have the violent end yourself than the slow, lingering one?" + +"Yes," admitted Juliet, "I would. I believe you're right But I don't +really much like seeing it happen, all the same." + +"I think you'd get used to it; it's a matter of habit. I believe +everything is a matter of habit, or almost everything. I suppose one gets +used to any kind of horror in time." + +He spoke reflectively; more, or so it seemed to Juliet, as if trying to +convince himself than her; and as he finished speaking, she was conscious +that his eyes, which had never left her face while they were talking, had +done so now, and were fixed on some object or person behind her. She +turned instinctively and saw Miss Maisie Tarver approaching, a brace of +grouse swinging in each hand. + +"I've got them all, right here, David," she informed him, as she came up. +She was a tall dark girl, with the look of breeding which often proves so +confusing to Europeans when they first come in contact with certain of +her countrywomen. "This bird," she added, holding up one which still +fluttered despairingly, "was a runner, but now he won't do any more +running than the colour of my new pink shirt-waist; and that's guaranteed +a fast tint, I guess." + +Juliet looked away, trying not to show her dismay at the struggles of the +wounded bird. + +"Here, give me that bird, Maisie," said David rather abruptly. "I'll +knock it on the head." + +"Oh, I can do that, if it makes Miss Byrne feel badly," Maisie laughed. + +Raising her small foot on to a stone, she began to make ineffectual +attempts to beat the bird's head against her toe. David snatched it from +her unceremoniously, and turned his back while he put an end to the poor +creature's sufferings. His face was very red. When he had killed the bird +he tossed it to Lord Ashiel's loader, and strode away across the heather. + +Maisie looked at Juliet with a laugh. + +"Your English young men are perfectly lovely," she remarked, "and David +is just elegant, I think, or I'd not have gone and engaged myself to be +led to the altar by him; but I can't kind of get used to the British way +of looking at things. It's quite remarkable the manner you people have +of admiring a girl one moment, because she's a good sport, and throwing +fits of disapprobation the next, because she tries to act like she is +one. Why, David looked at me just now as if he'd have taken less than two +cents to put knock-out drops in my next cocktail." + +"Oh," protested Juliet. "I'm sure he didn't mean to. I think his +expression is naturally rather stern." + +"Stern nothing," said Miss Tarver. "When I came up he was looking at you +as if he reckoned he could eat you, shooting-stick and all. Oh, there +aren't any flies on me! I know just what myself and dollars are worth to +Sir David Southern, and I'm beginning to do some calculating on my own +account as to what Sir David Southern is worth to me." + +"Oh, surely you are wrong," cried Juliet. "I am certain Sir David has +never thought about your money. Oh, I feel sure you misjudge him; and you +mustn't talk like that, even in fun!" + +"I don't know," said Miss Tarver doubtfully. "His cousin says David's +really vurry attached to me, but it's the sort of thing one ought to be +able to see for oneself, and I don't seem to feel a really strong +conviction on the subject. As for his thinking of my dollars, I fail to +see how he can help that when he's over head and ears in debt, the way he +is. He told me so himself when he proposed. He put it as a business +proposition. Said his ancient name was up for auction, and did I reckon +it worth my while to make a bid, or words to that effect. There's a +romantic love-story for you. He was the only titled man I'd ever struck +up till a month ago, and I always did think it would be stunning to marry +into an aristocratic British family, so I was pleased to death at the +idea of putting his on its legs again with my dollars. What else could I +do with them anyway? But I believe if I'd met your friend, Lord Ashiel, +before I'd taken the fatal step, I'd have waited to see if he didn't +fancy an Amurrican wife. But of course _he_ doesn't care a hill of beans +whether I'm rich or not. He's got plenty himself, I'm told, and I guess +he'd never have looked at me while you were around, any old way. All the +same I call him a real striking-looking man." + +"Oh, don't talk so loud," implored Juliet. "He'll hear you. He's +quite close." + +"Not he," said Miss Tarver. "He's back of the butt still. And I will say +he is a real high-toned gentleman, and it's my opinion the girl who gets +him will be able to give points to the man who took a piece of waste land +for a bad debt, and struck the richest vein of gold in Colorado on it." + +She looked at Juliet with an insinuating eye. + +"Come along," said Lord Ashiel, as he strolled up to them with a bird +he had been looking for, "we're going on now to the next drive," and +they started off down the hillside, wading deep through the heather to +the track. + +Juliet had been nearly a week at Inverashiel. A week of wet weather which +had sadly interfered with the shooting, but which had thrown the house +party on its own resources and given her plenty of chances to get well +acquainted with the other guests at the castle. They were most of them +related to Lord Ashiel and already well known to each other. The +American, David Southern's fiancée, the half Russian girl, Julia +Romaninov, who had arrived on the same day as Juliet, and Juliet herself, +were the only strangers. Mrs. Haviland, Lord Ashiel's sister, had been +there when she arrived, but had left a day or two later as her husband, +who was in the south, had fallen ill and needed her presence. Her place +as hostess had been taken by Lady Ruth Worsfold, a distant cousin of the +McConachans, who lived in a little house a mile down the loch, which was +given her rent free by Lord Ashiel. Another cousin of his, Mrs. Clutsam, +a young widow, he had also provided this year with a small house on the +estate which was sometimes let to fishing tenants, and she, too, was at +present staying at Inverashiel. + +The guns consisted of Col. Spicer and Sir George Hatch, both well-known +soldiers of between forty and fifty years of age, and Lord Ashiel's two +nephews, David Southern, the son of a widowed sister, and Mark +McConachan, whose father, now dead, had been Lord Ashiel's only brother. +Both were tall, good-looking young men, though there was not even a +family resemblance between the grey-eyed and fairhaired David, with his +smooth-shaven face and slender well-proportioned figure, and his +loose-limbed, rather ungainly cousin, whose appearance of great strength +made up for his lack of grace, and whose large melting brown eyes made +one forget the faults which the hypercritical might have found in the +rest of his face: the rather large nose, and the mouth which was apt too +often to be open except when it closed on the cigarette he was always +smoking. He had been, so Juliet had heard some one say, one of the most +popular men in the cavalry regiment he had lately left on account of its +being ordered to India. + +They were all very nice to Juliet, and she thought them all charming. +Especially, she told herself with unnecessary emphasis, did she think +Miss Maisie Tarver a delightful person; rather strange, possibly, to +European ways and customs and manner of conversation, a very different +type, certainly, from the new Lady Byrne--to whom Juliet was beginning to +feel she had perhaps not hitherto sufficiently done justice--but open as +the day, and with a heart of gold. She even went so far as to defend her +to old Lady Ruth Worsfold, who had lamented one morning when David and +his fiancee had gone out shooting together--for Miss Tarver, though not a +good shot, was fond of ferreting rabbits--that the lad should be throwing +himself away on this young lady from a provincial American town. + +"I forget which, my dear, but it's something to do with chickens, I +believe." They were sitting in the hall, and Lady Ruth looked up from her +embroidery as she spoke, with art interrogative glance towards Mrs. +Clutsam and Julia. + +"Chicago," said Mrs. Clutsam, turning round from the table where she was +writing. "That's where she comes from." + +"Yes, that's it," said Lady Ruth; "the name had slipped my memory. It's +the place where they all kill pigs, isn't it? I've read about it in +Kipling. Her having been brought up to do that accounts for her passion +for wounding rabbits, no doubt. I daresay one has to keep one's hand in. +That reminds me, I will tell the cook not to send up sausages for +breakfast. The poor girl is probably tired of the sight of them, though I +suppose they mean money to her, which is always pleasant. When I had a +poultry farm I used to feel my heart warm at the thought of poor dear +Duncan's bald head. You know, my dear," she went on, turning to Juliet, +"my husband had the misfortune to lose all his hair some years before he +died, though really I don't believe there was a patent hair-wash he +didn't try, till the house fairly reeked of them: but they never did any +good, and he got to look more and more like one of my nice new-laid eggs; +though not so brown of course, for I always kept Wyandots which lay the +most beautiful dark brown ones, like _café au lait_" + +"Well, the money will be very useful to poor David," said Mrs. Clutsam, +without turning her head. She was rather annoyed because she had found +that she had written "I am so glad you can kill pigs," instead of "I am +so glad you can come" to some one she had invited to stay with her. + +"There's plenty of money on this side of the duck pond, or whatever they +call it," said Lady Ruth severely. + +And it was then that Juliet had burst in. + +"I am sure Sir David has never given a thought to Miss Tarver's +money," she said. + +"Why not, my dear?" said Lady Ruth, turning upon her mild, surprised +eyes. "He is terribly badly off; it is his duty to marry money; but he +needn't have gone so far for it." + +"I don't believe he would marry for money. He would be above doing such a +thing!" Juliet declared. + +Julia, who had said nothing, stared at her, and laughed softly. She had a +very low, musical laugh. + +"I don't think you understand the position," said Mrs. Clutsam, turning +round at last and laying down her pen with an air of resignation. "David +Southern has inherited a lot of debts from his father, who only died last +year, and he had piled up a good many on his own account before then, +never suspecting that he would not be very well off. But he found the +place mortgaged up to the hilt. There is really nothing between his +mother and starvation, except her brother-in-law Ashiel's charity, and +that is not pleasant for her because she has never been on good terms +with him. It is very important that David should obtain money somehow, +for her sake more than for his own, and I'm sure he feels that deeply. He +is devoted to her." + +"But there are other ways of getting money than by marrying," +Juliet objected. + +"Yes, there are; but they are slow and uncertain, and David can't bear to +see his mother poor. I am sure it was for her sake that he proposed to +Miss Tarver." + +"I think he would have tried some other way first, unless he had been in +love with her," Juliet repeated, flushed and obstinate. + +"Mr. McConachan says Sir David is very fond of Miss Tarver, really," +said Julia, speaking for the first time. She spoke English fluently, but +with a slight foreign accent. "He says his cousin is so reserved that +he conceals his feelings as much as possible, but that, _au fond_, he +adores her." + +There was a short silence; Mrs. Clutsam seemed about to speak, but her +eyes met those of Lady Ruth fixed on her with an expressionless gaze, and +she turned round without a word and took up her discarded pen. + +They were both thinking the same thing. If David concealed his feelings +in the presence of Miss Tarver he was not so successful when he was in +Juliet's neighbourhood. Both women had noticed the change that came over +him when she was in the room. It was not that he did not try to appear +indifferent; he did not talk to her, or seek her society. On the contrary +he seemed to avoid it, and relapsed into silence at her approach. But +both Lady Ruth and Mrs. Clutsam had caught him looking at her when he +thought himself unobserved, and their observations had not left either of +them in any doubt as to how the land lay. + +Sir David Southern might be engaged to marry Miss Tarver, but he had +fallen in love with some one quite different, and some one who was, +moreover, or so they imagined, destined for quite another person. + +For what was Miss Juliet Byrne doing at Inverashiel Castle? + +This was a question which much exercised the minds of Lord Ashiel's +relations and, when she was not present, formed the subject of many +discussions. + +Where had this girl, this extremely pretty and attractive girl, suddenly +appeared from? Well, they all knew, of course, where she really had come +from; but why? Why had Lord Ashiel suddenly sprung her on them like +this? He had not even told Mrs. Haviland that he had invited her until +the day before she arrived. Why this mystery? Where had he met her? How +long had he known her? To a casual question Juliet had replied guardedly +that she had not known him very long, but that he knew her family. +Fervently did she hope that what she said was true. + +One thing, however, seemed certain. No matter how, where, or why, Ashiel +had made friends with Juliet Byrne, he was bent on becoming even better +acquainted. He appeared to be on excellent terms with her already, and +every day saw them grow more familiar, and, on Ashiel's side, almost +affectionate. If he went shooting or fishing Juliet must go too; to her +he addressed his remarks; it was she whom he consulted when he made plans +for the following days. His health was bad, he was subject to terrible +headaches, and if she were not present he grew quickly nervous and +irritable; when she was, he seldom took his eyes off her. He seemed to +watch her, Mrs. Clutsam thought, with a certain expectancy; but also with +a distinct and unmistakable pride. There was little doubt in the mind of +anyone in the house that there would soon be a second Lady Ashiel. + +As the party walked between the butts on that brilliant August day, Miss +Tarver tacked herself on to her host and strode on ahead with him, +keeping up a flow of interminable, drawling inanities, which made him +wonder for the fortieth time what David could see in her. + +The others tailed out after them, followed by dogs and loaders. + +Without knowing how it came about, Juliet found herself walking beside +David; and, as she was not used to the rough going on the hillside, they +insensibly dropped behind the rest of the long, straggling procession. +The way was uphill; Juliet panted and stumbled; and her companion seemed +disinclined to talk. + +They came to a burn, and he gave her his hand to cross from stone to +stone. The burn was high, and one stone was under water, leaving a space +too wide for Juliet to jump. David stepped on to the flooded rock, and +turned to her. + +"I will lift you over here," he said shortly. "Oh, I can wade quite +well," said she. "My shoes are wet already." + +But without more words he put his arms round her, and lifted her over. +When he put her down he found his tongue. + +"If Maisie stands with my uncle at the next drive," he said, "will you +come to my butt?" + +"I should like to," she said. For some reason his tone made her breath +come quickly. + +David stood looking down at her as though considering. + +"I can't go back on my word," he said at last inconsequently. "I shall +have to marry her, if she wants it, I suppose. But I can't bear you to +think that I care for her. I've got to think of other people." + +"You mustn't say that!" she cried. "Oh, you mustn't say that to me!" + +"Why not?" he said, looking at her strangely. "What have I said that +isn't right?" + +"Nothing, I suppose," Juliet faltered. "But--but--Oh," she cried, "if +you don't care for her, you must tell her so, and she will break it off. +Anything would be better than to go on with it!" + +"I think she knows," he answered gloomily. "She won't break it off, +because she wants to be 'my Lady,' It's a business matter, really. And +I'd have to stick to it for my mother's sake, anyhow." + +Juliet could think of nothing to say. "You ought not to marry her," she +stammered again. + +"If I didn't," he began hoarsely--"if she did let me go, I don't suppose +you'd ever care for me enough to marry me? Oh, I know I ought not to say +it," he broke off; "I'm a cad to speak like this. Forgive me, Juliet." + +Juliet's world revolved around her at an unusual pace for the space of a +second. She shut her eyes to steady herself; a mixture of misery and +happiness deprived her of speech or movement. Gradually the misery +predominated and she burst into tears. + +"Forgive me, forgive me," he was saying. He stood before her, looking as +wretched as a man can look. + +"Yes, yes," she sobbed. "Let us forget all about it. You must forget me." + +"You know I can't," he said. "Juliet, Juliet, don't cry. If you cry I +shall be simply obliged to kiss you." And he took a step towards her. + +They were still standing at the edge of the burn, screened from the +track ahead, partly by a little bush of alder which grew beside them, +partly by the winding of the path round the slope of the hill. As David +spoke a rabbit came scampering up to the other side of the bush, and +then, becoming aware of their proximity, turned at right angles and +darted down the bank. It was three or four yards away, and going hard, +when there was a loud report, and the branches of the alder cracked and +rattled. Several little boughs fell to the ground a foot or two away +from the spot on which Juliet stood. Surprise dried her tears and +restored David to his senses. + +"Hi!" he shouted, bounding on to the path, and waving his arms +frantically. "What are you shooting at? Look out, can't you?" + +Fifty yards up the track his Cousin Mark was standing, an open gun in his +hand; a scared ghillie was running towards them down the path beyond. + +"Good heavens, David," Mark ejaculated, "do you mean to say you were in +the burn? I thought you were on ahead! Why in the world did you lag +behind like that? Do you know I might easily have shot you?" + +"Do I know it? You precious near did shoot me, and Miss Byrne, too, I +tell you. If it hadn't been for that alder we should have been bound to +get most of the charge between us. It's not like you to be so careless." + +"I'm frightfully sorry, old man," said Mark, coming up; "it was careless +of me, but I felt sure there was no one back there. I saw that rabbit and +stalked it, meaning to overtake you all afterwards. They walk so +fearfully slow, you know, what with all these ladies, and Uncle Douglas +not feeling very fit. And Miss Byrne here, too! By Jove, I _am_ sorry! +Beastly stupid of me." + +He was plainly agitated, and could hardly blame himself severely enough. +And David, for his part, was not disposed to make light of what had +happened. Perhaps he was glad of a subject on which he could enlarge. + +"It was a rotten shot, too," he mumbled, as they all hurried on after +the others. "You were about four yards behind that rabbit." + +"Absolutely rotten," agreed Mark. "I don't know what's happened to my +shooting. I've hit every bird in the tail to-day, except when I've missed +'em clean, and that's what I've done most of the time. There's something +wrong with my eye altogether. If I don't get better, I shall knock off +shooting--for a few days, anyhow." + +All his usual self-possession seemed to have been shaken out of him by +the thought of the catastrophe he might have caused. Young, good-looking +and popular, he was accustomed to take the pleasure shown in his society +and the admiring approval of his associates, which had always contributed +so much to his comfortable feeling of satisfaction with himself, and +which had invariably strengthened his reluctance to harbour unpleasant +doubts as to his own perfections, as a matter of course; and the +heartiness with which he now cursed himself for a careless and dangerous +fool testified to the fright he had had. + +Even when David, relenting a little, though still reluctant to show +it, grunted surlily, "None of you cavalry soldiers are safe with a +gun." Mark did not, as he would generally have done, deny the +accusation resentfully, but displayed an astonishing meekness, which +proved how clearly he saw himself to be in the wrong. Juliet, who had +sometimes thought him rather selfish--a fault he shared with many +others of his kind, and one perhaps almost unavoidable in attractive +only sons--was touched by his unusual humility, and treated the matter +lightly, doing all she could to cheer him up and restore to him his +good opinion of himself. + +But Mark, while he smiled back gratefully in reply, would not allow her +to persuade him that he was less to blame than he asserted, and he was +still lamenting his carelessness when they came up with the rest of the +party, who were already stationed in the butts. + +Miss Tarver was beside Lord Ashiel, and Mark stopped a minute to relate +how nearly he had been the cause of an accident, although both David and +Juliet, by mutual consent, guessed what he was going to do, and tried to +dissuade him. + +"No need to say anything about it," David mumbled in his ear. + +"No, no, don't, please," Juliet murmured in the other. + +Yet he would not be tempted, and they walked on together in silence, +leaving him to tell the story. + +"I as near as makes no difference peppered David and Miss Byrne just +now," they heard him begin, and then Lord Ashiel's voice broke in in an +angry tone as they passed out of earshot. + +David's loader reported afterwards that that young gentleman and Miss +Byrne, when she waited with him in the butt, seemed to find very +little to talk about. And it was a long wait before any birds came up, +on that beat. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was a few days after this that Gimblet, taking up an evening paper at +the Club, was startled to see a sinister headline of "Murder," +immediately followed by the name of Ashiel. + +"MURDER OF A SCOTCH PEER." +"LORD ASHIEL SHOT DEAD IN HIS OWN HOUSE." +"ESCAPE OF MURDERER." + +"They've got him," he muttered between his teeth as he hastily began to +read the paragraph that followed: + +"News reaches us, as we go to press, of a dastardly crime, involving the +death of Lord Ashiel, which occurred late last night at his residence in +the Highlands of Scotland. Lord Ashiel was sitting quietly in his library +at Inverashiel Castle, when a shot was fired through the window by +someone in the grounds, which wounded his Lordship so severely that death +took place instantaneously. Although the household was immediately +alarmed and a thorough search made through the garden and grounds +surrounding the castle, the murderer contrived to escape. The police are +continuing their search in the neighbourhood, and it is believed that a +very strong clue to the scoundrel has been discovered. Douglas, Lord +Ashiel, was the seventh Baron. He was born in 1869, educated at Eton and +Oxford, and served for some years in the Diplomatic Service. He was a +widower and childless, and is succeeded in the title by his nephew, Mr. +Mark McConachan." + + +There was nothing more. + +Gimblet strode out of the Club and drove to New Scotland Yard. The +Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department was in, and +received him gladly. Gimblet held out the paper he had carried off from +the Club and pointed to the news of the tragedy. + +"Is all this correct?" he asked. + +"Yes, yes, indeed," replied Mr. Beech, the superintendent. "We heard of +it this morning. The Glasgow people have sent their men up, but it will +take them all day to get to the place. Inverashiel is on the West Coast, +and not what one would call easy to get at. They ought to be there about +five o'clock." + +"Who has gone?" asked Gimblet. + +"Macross has gone himself with one or two others. He has taken a +photographer and a finger-print man, and will get to work as soon as he +possibly can. This is a big business. Lord Ashiel is an important person; +apart from his being a Scotch landowner--he owns 90,000 acres of moorland +there--he is connected with half the great families in England. He has a +cousin in the Cabinet; cousins everywhere, in the Foreign Office, in +Parliament, in trade; he has one who owns a newspaper. He is rich; he is +a sleeping partner in some Newcastle iron works, he is part owner of a +small colliery in Yorkshire. Oh, there's going to be a fine to-do about +this case, you bet your life!" + +"I knew him," said Gimblet slowly. "He came to see me a fortnight ago. He +told me he expected an attempt might be made to kill him." + +"The deuce he did!" exclaimed Beech. "Did he say who it was he feared?" + +"Not exactly; but I gathered he had mixed himself up with some secret +society abroad. He refused to give me any explicit information, or to +appeal to you for protection, as I advised him to do. He told me he had +some document in his possession which his enemies were anxious to obtain +from him, and that if they failed to do so by peaceful methods he thought +it likely they might try to get him out of the way; though he added that +he did not anticipate any open assault, but thought it likely he might +die some death that should have all the appearances of being accidental. +He made me promise to take up the case if this should happen." + +"We are always glad of your help, my dear fellow," said Beech. + +"He gave me certain instructions, in the event of my being able to +satisfy myself that his death is the work of his Nihilist friends," said +Gimblet, who thought it unnecessary to mention his disconcerting +experience with the veiled lady, "And contrariwise, if I can make sure +that they have no hand in it, it was his wish that I should then leave +the whole thing alone. So I had better see what I can make of it before I +go into this any further with you." + +"I can't say I agree with that idea," protested the superintendent. +"However, I know you insist on working on your own lines, and that I have +really no influence with you, in spite of the show you make, humbug that +you are! of consulting my opinion. Well, good luck go with you; and let +me know if you hit on anything that escapes our men." + +Gimblet walked back to his flat, his mind full of the tragedy which he +had an uneasy feeling he might, in some way, have averted. How, he hardly +knew. Lord Ashiel could not have lived all his life encircled by a cordon +of police and detectives; and, without such precautions, a man condemned +by Nihilist societies is practically sure to fall a victim to their +excellent organization and disregard for the lives of their own members. + +Still Gimblet had liked the dead peer, and could not get the pale +aristocratic face and tired, feverish blue eyes out of his head. Surely +he might have found some way of preventing this catastrophe. + +He found a telegram at his flat. It was signed Byrne, and ran: + +"Please come immediately to investigate death of Lord Ashiel certain +some mistake." + +It had been sent off at four o'clock that day. + +"Higgs," called Gimblet to his servant, as he filled up the prepaid reply +form, "I am going North to-night, by the eight o'clock from Euston. Pack +me things for a week; country clothes; and put in plenty of chocolate." + +He collected several things he wanted packed, and then retired to his +sitting-room, where he buried himself in an enormous file of typewritten +papers he had borrowed from Scotland Yard, and which related to the +various Nihilists known to be living in England. He had to return them +before he left London, and when he dropped them at the Yard about seven +o'clock, on his way to the station, he learnt that no word had yet come +from the Scotch authorities as to any further developments at +Inverashiel. + +A few minutes past eight he was travelling North as fast as the Scotch +express could carry him. + +It was midday on the following day when he got off the steamer that had +brought him from Crianan, and landed with his luggage on the wooden pier +which displayed, painted on a rough board, the name of Inverashiel. + +One of the deck hands dumped his luggage out on to the side of the loch +and the boat moved on again. + +A track led across the moor, and down it Gimblet saw a farm cart +advancing, driven by a man who shouted as he approached: + +"The young leddy's comin' doon tae meet ye, sir." + +And behind him, on the near skyline, the detective beheld the hurrying +figure of a girl. + +Leaving the man with the cart to grapple with his luggage, which was not +of large dimensions, Gimblet walked to meet Juliet. As they drew near, +she stopped and held out her hand. + +"Mr. Gimblet?" she asked. + +"Yes," he said; "and you are Miss Byrne, are you not?" + +He looked at her keenly as he spoke, noticing that her eyes were red and +swollen, and that her whole bearing was eloquent of sorrow and want of +sleep. She lifted a miserable face to him. + +"Yes," she said. "I am so glad you have come, but it has seemed a long +while. I suppose you couldn't get here before. Do you know all that has +happened?" + +"I know that Lord Ashiel is dead," said the detective. "Hardly more +than that. Will you tell me all there is to tell before we go up to +the castle?" + +"I have left the castle, and am staying with Lady Ruth Worsfold, whose +house you can just see through the trees," she said. "Will you come there +first, or shall we go straight to the castle. It is about a mile through +the woods." + +"Let us walk straight up," said Gimblet. "You can tell me as we go. I +have, as you say, been a long while getting here, but it is fortunate +that the day is fine. I hope it has not rained during the last +thirty-six hours?" + +"I don't know," said the girl. "No; I believe it has been fine. But I +haven't taken much notice what the weather has been like." She was +disappointed and indignant that he should talk in this trivial strain, +when her own heart was nearly bursting, and her every nerve stretched and +tingling. She had pinned all her hopes on the arrival of the famous +detective. + +Gimblet heard the change in her tone. + +"You think I am talking platitudes about the weather," he said quickly, +"and you think I am unsympathetic for your distress; but, believe me, +what I said is very much to the point. If it has not rained the +murderer's footmarks will be very much more easily seen, and that is very +important." + +"You don't know," said Juliet in a voice that trembled ominously. "They +have found plenty of footmarks. The Glasgow detectives said they were +Sir--Sir David Southern's. They found his gun too, not cleaned; and they +say he did it, and they have taken him away, to--to prison." A sob +escaped her, but she controlled herself with a great effort and went on: +"You must prove that he didn't do it. I know he didn't. Anyone who knew +him must know he didn't. Oh you must, you must, find the real murderer!" + +Gimblet was silent for a moment before this appeal. It was difficult to +know what to say. He knew Macross well for a cautious, intelligent +officer; if he had arrested Sir David Southern it seemed pretty certain +that there was good evidence against that gentleman. On the other hand +Lord Ashiel had seemed to think it likely that his death might wear an +appearance calculated to mislead. Still Gimblet had a deep-rooted +prejudice against holding out hopes he could not see a good chance of +fulfilling, and he had so often been appealed to by distracted women to +save their friend and "find the real murderer." + +"Will you not begin at the beginning?" he said at last. "I know how you +came to be staying at Inverashiel, but I know nothing of what has +happened since your arrival, except the bare fact of Lord Ashiel's death. +Tell me every detail you can think of, but, first, who else was staying +at the castle besides yourself? I suppose they have left now?" + +"Yes, they have all gone," said Juliet. "The men went before it all +happened, and the others the next day. There were Lady Ruth Worsfold and +Mrs. Clutsam; they are both cousins of Lord Ashiel's, and he lends them +little houses that belong to him near here, but they were staying at the +castle for a week or two. Then there was Miss Julia Romaninov. She is +half a Russian, and Lord Ashiel's sister, who is away just now, had +invited her. An American girl, Miss Tarver, a great heiress, was there +too. The men were Sir George Hatch and Colonel Spicer, who are cousins of +Lord Ashiel's; and Mr. Mark McConachan and Sir David Southern, who are +his nephews, Mr. McConachan being the son of his dead brother, while Sir +David is his younger sister's child. + +"I have been here a fortnight. The time has gone quickly. Every one was +very nice to me; and, though nothing out of the way happened, it was all +new and delightful, and I enjoyed it very much. Lord Ashiel, especially, +was kindness itself; he was never tired of explaining to me the customs +and traditions of the countryside, and he spared no pains to see that I +was amused and entertained. I was with him most of the time, and grew to +know him very well. I thought him a wonderful man: so clever, so widely +read, so tolerant and sympathetic in his opinions. He was terribly +delicate, though; he had continual headaches, and was so easily tired; +but he told me it was a new thing for him to feel ill; up till a year or +so ago he had always had the best of health. Mrs. Clutsam told me she +thought he had been terribly worried over something; she didn't know what +it was; and of course it is not so very long since his wife and child +died. But he did not strike me as being troubled about anything; his eyes +had a sad expression, and sometimes he looked at me in a wondering sort +of way; but I never saw him appear worried, and he was always cheerful +and lively while I was with him." + +"Was he not equally so with the rest of the party?" asked Gimblet. "Did +he show his likes and dislikes plainly?" + +"I am afraid he did, rather. I think feeling ill and tired made him +irritable, and his temper was very quick. But he was always nice to me." + +"Who wasn't he nice too?" + +"Well, I don't think he liked Miss Romaninov much, In fact, she seemed to +get on his nerves, and sometimes he was so rude to her that I used to +wonder that she stayed. But she is such a quiet, good-tempered little +thing; she never seems to mind anything, and she was really sorry and +upset when he died. And he didn't much like the other girl, Miss Tarver, +but he made an effort, I think, to bear with her for his nephew's sake. +He said to me how glad he was that the boy would be well provided for." + +"Which nephew?" asked Gimblet. "I don't understand. What had Miss Tarver +to do with it?" + +"Sir David Southern was engaged to marry her. She has thrown him over +now," said Juliet, and in spite of herself there was a trace of elation +in her voice. "As soon as Sir David was suspected of the murder she broke +off the engagement." + +"Ah," said Gimblet, stooping to pick a piece of bracken, and waving it +before him to keep at bay the flies, which were buzzing round them in +clouds. He offered another bit silently to his companion, and she took it +absently, without a word. + +"He seemed very fond of Mr. McConachan," she said, "and I think he liked +every one else as well. Yes, I am sure he did, though he did have a +dreadful quarrel with Sir David two days before he was killed; and he was +angry with him once before that." + +"Ah," said Gimblet again. "How was that?" + +"The first time it was my fault, or partly my fault," Juliet went on. "It +was out shooting, and I couldn't go as fast as the others, so I lagged +behind and nearly got shot by accident, as Mr. McConachan thought we were +in front of him. Sir David was with me, and Lord Ashiel was fearfully +angry with him, and said he'd no business to let me get in a place where +I might have been killed. He was rather cross with him for the next few +days, though I told him it was my fault; and then the other day, when Sir +David annoyed him again, there was a frightful row." + +"Was that your fault too?" asked Gimblet with a smile. + +"No, it really wasn't. Sir David had a dog, a retriever, to which he was +devoted, but which Lord Ashiel hated. It was not a well-trained dog, I +must admit, and it used to pay very little attention to its master, +except at meal times, when it became very affectionate, not only to him, +but to every one. The truth is that he spoilt it, and never punished it +when it did wrong, or took any trouble to make it behave better. I heard +that before I arrived there was trouble about it, as it did a lot of +damage in the garden, trampling down the flower-beds, and knocking Lord +Ashiel's favourite plants to pieces--he was very fond of gardening--and +the very first day they went out shooting it ran away for miles, and Sir +David after it, which delayed one of the drives half an hour. His uncle +had been very cross about that, they said, and told Sir David he must +keep it on a chain; but the next day it ate a grouse it was supposed to +be retrieving, and Lord Ashiel was furious, and said that if it did +anything more of the kind he'd have it killed. + +"However, after that, all went well. The dog was kept tightly chained, +and nothing happened till the other day. We were all out on the moors, +waiting in the butts for the last drive to begin. Everything had gone +badly with the shooting that day; the birds all went the wrong way; there +were hardly enough guns for driving, anyhow; there was a high wind, and +the shooting had been shocking; no one had shot well except Mr. +McConachan, who is such a good shot; every one had been wounding their +birds, and that always annoyed Lord Ashiel. He was in a very bad temper, +and though he was not cross with me, I was rather afraid he might be, so +I went and stood with Sir David. Miss Tarver was watching Sir George +Hatch in the next butt, and then came Colonel Spicer, with Mr. McConachan +and Lord Ashiel right at the end of the line. + +"We had been waiting some time, when Sir David whispered to me that the +birds were coming, and crouched down under the wall of the butt. His +loader was kneeling behind him ready to hand him his second gun, with two +cartridges stuck between his fingers to reload the first one. We were all +intent on the grouse, and no one noticed that that wretched dog had +worked his head out of his collar and was roaming about behind us. Just +at that moment a mountain hare came lolloping along the crest of the +hill, and, deceived by the stillness, came to a pause just opposite us +and sat up on its hind legs to brush its whiskers with its paw. Its +toilette didn't last long, however, for by that time the dog had caught +its wind, and with a series of yelps had hurled itself upon it. The hare +was off in a second, and away they went, straight down the line, the dog +making as much noise as a whole pack of hounds as he bounded and leapt +over the thick heather. Sir David started up with an exclamation of +dismay, and I, too, stood up and looked over the top of the butt. +Following the direction of his eyes, I saw clouds of grouse streaming +away to the left, all turning as they came over the hill, and wheeling +away from us towards the north. + +"The drive was absolutely spoilt. The hare and its pursuer had by this +time gone the whole length of the butts, and looked like going till +Christmas. Lord Ashiel had come out into the open, and we saw him put his +gun to his shoulder. The dog gave one last leap, and rolled over before +the report reached our ears. It was a quarter of a mile away from us." + +Juliet paused; she was out of breath; they had been walking fast and were +within sight of the castle gates. The way led along the side of Loch +Ashiel, and the castle rose in front of them on a tall rocky promontory, +which jutted far into the water. + +"Let us rest here a few minutes," said Gimblet. "It is too much to ask +you to talk while we are walking up that hill, and I don't want you to +leave out any details, however unimportant they may appear to you." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +They had reached a place where a wide horseshoe of beach ran down to the +loch. For more than a week there had been no rain to speak of. The season +as a whole had been dry, and the water was very low; tufts of grass +dotted the shore; brambles and young alders were springing up bravely, +determined to make the most of their time. At the back stretched a +meadow, part of which had been cut for hay; the rest of it was so full of +weeds and wild flowers, ragweed, burdock and the red stalks of sorrel, +that it had been left untouched, and filled the foreground with colour. +The grass had gone to seed and turned a rich reddish purple; beneath it +grew wild geraniums whose leaves were already scarlet. Bluebells and +scabious made a haze of mauve, and everywhere the warm, sandy stalks of +the dried grasses shone yellow through the patch. + +They sat down at the edge of the beach and leant back against the +overhanging turf. Opposite to them the little town of Crianan clung to +the steep rocks below Ben Ghusy, the houses looking as if they stood +piled one on top of another in a rough pyramid; and the whole surmounted +by the high walls and tower of the Roman Catholic monastery which +dominated the scene, and always seemed to Juliet to wear a look of stern +defiance, as if it were offering a challenge to that other fortress that +frowned back at it. She could imagine the monks in the old days, standing +on its parapet and daring the Lords of Inverashiel to do their worst. Far +away down the loch lay the hills, scarce more deeply grey than the water; +beyond them more distant tops melted into the sky. The grey ripples +lapped gently on jagged shingle, and a persistent housefly buzzed loudly +round their heads; at that hour there were as yet few midges, and it was +very peaceful, very solitary, very desolate. + +"I don't know," said Juliet, going on with her story where she had left +off, "which was more angry, Lord Ashiel or Sir David. After the first few +minutes, in which they both said things I am sure they regretted +afterwards, neither of them would speak to the other, and it was a very +uncomfortable evening for every one. The next day was better. Colonel +Spicer and Sir George left by the morning train, both going on to shoot +in other parts of Scotland. Mrs. Clutsam went away too; she had some one +coming to stay with her at her own house near by. Both the young men went +stalking on different parts of the forest, and Lord Ashiel and I, with +the two other girls, spent the morning on the loch trolling for salmon; +but we didn't get a rise. + +"In the afternoon I walked up the river with Julia Romaninov; we talked +about our schooldays. She had been at school in Germany, and I in +Switzerland. After a while she got tired and went home, but I went on by +myself, for I had a lot of things to think of, and was glad to be alone. +I came at last to a great pool among the rocks, where the river comes +down in a fall from far above in a cloud of spray and foam. I stood on a +stone at the water's edge and watched the trout rising in the pool. The +river was low and the water very clear. Standing on the rocks above it, +it seemed as if I could see every pebble at the bottom, except where they +were hidden in the ripples which spread away from beneath the fall. The +pool is like the bottom of a well; high rocks rear themselves round it to +a great height; they are veiled in a greenness of fern and moss, and near +the top many trees have found a roothold in the crevices and bend forward +towards each other over the water, as divers poise themselves before +leaping down. Through a narrow opening opposite the fall the river makes +its way onward. As I stood there a stone must have come down from the +heights above. I did not see it, and the noise of the waterfall deadened +any sound of its descent, but suddenly I felt a heavy blow between the +shoulders, and I must have tumbled forward into the pool below. + +"The next thing I remember was looking up into the anxious friendly face +of Andrew Campbell, one of the ghillies at Inverashiel. It seemed to be +hanging above me in the sky, which was the only other thing I could see, +and I wondered vaguely why I saw it upside down. My head was aching +cruelly and I couldn't imagine what was the matter, though I was too weak +and faint to care. To cut my adventure short, Andrew had come to a pool +lower down the river just as I floated into it on top of the current; he +had fished me out, and was now restoring me to life again. I was got back +to the house, how I hardly know, put to bed, and actually wept over by +Lord Ashiel. By the evening I had so far recovered that I was able to +come down to dinner, though I should not have done so if it had not been +for the anxiety of my host, as my head still felt as if it was going to +split. I received many congratulations on my escape, and Lord Ashiel, +when he spoke of it, was so much moved that every one was quite +embarrassed, and I myself was touched beyond expression at the affection +he did not attempt to conceal. He was very silent after that, but in +spite of him dinner that night was a merry meal. Every one was in the +best of spirits, or else assumed them for the time being. We all joked +and laughed over my adventure, and Mr. McConachan said I bore a charmed +life, since I had escaped being killed by his careless shot, and now the +river refused to drown me. It was not till the servants had left the +room, and we were preparing to do the same, that Lord Ashiel spoke again. + +"Lady Ruth had got up, and was moving towards the door, and the other +girls and I were following her, when he called her back. 'Will you wait a +minute, Ruth,' he said. 'I have something to tell you and my young +friends here.' He smiled round at all of us, including Sir David, to whom +he hadn't spoken since the affair of the dog. 'I have some good news +which I want you to share with me.' He took me by the hand and drew me +forward. 'I want,' said he, 'to introduce you all to a young lady whom +you do not know. This is Juliet McConachan, my dear and only daughter.' + +"I was not really so surprised as he expected. His behaviour to me had +made me suspicious, and during the last few days especially I had allowed +myself to nourish a hope that we were related. But I was glad. I can't +tell you how glad and thankful. Every one else was tremendously +surprised. They all clustered round us with questions and exclamations, +but Lord Ashiel would say no more just then, and only smiled and beamed, +and nodded mysteriously. 'I am not going to answer any questions till I +have had a talk with Juliet,' he said. 'This is as much news to her as it +is to any of you, and it is only fair that she should be the first to +hear the story. For I won't deny that there is a story. Come to me +presently, my child,' he went on, addressing himself to me. 'Come to the +library in half an hour's time. You will find me there, and I will tell +you all about it.' + +"I went to the drawing-room, my aching head almost forgotten. I was, of +course, intensely excited; indeed I think I scarcely took in any of the +kind things that Lady Ruth and the others said to me that evening; at all +events I have hardly any idea what they were, and none at all as to what +I answered. My one overmastering desire was to be alone; to have time to +think; to realize all that the news meant to me; and after a quarter of +an hour had passed I made some excuse, and left the room. The nearest way +to my bedroom was by a back stair, and to reach it I had to pass through +a passage leading to the gun-room. The door of that room was ajar, and as +I went by Sir David Southern came out. + +"'What have you been doing in there at this time of night?' I asked; and +oh, Mr. Gimblet, I was so foolish as to repeat this to the Glasgow +detective when he questioned me. To think that my careless words have led +them to believe Sir David capable of such a crime! But I had no idea of +the meaning they would attach to it. You will understand presently how it +was. 'I went to clean my rifle,' he answered, shutting the door behind +him. 'I always see to that myself. And where are you off to so fast, +Cousin Juliet? That is what you are to me, it appears.' And so we +talked: about me, and our newly discovered relationship. I need not +repeat all that, need I? And, besides, I do not remember everything we +said," added Juliet, flushing. + +"After a little while, though, I told him how badly my head ached, and he +was very sympathetic about it. 'You ought not to have come down to +dinner,' he said, 'the dining-room gets so hot and stuffy; it is a low +room, and Uncle Douglas never will have the window open, even on a lovely +night like this.' There is a door at the foot of the stairs, opposite the +gun-room, and as he spoke he drew back the bolt. 'Come out into the +garden for a few minutes,' he said, holding the door open for me to pass, +'a little fresh air will do you more good than anything.' + +"The night was warm, I suppose, for Scotland, but cool enough to seem +wonderfully fresh and invigorating after the enclosed air within the +house. It was very dark, and the sky was overcast, though just above us a +star or two was shining, very large and clear. Otherwise I could hardly +distinguish anything at all, except the line, about fifty yards away, +where the lawn came to an end, and the ground dipped abruptly down +towards the loch, so that the level edge of the grass showed up against +the less opaque darkness of the sky, like a black velvet border to a +piece of black silk. + +"We stood there a little while, till I remembered I must go to the +library. My head was already much better when I turned back into the +house; Sir David didn't follow me; he seemed to be staring through the +gloom in front of him. 'I am going in,' I said. 'What are you looking +at?' 'I thought I saw something move over there on the skyline,' he +replied; 'do you see anything?' I looked, but could make out nothing. +'Well,' he said, 'if you are going in, I think I'll just go over and see +if there's anyone about; you might leave the door open, will you?' + +"And so I left him, and made my way to the library. As I passed through +the billiard-room, Mr. McConachan, who was knocking the balls about, +asked me if I had seen his cousin, and I told him Sir David was outside +on the lawn by the gun-room door. + +"Lord Ashiel--my father--was waiting for me, and he came to meet me and +kissed me tenderly. We were both very much agitated: I was still feeling +the effects of my escape from drowning, and he, poor dear, was weak and +ill. In short, neither of us was in a fit state to meet the situation +calmly; and, if my tears flowed, they were not the only ones that were +shed. For a few moments we cried like babies, in each other's arms, and +then I pulled myself together, for I knew how bad it was for his health +to get into this nervous state. Mr. Gimblet, I needn't tell you all the +conversation that followed between us. He told me that you know the whole +story, that you are the one person in the world in whom he had confided; +so it is unnecessary for me to repeat what he said of his marriage to my +mother, of her death, and of his resolve never willingly to look upon me, +the baby who had taken her from him. He told me also of the years that +had intervened between that day when he had shuffled off his +responsibilities on to Mrs. Meredith, and the day, not long ago, when he +at last decided to hunt out his daughter. + +"He told me of his fears that she should prove to be none other than +Julia Romaninov, and of how, in desperation, he had applied to you for +help, and of how you had discovered my existence. + +"He said he had never really doubted from the moment he first set eyes on +me that I was Juliana's child. But he dared not hint such a thing to me +till he was certain, and anxious though he was to see a likeness between +me and her, or himself, he had not been able to tell himself, truthfully, +that he could really see one, until that day. It was when I was brought +home that afternoon, so white and faint, so changed by my pallor from +what he chose to describe as my usual gay brilliance, that the +resemblance suddenly showed itself. He hardly knew that it was I; it +might have been Juliana that they were carrying. He said there could be +no doubt that I was her daughter; that he for one, required no further +proof; though we should probably get it now it was no longer wanted. Sir +Arthur Byrne might be able to suggest some way of tracing things. Not +that it mattered, for he could not in any case leave me his title, and, +on the other hand, he had full control of his money, which would be mine +before very long. + +"I cried out at that, that he must not say so; that it was not money I +wanted, but a father, affection, friendship. He repeated that all the +same I should have it in course of time. That it was all settled already. +Even before he was certain that I was his own child, he liked me well +enough to make up his mind about that. He asked me if I remembered that +he had stayed at home the other day while the rest of us were on the +hill? He said he had made his will that day, and I was the principal +legatee, though he had not alluded to me in it by my own name. But he +worded it carefully, so that that should make no difference; and though +he believed it was quite clear as it was, he would make it over again, +as soon as he could obtain legal proof of my birth. + +"I supposed I murmured some sort of thanks for his care of my future, and +he went on again, saying that he only wished the title could come to me +too, when he died; but that it would go to Mark, since the little boy his +second wife had given him was dead, and I was a girl. + +"He said he was afraid that Mark might be a little disappointed, for, if +he hadn't found me, Mark and David would have shared his fortune between +them; but they would soon get over it, for they were good lads, +especially Mark; and David would have plenty of money through this very +satisfactory marriage of his. I couldn't help interrupting that money +wasn't everything. I am telling you all these trivial things, Mr. +Gimblet, because you said I was to try and remember everything, however +unimportant." + +"Yes," said Gimblet, "that is what I want. Pray go on." + +"He only smiled when I said that," Juliet resumed, "and said that +different opinions were held on that subject by different people. Then he +went on talking about my future life, and said again how glad he would +always be that he had consulted you, and how grateful he was for what you +had done for him, and that if any trouble cropped up, I was to be sure +and send for you at once. He looked to you to protect my interests, and, +if necessary, to avenge his death. + +"I couldn't think what he meant, and said so; but he only smiled again +and said he hoped there would be no need for it. He said he had some +papers he must send to you to take care of, some papers that were rather +dangerous to their owner, he was afraid, though at the same time they +were a safeguard to him. But he shouldn't like me to have anything to do +with them, or the boys either, and he must get them away from Inverashiel +as soon as he could. In the meantime they were in a safe place where no +one would find them, and he would write to you that night and tell you +how to look for them, just on the chance that something should happen +before he could send them off. His will was with them, too, for the +present, but he would send that up to Findlay & Ince. He wouldn't tell me +where the papers were; he didn't want me to have anything to do with +these tiresome things. + +"He said all this with hesitation; with long pauses between the +sentences. It seemed to me that he would have liked to tell me more, and +I didn't know what to say. Indeed, he seemed to be talking rather to +himself than to me, and I am not sure if he heard me when I said that if +he had any anxiety I should like to share it, if it were possible. +Presently he seemed to take a sudden resolution. He said that there was +no reason, at all events, why he should not explain to me how to find the +papers. He had written directions in cipher once before and given you the +key, but you had lost it, and might do so again. It would be just as well +that I should know about it too, in any case. He had had to think out a +new method, and at present it was known to no one except himself, which +was perhaps not very wise. However, he would send it to you that night, +and would explain it to me at once. But first I must promise him, very +faithfully, never to mention it to anyone, whatever happened, not to let +anyone, except you, ever guess that there was such a thing in existence. + +"I promised solemnly; still he hardly seemed satisfied, and looked at me +very searchingly, while he said he wondered if I were old enough to +understand the importance of this, and if I realized that I was promising +not to tell my nearest or dearest; not my adopted father, Sir Arthur +Byrne, nor my lover, if I had one. That it was a matter of life and +death, that his life was in danger then, and that I would inherit the +risk unless I did as he said. + +"Rather indignant, though completely mystified, I promised again. He +seemed satisfied, and said he would write the whole thing down for me. He +moved from the hearth, where we had been sitting, to the writing-table, +which stands in the middle of the room, in front of the window. He sat +down at it, and I stood a little behind him, looking on as he took a +sheet of notepaper and turned over the pens in the tray in search of a +pencil. The room was very hot; the tufts of peat smouldering in the +grate, and the two lamps, combined with the fumes of Lord Ashiel's cigar +to render the atmosphere oppressive to a person with a violent headache. +I glanced longingly towards the window. It was not entirely hidden by the +heavy curtains which were drawn across it, for they did not quite meet in +the middle, and I could see perfectly well that the window was shut. For +a moment I hesitated, torn between the desire for fresh air and the fear +that my father might feel too cold. He was terribly chilly. I decided to +ask him, and turned to him again as he took up the pencil and examined +the point critically. + +"'Would you mind,' I was beginning; but at that instant a loud report +sounded just outside the window. Lord Ashiel fell forward on to the table +with a low cry, his hand clasped to his ribs. 'Oh, what is it?' I cried, +bending over him; 'you are hurt; you are shot! Oh, what shall I do!' He +was making a great effort to speak, I could see that plainly enough; but +no words would come, and he seemed to be choking. At last he managed to +get out a few words. 'Gimblet,' he gasped, 'the clock--eleven--steps--' +and then with a groan his hand dropped from his side, his head rolled +back upon the table, and a silence followed, more horrible to me than +anything that had gone before. + +"I saw now that his shirt was already soaked with blood; and, as in +terror I called again upon his name, the dreadful truth was borne in upon +me, and I knew that he was dead." + +Juliet's voice failed her; she spoke the last few words in a quavering +whisper, and if Gimblet had looked at her at that moment he would have +beheld a countenance drawn and distorted by horror. + +But he was very much occupied, and did not look up. With a notebook open +on his knee, he was busily writing down what she had said. + +"You are sure of the words?" he asked, as his pencil sped across the +page. "'Gimblet--the clock--eleven--step,' is that it?" + +His matter-of-fact voice soothed and reassured her. This little +grey-haired man, sitting at her side, was somehow a very comfortable +companion to one whose nerves were badly overwrought. Juliet pulled +herself together. + +"Steps," she corrected, and her voice sounded almost natural again. +"Not step." + +"Do you suppose," asked the detective, "that he meant the English word, +steps, or the Russian, steppes?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet, surprised. "I never thought of it. But, Mr. +Gimblet, I have not told anyone but you that he spoke after he was hit. I +thought perhaps that he might have wished those last words of his to be +kept private." + +"Quite right," said Gimblet approvingly. "He did right to trust your +discretion. And now, please, go on," he added, putting down his pencil; +"what happened next?" + +And Juliet answered him in a tone as calm as his own: + +"I think I must have fainted." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +"The next thing I remember, was finding myself lying on the floor, and, +when I tried to get up, seeing everything in the room swinging about me +like the swinging boats at a fair. I don't know how long I had been +unconscious, but when, at last, I managed to stand up, and clinging, +faint and giddy, to the back of a chair, looked again at the motionless +figure that sprawled across the writing-table, there was a great pool of +blood on the polished oak of the floor beneath it, which grew slowly +broader, as drop after drop dripped down to swell it With a great effort +I conquered my faintness, and staggered out of the room and down the +long passage. + +"In the billiard-room Mr. McConachan was still practising his game. He +must have been making a break, for I remember hearing him speak, as I +opened the door. 'Twenty-seven,' he said aloud. My voice wouldn't come, +and I stood holding on to the doorpost, while he, with his back to me, +went on potting the red. + +"'That you, Miss Byrne?' he said, without looking round. Then, as I +didn't answer, he glanced up and saw by my face, I suppose, that +something was very wrong. He came quickly to me, his cue in his hand. +'What's the matter?' he said. 'Do you feel ill?' 'Lord Ashiel is dead,' I +said; 'in the library. Some one shot him. Didn't you hear?' 'Dead?' he +cried; 'Uncle Douglas shot! Do you know what you're saying! I heard a +shot, it is true, five minutes ago, but surely that was the keeper +shooting an owl or something.' + +"I shook my head. 'He is dead,' I repeated dully. He looked at me, still +incredulous, and then darted forward and caught me by the arm. 'Here, sit +down,' he said, and half pushed, half led me to a chair. I saw him run to +the bell and tug violently at the rope. Then I believe I fainted again. + +"I think that is all there is to tell you, Mr. Gimblet. You know already +that the murderer got clear away, and the next morning footmarks were +found outside the window which proved to have been made by Sir David +Southern. I was so idiotic, when I was questioned, as to mention having +spoken to him outside the gun-room door, and to repeat, incidentally, +that he had said he had been cleaning his rifle. I never dreamt that +anyone could be so mad as to suspect him. But they looked at the rifle, +and found that it was dirty, so that it must have been discharged again +since I saw him. And it appears he did not join in the search for the +murderer, and was not seen until it was all over. And so they arrested +him and took him away. No amount of evidence could ever make me believe +for a moment that he had a hand in this dreadful thing, but oh, Mr. +Gimblet, I see only too well how black it looks against him. What shall I +do if you, too, now that I have told you everything, think he did it? You +don't, do you?" + +"My dear young lady," said the detective. "I really can't give you an +opinion at present. There are a score of points I must investigate, a +dozen other people besides yourself whom I must question, before I can +form any kind of conclusion. I hope that Sir David Southern may prove to +be a much wronged man. But beyond that I can't go, just at present; and I +shouldn't build too much on my help if I were you. I'm not infallible; +far from it. And I certainly can't prove him innocent if he is guilty." + +He stood up, shaking the sand out of his clothes. + +"Let us go on, up to the castle," he said. + +The gates were near at hand; in silence they breasted the steep incline +of the drive, which wound and zigzagged up between high banks covered +with rhododendron and bracken, and grown over with trees. After a quarter +of a mile these gave place to an abrupt, grass covered slope, whose top +had been smoothed and levelled by the hand of man, and from which on the +far side rose the castle of Inverashiel, its stout and ancient framework +disguised and masked by the modern addition to the building which faced +the approach; a mass of gabled and turreted stonework in the worst style +of nineteenth century architecture which in Scotland often took on a +shape and semblance even more fantastically repulsive than it assumed in +the south. The great tower that formed the principal remaining portion of +the old building could just be discerned over the top of the flaring +façade, but the nature of the site was such that most of the ancient +fortress was invisible from that part of the grounds. Juliet stopped at +the turn of the road. + +"I will leave you here," she said, "you will not want me, I suppose? +After you have finished, will you come to Lady Ruth Worsfold's house, and +tell me what you think? It is just past the station turning; you will +easily find your way, though the house is hidden by the trees. Your +luggage will be there already, as Lady Ruth is going to put you up." + +Mr. Mark McConachan, or rather Lord Ashiel, as he had now become, was in +the act of ending a solitary meal, when Gimblet was announced. He went +to meet the detective, forcing to his trouble-lined face a smile of +welcome that lit up the large melancholy eyes with an expression few +people could resist. + +"I thought it was another of those newspaper fellows, but, thank +goodness, I believe they're all gone now," he said. "I am exceedingly +glad to see you, Mr. Gimblet. I should myself have asked you to come to +our aid, but I found that Miss Byrne had been before me. I suppose you +have seen her?" + +"Yes," said Gimblet. "She met me at the station. I'm afraid I'm rather +late on the scene. I hear that the Glasgow police have come and gone, +taking with them the author of the crime." + +"It is a dreadful business altogether," returned young Ashiel. "I don't +know which part of it is the worst. There's my uncle dead, shot down like +a rat by some cold-blooded scoundrel; and now my cousin David, poor chap, +in jail, and under charge of murder. It seems impossible to believe it of +him, and yet, what is one to believe? One can only suppose that he must +have been off his head if he did it. But have you had lunch, Mr. Gimblet? +Sit down and have something to eat first of all; you can ask me any +questions you wish while you are eating." + +And he insisted on Gimblet's doing as he suggested. + +"The household is naturally a bit disorganized," he said when the +servants had left the room and the detective was busy with some cold +grouse. "I had a cold lunch myself to save trouble; would you rather +have something hot? I expect that a chop or something could be produced, +if you are cold after your journey." + +Gimblet assured him that he could like nothing better than what he +already had. + +"You have had Macross up here, haven't you?" he asked. "It is really +disappointing to find the whole thing over before I arrive. I am afraid +there is nothing left for me to do." + +Mark looked at him quickly. Was it possible he accepted Macross's verdict +without inquiring further himself? + +"We are hoping you will undo what has been done," he said. "I look to you +to get my cousin out of prison. Surely there must be some other +explanation than that he did it. I simply won't believe it." + +"If there is any other explanation," said Gimblet, "I will try and +find it; but the affair looks bad against Sir David Southern from what +I can hear." + +"Why should he have shot through the window?" said Ashiel. "They were +both in the same house. Why should my cousin go into the garden, when +he had nothing to do but to open the library door and shoot, if he +wanted to?" + +"Oh," said Gimblet, "ordinary caution would suggest the garden. He did +not know perhaps, whether his uncle would be alone; and as a matter of +fact, he was not, was he?" + +"No, Miss Byrne was with him. By Jove," said Mark, bending forward to +light a cigarette, "I shall never forget the fright it gave me when I +saw her face. She looked as if--oh, she looked perfectly ghastly! I was +in the billiard-room when she came in, as white as a sheet, and stood +there without speaking for a minute, while I imagined every sort of +catastrophe except the real one. And all the time I kept thinking it +would turn out to be nothing really, as likely as not; women will look +hideously frightened and upset if they cut their finger, or see a rat, +or think they hear burglars. One never knows. And then at last she got +out a few words, 'Lord Ashiel has been shot,' or something of the sort, +and fainted." + +"What did you do?" asked Gimblet. + +"Well, I had to see to her, you know. I couldn't very well leave her in +that state, could I? I hung on to the bell for all I was worth, and the +butler and footmen came running. I told them to look after the young lady +and to call her maid, and then I ran off to the library, followed by old +Blanston, the butler. You know what we found there. My poor old uncle, +dead as a door nail; a hole in the window where the bullet came in, and +the floor around him all covered with blood. Ugh!" Mark shuddered, "it +was horrid. We only stayed to make sure he was dead, and then we left him +as we had found him and rushed back to rouse the rest of the household, +and to start a chase after the murderer. Of course the first person I +looked for was David Southern, but he wasn't to be found, so I and three +menservants ran out at once with sticks and lanterns, and hunted all over +the grounds without seeing or hearing anything or anyone. The hall boy +had been sent down to fetch up the stablemen and chauffeur, and to rout +out some of the gardeners and anyone else he could find, so that we were +a decently large party, and I don't think there was an inch of ground we +didn't go over, of all that lies within the policies. The murderer, +however, had plenty of time to get right away, and as it was hopeless to +scour the whole country side in that darkness--for it was as black as +your hat--I decided, after an hour of groping about in the shrubberies, +that we must leave off and wait for daylight." + +"What time was it when you abandoned the hunt?" asked Gimblet. + +"It was past midnight. I didn't see that any good could be done by +sitting up all night. On the contrary, I thought it important that we +should get some sleep while we could, so as to be fresher for the chase +when daylight came. At this time of the year it gets light fairly early, +so I sent every one to bed, except two of the ghillies, whom I told to +row across the loch to Crianan and fetch the doctor and police, which I +suppose I ought to have thought of before. Then I went to bed myself." + +"And when did Sir David Southern turn up?" asked Gimblet. + +"Oh, he appeared soon after we started to beat the policies. I hadn't +time then to ask him where he'd been, and he was as keen on catching +the murderer as anyone. Of course it never occurred to me to +cross-question him." + +"Naturally. Please go on with your narrative." + +"Well, we slept, to speak for myself, for three or four hours, and then +James and Andrew came back with the people I had sent for. And now, Mr. +Gimblet, I come to a strange thing, a thing I've been careful not to +mention to anyone but you, though I'm afraid it's bound to come out at +the trial. When Blanston and I went out of the library, we locked the +door behind us, but when I opened it again, to let in the doctor and the +police, my uncle's body had been moved." + +"Moved? How?" Gimblet repeated after him. + +"Oh, not far, but it had been touched by some one, I am ready to swear, +though I said nothing about it at the time. When we first found him, he +was lying forward on the table with one arm under his head and the other +hanging beside him. When I went in for the second time he was sitting +sideways in his chair with his head and arm in quite a different place. +Instead of being in the middle, on the blotting-pad, they were further to +the right, on the bare polished wood." + +Gimblet looked at him keenly. + +"You are perfectly certain of this?" he said. + +"Absolutely. Besides, you can ask Miss Byrne and Blanston. They both saw +him as he was at first. And the police and Dr. Duncan can tell you what +his position was when they went into the room. I said nothing about it +to any of them, because I thought at once that it must be David who had +been there." + +"Why did you think that?" + +"Because he knew where the key was. I took it out of my pocket when we +were alone in the smoking-room before going up to bed, and asked him what +I should do with it. + +"'Oh, put it in a drawer,' he said, pointing to the writing-table, and I +put it there, as he suggested. Of course I see now that some one else may +have found the key in that drawer, but at first it did look as if David +must, for some reason, have taken it, and been in the library, after I'd +gone to bed." + +"It seems very unlikely that anyone else would have hit on the place +where you had put it," said Gimblet reflectively. "And if they had +done so, would they have recognized the key? Is the library key +peculiar in any way?" + +"It is rather an uncommon pattern," said Mark. "It is very old and +strong. I think anyone who knew the key would have recognized it +all right." + +"It is hardly likely that anyone would have found it if they had had to +search all through the house for it in the middle of the night," +commented Gimblet. "Is there no other way of getting into the library?" + +"No, there is only one door." + +"How about the window? It was broken; could not anyone have put in a +hand, or raised the sash?" + +"I don't think anyone could have got in. It isn't a sash window. There +are stone mullions and small leaded casements in the old part of the +castle where the library is, and I doubt if anyone larger than a child +could squeeze through; in fact, a child couldn't; there are iron bars +down the middle, which make it too narrow." + +"H'm," murmured Gimblet. "I should like to have a look at them. And what +was the doctor's report?" + +"He said that the injuries to the heart were such that death must have +been instantaneous, or practically so." + +"Did anything else come out?" + +"Nothing, except the evidence against poor old David, I'm sorry to say." + +"You haven't told me that yet," said Gimblet. "Go on from when the police +arrived on the scene." + +"As soon as it was daylight we started off again on our search. But right +at the beginning of it, they came upon the footsteps." + +"Ah, where were they?" + +"The flower-bed outside the library window showed them plainly; the +ground beyond that was mossy, and there were no other marks. We divided +into two parties, one going west down the side of the loch, and the other +north and east over the hills. Till ten o'clock or later we beat the +country, searching behind every rock, and going through the woods and +bracken in a close line. But we saw no sign of a stranger, and came back +at last, dead beat, for food and a rest. When we got back we found that +the policeman left in charge had been nosing about, and whiling away his +time by collecting the boots of every one in the house and fitting them +to the footprints on the flower-bed. As bad luck would have it, David's +shooting-boots exactly fitted the marks." + +"His shooting-boots?" said Gimblet. "He wouldn't be wearing +shooting-boots after dinner." + +"That's what he said himself, and there seems no imaginable reason why he +should have worn them, unless--" Mark hesitated for a moment, and then +went on in a tone perhaps rather too positive to carry complete +conviction to a critical ear. "Of course not. He can't have put them on +after dinner. The idea is ludicrous. He must have made those footmarks +earlier in the day." + +"Is that what he himself says?" asked the detective. He had finished +eating, and was leaning back in his chair with that air of far-off +contemplation which those best acquainted with him knew was +habitually his expression when his attention and interest were more +than usually roused. + +"No," admitted Mark regretfully. "He doesn't. He sticks to it that he'd +never been near the flower-bed, with boots, or without them; it's my +belief his memory has been affected by the shock of all this. And he +would insist on talking to the police, though they warned him that +what he said might be used against him. I did all I could to stop him, +but it was no good. It really looked as if he was doing his best to +incriminate himself." + +"How was that? What else did he say?" + +"You see," said Mark, "when the Crianan man had got hold of the boots +that matched the footprints, he was no end excited by his success. +Pleased to death with himself, he was. And he was as keen as mustard on +following up his rotten clue. The next thing he did was to want a look at +David's guns. Of course we didn't make any objection to that, though if +I'd known--well, it's no earthly thinking of that now. So off we all +marched in procession to the gun-room, and it didn't take long to see +that the only one of the whole lot there that hadn't been cleaned since +it was last fired was the Mannlicher David had shot his stag with the day +before. The silly ass of a constable took it up and squinted through it +as solemn as a judge, and then he just handed it to my cousin, and 'What +have you to say to this, Sir David?' says he. Infernal cheek! 'I shot it +off yesterday, and haven't had time to clean it since,' said David, and +I, for one, could have sworn he was speaking the truth. Why not, indeed? +There was nothing improbable about it. But the dickens of the thing was +that while we were all out of the house, and he had the place to himself, +the policeman had routed out poor Miss Byrne and badgered her for an +account of all that had happened the evening before; and she, without a +thought of doing harm to any of us--I'm convinced she's as sorry for it +now as I am myself--had mentioned incidentally that David had told her, +when she saw him half an hour before the murder, that he'd just been +cleaning his rifle. She'd told me so, too, as far as that goes, when she +passed through the billiard-room on her way to the library. I happened to +ask her if she knew what he was up to." + +"Decidedly awkward for Sir David," said Gimblet meditatively, "but +after all, some one else might have fired off the rifle after he had +cleaned it." + +Mark shook his head gloomily. + +"There are difficulties about that," he said. "It happens that David is +very fussy about his guns, always cleans them himself, you know, and +won't let another soul touch 'em. And though he keeps them in the gunroom +like the rest of us, he's got his own particular glass-fronted cupboard +which he keeps the key of himself. My uncle and I share one between us, +and generally leave the key in the lock, so that the keeper can get at +the guns, which we never bother to clean ourselves. Not so David. Ever +since we were boys he's had his own private cupboard, and no one but +himself has ever been allowed to open it. We always spent our holidays +here, and my uncle let us behave as if we were at our own house. David +took out the key for the sergeant to use, and when he was asked if anyone +else could have got at the rifle, he replied that it was impossible, as +the key had been in his pocket the whole time, except for an hour or two +while he was asleep, when it had lain on the table by his bedside." + +"Did he deny having told Miss Byrne he had cleaned the rifle?" +asked Gimblet. + +"Yes; he said he hadn't told her so. It was all very unpleasant, and the +police sergeant was as suspicious as you like, by this time. 'What were +you doing when the alarm was given?' he asked David. 'I was out in the +grounds,' said David, and that was rather a facer for the rest of us, I +must confess. He went on to say that he had fancied he saw some one +hanging about at the edge of the lawn--which is the opposite side of the +house from the library--and gone out to make sure, but he had found no +one, though he hunted about for nearly an hour, till he saw lights +approaching and fell in with our party of searchers. He said that it was +then he first heard what had happened." + +Gimblet nodded his head thoughtfully. + +"Miss Byrne said she saw him start off to look for some one," he +remarked. + +"Yes," said Mark eagerly, "there's no doubt he saw a man lurking in the +darkness. And it was dark too," he added, "never saw such a black night +in my life; I must say it beats me how he could have seen anyone. But his +eyes were always rather more useful than mine," he concluded hastily. + +"The police, however, seem to have thought it improbable," said Gimblet, +"since they arrested your cousin for the murder." + +"Stupid brutes!" said Mark viciously. "No, they would have it it was +impossible he should have seen anyone. And what clinched it was the +unlucky fact that David and my uncle had had a violent row the day +before. My uncle shot David's dog; I must say I think it was uncalled +for, and poor David was absurdly fond of the beast. He felt very savage +about it, and all the ghillies heard what he said to Uncle Douglas." + +"What did he say?" + +"Oh, a lot of rot. He lost his temper. The idiotic thing he said was, +that he'd a good mind to shoot _him_ and see how he liked it. Pure +temper, you know. I don't believe David would hurt a hair of his head." + +"Well, it was decidedly an indiscreet remark." + +"It was imbecile. And of course the police heard all about it from the +servants and keepers, and it fitted in only too well with all the rest +about the footmarks and his absence from the house at the time, and the +rifle and everything. By the by, the bullet was a soft-nosed one which +fitted David's rifle; but for that matter it fitted mine--which is a .355 +Mannlicher like his--or a dozen others on the loch side. It's a very +common weapon on a Scotch forest. But taking one thing with another there +was a good deal of evidence against him, so they made up their minds he +had done it; and Macross, when he arrived from Glasgow with his +myrmidons, agreed with the local idiots, and took him off. I'm certain +there must be a mistake somewhere, but so far it seems jolly hard to hit +on it. I hope you'll put your finger on the spot." + +"I hope so," said Gimblet, but his voice was full of doubt. "It's hard to +see how anyone else could have used his rifle after he cleaned it, since +he admits that he locked it up and kept the key on him. Yes," he murmured +to himself, "the rifle speaks very eloquently. What other interpretation +can be put on these facts? I'm sure you must see that yourself," he went +on, glancing up at Mark, who was feeling in his pocket for another +cigarette. "Sir David told Miss Byrne he had cleaned his rifle; he told +the police he then locked it up and that the key had been in his +possession ever since. But the rifle was found to have been fired again +since he had cleaned it. His only explanation was to contradict what he +had previously said to Miss Byrne. Do those facts appear to you to leave +any possible loophole of doubt as to his guilt?" + +Mark struck a match and lighted his cigarette before he answered. When +at length he did so his reluctance was very plain, and his voice full +of regret. + +"Poor old chap," he said. "I'm afraid he must have done it in some fit of +madness. As you say, there is no other imaginable alternative." + +Gimblet nodded philosophically. + +"Is there anything else?" he asked. + +Mark hesitated. + +"There's a letter which arrived for Uncle Douglas this morning," he said, +"which you may think worth looking at. I daresay it's of no importance, +but it struck me as rather odd." + +He took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to the detective, who +opened it and read as follows: + +"Si Milord ne rend pas ce qu'il ne doit pas garder, le coup de foudre lui +tombera sur la tête." + +There was no signature, nor any date. + +Gimblet turned the sheet over thoughtfully. The message was typewritten +on a piece of thin foreign paper; the postmark on the envelope was Paris, +and the stamps French. He folded it again and replaced it in its cover. + +"It seems the usual threatening anonymous communication," he observed. +"Have you any idea who it's from?" + +Mark shook his head. + +"None," he confessed. "It looks, though, as if my uncle had in his +possession something belonging to the writer, doesn't it? Don't you +think it might have something to do with the murder?" + +"I don't see why the murderer should send a threatening letter after the +deed was done," said the detective. "Still less could he have posted it +in Paris on the very day the crime was committed." + +"No, that's true enough," Mark admitted reluctantly. + +"Has any suspicious looking person been seen about this place, this +summer? Any foreigner, for instance?" asked the detective. + +"No; no," Mark replied. "I should have heard of it for certain if there +had been. It would have been an event, down here." + +Gimblet dropped the subject. + +"If I may," he said. "I will keep this. It may lead to something," +he added, tucking the letter away in an inside pocket. "That's all, +I suppose?" + +Mark was silent for a minute. He seemed to be thinking. + +"That's all I know about the murder," he said at last, "but there are +plenty of complications apart from that. I suppose Miss Byrne told you +that my uncle electrified us all by saying she was his daughter, only an +hour or so before he died?" + +Gimblet nodded. "Yes," he said, "she told me." + +"It makes it very awkward for me," said Mark. "I want to do the right +thing, but I'm hanged if I know what I ought to do. You see, my uncle +used to say that he'd left his property between me and David; he never +made any secret of it, and as a matter of fact I've had a communication +from his London lawyers, telling me they have a very old will, made when +I was a small boy, long before the birth of his son, and that everything +is left to me. There were reasons why he may have thought David would be +provided for--he was engaged to marry a very rich American, but she +dropped him yesterday like a red-hot coal as soon as it began to look as +if he'd be suspected. She's gone now, I'm glad to say. As a matter of +fact, if David can only be cleared of this horrible charge, I shall +insist on dividing my inheritance with him. That is, if I can't get Miss +Byrne to take it, or Miss McConachan, as I ought to call her now." + +"Lord Ashiel could leave his money where he liked, couldn't he?" +Gimblet inquired. + +"Yes, he could, but he would naturally have left it to his daughter, if +she really was his daughter. In fact, Miss McConachan says he told her he +had done so, but I haven't come across the will so far, though I had a +good hunt through his papers this morning; Blanston and the housekeeper, +who say they witnessed some document which may have been a will, have no +idea where it is. Of course, my uncle may have intended to say that he +was going to make one, and Miss McConachan may have misunderstood him, +but she seems to think he had some secret hiding-place of his own, and I +hope to goodness you'll be able to hit on it, if he had. I can't stand +the idea of profiting by a lost will, and I'd far rather simply hand over +the money than bother to look for this missing paper." + +"Oh, I daresay it will turn up," said Gimblet. "You haven't had much time +to find it yet." + +"My uncle was a very methodical man. Everything is in its place. You wait +till you see his papers! If he made a will he must have hidden it +somewhere where we shall never dream of looking for it. It's just waste +of time hunting about, and I shall have another try at persuading my new +cousin to let me make over everything to her." + +"It is not every young man in your position who would part so readily +with a large fortune," observed Gimblet. + +But Mark awkwardly deprecated his approving words. + +"Oh," he said, "I'm sure any decent chap would do the same in my place." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +"And now," said Gimblet, "may I visit the scene of the crime?" + +Mark took him first to his uncle's bedroom; a room austere in its +simplicity, with bare white-washed walls and uncarpeted floor. No one +could have hidden a sheet of paper in that room, thought the detective, +as he gazed round it, after he had looked, with a feeling akin to +guilt, on the features of the dead peer. He had not known how to +protect this man from the dreadful fate that had struck him down from a +direction so utterly unexpected, and he held himself, in a way, +responsible for his death. + +Then young Ashiel led him away, down a wide corridor into the +billiard-room, and so into another passage, at the end of which a door of +stout and time-darkened oak gave access to the library. It creaked +noisily on its hinges, as he pushed it open and ushered Gimblet in. They +stepped into a square room, comfortably furnished, with deep arm-chairs, +and a large chippendale writing-table which stood at right angles to the +bow window, so placed that anyone writing at it should have the light +upon his left. It was rather a dark room, the walls being lined with +books from floor to ceiling, except at two points: opposite the window an +alcove, panelled in ancient oak, appeared in the wall; and above the +fireplace, opposite the door, the wall was panelled in the same manner +and covered by an oil painting, representing Lord Ashiel's grandmother. +The polished boards were unconcealed by any rug or carpet, and reflected +a little of the light from the window. An ominous discoloration near the +writing-table showed plainly upon them. + +In the glass of the mullioned casement was the small round hole made by +the fatal bullet. + +Gimblet glanced at the bureau on which the writing materials were set out +in perfect order, and could not conceal his annoyance. + +"Everything has been moved, I see," he said. "Why couldn't they leave it +as it was for a few hours longer?" + +"Nothing was touched till after the police had gone," said Mark. "I +confess I did not think it necessary to leave things alone once they were +out of the house. Not only have the housemaids been at work in here, but +I spent most of the morning here myself, going through the papers in that +bureau. Will it matter much?" He spoke with evident dismay. + +"Never mind," said Gimblet, "I suppose Macross's people photographed +everything, and I can get copies from them, I have no doubt. By the by, +what did Sir David Southern say about having been in the room while you +were in bed? Did he admit it; and did he say why he moved the body?" + +"He said he'd not been near the place," replied Mark, looking more +perplexed and worried than ever. "I can't understand it at all," he +added. "Why should he deny it to me?" + +Gimblet opened a drawer in the bureau. Papers filled it, tied together in +bundles and neatly docketed. They seemed to be receipted bills. He +glanced at the pigeon-holes, and opened one or two more drawers. +Everywhere the most fastidious order reigned. + +"You have been through all these?" he asked. + +"Yes, but there is a cupboard full in the smoking-room. I thought of +looking into those this afternoon." + +"It would be a good plan," Gimblet agreed. "Don't let me keep you," And +as the young man still lingered, "I prefer," he confessed, "to do my +work alone. If you will kindly get me a shooting-boot of Sir David +Southern's, I shall do better if I am left to myself." + +"If that is really the case," said Mark, "I have no choice but to leave +you. I admit I should have liked to see your methods, but if I should be +a hindrance--" + +Gimblet did not deny it, and Mark departed to fetch the boots. + +"This is not the identical pair," he said when he returned. "The police +took those; but these come from the same maker and are nearly the same, +so Blanston tells me." + +"Ah, yes, Blanston," said Gimblet. "I must see him presently. Thanks +very much." + +Left alone, Gimblet examined the window, opening one of the small-paned +casements, and measuring the space between the mullions and the central +bars of iron. Satisfied as to the impossibility of any ordinary-sized +person passing through those apertures, he took one more look round, and +then with a swift movement drew each of the heavy curtains across the +bay. They did not quite meet in the middle, as Juliet had observed. Then +he made his way out into the garden through the door just outside, at the +end of the passage which led from the billiard-room to the library. + +The library was at the far end of the oldest portion of Inverashiel +Castle. To Gimblet, examining it from the outside, it looked as if the +room had been hewn out of the solid walls of the ancient fortress; for +beyond the mullioned, seventeenth-century window, the wall turned sharply +to the left and was continued with scarce a loophole in the stupendous +blocks of its surface for a distance of fifty yards or so, where it was +succeeded by the lower, less heavy battlements of the old out-works. In +the angle formed by the turn and immediately opposite the window of the +library, a long flower-bed, planted with standard and other rose trees, +with violas growing sparsely in between, stretched its blossoming length, +and continued up to the actual stones of the library wall. At the farther +end of it, a thick hedge of holly bordered on the roses at right angles +to the end of the battlements; while the lawn on his left was spangled +with geometrically shaped beds showing elaborate arrangements of +heliotrope, ageratum, calceolarias, and other bedding-out plants. + +Gimblet walked slowly along the lawn at the edge of the bed, his eyes on +the black peaty mould, where it was visible among the flowers. About +twenty yards from the hedge, he stopped with a muffled exclamation. The +bed in front of him was covered with footprints of all shapes and sizes; +but plainly distinguishable among the rest were the neat nail-encrusted +marks which matched the boot he held in his hand. He put it down on the +ground and carefully made an imprint with it in the soil, beside the +existing footmarks. It was easy to single out its fellows. + +"Two extra nails," murmured Gimblet to himself, "but otherwise, the same. +Probably made on the same last." + +Stepping cautiously in the places where his predecessors had walked, he +followed the tracks that had betrayed Sir David Southern. They were +numerous and distinct; he counted fourteen of each separate foot. First +Sir David would seem to have walked straight across the bed, then +returned and taken up his position near the middle. He was not contented +with that, it seemed, for he had walked backwards five or six paces and +then moved sideways again till he was exactly opposite the opening +between the curtains. Here the ground was trampled down as if he had +several times shifted slightly from one place to another. Whether or not +he was exactly in line with the writing-table Gimblet could not see, as +its position was hidden in the obscurity behind the drawn curtains. It +would want a light there to prove that, thought Gimblet; still there was +no reason to doubt that it was so. There were four or five more +footmarks leading back to the lawn, and over these Gimblet stooped with +particular interest. + +With a tape measure, which he took from his pocket, he measured the +distances between the prints, entering the various figures in his +notebook, beside carefully drawn diagrams. Then he picked his way to the +edge of the lawn, and stood a moment considering. + +Apparently he was not satisfied, for presently he retraced his steps +delicately to the middle of the bed, till he was once more just behind +the place where the earth was trodden down. After pausing there an +instant, he turned once more, and ran quickly back to the grass, without +this time troubling himself to step in the chain of footprints used +previously by the police. But he had not even yet finished; and was soon +crouching down again, with the tape measure in one hand and the notebook +in the other, poring over the evidence preserved so carefully by the +impartial soil. + +At last he got up, put his measure back in his pocket, and walked slowly +towards the hedge. He had nearly reached it when something at his feet +arrested his attention. He bent over it curiously. + +Near the edge of the grass and parallel to it, there was an indentation a +little over an inch wide and about the same depth. It extended in a +straight line for perhaps nine inches, and what could have caused it was +a puzzle to Gimblet. The turf was unbroken, and it looked as if an +oblong, narrow, heavy object had rested there, sinking a little into the +ground so as to leave this strange mark. Gimblet rubbed his forehead +pensively, as he looked at it. + +Suddenly as his introspective gaze wandered unconsciously over the ground +before him, his attention was arrested by a second mark of the same +perplexing shape, which he could see behind a rose-bush, more than +half-way across the bed. Stepping as near the hedge as he could, the +detective proceeded to examine this duplicate of the riddle. It seemed +absolutely the same, though deeper, as was natural on the soft mould, and +he found, by measuring, that it lay exactly parallel to the other. What +could it be, he asked himself. A moment later, still another and yet +stranger impression caught his eye. It was about the same width, but not +more than half as long, and rounded off at each end to an oval. It was +situated about a foot from the deep indentation and rather farther from +the holly hedge. A tall standard rose-tree, covered with blossoms of the +white Frau Karl Drouski rose, grew near it, interposing between it and +the house. + +Gimblet measured it with painstaking precision; then with the help of +his measurements, he made a life-size diagram of it on the page of his +notebook, and studied it with an expression of annoyance. He had seldom +felt more at a loss to explain anything. At length he turned and went +back towards the grass. + +"What a track I leave," he thought to himself, looking down ruefully at +his own footprints. "What I want is--" He stopped abruptly as a sudden +idea struck him; then a look of relief stole slowly over his face, and he +permitted himself a gratified smile, "To be sure!" he said, and seemed to +dismiss the subject from his mind. + +Indeed, he turned his back upon the rose-bed, and strolled away by the +side of the hedge, which was of tall and wide proportions, providing a +spiky, impenetrable defence against observation, from the outside, of the +rectangular enclosed garden. Half-way along it he came upon an arched +opening. Passing through this, he found himself in an outer thicket, and +immediately upon his right hand beheld a small shed, which stood back, +modest and unassuming, in a leafy undergrowth of rhododendrons. + +Gimblet pushed open the door and stepped inside. + +The place was evidently a tool-house, used by the gardeners for storing +their implements. Rakes, spades, forks and hoes leant against the walls; +a shelf held a quantity of odds and ends: trowels, seedsmen's catalogues, +a pot of paint, a bundle of wooden labels, the rose of a watering-can, +and a dozen other small objects. On the floor were piled boxes and empty +cases; flowerpots stood beside a bag which bore the name of a patent +fertilizer; a small hand mowing-machine blocked the entrance; and a +plank, too long to lie flat on the ground, had been propped slantwise +between the floor and the roof. Bunches of bass hung from nails above the +shelf; and on the wall opposite, a coloured advertisement, representing +phloxes of so fierce an intensity of hue that nature was put to the +blush, had been tacked by some admirer of Art. + +Five minutes later, when Gimblet emerged once more into the open, he +carried in one hand a garden rake. With this he proceeded to thread his +way through the shrubbery, keeping close to the line of the holly hedge. +When he thought he had gone about fifty yards, he lay down and peered +under the leaves. The hedge was rather thinner at the bottom; and, by +carefully pushing aside a little of the glossy, prickly foliage, he was +able to make out that the end of the rose-bed he had lately examined was +separated from him now only by the dividing barrier of the hedge. With +the rake still in his hand, he drew himself slowly forward, gingerly +introducing his head and arms under the holly, till he was prevented +from going farther by the close growing trunks of the trees that formed +the hedge. + +It took some manoeuvring to insert the head of the rake through the +fence, but he did it at last, and found a gap which his arms would pass +also. Between, and under the lowest fringe of leaves on the farther side, +he could see the track of his own footsteps, where he had walked on the +bed. They were all, by an effort, within reach of his rake, and he +stealthily effaced them. He could not see whether the garden was still +untenanted, or whether the peculiar phenomenon of a rake moving without +human assistance was being observed by anyone from the castle. He +fervently hoped that it was not: he did not wish the attention of anyone +else to be called to the puzzling marks that had mystified him; and, as +the only window which looked into the garden was that of the library, he +thought there was a good chance that there was no one in sight. + +Cautiously and almost silently he worked his way back, and replaced the +rake in the tool-house where he had found it. Then he took the small +oil-can used for oiling the mowing-machine, and concealing it under his +coat made towards the house. The little garden was still lonely and +deserted as he walked quickly over the lawn and in at the passage door. + +The library was empty as he had left it, and his first act was to draw +back the curtains to their former positions on either side of the window. +Then he went to the door, and, with a glance to right and left along the +passage, and an ear bent for any approaching footstep, he quickly and +effectually oiled the hinges and lock, so that the door closed +noiselessly and without protest. When he was quite satisfied on this +point, he shut it gently, and took back the oil-can to the shed. + +"Now," said he to himself, "for the gun-room." + +He took up Sir David Southern's shooting-boots, which he had left in the +tool-house during his last proceedings, and made his way through the +billiard-room into the main corridor beyond. On his right, through an +open door, he peeped into a large room, obviously the drawing-room, and +saw that it looked on to the front of the house. The room wore a forlorn +aspect; no one, apparently, had taken the trouble to put it straight +since the night of the tragedy. The blinds had been drawn down, but the +furniture seemed awry as if chairs had been pushed back hastily, a little +card table still displayed a game of patience half set out, and even the +dead flowers in the glasses had not been thrown away. + +The air was stuffy in the extreme, and Gimblet, with a disgusted sniff, +pulled aside one of the blinds and threw open the window. But all at once +a thought seemed to strike him. For a moment he stood irresolute, then he +slowly closed the casement again, but without latching it, and after +frowning at it thoughtfully walked away. He went back into the hall. + +Opposite, across the corridor, rose the main staircase, wide and +imposing; on each side of it a smaller passage led away at right angles +to the entrance, the right-hand one giving access to rooms in the new +front of the castle, one of which he knew to be the dining-room. He +listened for a minute outside a door beyond it, and heard the sound of +rustling papers; the smell of tobacco came to him through the key-hole. +It was plain that here was the smoking-room, and that the new Lord Ashiel +was at that moment engaged in it, and deep in his uncle's papers. + +The little detective, as he had said, preferred to work without an +audience when he could, so he left Mark to his search, and stole silently +away down the passage. + +He passed two more rooms, and paused at the last door, opposite the foot +of a winding stair. + +This, from what Juliet had said, must be the door of the gun-room. + +The door opened readily at his touch, and he stepped inside and shut it +behind him. + +It was a small bare room, with one large deal table in the middle of it. +Gun-cases and wooden cartridge-boxes were ranged on the linoleum-covered +floor, and three glass-fronted gun-cabinets were hung upon the walls. +One, the smallest of these, was of a different wood from the others, and +bore in black letters the initials D. S. + +Three or four guns were ranged in it: two 12-bore shot-guns, an air-gun, +and a little 20-bore. Another rack was empty; no doubt it had held the +Mannlicher rifle, which the police had carried away to use as evidence +in their case for the prosecution. The door was locked and there was no +sign of a key. + +Gimblet turned to the other cupboards. + +There were more weapons here, and a few minutes' examination showed him +that, as Mark had said, he and his uncle were less particular as to where +their guns were kept, for the first two that the detective glanced at +bore Lord Ashiel's initial, and the next was an old air-gun with M. McC. +engraved on a silver disk at the stock. + +Side by side were the rifles used by the uncle and nephew for stalking, +Gimblet knew from Mark that the Mannlicher was his, while Lord Ashiel had +apparently used a Mauser or Ross sporting rifle, as there was one of each +in the case. + +Gimblet lifted down the Mannlicher and laid it on the table. This, then, +was the kind of weapon with which the deed had been done. It was a .355 +Mannlicher Schonauer sporting weapon of the latest pattern. He opened it +and examined the mechanism, which he soon grasped. He squinted down the +glistening tunnel of the barrel and even closely scrutinized the +workmanship of the exterior, repressing a shudder at the meretricious +design of the chasing on the lock, and passing his fingers caressingly +over the wood of which the stock was made. It shone with a rich bloom, as +smooth and even as polished marble, except at the butt end which was +criss-crossed roughly to prevent slipping; but wood in any shape has a +homely friendly feeling, as different from any the polisher can impart to +a piece of cold stone as the forests, where it once stood, upright and +lofty, are from the inhospitable rocks on the peaks above them. + +These unpractical reflections flitted through the detective's mind, +together with others of a less fantastic nature, as he put the rifle back +in the rack he had taken it from. He closed the glass doors of the +cabinet, leaving them unlocked, as he had found them. Then, going back to +the table, he took an empty pill-box from his pocket, and with the utmost +care swept into it a trace of dust from off the bare deal top. + +There was barely enough to darken the cardboard at the bottom of the box, +but he looked at it, before putting on the lid, with an expression of +some satisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Gimblet left the gun-room quietly; and after some more exploring +discovered the way to the back premises. + +In the pantry he found Blanston, whom he invited to follow him to the +deserted billiard-room for a few minutes' conversation. + +"You know," he told him, "Miss Byrne and your new young master want me to +examine the evidence that Sir David Southern is the author of this +terrible crime." + +"I'm sure I wish, sir," said the man, "that you could prove he never did +it. A very nice young gentleman, sir, Sir David has always been; it seems +dreadful to think of him lifting his hand against his uncle. I'm sure it +ought to be a warning to us all to keep our tempers, but of course it was +very hard on Sir David to have his dog shot before his very eyes." + +"No doubt," agreed Gimblet. "You weren't there when it happened, I +suppose?" + +"No, sir, but I heard about it from one of the keepers, and Sir David was +very much put out about it, so he says; and I quite believe it, seeing +how fond he was of the poor creature. Always had it to sleep in his room, +he did, sir, though it was rather an offensive animal to the nose, to my +way of thinking. But these young gentlemen what are always smoking +cigarettes get to lose their sense of smell, I've often noticed that, +sir. Oh, I understand he was very angry indeed, sir, but I should hardly +have thought he would go so far as to take his uncle's life. Knowing him, +as I have done, from a child, I may say I shouldn't hardly have thought +it of him, sir." + +"Life is full of surprises," said Gimblet, "and you never know for +certain what anyone may not do; but, tell me, you were the first on the +scene of the crime, weren't you?" + +"Hardly that, sir. Miss Byrne was with his lordship at the time." + +"Yes, yes, of course. But you saw him shortly after the shot was fired. +Did you hear the report?" + +"No, sir. The hall is quite away from the tower, and so is the +housekeeper's room; and the walls are very thick. We were just finishing +supper, which was very late that night on account of the gentlemen coming +in late from stalking, and one thing and another. I'm rather surprised +none of us heard it, sir." + +"I daresay there was a good deal of noise going on," said Gimblet. "How +many of you are there in the servants' quarters?" + +"Counting the chauffeur and the hall boy," replied Blanston, "and +including the visitors' maids, who are gone now, we were sixteen servants +in the house that night. I am afraid there may have been rather a noise +going on." + +"Were you all there?" asked Gimblet. "Had no one left since the beginning +of supper?" + +"No one had gone out of the room or the hall since supper commenced," +Blanston assured him. "We were all very glad of that afterwards, as it +prevented any of us being suspected, sir. Though in point of fact I was +saying only last night, when the second footman dropped the pudding just +as he was bringing it into the room, that we could really have spared him +better than what we could Sir David, sir; but of course it's natural for +the household to be feeling a bit jumpy till after the funeral to-morrow. +When that's over I shan't listen to no more excuses." + +"Quite so," said Gimblet. "What was the first intimation you got that +there was anything wrong?" + +"About half-past ten the billiard-room bell rang very loud, in the +passage outside the hall. Before it had stopped, and while I was calling +to George, the first footman, to hurry up and answer it, there came +another peal, and then another and another. I thought something must be +wrong, so I ran out of the room and upstairs with the others. When we got +to the billiard-room there was Miss Byrne fainting on a chair, and Mr. +McConachan beside her, looking very upset like. 'There's been an accident +or worse,' he says, 'to his lordship. Come on, Blanston, and let's see +what it is. And you others look after Miss Byrne. Fetch her maid; fetch +Lady Ruth.' + +"And with that he makes for the library door, at a run, with me +following him close, though I was a bit puffed with coming upstairs so +fast. Just as we came to the library door, he turns and says to me, with +his hand on the knob, 'From what Miss Byrne says, Blanston, I'm afraid +it's murder.' And before I could more than gasp he had the door open, +and we were in the room. + +"There was his poor lordship lying forward on the table, his head on the +blotting-book, and one arm hanging down beside him. Quite dead, he was, +sir, and his blood all on the floor, poor gentleman. We left him as we +found him, and went back. + +"Mr. McConachan locked the door and put the key in his pocket. 'No one +must go in there till the police come,' he says. 'But in the meantime we +must get what men we can together, and see if the brute who did this +isn't lurking about the grounds. It will be something if we can catch +him, and avenge my poor uncle,' he said." + +Gimblet considered for a moment. + +"Are you sure you remember the position you found the body in?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," replied Blanston, in some surprise. "It was like I told you. +His head on the blotting-book and one arm with it. He must have fallen +straight forward on to the table." + +"Thank you," said Gimblet. "One more question. I hear you witnessed a +will for Lord Ashiel a day or two before he died?" + +"Yes, sir--I and Mrs. Parsons, the housekeeper." + +"How did you know it was the will?" + +"We didn't exactly know it was, sir, but afterwards, when it came out his +lordship had told Miss Byrne he had made one, we thought it must have +been that." + +"I see," said Gimblet. "Thank you. That is all I wanted to know." + +He sent for the other servants and interrogated them one by one, but +without adding anything fresh to what he had already learned. + +He went thoughtfully away and sought out Mark in the smoking-room, where +he found him surrounded by packets of papers, which lay in heaps upon +the floor and tables. + +"There's a frightful lot to look through," said the young man +despondently, looking up from his self-imposed task. "I haven't found +anything interesting yet. How did you get on? Do you think those +footmarks can possibly be anyone's but David's?" + +"The boot you gave me fits them too well to admit of doubt, I'm afraid," +said Gimblet. And as the other made a half-gesture of despair, "You must +give me more time," he said; "I may find some clue in the course of the +next two or three days. By the by, is your cousin a short man?" + +"No," said Mark, "he's about my height. Why do you ask?" + +"Oh, I had an idea," said Gimblet evasively. "But if he's as tall as you, +I had better begin again. I think I'll take a little stroll through the +grounds," he added, "and then back to Lady Ruth Worsfold's house, and get +a bath and a change." + +"I shall see you at dinner-time," said Ashiel. "I am dining at the +cottage. Au revoir till then." + +Gimblet went out of the front door, and proceeded to make a tour of the +Castle buildings. + +Turning to his left round the front of the house, he passed the gun-room +door, and went down a short path, which led to the level of the servants' +quarters. These were built on the slope of the hill, so that what was a +basement in the front of the house was level with the ground at the back. + +Here more remains of the old fortress were to be seen. The various +outbuildings that straggled down towards the loch had all once formed +part of old block-houses or outlying towers; and, as the path descended +farther down the hill, the detective found himself walking round the +precipitous rock from which the single great tower still standing--the +one in whose massive shell the room had been cut which was now the +library--dominated the scene from every side. + +It had been built at the very edge of the hill which here fell almost +sheer to the level of the lake, and the old McConachans had no doubt +chosen their site for its unscalable position. Indeed, the place must +always have been impregnable from that side, the rock offering no +foothold to a goat till within twenty feet of the base of the tower, +where the surface was broken and uneven, and had, in places, been built +up with solid masonry. In the crevices up there, seeds had germinated and +grown to tall plants and bushes. Ivy hung about the face of the +escarpment like a scarf, and in one place a good-sized tree, a beech, had +established itself firmly upon a ledge and leant forward over the path +below in a manner that turned the beholder giddy. Its great roots had not +been able to grow to their full girth within the cracks and crannies of +the rocks; some of them had pushed their way in through the gaps in the +masonry, and the others curled and twisted in mid air, twining and +interlacing in an outspread canopy. + +Beyond the tower ran the battlemented wall of the enclosed garden, its +foundations draped in the thrifty vegetation of the rocks. + +At Gimblet's feet, on the other side of the path, brawled a burn, +hurrying on its way to the loch, and he followed its course slowly down +to the place where it mingled with the deep waters. A little beyond he +saw the point of a fir-covered peninsula, and wandered on under the +trees till he came to the end of it; there he sat down to think over what +he had heard and seen that afternoon. The wild beauty of the place +soothed and delighted him, and he felt lazily in his pocket for a +chocolate. + +Below him, grey lichen-grown rocks jutted into the loch in tumbled, +broken masses, piled heedlessly one on the other, as if some troll of +the mountain had begun in play to make a causeway for himself. The great +stones, so old, so fiercely strong, stood knee-deep in the waters, over +which they seemed to brood with so patient and indifferent a dignity +that human life and affairs took on an aspect very small and +inconsiderable. They were like monstrous philosophers, he thought, +oblivious alike to time and to the cold waves that lapped their feet; +their heads crowned here and there with pines as with scattered locks, +the little tufts of heather and fern and grasses, that clung to them +wherever root hold could be found, all the clothing they wore against +the bitter blasts of the winds. + +While he sat there a breeze got up and ruffled the loch; the ripples +danced and sparkled like a cinematograph, and waves threw themselves +among the rocks with loud gurglings and splashings. The air was suddenly +full of the noise and hurry of the waters. He got up and went to the end +of the peninsula. In spite of the dancing light upon the surface and the +merry sounds of the ripples, the water, he could see, was deep and dark; +a little way out a pale smooth stone rose a few feet above the level of +it, its top draped in a velvet green shawl of moss. A fat sea-gull sat +there; nor did it move when he appeared. + +A little bay ran in between the rocks, its shore spread with grey sand, +smooth and trackless. At least so Gimblet imagined it at first, as his +eye roved casually over the beach. Then suddenly, with a smothered +ejaculation, he leaped down from his perch of observation, and made his +way to the margin of the water. + +There, scored in the sand, was a deep furrow, reaching to within a foot +of the waves, where it stopped as if it had been wiped out from a slate +with a damp sponge. Gimblet had no doubt what it was. A boat had been +beached here, and that lately. A glance at the stones surrounding the +bay showed him that the water was falling, for in quiet little pools, +within the outer breakwater of rocks, a damp line showed on the granite +a full quarter of an inch above the water. By a rapid calculation of the +time it would take for that watermark to dry, the detective was able to +form some idea of the rate at which the loch was falling, and he thought +he could judge the slope of the beach sufficiently well to calculate +about how long it was since the track in the sand had reached to the +brink of the waves. + +It was a rough guess, but, if he were right, then a boat had landed in +that bay some forty-two hours ago. But there were other traces, besides, +the tracks of him who had brought the boat ashore. From where Gimblet +stood, a double row of footprints, going and returning, showed plainly +between the water and the stones to which the sand quickly gave place. +They were the tracks left by large boots with singularly pointed toes, +and with no nails on the soles. Emphatically not boots such as any of the +men of those parts would be likely to wear. + +Gimblet bent over the sand. + +When he rose once more and stood erect upon the beach, he saw under the +shadow of the pines the figure of a tall thin man with a lean face and +straggling reddish moustache, who was watching him with an eye plainly +suspicious. He was dressed in knickerbockers and coat of rough tweed of a +large checked pattern, and carried a spy-glass slung over his back. The +detective went to him at once. + +"Are you employed on the Inverashiel estate?" he asked civilly. + +"I'm Duncan McGregor, his lordship's head keeper," was the reply, given +in the cold tones of one accosted by an intruder. + +Gimblet hastened to introduce himself and to explain his presence, and +McGregor condescended to thaw. + +"I should be very much obliged," said Gimblet, "if you would take a look +at the sands where you saw me standing. I'd like to know your opinion on +some marks that are there." + +The keeper strode down to the beach. + +"A boat will have been here," he pronounced after a rapid scrutiny. + +"Lately?" asked Gimblet. + +He saw the man's eyes go, as his own had done, to the watermarks on +the rocks. + +"No sae vary long ago," he said, "I'm thinkin' it will hae been the nicht +before lairst that she came here." + +"Ah," said Gimblet, "I'm glad you agree with me. That's what I thought +myself. Do boats often come ashore on this beach?" + +McGregor considered. + +"It's the first time I ever h'ard of onybody doin' the like," he said at +last. "The landin' stage is awa' at the ether side o' the p'int; it's aye +there they land. There's nae a man in a' this glen would come in here, +unless it whar for some special reason. It's no' a vary grand place tae +bring a boat in. The rocks are narrow at the mouth." + +"Do strangers often come to these parts?" + +"There are no strangers come to Inverashiel," said the keeper. "The +high road runs at the ether side o' the loch through Crianan, and the +tramps and motors go over it, but never hae I known one o' that kind on +our shore." + +Gimblet observed with some amusement that the man spoke of motors and +tramps as of varieties of the same breed; but all he said was: + +"Could you make inquiries as to whether anyone on the estate happens to +have brought a boat in here during the last week? I should be glad if you +could do so without mentioning my name, or letting anyone think it is +important." + +He felt he could trust the discretion of this taciturn Highlander. + +"I'll that, sir," was the reply. + +And Gimblet could see, in spite of the man's unchanging countenance, that +he was pleased at this mark of confidence in him. + +"Could you take me to the head gardener's house?" he asked, abruptly +changing the subject. "I should rather like a talk with him." + +McGregor conducted him down the road to the lodge. + +"It's in here whar Angus Malcolm lives," he remarked laconically. "Good +evening, sir." + +He turned and strode away over the hillside, and Gimblet knocked at the +door. It was opened by the gardener, and he had a glimpse through the +open doorway of a family at tea. + +"I'm sorry I disturbed you," he said. "I will look in again another day. +Lord Ashiel referred me to you for the name of a rose I asked about, but +it will do to-morrow." + +The gardener assured him that his tea could wait, but Gimblet would not +detain him. + +"I shall no doubt see you up in the garden to-morrow," he said. "The roses +in that long bed outside the library are very fine, and I am interested +in their culture. I wonder they do so well in this peaty soil." + +"Na fie, man, they get on splendid here," said Malcolm. He liked nothing +better than to talk about his flowers, but, being a Highlander, resented +any suggestion that his native earth was not the best possible for no +matter what purpose. "We just gie them a good dressin' doon wie manure +ilka year." + +"Do you use any patent fertilizer?" Gimblet asked. + +"Oh, just a clean oot wie a grain o' basic slag noo and than," said the +gardener. "And I just gie them some lime ilka time I think the ground is +needin' it." + +"Well, the result is very good," said the detective. "By the way, have +you been working on that bed lately? I picked this up among the violas. +Did you happen to drop it?" + +He took from his pocket a small paper notebook, and held it out +interrogatively. + +"Na, I hinna dropped it," answered the gardener. "It micht have been some +one fay the castel. I hinna been near that rose-bed for fower or five +days. And it couldna hae been lying there afore the rain." + +Indeed, the little book showed no trace of damp on its green cover. + +"I asked in the castle, but no one claimed it," said Gimblet. "Perhaps +it belongs to one of your men?" + +"There's been naebody been workin' there this week. So it disna belong +tae neen o' the gair'ners, if it's there ye fund't," repeated Malcolm. +"There's been nae work deen on that bed for the last fortnicht or mair. I +was thinkin' o' sendin' a loon ower't wie a hoe in a day or twa. Ye see, +wie the murrder it's been impossible tae get ony work done; apairt fay +that we've been busy wie the fruit and ether things." + +"I didn't notice any weeds," said Gimblet. "But I won't keep you any +longer, now. Perhaps to-morrow afternoon I may see you in the garden, and +if so I shall get you to tell me the name of that rose." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Juliet failed to extract much comfort from Gimblet when, about six +o'clock, she met him coming up through the garden to Inverashiel Cottage. + +All the afternoon she had possessed her soul in what patience she could +muster, which was not a great deal. Still, by dint of repeating to +herself that she must give the detective time to study the facts, and +opportunity to verify them at his leisure and in his own way, she had +managed to get through the long inactive hours, and to force herself not +to dwell upon the vision of David in prison, which, do as she would, was +ever before her eyes. + +Events had followed one another so fast during the last few days that her +mind was dulled, as by a succession of rapid blows, and she was hardly +conscious of anything beyond the unbearable pain caused by the cumulative +shocks she had undergone. + +First had come the heart-rending knowledge that David loved her; +heart-rending only because he was bound to Miss Tarver, for, if it had +not been for that paralyzing obstacle, she knew she would have gladly +followed him to the ends of the earth. Indeed, in spite of everything, +his betrayal of his feelings towards her had filled her with a joy that +almost counterbalanced the hopeless misery to which, on her more +completely realizing the situation, it gradually gave place. + +Then had come the swift physical disaster from which she had barely +escaped with her life. She had not had time to recover from this when, a +few hours later, she had been called upon to face the emotions and +agitations aroused by the news of her relationship to Lord Ashiel, and +the history of her birth and parentage. In the midst of this excitement +had come the sudden tragedy of which she had been a witness, and which +had overwhelmed and prostrated her with grief and horror. Next day she +had been obliged to undergo the ordeal of being cross-questioned by the +police, and close upon that had come the final catastrophe of David's +arrest and departure. This last shock so overshadowed all the rest of her +misfortunes that it stimulated her to action, and she had herself run +most of the way to the post office two miles down the road, to send the +telegram of appeal to Gimblet. + +Once that was dispatched, hope revived a little in her heart. + +Lord Ashiel, her father, had told her to send for the detective if she +were in trouble. Well, she was in trouble; she had sent for him; he would +come, and somehow he would find a way of putting straight this hideous +nightmare in which she found herself living. How happy, in comparison, +had been her life in Belgium, in the household of her adopted father and +stepmother! She could have found it in her heart to wish she had never +left their roof; but that would have involved never making the +acquaintance of David, a possibility she could not contemplate. + +Even now the remembrance of the rapidity with which Miss Tarver had +packed her traps, renounced her betrothed and all his works, and fled +from the scene of disaster by the first available train, did much to +cheer her in the midst of all her depression. + +It was not, however, until some time after Lady Ruth Worsfold had asked +her to stay with her for the present, and she had removed herself and her +belongings to the cottage, that she realized how impossible it was for +her to make good her position as Lord Ashlers daughter and heir. She had +his word for it, and that was enough for her; but she understood, as soon +as it occurred to her, that more would be required by the law before she +could claim either the name or the inheritance which should be hers. + +In the meantime, though touched by the generosity of the new Lord Ashiel, +who offered to waive his rights in her favour, and indeed suggested other +plans for enabling her to remain at the castle as its owner, she felt +that what he proposed was absolutely impossible, and while she thanked +him, declined firmly to do anything of the sort. + +At the back of her mind was the conviction that the will her father had +spoken of would come to light. It would surely be found, if not by +herself, then by Gimblet. She acceded to Mark's request that she should +join him in looking through his uncle's papers. They went over those in +the library together before she left the house. + +Now that Gimblet had come back from the castle, where he had spent half +the day, he must have good news for her, she felt persuaded. But to all +her questions he would only reply that he had nothing definite to tell +her, and that she must wait till to-morrow or even longer. Indeed, she +thought he seemed anxious to get away from her, and asked at once if he +might see his room. + +"I want a bath more than anything," he said. And then, taking pity on her +distress, "I wouldn't worry myself too much about Sir David's safety if I +were you," he added, looking at her with a very kind, friendly light in +his eyes. But as she exclaimed joyfully and pressed him to be more +explicit, his look changed to one of admonition, and he held a finger to +his lips. "Not a word to a living soul, whoever it may be," he cautioned +her, "and be careful not to show any hope you may be so optimistic as to +feel," he added, smiling, "or you may ruin the whole thing. This is a +very dark and dangerous affair, and the less it is spoken about, even +between friends, the better." + +"Mayn't I even tell Lady Ruth?" she asked. "She is very anxious, I know." + +"Better not," he warned her. "It may be better for Sir David in the +long-run, if his friends think him guilty a few days longer. It will be +wisest if you let it appear that even you can hardly continue to cling +to the idea of his innocence. You can be trusted to act a part where +such great issues are involved, can you not? More may depend on it than +you think." + +"I'll be silent as the grave," she cried. "As the grave," she repeated +more soberly, and turned away, reproaching herself silently, since in her +anxiety for David her sorrow for her father had been a moment forgotten. + +When Gimblet came down again, clean and refreshed, he found no one but +his hostess, Lady Ruth Worsfold. + +Lady Ruth's hair was white, in appearance she was short and squat, and +she had a curiously disconnected habit of conversation, but for all that +she was a person of great discernment, and uncommonly wide awake. She +sided staunchly with Juliet in her belief in David's innocence. + +"Never," she said, "will I credit such a thing of the lad. You may say +what you like, Mr. Gimblet, you can prove till you're black in the +face that he murdered every soul in the house, it won't make any +difference to me." + +"Who do you think did do it, Lady Ruth?" Gimblet asked. + +"What do I know? An escaped lunatic, one of the keepers, the under +housemaid, anyone you like. What does it matter? It wasn't David, even +though his namesake did kill Goliath, and I always disliked the name, +having suffered from a Biblical one myself. I said to his mother when he +was born. 'For goodness' sake give the poor child a name he won't be +expected to live up to. Just fancy how his friends will hate to be known +as Jonathans, let alone thingamy's wife. You're laying up a scandal for +your son,' I told her, and if my words haven't come true it's more thanks +to him than to his parents. A nice pink and white baby he was, poor boy. +There's just one good side to this dreadful affair," she went on without +a pause, "and that is that the young lady with the dollars whom he was to +have married, and hated the sight of, has thrown him over. The first +least little breath of suspicion was enough for her, and the moment he +was downright accused she was off. And he's well rid of her, dollars and +all An Englishman of his birth and looks doesn't need to go to Chicago +for a wife." + +"Was Sir David in need of money?" asked Gimblet. + +"He hasn't got a penny," said Lady Ruth. "Not a red cent, as that +terrible young woman put it. His father left everything to the +moneylenders, so to speak, and David couldn't bear to see his mother +poverty-stricken. He did it entirely for her sake--got engaged, I +mean--but I don't think he'd have been such a self-sacrificing son if +he'd met Miss Juliet Byrne a little earlier in the day." + +"Indeed!" said Gimblet. "I thought Miss Byrne seemed very much worried +about his arrest." + +"Worried? Poor child, she's the ghost of what she was a few days ago. +Half-drowned, too, when it happened, which made it worse for her." + +"She must have had a narrow escape," Gimblet remarked. "What was the name +of the man who pulled her out of the river?" + +"Andy Campbell. He had been stalking with Mark McConachan." + +"Was young Lord Ashiel with him?" + +"No, he was on ahead. He saw Juliet in the distance, just going up to the +waterfall, but he seems to have taken her for Miss Romaninov, which is +odd, because they aren't in the least like one another, one being tall +and the other short, in the first place, and one fair and the other dark +in the second. He can't have looked very carefully. However, he was very +positive about it till they both assured him that Julia Romaninov had +turned and gone home some time before she had reached the top pool. And I +certainly should have in her place. It doesn't amuse me scrambling over +rocks and scratching my legs in bramble bushes. The path Andy came by +goes along high above the water for half a mile. I hate walking on a +height myself. And for most of that distance the river is not in sight. +If he hadn't been thirsty and come down to the water-side for a drink at +a spring near by, he would never have seen Miss Byrne floating down the +stream, and she would have been in the loch pretty soon. It just shows +how much better it is to drink water than whisky." + +"It was lucky he did," said Gimblet. "Does the path pass in sight of the +pool she fell into?" + +"No. The banks are high there, and you can't see down into the pool +unless you go to the very edge of the precipice. I did it once, to look +at the waterfall, and I very nearly joined it. It's a nasty giddy place, +though why one should feel inclined to throw oneself down I can't +imagine; but it seems a natural instinct, and it's certainly easier to go +down than up." + +"It appears almost miraculous that she wasn't drowned," said Gimblet. +"She certainly can have been in no fit state to bear the events that +followed." + +"No, indeed. She has lost everything: father, family and lover at one +blow. You know Lord Ashiel said she was his daughter, and told her he'd +made a will leaving everything to her. For that matter the lawyers say he +didn't--not that I should ever believe anything a lawyer said. They +always mean something you wouldn't expect from their words. They do it, I +believe, to keep in practice for trials, you know, where they have to +make the witnesses say what they don't mean, poor things. And what I +shall have put into my mouth by them, if I'm called as a witness against +poor David, doesn't bear thinking of. But the Lord knows what Ashiel did +with the will, and, as I was saying, it can't be found." + +"So I heard," said Gimblet "You talk of being called as a witness, Lady +Ruth. Do you know anything about the case? Where were you when the shot +was fired?" + +"Oh no," she said, "I shouldn't have anything to tell, but I don't +suppose that will matter. They'll twist and turn my words till I find +myself saying I saw him do it with my own eyes. My poor dear husband, +when I first met him, was an eminent Q.C., as you may know, Mr. Gimblet, +so I have a very good idea what they're like. I refused him point-blank +when he proposed, but he proved to me in three minutes that I'd really +accepted him; and it was the same thing ever after. A wonderfully +brilliant man, though slightly trying at times, especially in church, +where he always snored so unnecessarily loud--or so it seemed to me. I +often think deafness has its compensations, though I'm sure I ought to be +thankful at my age that my hearing is still so acute. However, I didn't +hear the shot the other night, but the castle walls are thick even in +that detestable modern addition, and besides, Julia Romaninov has got +such a tremendously powerful voice,'' + +"Were you talking to her?" + +"Oh dear no! I was playing patience, and she was singing, while Miss +Tarver murdered the accompaniment. We little thought at the time that +some one else was murdering poor Ashiel while we were sitting there in +peace. I must say that girl sings remarkably well, and it was a pity +there was no one who could play for her. Though it wasn't for want of +practice on Miss Tarver's part. The moment we were out of the +dining-room she would sit down at the piano, and they would neither of +them stop till bedtime." + +"Had they both been playing and singing all that evening?" + +"Yes, they hadn't ceased for a moment, and I found it prevented the Demon +from coming out, as I couldn't help counting in time with the music. It +was all right when it was one, two, three, but common time muddled it +dreadfully, though now I come to think of it, Julia was not actually in +the room when we heard the bad news. She'd gone upstairs to look for a +song or something. Of course there's no legal proof that Juliet really is +his child," Lady Ruth continued; "she admits that he was rather vague +about it, fancied a resemblance, in fact. Not that I or anyone else had +any notion he had been married as a young man, but that's a thing he +would be likely to be right about. I must say Mark has behaved extremely +well about it, even quixotically. He wanted her to take his inheritance, +and when she refused--and of course she couldn't decently do otherwise-- +I'm blessed if he didn't ask her to marry him." + +Gimblet looked up with more interest than he had yet shown. + +"Do you mean to say he proposed that, merely as a way out of the +difficulty?" + +"Well, more or less. I don't say he isn't attracted by the pretty face of +her, as much as his cousin was; privately I think he is, but I don't +really know. Anyhow, it certainly would be a very good solution; but it +was tactless of him to suggest it with David at the foot of the gallows, +poor boy." + +"She didn't tell me that," murmured Gimblet. + +At that moment Juliet came into the room, and they talked of other +things. + +"I hear the post is gone," Gimblet said presently. + +"I particularly wanted to catch it. I suppose there is no means of +posting a letter now?" + +The last train had gone south by that time, however, so there was nothing +to be done till the next day. + +He retired again to his room and gave himself up to his correspondence. + +First a long letter to Macross in Glasgow, begging for the loan of prints +of the photographs taken by the police during their visit, together with +any details they might see fit to impart as to their observations and +conclusions. "I have arrived so late on the scene that you have left me +nothing to do," he wrote deceitfully. "But for the interest of the case I +should like to have a look at the photographs." + +He did not expect to get much help from Macross. + +Then he took from his pocket the pill-box in which he had stored the dust +so carefully collected in the gunroom. He wrapped it carefully in paper, +and addressed the small parcel to an expert analyst in Edinburgh. He +wrote one more letter, and then went downstairs again. + +The dressing-bell sounded as he opened his door, and at the foot of the +staircase he met the two ladies on their way to dress. + +"Dinner is at eight, Mr. Gimblet," Lady Ruth told him. + +"I was just coming to find you," Gimblet answered her. "I want to ask if +you would mind my not coming down? I am subject to very bad headaches +after a long journey; and, as I want particularly to be up early +to-morrow, I think the best thing I can do is to go straight to bed and +sleep it off. It is poor sort of behaviour for a detective, I am aware, +but I hope you will forgive it." + +"You must certainly go to bed if you feel inclined to," said Lady Ruth; +"but you will have some dinner in your room, will you not? They shall +bring you up the menu." + +"No, really, thanks, I shall be better without anything. I know how to +treat these heads of mine by now, I assure you, and I won't have anything +to eat till to-morrow morning. The only thing I need is quiet and sleep. +If you will be so very kind as to give orders that I shall not be +disturbed...." + +"Of course, of course," said his hostess, full of concern. "And you must +let me give you an excellent remedy for headaches. It was given me years +ago by dear old Sir Ronald Tompkins, that famous specialist, you know, +who always ordered every one to roll on the floor after meals, and I +invariably keep a bottle by me." + +And she hurried off to fetch it. + +Gimblet accepted it gratefully, and as he passed a hand across his aching +brow said he felt sure it would do him good. + +Once again within his own room, however, the detective's headache seemed +to have miraculously vanished, and he showed himself in no hurry to go to +bed. Instead, having locked the door and drawn down the blind, he sat +down in an arm-chair and gave himself up to reflection. Mentally he +rehearsed the facts of the case as far as they were known to him, and was +obliged to admit that he found several of them very puzzling. + +There were other problems, too, not directly connected with the murder, +of which he could not at present make head or tail. For instance, where +was he to find the documents which he knew it was Lord Ashiel's wish he +should take charge of. He had promised that he would do so, and the +recollection of his failure to guard the first thing the dead peer had +entrusted him with made him the more determined that he would carry out +the remainder of his promise. But how was he to begin his search? He had +so little to go on, and he dared not hint to anyone what he wished to +find. Yet, if he delayed, it was possible that young Ashiel would come +across the papers in his hunt for his uncle's will, and Gimblet felt +there was danger in their falling into the hands of anyone but himself. + +He took out his notebook and studied the dying words of his unfortunate +client. + +"Gimblet--the clock--eleven--steps." Or was it steppes? + +Considering that he had lived in dread of a blow which should descend on +him out of Russia, the last seemed the more likely. + +There was the strange circumstance of the body's being found by the +police in a position differing from that described by those who first saw +it. Young Ashiel, Juliet and the butler all agreed that it had fallen +forward on to the blotting-book in the middle of the table; but Mark had +told him that on his return with the police the attitude had been +changed. Had he been mistaken? Macross's photographs would show. But if +not, and the murdered man had really shifted his position, what did it +prove? That they had been wrong in thinking him dead? The doctor's +evidence was that the wound he had received must have been instantly +fatal, or almost instantly. Then some one must have moved the body, and +who but David knew where the key of the room had been put away? But why +should David have moved him? + +Then there was the letter which had come two days after the murder; the +letter written in French and posted in Paris, but probably not written by +a Frenchman, and so timed as to reach its destination too late. Was it +intentionally delayed, or would Lord Ashiel's death come as an entire +surprise to the writer? It certainly would, if the police were right, and +Sir David Southern guilty of his uncle's death. + +But was he guilty? Gimblet thought not. + +These and other questions occupied the detective's mind so completely +that half an hour passed like a flash, and it was only when the noise of +the dinner-bell broke in upon his meditations that he roused himself and +pulled out his watch. Then he sat upright, and listened. + +His room was above the drawing-room, and he could hear Lady Ruth's clear, +rather high voice mingling with the deep tones of a man's, in a confused, +murmuring duet which after a few moments died away and was followed by +the distant sound of a closing door. + +It was not difficult to deduce from these sounds that Lord Ashiel had +arrived, and that the little party of three had gone in to dinner. + +It was half an hour more before Gimblet rose, and walked quietly over to +the window. He drew the blind cautiously aside and looked out. Already +the days were growing shorter, and the little house, embowered in trees, +and shut in by a tall hill from the western sky, was nearly completely +engulfed in darkness. Below him, on the right, he could just discern the +top of the porch, and beyond it a faint glow of light rose from the +window of the dining-room. + +It did not need a very remarkable degree of activity to clamber from the +window to the porch, and so down to the ground. To Gimblet it was as easy +as going downstairs. In two minutes he was stealing away under the trees +in the direction of Inverashiel Castle. + +"The worst of this Highland air," he said to himself as he walked along, +"is that it makes one so fearfully hungry, even here on the West Coast. I +could have done very nicely with my dinner. But such is life. And it's +lucky I am not entirely without provisions." + +So saying, he took a box of chocolates from his pocket and began to +demolish the contents. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +By the time he reached the castle, the night was dark indeed. He +approached it by the path along the burn, and felt his way cautiously up +the steep zigzags of the hill, and past the servants' quarters, where a +dog barked and gave him an uneasy minute till he found that it was tied +up, and that the noise which issued from a brilliantly lighted +window--which he guessed to be the servants' hall--did not cease or +diminish on account of it. + +There were no other lights to be seen, and he edged his way round to the +front of the house, which loomed very black and mysterious against the +liquid darkness of the moonless sky. A little wind had risen, and the +sound of a million leaves rustling gently on the trees of the woods +around was added to the distant murmur of the burn, so that the night +seemed full of noises, and every bush alive and watching. + +Keeping on the grass, and with every precaution of silence, Gimblet crept +along till he thought he was outside the drawing-room. + +It did not take him long to find the window he had left unlatched that +afternoon, but it was an anxious moment till he made sure that no one had +noticed it and that it was yet unfastened. If a careful housemaid had +discovered it and shut it, he would have to begin housebreaking in +earnest. Luckily it opened easily at his touch, and he lost no time in +climbing in, though it was rather a tight squeeze through the narrow +imitation Gothic mullions, and he was thankful there were no bars as in +the library. + +He had more than once during his career found himself obliged to enter +other people's houses in this unceremonious, not to say burglarious +fashion. But it was always an exciting experience; and his heart beat a +trifle faster than usual as he stood motionless by the window, straining +his ears for the sound of any movement on the part of the household. +Nothing stirred, however, and by the help of an occasional gleam from his +pocket electric torch Gimblet made his way to the door, and through the +deserted house to the distant passage leading to the old tower. Once +inside the library he breathed more freely, and when, after holding his +breath for some minutes, he had made certain that the absolute silence of +the place continued unbroken by any suspicion of noise, he felt safer +still. His first act was to draw the curtains, and to fasten them +together in the middle with a large safety-pin he had brought for the +purpose. Then, secure from observation, he switched on his torch, placed +it on the table with its back to the window, and set about what he had +come to do. + +As he had not failed to observe, earlier in the day, the book-lined walls +of the library were broken, opposite the window, by a panelled alcove +where a small table stood, beyond which, against the wall, was a very +large and tall grandfather's clock of black and gold lacquer, in +imitation of the Chinese designs so popular in the eighteenth century. + +Among Lord Ashiel's last words, "The clock" had been uttered immediately +after the detective's own name. No doubt they formed part of a message he +wished to convey; and, though they might refer to any clock in or out of +the house, it seemed to Gimblet worth while to begin his investigations +with the one nearest at hand, and he turned his attention to it without +loss of time. + +Gimblet was a connoisseur of the antique, and a few minutes' examination +proved to him that this was a genuine old clock, untouched by the +restorer's hand, and in an excellent state of preservation. The works +appeared all right as far as he could make out, but through the narrow +half-moon of glass, so often inserted in the cases of old clocks for the +purpose of displaying the pendulum, that article was not to be seen, and +he found that it was missing from inside the case, as were also the +weights, so that it was impossible to set it going. There was one odd +thing about it, which the detective had already remarked: it was firmly +fixed to the wall by large screws, and he thought that there must be some +opening through the back into a receptacle contrived in the panelling +behind it. The case was so large that he was able to get inside it, and +examine inch by inch the wood of the interior, which was lacquered a +plain black. + +But his most careful tappings and testings could discover no hidden +spring, nor, even by the help of the electric torch--which he passed all +over the smooth surfaces of the walls--could he discern the slightest +join or crack. Could there be a hiding place up among the wheels of the +motionless works? His utmost endeavours could discover none. The clock +was fully eight feet high, but with the help of a stool, which he put +inside on the floor of the case, he was able to explore even the topmost +corners. All to no purpose. + +Presently he abandoned that field of research, replaced the stool whence +he had taken it, and gave his attention to the surrounding walls. He +examined each panel with the most painstaking care, but could find +nothing. There was no sign of secret drawer or cupboard anywhere. + +It was disappointing, and he drew back, baffled for the moment + +"The clock--eleven--steps." + +What was the connection between those broken words? + +If eleven o'clock had anything to do with the answer to the riddle, it +could not refer to this particular clock, which pointed unwaveringly to +thirteen minutes past four. Could it be possible that at eleven there +appeared some change in its countenance? Was it controlled by some +invisible mechanism? Well, if so, he would witness the transformation, +but such a solution did not seem likely. Was there no other meaning +applicable to the words? He would try the last ones and assume that +eleven steps from somewhere, the clock, probably, would bring him to the +hiding-place where the precious papers had been deposited. + +Placing his heel against the bottom of the black-and-gold case, he walked +forward for eleven paces, which brought him right into the bow of the +window. Here he bent down, and, with the torch in one hand, and a small +magnifying lens that he was never without in the other, searched the +floor eagerly for some join in the boards, which should denote the edge +of a trap-door or an opening of some sort. + +He could find none. + +Again and again he tried, till at last he had examined the whole flooring +of the embrasure of the window. + +No other part of the room was wide enough to allow him to take eleven +steps, and he reluctantly came to the conclusion that he must be on the +wrong tack. + +There seemed no more to do but to wait till eleven should strike, in the +faint hope that something would happen then; and Gimblet sat down in one +of the large arm-chairs and prepared for an hour's lonely vigil. He put +his lamp in his pocket and sat in the dark, for he had an uneasy feeling +that Mark might return from the cottage and catch him pursuing his +investigations in a way which might not appeal to the average +householder. True, it seemed unlikely that anyone would come so late to +that side of the castle; but one never knew, and the thought of being +caught at his housebreaking added to the irritation produced by the +failure of his search. + +"The clock--eleven--steppes." What had Lord Ashiel been trying to say? +Why in the world had he put off writing till so late? These and like +questions Gimblet asked himself fretfully, as he waited, curled in a deep +arm-chair among the black shapes of furniture which loomed around him, +indefinite and almost invisible, even to eyes accustomed to the darkness, +as his now were. + +Suddenly he raised his head and listened, holding his breath in strained +attention. He had caught the sound of distant footsteps. + +In an instant he was up and had leapt to the window, where his fingers +fumbled with the safety-pin that held the curtains together. No tell-tale +mark of his presence must be left. + +But where should he hide? The sounds were becoming more distinct every +second; no escape seemed possible. There was no help for it, and he was +bound to be discovered; he must put as good a face on it as he could +contrive. The person approaching might, after all, not come into the +library, but go back again along the passage. It might only be some one +coming to see that the door to the garden was properly bolted. + +These thoughts flashed through the detective's mind so quickly as to +be practically simultaneous, and then almost at the same moment he +realized that the footsteps did not come from the passage at all, but +from under the room he was waiting in. In a flash he had grasped the +full significance of this unexpected fact, and was tiptoeing across +to the door. + +The handle turned noiselessly in his fingers, thanks to the precaution he +had taken of oiling it, and he slipped outside. + +In the dark and empty passage he took to his heels and ran swiftly back +to the drawing-room, nor paused till he was outside on the lawn once +more. There he hung for an instant in the wind; bearings must be taken, +the nearest way to the enclosed garden decided on, any dangerous reefs +that lay on the way steered clear of. Then he was off again on the new +tack. This led him round to the back of the holly hedge, and the arched +opening by the gardeners' tool-shed. + +He turned in under it and sped silently over the turf, till he found +himself outside the door to the old tower. From the library window a +narrow shaft of light was issuing out on to the flower-bed. + +Gimblet took off his coat and threw it on to the bed. He put a foot upon +one sleeve, and, stooping down, spread the other out in front of him as +far as it would go. Then he stepped upon that one and twisted the coat +round under him to repeat the process. In this way he arrived under the +window without leaving any imprint of his boots upon the soft earth. Once +there he raised himself cautiously and peered into the room. + +By the writing-table, and so close to him that he could almost have +touched her if they had not been separated by the glass, stood a +young woman. + +She held a little electric lantern, much like his own, in her left hand, +while with the other she turned over the leaves of a bundle of papers. An +open drawer in the writing-table betrayed whence they had been taken; and +she was so entirely engrossed in what she was about that the detective +felt little fear of being noticed by her, concealed as he was in the +outer darkness. + +He saw that she was short and slight, with a beautiful little head set +gracefully upon her upright slender figure. Her expression was proud and +self-contained, but the large dark eyes that glowed beneath long black +lashes were in themselves striking evidence of a passionate nature +sternly repressed, and an eloquent contradiction to the firm, tightly +compressed lips. Here, thought Gimblet, was a nature which might pursue +its object with cold and calculating tenacity, and then at the last +moment let the prize slip through its fingers at some sudden call upon +the emotions. + +For the time being her thoughts were evidently fixed upon her present +purpose, to the exclusion of all considerations such as might have been +expected to obtrude themselves upon the mind of a young girl engaged in a +nocturnal raid. The dark solitude, the lateness of the hour, the +surreptitious manner of her entry into the room, all these, which might +well have occasioned some degree of nervousness in the coolest of +housebreakers, appeared to produce, in her, nothing of the sort. As +calmly as if she were sitting by her own bedside, she examined the +documents in Lord Ashiel's bureau, sorting and folding the contents of +one drawer after another as if it were the most commonplace thing in the +world to go over other people's private papers in the dead of night. + +And what was she looking for? + +Gimblet felt no doubt on that subject. This could surely be no other than +Julia, the adopted daughter of Countess Romaninov, whom Lord Ashiel had +for so long supposed to be his daughter. In some way or other she must +have discovered the problematic relationship, and now she was hunting for +proof of her birth, or perhaps for the will which should deprive her of +her inheritance. It was even possible that the dead peer had been +mistaken, and that Julia was indeed his daughter and not unaware of the +fact. But what was she doing here, and where did she come from? Surely +Juliet had told him that all the guests had left the castle. + +Gimblet had never seen her before; but, as he watched her slow +deliberate movements and quick intelligent eyes, he had an odd feeling +that they were already acquainted. She reminded him of some one; how, he +couldn't say. Perhaps it was the features, perhaps merely the +expression, but if they had never previously met, at least he must have +seen some one she resembled. Rack his brains as he might, he could not +remember who it was. He put the thought aside. Sooner or later the +recollection would come to him. + +The night was a warm one, and Gimblet felt no need for his coat, though +he was a little uneasy lest his white shirt should show up against the +dark background if she should chance to look out. Behind him the trees in +the wood stirred noisily and untiringly in the wind, and from time to +time an owl cried out of the gloom; but no sound from within the castle +reached his ears throughout the long hour during which he stood watching +while deftly and methodically the young lady in the library went about +her business. He wondered if this girl, who stealthily, in the night, by +the gleam of a pocket lantern, was engaged in such questionable +employment, were unwarrantably ransacking the belongings of her former +host, or believed herself to be exercising a daughter's right in going +over the papers of a dead parent. + +The time came when the last paper was examined, the last drawer quietly +pushed back into its place; then, with every sign of disappointment, she +slowly rose, and taking up her torch made the tour of the room as if +debating whether she had not left some corner unexplored. But the library +was scantily furnished, apart from the books that lined the walls, and +though she drew more than one volume from its place, and thrust a hand +into the back of the shelf, it was with a dispirited air. Soon, with a +glance at her watch, she abandoned the search, and slowly and +hesitatingly moved in the direction of the door and laid her fingers upon +the handle. + +She did not turn it, however, but stood irresolute, her eyes on the +floor. After a moment of indecision, the detective saw her mouth compress +firmly, and with a quick movement of the head, as if she were shaking +herself free from some persistent and troublesome thought, she turned +and walked deliberately towards the alcove at the end of the room. + +"Now," thought Gimblet, "we shall see where the secret door is +concealed." + +Judge of his surprise and excitement, when the girl stopped before the +tall case of the lacquered clock and, opening it, stepped inside and drew +the door to behind her. For five minutes, with nose pressed to the pane +of the window, the detective waited, expecting her to reappear; then an +idea struck him, and he clapped his hand against his leg in his +exasperation at not having guessed before. + +He turned immediately, and using the same precautions as before made +good his retreat, and returned by way of the drawing-room window to +the library. + +All was silent there, and the empty room displayed no sign of its +nocturnal visitors. Gimblet did not hesitate. He went straight to the +clock and pulled open the door. The black interior was as empty and bare +as when he had previously examined it, but he betrayed neither +astonishment nor doubt as to his next action. + +Stooping down he ran his hand over the painted wooden flooring. As he +expected, his fingers encountered a small knob in one of the corners, +and he had no sooner pressed it when the whole bottom of the case fell +suddenly away beneath his touch. As he stretched down the hand that held +the electric torch, the light fell upon an open trap-door and the +topmost step of a narrow flight of stairs, which descended into the +thickness of the wall. + +Gimblet stepped into the case, and lowered himself quickly through the +hole at the bottom. + +The stairs proved to be but a short flight, ending in a low passage, +which wound away through the wall of the ancient building. The +detective felt little doubt that it led to another concealed opening in +some distant part of the castle. But he had other things to think of +for the moment. + +"The clock--eleven--steps." The meaning of Lord Ashiel's dying words was, +he thought, plain enough now. + +Running up the stairs again, he descended more slowly, counting the +treads as he went. + +There were fifteen. + +Gimblet bent down and held his torch so that the light fell bright upon +the eleventh step. + +It presented identically the same appearance as the rest, the rough-hewn +stone dipping slightly in the middle as if many feet had trodden it in +the course of the centuries which had elapsed since it was first placed +there, but in every respect the worn surface resembled those of the steps +above and below it, as far as Gimblet could see. + +He tapped it, and it gave forth the same sound as its neighbours. Then he +lowered the torch and ran its beams along the front of the step; high up, +under the overhanging edge of the tread above it, it seemed as if there +were a flaw or crack in the stone. He knocked upon it, and it gave back a +different sound to the stone around it. + +Clearly it was wood, not stone, though so cleverly painted to imitate its +surroundings that it was a thousand to one against anyone ever noticing +it; and yes, there was a little circular depression in the middle of it. +Gimblet's thumb pressed heavily against the place, and immediately there +was a click, and a long narrow drawer flew out. + +In it lay a single sheet of paper, and Gimblet's fingers shook with +excitement as he drew it forth. + +A moment's pause while he perused the writing upon it, and then the +exultation on his face dwindled away. He could perceive no meaning in +these apparently random sentences. + +"Remember that where there's a way there's a will. Face curiosity and +take the bull by the horn." + +Was this the cipher, of which he had never received the key? The papers +he had hoped to find must be hidden elsewhere. No doubt in some place +whose whereabouts was indicated, if he could only understand it, by the +incomprehensible message he held. + +He stared at it for some minutes in an endeavour to find the translation; +then, reflecting that this was neither the time nor place for deciphering +cryptograms, he placed it carefully in an inner pocket, and after a hasty +exploration of the passage beyond which did not reveal anything +interesting except from an archaeological point of view, he thoughtfully +mounted to the room above. + +Closing the trap-door, and making sure that everything in the library was +left as he had found it, Gimblet made his exit from the castle in the +same manner as he had entered it, and groped his silent way home through +the darkness. + +A convenient creeper made it easy to climb on to the porch of Lady Ruth's +house, now wrapped in peaceful slumber; and so in at his own window once +more. The noise of the wind, which had now freshened to the strength of +half a gale, drowned any sound of his return, and he lost no time in +getting to bed and to sleep. The puzzle must keep till to-morrow. It was +one of Gimblet's rules to take proper rest when it was at all possible, +for he knew that his work suffered if he came to it physically exhausted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Gimblet was up early next morning, refreshed by a sound and +dreamless sleep. + +For two hours before breakfast he wrestled with the cryptic message on +the sheet of paper, trying first one way and then another of solving the +riddle it presented, but still finding no solution. He was silent and +preoccupied during the morning meal, replying to inquiries as to his +headache, alternately, with obvious inattention and exaggerated +gratitude. Neither of the ladies spoke much, however, and his +absent-mindedness passed almost unnoticed. + +Lord Ashiel was to be buried that day. Before they left the dining-room +sombre figures could be seen striding along the high road towards +Inverashiel: inhabitants of the scattered villages, and people from the +neighbouring estates, hurrying to show their respect to the dead peer for +the last time. + +The tragic circumstances of the murder had aroused great excitement all +over the countryside, and a large gathering assembled at the little +island at the head of the loch, where the McConachans had left their +bones since the early days of the youth of the race. + +From the surrounding glens, from distant hills and valleys, and even from +far-away Edinburgh and Oban, came McConachans, to render their final +tribute to the head of the clan. It was surprising to see how large was +the muster; for the most part a company of tall, thin men, with lean +faces and drooping wisps of moustache. + +To a mournful dirge on the pipes, Ashiel was laid in his rocky grave, and +the throng of black-garmented people was ferried back the way it had +come. Gimblet, wrapped to the ears in a thick overcoat, and with a silk +scarf wound high round his neck, shivered in the cold air, for the wind +had veered to the north, and the first breath of the Arctic winter was +already carried on it. The waters of the loch had turned a slaty black; +little angry waves broke incessantly over its surface; and inky black +clouds were gathering slowly on the distant horizon. It looked as if the +fine weather were at an end; as if Nature herself were mourning angrily +at the wanton destruction of her child. The pity and regret Gimblet had +felt, as he stood by the murdered man's grave, suddenly turned to a +feeling of rage, both with himself and with the victim of the crime. + +Why in the world had he not managed to guard against a danger of whose +imminence he had had full warning? And why in the name of everything that +was imbecile had Lord Ashiel, who knew much better than anyone else how +real the danger was, chosen to sit at a lighted window, and offer so +tempting a target to his enemy? + +Suddenly, in the midst of his musings, a sound fell on the detective's +ear; a voice he had heard before, low and musical, and curiously +resonant. He looked in the direction from which it came and saw two +people standing together, a little apart, in the crowd of those waiting +at the water's edge for a craft to carry them ashore. There were only two +or three boats; and, though the ghillies bent to their oars with a will, +every one could not cross the narrow channel which divided the island +from the mainland at one and the same time. A group had already formed on +the beach of those who were not the first to get away, and among these +were the two figures that had attracted Gimblet's attention. + +They were two ladies, who stood watching the boats, which had landed +their passengers and were now returning empty. + +The nearest to him, a tall woman of ample proportions, was visibly +affected by the ceremony she had just witnessed, and dabbed from time to +time at her eyes with a handkerchief. + +But it was her companion who interested him. She was short and slender; +her slightness accentuated by the long dress of black cloth and the small +plain hat of the same colour which she wore. A thick black veil hung down +over her face and obscured it from his view, but about her general +appearance there was something strangely familiar. In a moment Gimblet +knew what it was, and where he had seen her before. He had caught sight, +in her hand, of a little bag of striped black satin with purple pansies +embroidered at intervals upon it. Just such a bag had lain upon the table +of his flat in Whitehall a few weeks ago, on the day when its owner had +stolen the envelope entrusted to him by Lord Ashiel. + +"It is she," breathed the detective, "the widow!" + +And for one wild moment he was on the point of accosting her and +demanding his missing letter. Wiser counsels prevailed, however, and he +moved away to the other side of the small group of mourners gathered on +the stony beach. + +When he ventured to look at her again, it was over the shoulder of a +stalwart Highlander, whose large frame effectually concealed all of the +little detective except his hat and eyes. A further surprise was in store +for him. The lady had lifted her veil and displayed the features of the +girl he had watched in the library on the preceding night. + +Gimblet had seen enough. He turned away, and found Juliet at his elbow. + +She would have passed him by, absorbed in her sorrow for the father she +had found and lost in the space of one short hour, but he laid her hand +upon her arm. + +"Tell me," he begged, "who are those two ladies waiting for the boat?" + +Juliet's eyes followed the direction of his own. + +"Those," she said, "are Mrs. Clutsam and Miss Julia Romaninov." + +"Ah," Gimblet murmured. "They were among your fellow-guests at the +castle, weren't they?" + +"Yes." + +Juliet's reply was short and a little cold. She could not understand why +the detective should choose this moment to question her on trivial +details. It showed, she considered, a lamentable lack of tact, and +involuntarily she resented it. + +"But surely you told me that every one had left Inverashiel," persisted +Gimblet, unabashed. + +He seemed absurdly eager for the information. No doubt, Juliet reflected +bitterly, he admired Julia. Most men would. + +"Mrs. Clutsam lives in another small house of my father's, near here," +she replied stiffly. "She asked Miss Romaninov to stay with her for a +few days till she could arrange where to go to. This disaster naturally +upset every one's plans." + +"She has a beautiful face," said Gimblet. "Who would think--" he +murmured, and stopped abruptly. + +"Perhaps you would like me to introduce you?" + +Juliet spoke with lofty indifference, but the dismay in Gimblet's tone as +he answered disarmed her. + +"On no account," he cried, "the last thing! Besides, for that matter," he +added truthfully, "we have met before." + +"Then you will have the pleasure of renewing your acquaintance," Juliet +suggested mischievously. Gimblet had shown himself so genuinely aghast +that her resentful suspicions had vanished. + +"I expect to have an opportunity of doing so," he agreed seriously. "That +young lady," he went on in a low, confidential tone, "played a trick on +me that I find it hard to forgive. I look forward, with some +satisfaction, to the day when the laugh will be on my side. I admit I +ought to be above such paltry considerations, but, what would you? I +don't think I am. But please don't mention my presence to her, or her +friend. I imagine she has not so far heard of it." + +"I won't if you don't like," said Juliet. "I don't suppose I shall +see them to speak to. But why do you feel so sure she doesn't know +you are here?" + +"Oh, how should she?" Gimblet returned evasively. "I don't suppose my +presence would appear worth commenting upon to anyone but yourself or +Lord Ashiel, unless Lady Ruth should mention it." + +"I don't think she will," said Juliet. "She said she could not speak to +anyone to-day, and she and Mark have gone off together in his own boat. +I said I would walk home." + +"Won't you drive with me?" Gimblet suggested. + +He had hired a "machine" from the distant village of Inverlegan to carry +him to and from the funeral. But Juliet preferred to walk, finding in +physical exercise the only relief she could obtain from the aching +trouble that oppressed and sickened her. + +Gimblet drove back alone to the cottage. He had much to occupy his +thoughts. + +Once back in his room he turned his mind to the writing on the +sheet of paper. + +"Remember that where there's a way there's a will. Face curiosity and +take the bull by the horn." + +The message, as Gimblet read it, was as puzzling as if it had been +completely in cipher. + +If certain of the words possessed some arbitrary meaning to which the key +promised by Lord Ashiel would have furnished the solution, there seemed +little hope of understanding the message until the key was found. The +word "way," for instance, might stand for another that had been +previously decided on, and if rightly construed probably indicated the +place where the papers were concealed. "Will," "face," "curiosity," +"bull" and "horn" were likely to represent other very different words, or +perhaps even whole sentences. + +Without the key it was hopeless to search along that line; such search +must end, as it would begin, in conjecture only. He would see if anything +more promising could be arrived at by taking the message as it was and +assuming that all the words bore the meaning usually attributed to them. +For more than an hour Gimblet racked his brains to read sense into the +senseless phrases, and at the end of that time was no wiser than at the +beginning. + +"Where there's a way there's a will." Was it by accident or design that +the order in which the words way and will were placed was different from +the one commonly assigned to them? Had Lord Ashiel made a mistake in +arranging the message? Or did the "will" refer to his will and testament? +If so, why should he take so roundabout a way of designating it? +Doubtless because something more important than the will was involved; +indeed, if anything was clear, from the ambiguous sentence and the +precaution that Ashiel had taken that though it fell into the hands of +his enemies it should convey nothing to them, it was that he considered +the mystification of the uninitiated a matter of transcendental +importance. It was plain he contemplated the possibility of the Nihilists +knowing where to look for his message; and at the thought Gimblet shifted +uneasily in his chair, remembering his first encounter with their +representative. + +"Face curiosity and take the bull by the horn." Perhaps those words, as +they stood, contained some underlying sense, which at present it was hard +to read in them. What it was, seemed impossible to guess. To take the +bull by the horn, is a common enough expression, and might represent no +more than a piece of advice to act boldly; on the whole that was not +likely, for would anyone wind up such a carefully veiled communication +with so trite and everyday a saying, or finish such an obscure message +with so ordinary a sentiment? + +"Face curiosity," however, was perhaps a direction how to proceed. The +only trouble was to know what in the world it meant! + +Whose curiosity was to be faced? The behaviour of members of a Nihilist +society could hardly be said to be impelled by that motive. Gimblet could +not see that anyone else had shown any symptom of it. Had "curiosity," +then, some other meaning? + +The detective, as has been said, was an amateur of the antique. When not +at work, a great part of his time was passed in the neighbourhood of +curiosity shops, and the merchandise they dealt in immediately occurred +to him in connection with the word. + +Did the dead man refer to some peculiarity of the ancient keep? Was +there, perhaps, the figure or picture of a bull within the castle whose +horn pointed to the ultimate place of concealment? It would have seemed, +Gimblet thought, that the hidden receptacle in the secret stair was +difficult enough to find; but the reason the papers were not placed in +there was plain to him after a minute's reflection. It was doubtless +because they were too bulky to be contained in the shallow drawer. At all +events, there was certainly another hiding-place; and, on the whole, the +best plan seemed to be to see if the castle could produce any curiosity +that would offer a solution of the problem. + +To the castle, accordingly, he went, and asked to see Lord Ashiel. He was +shown into the smoking-room, where Mark was kneeling on the hearth-rug +surrounded by piles of folded and docketed papers. The door of a small +cupboard in the wall beside the fireplace stood open, revealing a row of +deep shelves stacked with the same neat packets. + +"Still hunting for the will, you see," he said, looking up as Gimblet +entered, "I'm beginning to give up hope of finding it, but it's a mercy +to have something to do these days." + +"Rather a tedious job, isn't it?" said the detective, looking down at the +musty tape-bound bundles. + +"Well, it gives one rather a kink in the back after a time," Mark +admitted. "But I shan't feel easy in my mind till I've looked through +everything, and I'm getting a very useful idea of the estate accounts in +the meantime. It _is_ rather a long business, but I'm getting on with it, +slow but sure. There are such a fearful lot." + +"Are all these cupboards full of papers?" Gimblet asked, looking round +him at the numerous little doors in the panelling. + +"Stuffed with them, every blessed one of them," Mark replied rather +gloomily. "And the worst of it is, I'm pretty certain they're nothing but +these dusty old bills and letters. But there's nowhere else to look, and +I know he kept nearly everything here." + +Gimblet sauntered round the room, pulling open the drawers and peeping in +at the piles of documents. + +"What an accumulation!" he remarked. "None of these cupboards are locked, +I see," he added. + +"No, he never locked anything up," said Mark. "I've heard him boast he +never used a key. Do you know, if one had time to read them, I believe +some of these old letters might be rather amusing. It looked as if my +grandfather and his fathers had kept every single one that ever was +written to them. I've just come across one from Raeburn, the painter, and +I saw another, a quarter of an hour ago, from Lord Clive." + +"Really," said Gimblet eagerly, "which cupboard were they in? I should +like to see them immensely some time." + +"They were in this one," said Mark, pointing to the shelves +opposite him. + +Gimblet stood facing it, and looked hopefully round him in all directions +for anything like a bull. There was nothing, however, to suggest such an +animal, and he reflected that interesting though these old letters might +be it would be going rather far to refer to them as curiosities. Suddenly +an idea struck him. + +"I suppose you haven't come across anything concerning a Papal Bull?" +he inquired. + +"No," said Mark, looking up in surprise. "It's not very likely I should, +you know." + +"No, I suppose not," said Gimblet. "Still, you old families did get hold +of all sorts of odd things sometimes, and your uncle was a bit of a +collector, wasn't he?" + +"Uncle Douglas," said Mark, "not he! He didn't care a bit for that kind +of thing. You can see in the drawing-room the sort of horrors he used to +buy. He was thoroughly early Victorian in his tastes, and ought to have +been born fifty years sooner than he was." + +"Dear me," said Gimblet. "I don't know why I thought he was rather by way +of being a connoisseur. Well, well, I mustn't waste any more time. I +wanted to ask you if you would mind my going all over the house. I may +see something suggestive. Who knows? At present I have only examined the +library and your uncle's bedroom." + +"By all means," said Mark. "Blanston will show you anything you want to +see. Oh, by the by, you like to be alone, don't you? I was forgetting. +Well, go anywhere you like; and good luck to your hunting!" + +On a writing-table in one of the bedrooms, Gimblet found a paper-weight +in the bronze shape of a Spanish toro, head down, tail brandishing, a +fine emblem of goaded rage. But there was nothing promising about the +round mahogany table on which it stood: no drawer, secret or otherwise +could all his measurings and tappings discover; the animal, when lifted +up by the horn and dangled before the detective's critical eye, +proclaimed itself modern and of no artistic merit. It was like a hundred +others to be had in any Spanish town, and by no expanding of terms could +it be considered a curiosity. + +Except for this one more than doubtful find, he drew the whole house +absolutely blank. There were very few specimens of ancient work in the +castle, which like so many other old houses had been stripped of +everything interesting it contained in the middle of the nineteenth +century, and entirely refurnished and redecorated in the worst possible +taste. With the exception of some family portraits, the lacquered clock +in the library was the one genuine survival of the Victorian holocaust, +and though Gimblet passed nearly half an hour in contemplating it he +could not see any way of connecting it with a bull, nor was he a whit the +wiser when he finally turned his back on it than he had been at the +beginning. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Blanston, to whom he appealed, could give no useful information. Yes, +some of the plate was old, but that was all at the bank in London. Mrs. +Haviland, his lordship's sister, had liked it on the table when his +lordship entertained in his London house, and it had not been carried +backwards and forwards to Scotland since her ladyship's death. + +He knew of nothing resembling a bull in his lordship's possession, unless +it was the picture of cows that hung in the drawing-room opposite the one +of the dead stag. + +Gimblet had already exhausted the possibilities of that highly varnished +oil-painting, and he went forth from the house in a state of deep +dejection. + +As he descended the drive he heard his name called, and looking back +perceived the short, sturdy figure of Lady Ruth hurrying down the road +behind him. + +"If you are going back to the cottage, Mr. Gimblet," she panted, "let us +walk together. I ran after you when I saw your hat go past the window, +for I couldn't stand those frowsty old papers of Mark's any longer." + +Gimblet waited till she came up, still talking, although considerably out +of breath. + +"We will go by the road, if you don't mind," she said, "the lochside is +rather rough for me. I have been paying a visit of charity, and very hard +work it is paying visits in the country when you don't keep a conveyance +of any kind, and I really can't afford even a donkey. You see the +Judge's income died with him, poor dear, in spite of those foolish +sayings about not being able to take your money with you to the better +land, where I am sure one would want it just as much as anywhere else, +for the better life you lead, the more expensive it is. No one could be +generous, or charitable, or unselfish, with nothing to give up or to give +away. That's only common sense, and I always say that common sense is +such a help when called upon to face problems of a religious kind. + +"My uncle was a bishop and a very learned theologian, I assure you; but +he always held that it was impious to apply plain common sense to matters +so far above us, and that is why he and my poor husband were never on +speaking terms; not from any fault of the Judge's, who had been trained +to think about logic and all that kind of thing which is so useful to +people at the Bar. + +"But it takes all sorts to make a world, as he often used to say to +himself, and if every one was exactly alike one would feel almost as +solitary as if the whole earth was empty and void, while, as for virtues +and good qualities, they would automatically cease to exist, so that a +really good man would simply long to go to hell and have some opportunity +to show his goodness. That always seemed very reasonable to me, but I am +just telling you what my husband used to say, because I really don't know +much about these things, and he was such a clever man, and what he said +was always listened to with great interest and respect at the Old Bailey. +If it hadn't been, of course he would have cleared the court. + +"But as I was telling you, his money went with him, though I know he +always meant to insure his life, which is such a boring thing to think of +when a man has many calls on his purse. And so, I live, as you see, in a +very quiet way up here, and sometimes get down to the South for a month +or six weeks in the winter, where I have many kind friends. But I find +the hills rather trying to my legs as time goes on, and I don't very +often walk as far as I have to-day. Still charity, as they say, covers a +multitude of miles, and I really thought it my duty to come and see how +poor Mark was bearing up all alone at Inverashiel. I was afraid he would +be terribly unhappy, poor boy, so soon after the funeral, and Juliet +Byrne having refused him, and everything. Though of course he can't be +pitied for inheriting Inverashiel, such a lovely place, is it not? And +quantities of property in the coal district, you know, besides. He is +really a very lucky young man." + +"It is indeed a most beautiful country," Gimblet observed, as Lady +Ruth's breath gave out completely, and she stopped by the roadside to +regain it. He was deep in thought, and glad to escape the necessity of +frequent speech. + +"Yes," she said, as they moved slowly on, "I had a delightful walk here, +and found him much more cheerful than I had feared. It is such a good +thing he has all those papers to look over. It is everything, at a time +like this, to have an occupation. It is so dreadful to think of dear +David with absolutely nothing to do in that horrid cell. I wonder if they +allow him to smoke, or to keep a tame mouse, which I remember reading is +such a comfort to prisoners. I do hope, Mr. Gimblet, that you will soon +be able to get him out of it." + +Before Gimblet could reply, the silence was broken by the rumble of +wheels; and a farmer's cart came up behind them, driven by a thin man +in a black coat, who had evidently attended the funeral earlier in the +day. The road, at the point they had reached, was beginning to ascend; +and the stout pony between the shafts slowed resolutely to a walk as he +leant against the collar. The man lifted his hat as Lady Ruth wished +him good day. + +"I saw you at the funeral, Angus McConachan," she said. "A sad business. +A terrible business." And she shook her head mournfully. + +The farmer stopped the willing pony. + +"That it is, my leddy," he assented. "It's a black day indeed, when the +heed o' a clan is struck doon by are o' his ain bleed. It's a great peety +that the lad would ha' forgot what he owed to his salt. But I'm thinkin' +they'll be hangin' him afore the year's oot." + +"Oh, Angus," cried Lady Ruth, in horrified tones, "don't talk in that +dreadful way. I'm quite, quite sure Sir David never had any part in the +thing. It's all a mistake, and this gentleman here is going to find out +who really fired the shot." + +"Well, I hope ye'll be richt, my leddy," was all the farmer would commit +himself to, as he gathered up the reins. Then he hesitated, looking down +on the hot, flushed countenance of the lady in the road beneath him. "If +yer leddyship will be tackin' a seat in the machine," he hazarded, "it'll +maybe save ye the trail up the brae." + +Lady Ruth accepted the suggestion with great content. She was getting +very tired, and was finding the walk more exhausting than she had +bargained for. She lost no time in climbing up beside Angus, and the fat +pony was induced to continue its reluctant progress. + +Near the top of the hill the road forked into two branches, that which +led to the right continuing parallel with the loch, whilst the other +diverged over the hill towards Auchtermuchty, a town some fifteen miles +distant. The stout pony unhesitatingly took the turning to the left. + +The farmer looked at Lady Ruth inquiringly. + +"Will ye get doon here, my leddy?" he asked; "or will ye drive on as far +as the sheepfold? It will be shorter for ye tae walk doon fay there, by +the burn and the Green Way." + +"I should like to do that;" said Lady Ruth, "if you don't mind taking me +so far. Perhaps you would give Mr. Gimblet a lift too, now that we're on +top of the hill?" + +The man readily consented, and Gimblet, who was following on foot, was +called and informed of the proposed change of route. He scrambled into +the back of the cart and they rattled along the upper road, the stout +pony no doubt wearing a very aggrieved expression under its blinkers. + +When another mile had been traversed, they were put down at a place where +a rough track led down across the moor by the side of an old stone +sheepfold. + +The cart jogged off to the sound of a chorus of thanks, and Lady Ruth and +Gimblet started down the heather-grown path. They rounded the corners of +the deserted fold, and walked on into the golden mist of sunset which +spread in front of them, enveloping and dazzling. The clouds of the +morning had rolled silently away to the horizon, the wind had dropped to +a mere capful; and the midges were abroad in their hosts, rejoicing in +the improvement in the weather. + +"I don't believe it's going to rain after all," said Lady Ruth. "The sun +looks rather too red, perhaps, to be quite safe, though it _is_ supposed +to be the shepherd's delight. I can only say that, if he was delighted +with the result of some of the red sunsets we get up here, he'd be easily +pleased, and for my part I'm never surprised at anything. These midges +are past belief, aren't they?" + +They were, Gimblet agreed heartily. He gathered a handful of fern and +tried to keep them at bay, but they were persevering and ubiquitous. Soon +the path led them away from the open moor, and into the wood of birches +and young oaks which clung to the side of the hill. A little farther, and +Gimblet heard the distant gurgling of a burn; presently they were picking +their way between moss-covered boulders on the edge of a rocky gully. +Great tufts of ferns dotted the steep pitch of the bank below; the stream +that clattered among the stones at the bottom shone very cool and shadowy +under the alders; and a clearing on the other side revealed, over the +receding woods, the broken hill-tops of a blue horizon. + +The path wound gradually downward to the waterside, and in a little while +they crossed it by means of a row of stepping-stones over which Lady Ruth +passed as boldly as her companion. + +Another hundred yards of shade, and they came out into a long narrow +glen, carpeted with short springy turf, and bordered, as by an avenue, +with trees knee-deep in bracken. The rectangular shape and enclosed +nature of the glade came as a surprise in the midst of the wild +woodlands. The place had more the air of forming part of pleasure grounds +near to the haunts of man, and the eye wandered instinctively in search +of a house. The effect of artificiality was increased by a large piece of +statuary representing a figure carved in stone and standing upon a high +oblong pediment, which stood a little distance down the glen. + +Gimblet did not repress his feeling of astonishment. + +"What a strange place!" he exclaimed. "Who would have expected to +find this lawn tucked away in the woods. Or is there a house +somewhere at hand?" + +"No," Lady Ruth answered, "there is nothing nearer than my cottage half a +mile away; and this short grass and flat piece of ground are entirely +natural. Nothing has been touched, except here and there a tree cut out +to keep the borders straight. The late Lady Ashiel, the wife of my +unfortunate cousin, was very fond of this place. Although it is farther, +she always walked round by it when she came to see me at the cottage. +That absurd statue was put up last year as a sort of memorial to her--a +most unsuitable one to my mind, she being a chilly sort of woman, poor +dear, who always shivered if she saw so much as a hen moulting. I'm sure +it would distress her terribly if she knew that poor creature over there +had to stand in the glen in all weathers, year in and year out, with only +a rag to cover her. And a stone rag at that, which is a cold material at +the best. Yes, this is only the beginning of a track which runs for miles +across the hills to the South. It is so green that you can always make it +out from the heights, and there are all sorts of legends about it. It is +supposed to be the road over which the clans drove back the cattle they +captured in the old days when they were always raiding each other. They +have a name for it In the Gaelic, which means the Green Way." + +"The Green Way," Gimblet repeated mechanically. For a moment his brain +revolved with wild imaginings. + +"Yes," repeated Lady Ruth. "Sometimes they call it 'The Way,' for short. +It is a favourite place for picnics from Crianan. My cousin used to allow +them to come here, and the place is generally made hideous with +egg-shells and paper and old bottles. One of the gardeners comes and +tidies things up once a week in the summer. People are so absolutely +without consciences." + +"Is there a bull here?" cried Gimblet. He was quivering with excitement. + +"Goodness gracious, I hope not!" said Lady Ruth. "Do you see any cattle? +I can't bear those long-horned Highlanders!" + +"No," said Gimblet. "I thought perhaps--But what is the statue? The +design, surely, is rather a strange one for the place." + +"Most extraordinary," assented Lady Ruth. "He got it in Italy and had it +sent the whole way by sea. It took all the king's horses and all the +king's men to get it up here, I can tell you. And, as I say, nothing +less apropos can one possibly imagine. That poor thin female with such +very scanty clothing is hardly a cheerful object on a Scotch winter's +day, and as for those little naked imps they would make anyone shiver, +even in August." + +They had drawn near the sculptured group. It consisted of the slightly +draped figure of a girl, bending over an open box, or casket, from which +a crowd of small creatures, apparently, as Lady Ruth had said, imps or +fairies, were scrambling and leaping forth. + +Gimblet gazed at it intently, as if he had never seen a statue +before. In a moment his face cleared and he turned to Lady Ruth with +burning eyes. + +"It is Pandora," he cried. "Curiosity! Pandora and her box. Is it +not Pandora?" + +Lady Ruth stared at him amazed. + +"I believe it is," she said, "that or something of the sort. I'm not very +well up in mythology." + +"Of course it is," cried Gimblet. "Face curiosity! And here's the bull, +or I'll eat my microscope," he added, advancing to the side of the group +and laying a hand upon the pedestal. + +Lady Ruth followed his gaze with some concern. She was beginning to doubt +his sanity. But there, sure enough, beneath his pointing finger, she +perceived a row of carved heads: the heads of bulls, garlanded in the +Roman manner, and forming a kind of cornice round the top of the great +rectangular stone stand. + +Gimblet glanced to right and left, up the glen and down it. There was no +one to be seen. The sun had fallen by this time beneath the rim of the +hills; a greyness of twilight was spread over the whole scene, and under +the trees the dusk of night was already silently ousting the day. He +turned once more to Lady Ruth. + +"Lady Ruth," he said, "can you keep a secret?" + +"My husband trusted me," she replied. "He was judicious as well as +judicial." + +"I am sure I may follow his example," Gimblet said, after looking at her +fixedly for a moment. "So I will tell you that I believe I am on the +point of discovering Lord Ashiel's missing will--and not that alone. +Somewhere, concealed probably within a few feet of where we are standing, +we may hope to find other and far more important documents, involving, +perhaps, not only the welfare of one or two individuals but that of +kings and nations. Apart from that, and to speak of what most immediately +concerns us at present, I am convinced that within this stone will be +found the true clue to the author of the murder." + +"You don't say so," gasped Lady Ruth, her round eyes rounder than ever. + +"I found some directions in the handwriting of the murdered man," went on +Gimblet, "which I could not understand at first. But their meaning is +plain enough now. 'Take the bull by the horn,' he says. Well, here are +the bulls, and I shall soon know which is the horn." + +He walked round to the front of the statue, so that he faced the stooping +figure of Pandora, and laid his hand upon one of the curved and +projecting horns of the left-hand bull. Nothing happened, and he tried +the next There were seven heads in all along the face of the great block, +and he tested six of them without perceiving anything unusual. Was it +possible that he was mistaken, and that, after all, the words of the +message did not refer to the statue? + +When he grasped the first horn of the last head, the hand that did so was +shaking with excitement and suspense. It seemed, like the rest, to +possess no attribute other than mere decoration. And yet, and yet--surely +he had missed some vital point. He would go over them again. There +remained, however, the last horn, and as he took hold of it with a +premonitory dread of disappointment, he felt that it was loose in its +socket, and that he could by an effort turn it completely over. With a +triumphant cry he twisted it round, and at the same moment Lady Ruth +started back with an exclamation of alarm. + +She was standing where he had left her, and was nearly knocked down by +the great slab of stone which, as Gimblet turned the horn of the bull, +swung sharply out from the end of the pediment, till it hung like a door +invitingly open and disclosing a hollow chamber within the stone. + +Within the opening, on the floor at the far end, stood a large tin +despatch-box. + +The door was a good eighteen inches wide; plenty of room for Gimblet to +climb in, swollen with exultation though he might be. In less than three +seconds he had scrambled through the aperture and was stooping over the +box. It seemed to be locked, but a key lay on the top of the lid. He lost +no time in inserting it, and in a moment threw open the case and saw that +it was full of papers. + +Suddenly there was another cry from Lady Ruth as, for no apparent cause +and without the slightest warning, the stone door slammed itself back +into position, and he was left a prisoner in the total darkness of the +vault. He groped his way to the doorway and pushed against it with all +his strength. He might as well have tried to move the side of a mountain. +But, after an interval long enough for him to have time to become +seriously uneasy, the door flew open again, and the agitated countenance +of Lady Ruth welcomed him to the outside world. + +"Do get out quick," she cried. "If it does it again while you're half in +and half out, you'll be cracked in two as neatly as a walnut." + +Gimblet hurried out, clutching the precious box. No sooner was he safely +standing on the turf than the door shut again with a violence that gave +Pandora the appearance of shaking with convulsions of silent merriment. + +"I wasn't sure how it opened," said Lady Ruth, "but I tried all the horns +and got it right at last. How lucky I was with you!" + +"Yes, indeed," said Gimblet. "I am very thankful you were." + +They twisted the horn again, and stood together to watch the recurring +phenomenon of the closing door. + +"It must be worked by clockwork," the detective said, and taking out his +watch he timed the interval that elapsed between the opening and +shutting. "It stays open for thirty seconds," he remarked after two or +three experiments. "No doubt the mechanism is concealed in the thickness +of the stone. At all events it seems to be in good working order." + +Squatting on the grass, he opened the tin box, and examined the papers +with which it was filled. A glance showed him that they were what he +expected, and he replaced the box where he had found it, while Lady Ruth +manipulated the horn of the bull. + +"I have no right to the papers," he explained to her, as they walked +homeward in the gathering dusk. "It would be more satisfactory if a +magistrate were present at the official opening of the statue, and I will +see what can be done about that to-morrow. In the meantime, and +considering that we have been interfering with other people's property, I +shall be much obliged if you will keep our discovery secret." + +And talking in low, earnest tones, he explained to her more fully all +that was likely to be implied by the papers they had unearthed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +With her white paint and her scarlet smokestack, the _Inverashiel_--one +of the two small steamers that during the summer months plied up and +down the loch, and incidentally carried on communication between +Inverashiel and Crianan--was a picturesque addition to the landscape, +as she approached the wooden landing-stage that stood half a mile below +the promontory on which the castle was built. It was the morning of +Friday, the day following the funeral, and clouds were settling slowly +down on to the tops and shoulders of the hills in spite of the +brilliant sunset of the previous evening. The loch lay dark and still, +its surface wore an oily, treacherous look; every detail of the +_Inverashiel's_ tub-like shape was reflected and beautifully distorted +in the water, which broke in long low waves from her bows as she +swerved round to come alongside the pier. + +As the few passengers who were waiting for her crossed the short gangway, +a shower burst over the loch and in a few minutes had driven every one +into the little cabin, except the two or three men who constituted the +officers and crew of the steamer. One of these was in the act of +slackening the rope by which the boat had been warped alongside, when a +running, gesticulating figure appeared in the distance, shouting to them +to wait for him. + +Waited for accordingly he was; and in a few minutes Gimblet, rather out +of breath after his run, hurried on board, and with a word of apology and +thanks to the obliging skipper turned, like the other passengers, towards +the shelter of the cabin. + +With his hand on the knob of the door he hesitated. Through the glass top +he had just caught sight of a figure that seemed familiar. He had seen +that tweed before; the short girl with her back to him was wearing the +dress in which he had seen her on the Wednesday night, searching among +Lord Ashiel's papers in the library at the castle. It was Julia Romaninov +beyond a doubt, and Gimblet drew back quickly and took up his position +behind the funnels on the after-deck. In spite of the rain he remained +there until the boat reached Crianan, leaning against the rail with his +collar turned up and his soft felt hat pulled down over his ears, so that +little of him was visible except the tip of his nose. + +His mind, always active, was busier than usual as he watched the +ripples roll away in endless succession from the sides of the +_Inverashiel_--which looked so strangely less white on closer +inspection--or followed the smooth soaring movements of the gulls that +swooped and circled around her, as she puffed and panted on her way +across the black, taciturn waters. + +As they drew near to Crianan he concealed himself still more carefully +behind a pile of crates, and not till Miss Romaninov had left the steamer +did he emerge from his hiding-place and step warily off the boat. + +The young lady was still in sight, making her way up the steep pitch of +the main street, and the detective followed her discreetly, loitering +before shop windows, as if fascinated by the display of Scottish +homespuns, or samples of Royal Stewart tartan, and taking an +extraordinary interest in fishing-tackle and trout-flies. + +But, though the girl looked back more than once, the little man in the +ulster who was so intent on picking his way between the puddles did +not apparently provide her with any food for suspicion; and she made +no attempt to see who was so carefully sheltered beneath the umbrella +he carried. + +At last they left: the cobble-stones of the little town and emerged upon +the high road, which here ran across the open moorland. + +It was difficult now to continue the pursuit unobserved: and Gimblet +became absorbed in the contemplation of an enormous cairngorm, which was +masquerading as an article of personal adornment in the window of the +last outlying shop. + +From this position--not without its embarrassments, since a couple of +barefooted children came instantly to the door, where they stood and +stared at him unblinkingly--he saw the Russian advancing at a rapid pace +across the moor; and, look where he would, could perceive no means of +keeping up with her unobserved upon the bare side of the hill. + +Just as he decided that the distance separating them had increased to an +extent which warranted his continuing the chase, he joyfully saw her +slacken her pace, and at the same moment a man, who must have been +sitting behind a boulder beside the road, rose to his feet out of the +heather, and came forward to meet her. For ten long minutes they stood +talking, driving poor Gimblet to the desperate expedient of entering the +shop and demanding a closer acquaintance with the cairngorm. It is +humiliating to relate that he recoiled before it when it was placed in +his hand, and nearly fled again into the road. However, he pulled himself +together and held the proud proprietress, a gaunt, grey-haired woman with +knitting-needles ever clicking in her dexterous hands, in conversation +upon the theme of its unique beauties until the subject was exhausted to +the point of collapse. + +Every other minute he must stroll to the door and take a look up and down +the road. A friend, he explained, had promised to meet him in that place; +and though the shopwoman plainly doubted his veracity, and kept a sharp +eye that he did not take to his heels with the cairngorm, she did not go +so far as to suggest his removing himself from the zone of temptation. + +At last, when for the twentieth time he put his nose round the doorpost, +he saw that the pair had separated, and were walking in opposite +directions, the girl continuing on her way, while the man returned to the +town. He was, indeed, not a hundred yards off. + +Gimblet plunged once more into the shop, and fastened upon some pencils +with a zeal not very convincing after his disappointing vacillation over +the brooch. The gaunt woman cheered up, however, when he bought the first +seventeen she offered him, and, the stock being exhausted, finished by +purchasing a piece of india-rubber, a stylographic pen, and a penny paper +of pins, which she pressed upon him as particularly suited to his needs +and charged him fourpence for. + +By the time he issued forth into the open air, his pockets full of +packages, the stranger had passed the shop and was turning the corner of +the next house. To him, now, Gimblet devoted his powers of shadowing. + +There was no great difficulty about it. The man walked straight before +him, looking neither to the right nor to the left, and as he strode along +the wet roads Gimblet noted with satisfaction the long, narrow, pointed +footprints that were deeply impressed in the muddy places. He had no +doubt they were the same as those he had noticed on the beach on the day +of his arrival at Inverashiel. + +The stranger turned into the Crianan Hotel, which stands on the lake +front, fifty yards from the landing-place of the loch steamers. Gimblet +passed the door without pausing and went down to the loch, where he +mingled with the boatmen and loafers who congregated by the waterside. + +He kept, however, a strict eye on the door of the hotel, and after a +quarter of an hour saw the object of his attentions emerge with +fishing-rod and basket, and cross the road directly towards him. Gimblet +had not been able to see his face before, but now he had a good look as +he passed close beside him. + +He was a tall, fair man, evidently a foreigner, but with nothing very +striking about his appearance. A pointed yellow beard hid the lower part +of his face, and, for the rest, his nose was short, his eyes blue and +close together, and his forehead high and narrow. He looked closely at +Gimblet as he went by, and for a moment the eyes of the two men met, both +equally inscrutable and unflinching; then the stranger glanced aside and +strode on to where a small boat lay moored. The detective turned his back +while the fair man got in and pushed off into the loch. + +"Gentleman going fishing?" he remarked to a man who lounged hard by upon +the causeway. + +"He's axtra fond o' the feeshin'," was the reply, "for a' that he's a +foreign shentleman." + +Waiting till the boat had become a distant speck on the face of the +waters, Gimblet made his way into the inn and entered into conversation +with the landlord, on the pretext of engaging rooms for a friend. The +landlord was sorry, but the house was full. + +"If ye wanted them in a fortnicht's time," he said, "ye could hae the +hale hotel; but tae the end o' the holidays we're foll up. Folks tak' +their rooms a month in advance; they come here for the fishin' on the +loch, and because my hoose is the maist comfortable in the Hielands." + +"Indeed, I can well believe that," Gimblet assured him. "I suppose you +get a lot of tourists passing through, though, Americans, for instance?" + +"We hardly ever hae a room tae tak' them in. No, I seldom hae an American +bidin' here; they maistly gang doon the loch," said the innkeeper. + +"I thought," said Gimblet, "that was a foreign-looking man whom I saw a +little while ago, coming out of the hotel." + +"We hae ae gintleman bidin' here wha belongs tae foreign pairts," the +landlord admitted. "A Polish gintleman, he is, Count Pretovsky, a vary +nice gintleman. I couldna just cae him a tourist. He's vary keen on the +fishin' and was up here for it last year as well. He has his ain boat and +is aye on the water trailin' aefter the salmon." + +"A great many sporting foreigners come to our island nowadays," Gimblet +remarked. "Does he get many fish?" + +"Oh, it's a grand place for salmon," said the inn-keeper with obvious +pride. "And there's troots tac. And pike, mair's the peety," he added. + +"Dear me," said Gimblet, "just what my friend wants. I'm sorry you +can't take him in. I must tell him to write in good time next year if +he wants a room." + +As he parted from the landlord upon the doorstep of the Crianan Hotel, +the _Rob Roy_--the second of the two loch steamers--was edging away from +the pier, under a cloud of black smoke from her funnel The rain had +stopped; the passengers were scattered on the deck, and in the bows of +the vessel the detective caught sight of Julia Romaninov's tweed-clad +form. She was leaning against the rail, and gazing at a distant part of +the loch where a black speck, which might represent a rowing boat, could +faintly be discerned. She had come back, then, from her moorland walk. It +was as Gimblet had expected; and, though he chafed at the delay, he +regretted less than he would have otherwise that he could not catch the +_Rob Roy_. + +The _Inverashiel_ would be due on her homeward trip in a couple of hours' +time, and meanwhile he had other business that must be attended to. + +He went first to the post office, where he registered and posted to +Scotland Yard a packet he had brought with him. Then, after asking +his way of the sociable landlord of the hotel, he proceeded to the +police station, a single-storied stone building standing at the end +of a side street. + +Here he made himself known to the inspector, and imparted information +which made that personage open his eyes considerably wider than was +his custom. + +"If you will bring one of your men, and come with me yourself," said +Gimblet, at the conclusion of the interview, "I think I shall be able to +convince you that a mistake has been made. In the meantime there will be +no harm done by a watch being kept on the foreign gentleman who is at +this moment trolling for salmon on the loch." + +The inspector agreed; and when the _Inverashiel_ started, an hour later, +on her voyage down the loch, she carried the two policemen on her deck, +as well as the most notorious detective she was ever likely to have the +privilege of conveying. + +It was nearly three o'clock when they landed on the Inverashiel pier. + +The weather, which for the last few hours had looked like clearing, had +now turned definitely to rain; clouds had descended on the hills, and the +trees in the valleys stooped and dripped in the saturated, mist-laden +air. Gimblet conducted the men to the cottage, where Lady Ruth anxiously +awaited them. + +"If you don't mind their staying here," he suggested to her, "while I go +up to the castle and consult Lord Ashiel about a magistrate, it will be +most convenient, on account of the distance." + +"By all means," said Lady Ruth. "I feel safer with them. I expect you +will find Miss Byrne up there. She has not come in to lunch, and I think +she probably met Mark and went to lunch at the castle. She ought to know +better than to go to lunch alone with a young man, and I am just +wondering if she has changed her mind and accepted him after all. Girls +are kittle cattle, but I've got quite fond of that one, and I hope she's +not forgotten poor David so soon. I really am feeling anxious about her." + +"I daresay she has only walked farther than she intended," said Gimblet, +"or perhaps she came to a burn or some place she couldn't get over, and +has had to go round a mile or two. Depend on it, that's what's happened. +But I promise you that if she is at the castle I will bring her back when +I return." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +Behind the shrubberies, which lay at the back of the holly hedge that +surrounded the little enclosed garden outside the library, beyond the. +end of the battlements, and reached by a disused footpath, a great tree +stood upon the edge of the steep hillside and thrust its sweeping +branches over the void. + +Its trunk was grey and moss-grown; moss carpeted the ground between its +protruding roots, but the bracken and heather held back, and left a +half-circle beneath it, untenanted by their kind. It would seem that all +vegetation fears to venture beneath the shade of the beech; and for the +most part it stands solitary, shunned by other growing things except +moss, which creeps undaunted where its more vigorous brothers lack the +courage to establish themselves. + +Here came Juliet that morning. + +A week ago, David Southern had shown her the path to the tree. It had +been a favourite haunt of his when he was a boy, he told her. It was a +private chamber to which he resorted on the rare occasions when he was +disposed to solitude; when something had gone wrong with his world he had +been used to retire there with his dog, or, more seldom, a book. There he +had been accustomed to lie, his back supported by the tree, and hold +forth to the dog upon the troubles and difficulties of life and the +general crookedness of things; or, if a book were his companion, he +would gaze out, between the pages, at distant Crianan clinging faintly to +the knees of Ben Ghusy, and watch the swift change of passing cloud and +hanging curtain of mist upon the faces of the hills and loch. + +It had been a place all his own; secret from every one, even from Mark, +his companion during all those holidays that he had spent at Inverashiel. +Somehow, David told Juliet--and it was a confidence he had seldom before +imparted to anyone--he had never quite managed to hit it off with Mark. +He couldn't say why, exactly. No doubt it was his own fault; but there +was no accounting for one's likes and dislikes. + +And with quick regret at having betrayed his carefully suppressed +feelings in regard to his cousin, David had laughed apologetically, and +spoken of other things. + +Here, then, just as the steamer _Rob Roy_ was drawing close to the wooden +landing-stage at the edge of the loch, with Julia Romaninov still +standing in the bows; here, because she had once been to this place with +him, because without her he had so often sat upon these mossy roots, came +Juliet to dream of her love. + +Like him, she seated herself against the tree trunk at the giddy brink of +the precipitous rock; like him, her eyes rested on the smooth waters +below her, or on the far-away misty distance where Crianan slumbered; +but, unlike him, her eyes, as they looked, were filled with tears. Where +was he now? Oh, David, poor unjustly treated David! In what narrow cell, +lighted only by a high, iron-barred window--for so the scene shaped +itself in her mind--with uncovered floor of stone, bare walls and a bench +to lie on, was the man she loved wearing away his days under the burden +of so frightful an accusation? + +For the thousandth time Juliet's blood boiled within her at the +thought, and she grew hot with anger and indignant scorn. That anyone +should have dared to suspect him! Why were such fools, such wicked, +evil-working imbeciles as the police allowed to exist for one moment +upon the face of the globe? But no doubt they had some hidden motive in +arresting him, for it was quite incredible that they really imagined he +had committed this appalling crime. She could not understand their +motive, to be sure, but without doubt there must have been some reason +which was not clear to her. + +Oh, David, David! Was he thinking of her, as she was thinking of him? Did +he know, by instinct, that she would be doing all that could be done to +bring about his release? But was she? Again her mind was filled with the +disquieting question, was there nothing that might be done, that she was +leaving undone? Had she forgotten something, neglected something? She was +sure Gimblet did not believe David to be guilty, but was he certain of +being able to prove his innocence? He did not seem to have discovered +much at present. + +Suddenly, in the midst of her distress, she smiled to herself. + +At least Miss Tarver had shown herself in her true colours, and was no +more to be considered. Juliet felt that she could almost forgive her for +her readiness to believe the worst. It was dreadful, yes, and shameful +that anyone else should think for a moment that David could be capable of +such a deed, but in Miss Tarver, perhaps, the thought had not been +inexcusable. On the whole, it was so nice of her to break the engagement +that she might be forgiven the ridiculous reason she had advanced for +doing it. Of course, Juliet assured herself, it was a mere pretext, +because _no_ one could possibly believe it. And in this manner she +continued to reiterate her conviction that the suspicions entertained of +her lover were all assumed for some darkly obscure purpose. + +So the morning wore away. A shower or two passed down the valley, but +under the thick tent of the beech leaves she scarcely felt it. She was, +besides, dressed for bad weather; and the grey and mournful face of the +day was in harmony with her mood. + +There was something comforting in this high perch. She seemed more aloof +from the troubles and despair of the last few days than she had imagined +possible. There was a calm, a remoteness, about the grey mountains, +disappearing and reappearing from behind their screen of cloud but +unchanged and unmoved by what went on around and among them, that was in +some way reassuring. + +The burn that ran at the bottom of the hill on which she sat, hurrying +down to the loch in such turbulent foaming haste, she was able to +compare, with a sad smile, to herself. The loch, she thought, was wide +and impassive as justice, which did not allow itself to be influenced by +the emotions. The burn would get down just the same without so much +turmoil and fuss; and she would see David's name cleared, equally surely, +if she waited calmly on events, instead of burning her heart out in +hopeless impatience and anxiety. + +As she gazed, with some such thoughts as these, down to the stream +that splashed on its way below her, her attention was caught by a +movement in the bushes half-way down the steep slope at the top of +which she was sitting. + +The day was windless and no leaf moved on any tree. There must be some +animal among the shrubs that covered the embankment, some large animal, +since its movements caused so much commotion; for, as she watched, first +one bush and then another stirred and bent and was shaken as if by +something thrusting its way through the dense growth. + +What could it be? A sheep, perhaps; there were many of them on the +hillsides. This must be one that had strayed far from the rest. And yet +would a sheep make so much stir? Juliet drew back a little behind the +trunk of the beech-tree. Could it be a deer? She could not hear any sound +of the creature's advance, for the air was full of the clamour of the +burn, but she could trace the direction of its progress by shaking leaves +and swinging boughs. It seemed to be gradually mounting the slope. + +Suddenly a head emerged from the waving mass of a rhododendron, and with +astonishment Juliet saw that it was that of Julia Romaninov. + +Her first impulse was to lean forward and call her, but as she did so the +cry died unheard upon her lips. For the manner of Julia's advance struck +her as very odd. The girl was bending nearly double, and moving with a +caution that seemed very strange and unnecessary. What was the matter? +Was she stalking something? Crouching as she was in the bushes, she would +not be seen by anyone on the path below. Did she not want to be seen? It +looked more and more like it. But why in the world should Julia creep +along as if she feared to be observed? Where was she going, and why? + +Suddenly Juliet came to a quick decision: she would find out what Julia +Romaninov was doing. + +She backed hurriedly into the bracken, and made her way slowly and +cautiously around the clearing under the beech-tree to the edge of the +hill again, keeping under cover of the fern and heather. When she peered +over, Julia had disappeared from view beneath the rhododendrons. + +For a minute Juliet's eyes searched the side of the slope below. Then she +drew back her head quickly, for she had caught sight of another bush +shaking uneasily a little way beyond the gap in which she had had her +first glimpse of the cause of the disturbance. Cowering low in the +bracken she crept along the top, keeping a foot or two from the edge, +where the rock fell nearly perpendicularly for a few yards before its +angle changed to the comparatively gradual, though actually steep slope +of the hill which Julia was climbing. + +From time to time she looked cautiously between clumps of fern or heath, +to make sure that she was keeping level with her unconscious quarry. + +The front of the hill swung round in a bold curve till it reached the +castle; and it soon became evident that, if both girls continued to +advance along the lines they were following, they would converge at a +point where the end of the battlemented wall met the great holly hedge +that formed two sides of the garden enclosure. + +Juliet perceived this when she was not more than a dozen yards from the +corner, and dropped at full length to the soft ground, at a spot where +she could see between the stalks and under the leaves, and yet herself +remain concealed. She had not long to wait. In a minute, Julia's face +appeared over the brow of the hill. She pulled herself up by a young fir +sapling that hung over the brink, and stood for a moment, flushed and +panting after her long climb. She was dressed in a greenish tweed, which +blended with the woodland surroundings, and her shoulder was turned to +the place where Juliet lay wondering whether she would be discovered. + +Fronting them, the end of the little turret, with which the wall of the +old fortress now came to a sudden termination, could be seen rearing its +grey stones above the dark glossy foliage of the hedge, which grew here +with peculiar vigour and continued to the extreme edge of the cliff, and +even farther. + +What was Juliet's surprise to see Julia, when she had found her breath, +and taken one quick look round as if to satisfy herself she was +unobserved, suddenly cast herself down, in her turn, upon the damp earth, +and inserting her head beneath the prickly barricade of the holly leaves, +begin to crawl and wriggle forward until she had completely disappeared +under it. What in the world could she be doing? + +Minutes passed, and she did not reappear. Juliet waited, her nerves +stretched in expectation, but nothing happened. Overhead little birds, +tomtits and creepers, played about the bark of the fir-trees; a robin +came and looked at her consideringly, with a bright sensible eye; from +two hundred feet below, the murmur of the burn rose constant and +insistent; but no other sound broke the stillness, nor was there any sign +of human life upon the top of the cliff. + +At last the girl could stand it no longer. Her patience was exhausted. +Curiosity urged her like a goad; and, if she had not much expectation of +making any important discovery, she was at least determined to solve the +mystery that now perplexed her. + +Without more ado she got to her feet, and ran to the holly hedge. There, +throwing herself down once more, she parted the leaves with a cautious +hand, and followed the path taken by the Russian. + +The hedge was old and very thick, more than three yards in width at this +end of it. In the middle, the trunks of the trees that formed it rose in +a close-growing, impassable barrier; but just opposite the place where +Julia had vanished Juliet found that there was a gap, caused, perhaps, by +the death in earlier days of one of the trees, or, as she afterwards +thought more likely, by the intentional omission or destruction of one of +the young plants. It was a narrow opening, but she managed to wriggle +through it. + +On the other side, progress was bounded by the wall, whose massive +granite blocks presented a smooth unbroken surface. Where, then, had +Julia gone? The branches did not grow low on this, as on the outer side +of the hedge, and there was room to stand, though not to stand upright. +Stooping uncomfortably, the girl looked about her, and saw in the soft +brown earth the plain print of many footsteps, both going and coming, +between the place where she crouched and the end of the wall. She looked +behind her, and there were no marks. Clearly, Julia had gone to the end; +but what then? The corner of the wall was at the very edge of the +precipice; from what she remembered to have seen from below, the rock +was too sheer to offer any foothold; besides why, having just climbed to +the summit should anyone immediately descend again, and by such an +extraordinary route? While these thoughts followed one another in her +mind, Juliet had advanced along the track of the footsteps, and clinging +tightly to the trunk of the last holly bush she leant forward and looked +down. + +As she thought, the descent was impossible: the rock fell away at her +feet, sheer and smooth; there was no path there that a cat could take. It +made her giddy to look, and she drew back hurriedly. + +Where, then, could Julia have gone? Not to the left, that was certain, +for then she would have emerged again into view. To the right? That +seemed impossible. Still, Juliet leant forward again, and peered round +the corner of the wall. + +There, not more than a couple of feet away, was a small opening, less +than eighteen inches wide by about a yard in height. Hidden by the +overhanging end of the hedge, it would be invisible from below. Here was +the road Julia had taken. + +Juliet did not hesitate. She could reach the aperture easily, and it +would have been the simplest thing in the world to climb into it, but +for the yawning chasm beneath. Holding firmly to the friendly holly, and +resisting, with an effort, the temptation to look down, she swung +herself bravely over the edge and scrambled into the hole with a gasp of +relief. It was, after all, not very difficult. She found herself +standing within the entrance of a narrow passage built into the +thickness of the wall. Beside the opening through which she had come, a +little door of oak, grey with age and strengthened with rusty bars and +cross-pieces of iron, drooped upon its one remaining hinge. Two huge +slabs of stone leaning near it, against the wall, showed how it had +been the custom in former centuries to fortify the entrance still more +effectively in time of danger. + +Juliet did not wait to examine these fragments, interesting though they +might be to archaeologists, but hurried down the passage as quickly as +she could in the darkness that filled it, feeling her way with an +outstretched hand upon the stones on either side. As her eyes became +accustomed to the obscurity, she saw that though the way was dark it was +yet not entirely so: a gloomy light penetrated at intervals through +ivy-covered loopholes pierced in the thickness of the outer wall; and she +imagined bygone McConachans pouring boiling oil or other hospitable +greeting through those slits on to the heads of their neighbours. But +surely, she reflected, no one would ever have attacked the castle from +that side, where the precipice already offered an impregnable defence; +the passage must have been used as a means of communication with the +outer world, or, perhaps, as a last resort, for the purpose of escape by +the beleaguered forces. + +After fifty yards or so of comparatively easy progress, the shafts of +twilight from the loopholes ceased to permeate the murky darkness in +which she walked, and she was obliged to go more slowly, and to feel her +way dubiously by the touch of hands and feet. + +The floor appeared to her to be sloping away beneath her, and as she +advanced the descent became more and more rapid, till she could hardly +keep her feet. She went very gingerly, with a vague fear lest the path +should stop unexpectedly, and she herself step into space. + +Presently she found herself once more upon level ground, when another +difficulty confronted her: the walls came suddenly to an end. Feeling +cautiously about her in the darkness, she made out that she had come to a +point where another passage crossed the one she was following, a sort of +cross-road in this unknown country of shade and stone. Here, then, were +three possible routes to take, and no means of knowing which of them +Julia Romaninov had gone by. + +After a little hesitation, she decided to keep straight on. It would at +all events be easier to return if she did, and she would be less likely +to make a mistake and lose her way. So on she stumbled; and who shall say +that Fate had not a hand in this chance decision? + +Though the distance she had traversed was inconsiderable, the darkness +and uncertainty made it appear to her immense, and each moment she +expected to come upon the Russian girl. At every other step she paused +and listened, but no sound met her ears except a slight, regular, +thudding noise, which she presently discovered, with something of a +shock, to be the beating of her own heart. The sound of her progress was +almost inaudible. As the day was damp, she was wearing goloshes, and her +small, rubber-shod feet fell upon the stone floor with a gentle patter +that was scarcely perceptible. + +At last she nearly fell over the first step of a flight of stairs. + +She mounted them one by one with every precaution her fears could +suggest. For by now the first enthusiasm of the chase had worn off, and +the solitude and darkness of this strange place had worked upon her +nerves till she was terrified of she knew not what, and ready to scream +at a touch. + +Already she bitterly regretted having started out upon this enterprise +of spying. Why had she not gone and reported what she had seen to Mr. +Gimblet? That surely would have been the obvious, the sensible course. It +was, she reflected, a course still open to her; and in another moment she +would have turned and taken it, but even as the thought crossed her mind +she was aware that the darkness was sensibly decreased, and in another +second she had risen into comparative daylight. As she stood still, +debating what she should do, and taking in all that could now be +distinguished of her surroundings, she saw that the stairs ended in an +open trap-door, leading to a high, black-lined shaft like the inside of a +chimney, in which, some two feet above the trap, an odd, narrow curve of +glass acted as a window, and admitted a very small quantity of light. A +streak of light seemed to come also from the wall beside it. + +Juliet drew herself cautiously up, till her head was in the chimney, and +her eyes level with the slip of glass. + +With a sudden shock of surprise she saw that she was looking into the +room which, above all others, she had so much cause to remember ever +having entered. + +It was, indeed, the library of the castle, and she was looking at it from +the inside of that clock into which Gimblet had once before seen Julia +Romaninov vanish. + +The curtains were drawn in the room, but after the absolute blackness of +the stone corridors the semi-dusk looked nearly as bright as full +daylight to Juliet, and she had no difficulty in distinguishing that +there was but one person in the library, and that person Julia. + +She was standing by a bookshelf at the far end, near the window, and +seemed to be methodically engaged in an examination of the books. Juliet +saw her take out first one, then another, musty, leather-bound volume, +shake it, turn over the leaves, and put it back in its place after +groping with her hand at the back of the shelf. Plainly she was hunting +for something. But for what? She had no business where she was, in any +case, and Juliet's indignation gathered and swelled within her as she +watched this unwarrantable intrusion. + +She would confront the girl and ask her what she meant by such behaviour. +But how to get into the library? + +Looking about her, she saw that the streak of light in the wall beside +her came through a perpendicular crack which might well be the edge of a +little door. + +She pushed gently and the wood yielded to her fingers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Later on in the afternoon, when Gimblet arrived at the castle, he was +immediately shown into the presence of Lord Ashiel, who was pacing the +smoking-room restlessly, a cigarette between his teeth. He looked pale +and haggard, the strain of the last few days had evidently been too +much for him. + +Gimblet greeted him sympathetically. + +"You have not found your uncle's will, I can see," he began, "and you are +fretting at the idea of keeping his daughter out of her fortune. But set +your mind at rest; we shall be able to put that right. Is she here, by +the way?" he added, remembering Lady Ruth's anxiety. + +"Here, of course not! What do you mean?" cried Mark, stopping suddenly +in his walk. + +"Well, I was sure she was not," Gimblet replied, "but I promised to ask. +Lady Ruth is rather upset because Miss Byrne did not come in to lunch. I +told her she had probably gone for a longer walk than had been her +intention," he added soothingly, for Mark was looking at him with a +disturbed expression. + +He seemed relieved, however, by the detective's suggestion. + +"Yes, no doubt, that would be the reason," he murmured, lighting a fresh +cigarette, and throwing himself down in an easy-chair, with his hands +clasped behind his head. "No, I haven't found any will, and there's not +a corner left that I haven't turned inside out. I suppose he never really +made it. Just talked about it, probably, as people are so fond of doing. +And now I'm at a loose end; all alone in this big house with no one to +speak to and nothing to do with myself. It's a beast of a day, or I +should go out and try for a salmon, in self-defence. To-morrow I shall go +South. And you, have you found out anything new about the murder yet?" + +"I have found out one thing which you will be glad to hear," said +Gimblet, "and that is the place where the missing will is concealed." + +"What!" cried Mark, leaping to his feet. "Where is it? What does it say? +Give it to me!" + +"I haven't got it," Gimblet told him. "I don't know what it says, but I +know where to look for it. It is in the statue your uncle put up on the +track known as the Green Way. I have found a memorandum of his which sets +the matter beyond a doubt." + +And he related at length the story of the half-sheet of paper with the +mysterious writing, and of how he had learnt by accident of the manner in +which the statue fitted in with the obscure directions, omitting nothing +except the fact that he had already acted on the information so far as to +make certain of the actual existence of the tin box, and saying that he +should prefer the papers to be brought to light in the presence of a +magistrate. + +"I believe there are other documents there besides the will," he said, +without troubling to explain what excellent reasons he had for such a +belief. "I understood from your uncle that there might be some of an +almost international importance. In case any dispute should subsequently +arise about them, I wish to have more than one reliable witness to their +being found. Can you send a man over to the lodge at Glenkliquart, and +ask General Tenby to come back with him. I am told that he is a +magistrate." + +Gimblet did not think it necessary to relate how he had obtained +possession of the sheet of paper bearing the injunction to "face +curiosity." His adventures on that night savoured too strongly of +house-breaking to be drawn attention to. + +"Your uncle must have posted it to me in London the day before he died," +he said mendaciously. "It was forwarded here, and at first I could make +neither head nor tail of it." + +"Why didn't you tell me?" Mark asked impatiently. "And yet," he added +reflecting, "I might not have seen to what it referred. Yes, of course I +will send over for General Tenby. He can't come for three or four hours, +though, which will make it rather late. Are you sure we had not better +open the thing sooner? The bull's horn at the south-east corner turns +like a key, you say? Suppose some one else finds that out and makes off +with whatever may be hidden there." + +"I am absolutely sure we needn't fear anything of the sort, because I +have the best of reasons for being positive that no one has the slightest +inkling of the secret," Gimblet assured him. "There is a whole gang of +scoundrels after the document of which your uncle told me, who are ready +to spend any money, or risk any penalty, in order to obtain it. They will +not be deterred even by having to pay for it with their lives. You may be +quite sure that if anyone had suspected where it was concealed, it would +not have been allowed to remain there, and we should find the _cache_ +empty. But we may safely argue that they have not found it, since in that +case they certainly would not hang about the neighbourhood." + +"Do you mean to say," cried Mark, "that you think there are any of +these Nihilist people lurking about? That letter which came for +Uncle Douglas--the letter from Paris--I guessed it meant something +of the sort." + +"There is a foreigner staying at Crianan," said Gimblet, "whom I have +every reason to suspect. More than that, there has been a Russian in your +very midst who, I am afraid, you will be shocked to hear, is hand in +glove with him." + +"Whom do you mean?" exclaimed Mark, "not--not Julia Romaninov?" It seemed +to the detective that he winced as he uttered the name of the girl. +Silently Gimblet bowed his head, and for a minute the two men stood +without a word. "Then," stammered Mark, "you think that she--that +she--Oh," he cried, "I can hardly believe that!" + +Gimblet did not reply, but after a few moments walked over to the +writing-table and spread out a piece of notepaper. He kept his back +turned towards the young man, who seemed thankful for an opportunity to +recover his composure. + +His face was still working nervously, however, when at length the +detective turned and held out a pen towards him. + +"Will you not write at once to General Tenby?" he suggested. + +Mark sat down before the blotting-pad. + +"He will be at home," he said mechanically. "This weather will have +driven them in early if they have been shooting." + +The note was written and dispatched by a groom on horseback, and then +Gimblet bade an revoir to his host at the door of the castle. + +"I will go back to the cottage," he said; "I have an accumulation of +correspondence that absolutely must be attended to, and I do not think +there is anything to be done up here before General Tenby comes. Once we +have the Nihilist papers in our hands I have a little plan by which I +think our birds may be trapped. Will you meet me at the cottage at +half-past six? The General will have to pass it on the way to +Inverashiel, and we can stop him as he goes by." + +"It will be about seven o'clock, I expect," said Mark, "when he gets down +from Glenkliquart. I'll be with you before he is. The Lord knows how I +shall get through the time till he comes. I loathe writing letters, but +this afternoon I'm dashed if I don't almost envy you and your +correspondence." + +"I know it is the waiting that tells on one," Gimblet said, his voice +full of kindly sympathy. "What you want is to get right away from this +place. Its associations must be horrible to you. No one could really be +astonished if you never set foot in it again." + +Mark laughed rather bitterly. + +"That's just what I feel like," he said shortly. "My uncle killed; my +cousin arrested; my friend accused. Miss Byrne refusing to let me behave +decently to her about the money. Oh well," he pulled himself up, and +spoke in a more guarded tone, "one gets used to everything in time, no +doubt, but just at present, I'm afraid, I am rather depressing company. +See you later." + +They went their ways, Gimblet going forth into the drenching rain which +was now falling down the road, through the soaking woodlands to the +cottage, where the Crianan policemen still smoked their pipes +undisturbed. Lady Ruth met him at the gate, running down in her +waterproof when she saw him approaching. + +"Where is Juliet?" she cried. "Wasn't she at Inverashiel?" + +"Hasn't she come back?" asked Gimblet, answering her question by another. + +"No sign of her. What can have happened? Mr. Gimblet, I am really getting +dreadfully anxious. She must have gone on to the hills and lost her way +in the mist." + +"She is sure to get back in time," Gimblet tried to reassure her, though +he himself was beginning to wonder at the girl's absence. "Perhaps," he +added, "she is at Mrs. Clutsam's. I daresay that's the truth of it." + +"She can't be there," Lady Ruth answered. "Mrs. Clutsam told me she was +going out all day, to-day, to visit her husband's sister who is staying +somewhere twenty miles from here on the Oban road, and longing, of +course, to hear all about the murder at first hand. Relations are so +exacting, and if they are relations-in-law they become positive Shylocks. +Juliet may have gone to the lodge though, all the same, and stayed to +keep the Romaninov girl company." + +She seemed to be satisfied with this explanation; and Gimblet had tea +with her, and then went to write his letters. + +Soon after six one of the policemen went down to the high road to lie in +wait for General Tenby, and about twenty minutes past the hour wheels +rattled on the gravel of the short carriage-drive, and the General drove +up to the door. He was a tall, soldierly-looking man of between fifty and +sixty, with a red face and a keen blue eye, and a precise, jerky manner. + +"Ah, Lady Ruth! Glad to see you bearing up so well under these tragic +circumstances," he said, shaking hands with that lady, who came to the +door to welcome him. "Poor Ashiel ought to have had shutters to his +windows. Dreadful mistake, no shutters: lets in draughts and colds in the +head, if nothing worse. These old houses are all the same. No safety in +them from anything. Young McConachan wrote me an urgent note to come +over. Don't quite see what for, but here I am. Eh? What do you say? Oh, +detective from London, is it? How d'ye do? Perhaps you can tell me what +the programme is?" + +"Young Lord Ashiel promised to meet us here at half-past six," Gimblet +told him. "We expect to put our hands on some important documents, and I +was anxious you should be present." + +"Quite unnecessary. Absolutely ridiculous. Still, here I am. May as well +come along." + +The General went on talking to Lady Ruth, but after a few minutes the +inspector from Crianan sent in to ask if he could speak to him, and they +retired together to Lady Ruth's little private sitting-room, where they +remained closeted for some time. While the old soldier was listening to +what the policeman had to tell him, Gimblet began to show signs of +restlessness. He went to the door and looked about him. The weather was +clearing, the clouds breaking and scudding fast before a wind which had +arisen in the North; a tinge of blue showed here and there in the +interstices between them, while a veil of mist that trailed after them +shone faintly orange in the rays of the hidden sun. + +Gimblet went back and sat down in the drawing-room with the _Scotsman_ in +his hand. He put it down after a few minutes, however, and began +fidgeting about the room. Then he went and conferred with the second of +the two policemen, and as he was talking to him the General and the +inspector reappeared. + +"I think," said Gimblet, coming towards them, "that we will not wait any +longer for Lord Ashiel." + +General Tenby, staring at him with rather a strange expression, +nevertheless silently assented, and the four men started on their walk to +the green way. + +As they went up the glen a ray of sunshine emerged from between the +flying clouds, and fell upon the statue at the end of the enclosed glade. +Away to the right their eyes could follow the track of a distant shower; +and as they went a rainbow curved across the sky, stretching from hill to +hill like some great monumental arch set up for the celestial armies to +march under on their return from the conquest of the earth. + +"That statue," Gimblet remarked to the General, who walked beside him, +"is a specimen of the worst modern Italian sculpture. The figure of +Pandora is modelled like a sack of potatoes; the composition is weak and +unsatisfactory; and the pediment on which the whole group is poised large +enough to support three others of the same size." + +The General grunted. + +"I always understood that the late Lord Ashiel knew what he was +about," he said stiffly. "He told me himself that it cost him a great +deal of money." + +Gimblet sighed. He could not help feeling that it was a pity Lord Ashiel +had not earlier fallen into the habit of consulting him. + +Still, he was bound to admit that though the stone group, regarded as +a work of art, was altogether deplorable, the general effect of the +erection, in its rectangular setting of forest, was excellent. The +whole scene was one of peaceful and romantic beauty. Poets might have +sat themselves down in that moist and shining spot; and, forgetful of +the possibilities of rheumatism, found their muse inspiring beyond +the ordinary. + +Gimblet was at heart something of a poet, but he felt no inclination to +communicate the feelings which the place and hour aroused in him to any +of his companions; and it was in a silence which had in it something +dimly foreboding that the party drew near to the statue. + +In silence, Gimblet approached the great block of stone and laid his hand +upon the projecting horn of the bull. Equally silently the two policemen +had taken up positions at the end of the pedestal; the General stood +behind them, alert and interested. + +After a swift glance, which took in all these details, Gimblet turned the +horn round in its socket. + +The hidden door swung open, and there was a sound of muttered +exclamations from the police and a loud oath from the General. Gimblet +sprang round the corner of the pedestal, and there, as he expected, +cowering in the mouth of the disclosed cavity, and looking, in his fury +of fear and mortification, for all the world like some trapped vermin, +crouched Lord Ashiel, glaring at his liberators with a rage that was +hardly sane. + +Beyond him, on the floor at the back, they could see the tin dispatch +box standing open and empty. + +The two policemen, acting on instructions previously given them, made one +simultaneous grab at the young man and dragged him into the open with +several seconds to spare before the door slammed to again, in obedience +to the invisible mechanism that controlled it. They set him on his legs +on the wet turf, and stood, one on each side of him, a retaining hand +still resting on either arm. + +For a moment Mark gazed from the General to the detective, his eyes full +of hatred. Then he controlled himself with an effort, and when he spoke +it was with a forced lightness of manner. + +"I have to thank you for letting me out," he said. "The air in there was +getting terrible." He paused, and filled his lungs ostentatiously, but +no one answered him. Losing something of his assumed calmness, he went +on, uneasily: "I just thought I'd come along and see if there was any +truth in Mr. Gimblet's story; and I was quite right to doubt it, since +there isn't. He's not quite as clever as he thinks, for he was as +positive as you like that my uncle's will was hidden here, but as a +matter of fact it's not, as I was taking the trouble to make sure when +that cursed statue shut me in. There's nothing in it of any sort except +an empty tin box." + +"There's nothing in it now," said Gimblet, speaking for the first time, +"because I had no doubt you meant to destroy the will if you found it, so +I removed it to a safe place last night. As for the other papers, I have +sent them to London, where they will be still safer. I knew you would +give yourself away by coming here. That's why I told you the secret of +the bull's horn." + +Mark's face was dreadful to see. He made a menacing step forward as if +he would throw himself upon the detective. But the strong right hands of +Inspector Cameron and Police Constable Fraser tightened on his arms and +restrained his further action. He seemed for the first time to be +conscious of their presence. + +"Leave go of my arm," he shouted. "What the devil do you mean by putting +your dirty hands on me?" + +"My lord," said the inspector, "you had better come quietly. I am here to +arrest you for the murder of your uncle, Lord Ashiel, and I warn you that +anything you say may be used against you." + +"Are you going to arrest the whole family?" scoffed Mark. "Where's your +warrant, man?" + +"I have it here, my lord," replied the inspector, fumbling in his pocket +for the paper the astonished General had signed when the inspector had +imparted to him, in Lady Ruth's little sitting-room, the information he +had received from Mr. Gimblet. + +As Inspector Cameron fumbled, the young man, with a sudden jerk which +found them unprepared, threw off the hold upon his arms and leaped aside. + +As he did so, he plunged his hand into his pocket and drew forth a +little phial. + +"You shall never take me alive," he cried, and lifted it to his lips. + +"Stop him!" shouted Gimblet. + +Throwing his whole weight upon the uplifted arm, he forced the phial away +from Mark's already open mouth; the other men rushed to his assistance, +and between them the frustrated would-be suicide was overpowered, and +held firmly while the inspector fastened a pair of handcuffs over his +wrists. When it was done he raised his pinioned hands, as well as he +could, and shook them furiously at Gimblet. + +"It's you I have to thank for this," he shouted. "Curse you, you +eavesdropping spy. But there are surprises in store for you, my friend. +You've got me, it seems, and you say you've got the will. You'll find it +more difficult to lay your hands on the heiress!" + +The words and still more the triumphant tone in which they were uttered +cast a chill upon them all. + +"What do you mean?" cried Gimblet. + +But not another syllable could be got out of the prisoner; and the +inspector, besides, protested against questions being addressed to him. + +With all the elation over his capture taken out of him, and with a mind +full of brooding anxiety, Gimblet hurried on ahead of the returning +party, and burst in upon Lady Ruth with eager inquiries. + +But Juliet had not returned. + +How was anyone to know that she had that morning made her way into the +secret passage of the old tower, and watched through the slip of glass in +the case of the clock what Julia Romaninov was doing in the library? + +But leaving Gimblet and Lady Ruth to organize a search for her, we will +return to Juliet in her hiding-place and see what was the end of her +adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +When Juliet, incensed and indignant at the Russian's behaviour, +discovered the door in the clock and was on the point of opening it +and making her presence known, a noise of steps in the passage made +her pause. As she listened, there was the sound of a key turning in +the lock, the library door was thrown suddenly open, and Mark stepped +into the room. + +Juliet saw Julia's expression as she sprang round to face the newcomer. +She saw it change, swift as lightning, from a look of horrified dismay to +one of sudden transforming tenderness, as the girl recognized the +intruder, that the hand already in the act of pushing open the door of +the clock fell inert and limp to her side, and if she had been able to +move she would have lost no time in retreating. She knew instinctively +that she was seeing a secret laid bare which she had no right to spy +upon. And yet, though her impulse was to fly from the place in +embarrassment and confusion, something stronger than her natural +discretion and delicacy held her where she stood. For Julia had not come +here for the purpose of meeting Mark. She had come with a purpose less +personal: something, Juliet felt convinced, that was in some way vaguely +discreditable, and at the same time menacing. It could be for no harmless +reason that she had taken this secret, dangerous way into the castle. + +And so Juliet kept her ground, blushing at her role of spy, and averting +her eyes as Julia dropped the book she was holding and ran forward to +meet Mark, with that tell-tale look upon her face. + +But Mark did not show the same pleasure. He stood, holding the handle of +the door, which he had closed gently behind him, and looking with a +certain sternness at the girl. + +"Julia," he said, "you here! What are you doing?" + +"Oh, Mark," she cried, not answering his question, "aren't you glad to +see me? It is so long, oh, it is so long since I saw you!" + +She threw her arms round his neck with a happy laugh, and drew his face +down to hers. + +"Darling! darling!" she murmured. "How can we live without each other for +one single day!" + +She spoke in a low, soft voice. To Juliet, to whom every purling syllable +was painfully audible, it sounded cooingly, like the voice of doves. + +To the surprise of the girl to whom Mark had proposed marriage two days +before, when she ventured to peep through her spy window, Mark's arms +were round Julia and he was kissing her ardently. + +But after a moment he released himself gently. + +"You haven't told me, dear," he said, "what you are doing here." + +His voice held a note of authority before which Julia's assurance +vanished. + +"I--I wasn't doing anything," she muttered. + +"Julia!" he remonstrated. + +"Well," she said, with some show of defiance, "I suppose anyone may take +a book from the library." + +"Of course," he said, "you may take anything of mine you want Still, as +you are not staying in the house--In short, it seems to me that the +more obvious course would have been to have said something to me about +it; and besides," he added, struck by a sudden thought, "how in the world +did you get in? The door was locked, and the key is on the outside." + +"Oh, if you're going to make such a fuss about nothing," she exclaimed +petulantly, her toe beginning to tap the boards, "it's not worth +explaining anything to you." She turned away and walked towards the +fireplace. + +"I'm not making a fuss," Mark said quietly, "but you must tell me, Julia, +what you are doing here, and how you came. To speak plainly, I don't +believe you came for a book." + +"If you don't believe me, what's the good of my saying anything?" she +retorted. "Oh, how horrid you are to-day, Mark. I don't believe you love +me a bit, any more." And leaning her head against the mantelpiece, she +burst into tears. + +"You know it isn't that, Julia," he said, looking at her fixedly. "Don't +cry, there's a dear, good girl. You know that I love you. Why, you're the +only thing in the whole world that I really want. But you must tell me +how you came here. Tell me," he repeated, taking her hands from her face, +and forcing her to look at him, "what you want in the library. Tell me, +Julia, I want to know." + +She seemed to struggle to keep silence, but to be unable to resist his +questioning eyes. + +"I suppose I must tell you," she murmured; "it's not that I don't want +to. But they would kill me if they knew. Oh, Mark, I ought not to tell +you, but how can I keep anything secret from my beloved? Swear to me +that you will never repeat it, or try to hinder me in what I have to do?" + +He bent and kissed her. + +"Julia," he said, "can't you trust me?" + +"I do, I do," she cried. "While you love me, I trust you. But if you left +off, what then? That is the nightmare that haunts me. Mark, Mark, what +would become of me if you were to change towards me?" + +He kissed her again, murmuring reassuring words that did not reach +Juliet's ears. "So tell me now," he ended, "what you were doing here." + +"Mark," she said nervously, "you know where my childhood was passed?" + +"In St. Petersburg," he replied wonderingly. + +"Yes, in Petersburg. And you know how things are there. It is so +different from your England, my England. For I am English really, Mark, +although that thought always seems so strange to me; since during so many +years I believed myself to be a Russian. I am the daughter of English +parents; my father was a very respectable London plumber of the name of +Harsden, whose business went to the bad and who died, leaving my mother +to face ruin and starvation with a family of five small children, of whom +I was the last. When a lady who took an interest in the parish in which +we lived suggested that a friend of hers should adopt one of the +children, my mother was only too thankful to accept the proposal, and I +was the one from whom she chose to be parted. I have never seen her +since, but she is still alive, and I send her money from time to time. + +"The lady who adopted me was Countess Romaninov, and I believed +myself her child till a day or two before she died, when she told me, +to my lasting regret, the true story of my origin. But I was brought +up a Russian, and I shall never feel myself to be English. Somehow the +soil you live on in your childhood seems to get into your bones, as +you say here. It is true that I speak your language easily, but it was +Russian that my baby lips first learned. My sympathies, my point of +view, my friends, all except yourself, are Russian. And I have one +essentially Russian attribute, I am a member of what you would call a +Nihilist society." + +Mark interrupted her with an interjection of surprise, but she nodded her +head defiantly, and continued: + +"All my life, all my private ends and desires must be governed by the +needs of my country. First and foremost I exist that the rule of the +Tyrant may be abolished, and the Slav be free to work out his own +salvation; he shall be saved from the fate that now overwhelms and +crushes him; dragged bodily from under the heel of the oppressor. I am +not the only one. We are many who think as one mind. And the day is not +far distant when our sacrifices shall bear fruit. Ah, Mark, what a great +cause, what a noble purpose, is this of ours! Perhaps I shall be able to +convert you, to fire your cold British blood with my enthusiasm?" + +She stopped and looked at him inquiringly. But he made no reply, and +after a moment she continued, placing her hand fondly upon his shoulder +as she spoke. + +"Our plan is to terrify the rulers into submission. We must not shrink +from killing, and killing suddenly and unexpectedly, till they abandon +the wickedness of their Ways. They must never know what it is to feel +safe. And we see to it that they do not. Death waits for them at the +street corner, on their travels, at their own doorsteps. They never know +at what moment the bomb may not be thrown, or the pistol fired. It is +sad that explosives are so unreliable. There are many difficulties. You +would not believe the obstacles that we find placed in our path at every +turning. And for those who are suspected there is Siberia, and the +mines. But it is worth it. It is worth anything to feel that one is +working and risking all for one's country, and one's fellow-countrymen. +It is an honour to belong to a band of such noble men and women. But now +and then one is admitted who turns out to be unworthy. Yes, even such a +cause as ours has traitors to contend with. And your uncle, Lord Ashiel, +was one of them." + +"What," said Mark incredulously, "Uncle Douglas a Nihilist? Nonsense. +It's impossible." + +"He was, really. For he joined the 'Friends of Man' when he was at the +British Embassy at Petersburg long years ago; and no sooner had he been +initiated than he turned round and denounced the society and all its +works. Worse still, he declared his intention of hindering it from +carrying out its programme. He would have been got rid of there and +then, but as ill-luck would have it he had, by an unheard-of chain of +accidents, become possessed of an important document belonging to the +society. It was, indeed, a list of the principal people on the executive +committee that fell into his hands, and he took the precaution of +sending it to England, with instructions that if anything happened to +him it should be forwarded to the Russian Police, before he made known +his ridiculous objections to our programme. Here, as you will +understand, was a most impossible situation with which there was +apparently no means of coping. + +"For years that one man hampered and frustrated our entire organization. +He was practically able to dictate his own terms, for he announced his +intention of publishing the list of names if we carried out any important +project, and no device could be contrived to stop his being as good as +his word. The tyrant has walked unscathed except by mere private +enterprise, and the government we could have caused to crumble to the +ground has flourished and continued to work evil as before. We have been +crippled, paralysed in every direction. It was only last year that there +seemed reason to think that Lord Ashiel had removed the document from the +Bank of England where it had for so long been guarded, and there appeared +to be a possibility that he now kept it in his own house. If that were +so, there seemed a good chance of getting hold of it, and how proud I am, +Mark, to think that it was I who was chosen to make the attempt! + +"I came to England with the best introductions into society, and had no +difficulty in making friends with your aunt and obtaining an invitation +to stay here. Last year I did not succeed in gaining any information. +Your uncle, for some reason, seemed rather to avoid me, and I did not +make any headway towards gaining his confidence. I never could be sure if +he suspected me. This year there was a question of replacing me by some +one else, but it was judged that Lord Ashiel's suspicions would be +certainly awakened by the appearance of another Russian, so, in the hope +that I was not associated in his mind with the people to which he had +behaved so basely, I was ordered to try again. + +"A member of the society, who occupies a high and responsible position on +the council, accompanied me to the neighbourhood, and from time to time I +report to him and receive his advice and instructions. He stays in +Crianan, so that I have some one within reach to go to for advice. At +least, so I am officially informed, but I know very well he is really +there to keep watch on me, for it is not the habit of the society to +trust its members more than is unavoidable. If it is possible, I go once +a week to Crianan and make my report, but I can't always manage to go, +and then he rows across the loch after dark and I go out and meet him. He +was to come on the night of the murder, and my first thought when I heard +of it was that he might be caught in the shrubberies and mistaken for the +murderer. But it appears that he had already taken alarm, and I am +thankful to say he was able to escape in good time." + +"So David really did see some one wandering about that night," Mark +commented thoughtfully. "Ah, Julia, if you'd told me all this earlier +everything might have been different. Poor old David need never have been +dragged into it at all." + +She looked at him a moment, as if puzzled, and then continued her story. + +"It was thought that I might be able to bring about your uncle's death by +some means that should have all the appearance of an accident, and so +perhaps not involve action on the part of those who hold the +document--that is, if it should prove not to be in his own keeping--for +he had always assured the council that no decisive step would be taken +except as a retort to signs of violence on our part, whether directed +towards himself or others. + +"I have not been able to find any trace of the list. I thought I had it +one day in London, when I followed Lord Ashiel to a detective's office, +and managed to gain possession of an envelope given him by Lord Ashiel, +but as far as I could make out it contained nothing of any importance. It +was a bitter disappointment. You can imagine the consternation into which +we were thrown by the murder. It seemed certain that his death would be +attributed to our organization, and if anyone held the list for him it +would be published immediately. Four days have passed, however, and my +superior has received a cable saying that so far all is well. It looks +more and more as if the list had been kept here, but I have hunted +everywhere and found nothing. Oh, I have searched without ceasing since +the moment I heard of his death! I came here even on the very night of +the murder, and moved the body with my own hands in order to get at the +bureau drawers. There is a secret way into the room through that old +clock there, which leads into the grounds; I found it long ago, one day +when I was exploring outside in the shrubberies. I have often been here, +and searched, and searched again. Do you know anything of this document, +Mark? If you do, I beg and implore you to give it to me. Otherwise I +cannot answer for your life; and, as for our marriage, that is out of the +question unless I am successful in my undertaking." + +It may be imagined with what amazement and growing horror Juliet listened +to this avowal. That Julia, the girl with whom she had associated on +terms of easy familiarity which had been near to becoming something like +intimacy in the close contact and companionship of a country-house life, +that this girl, an honoured guest in Lord Ashiel's house, should have +gained her footing there for her own treacherous ends, or at the bidding +of a band of political assassins! Juliet could scarcely believe her ears +as she heard the calm, indifferent tone in which Julia spoke of the +drawbacks to "getting rid" of Lord Ashiel, and of the contemplated +"accident" which was to have befallen him. She would have fled from where +she stood, if mingled fear and curiosity to hear more had not rooted her +to the spot. Her alarm was tempered by the presence of Mark. If this girl +should discover her hiding there and show signs of the violence that +might be expected from such a character, Mark would be there to protect +her. She could trust him to know how to deal with the Russian, whose true +nature must now be apparent to him. + +But Mark, to her astonishment, had not drawn away from Julia with the +repugnance and disgust that were to be expected. Instead, he was looking +at her, strangely, indeed, but almost eagerly. + +"It was you, then, who moved the body! To think that I never guessed!" he +murmured, half to himself. "If I had known, I might have spared myself +the trouble to--" Then more loudly he reproached his companion. + +"And you have never said a word to me! Oh, Julia, you didn't trust me." +He shook his head at her mournfully. + +"Trust you!" she retorted. "Did you trust me? But I would have trusted +you," she added, gazing fondly into his eyes, "if I had dared risk the +punishment that will surely be meted out to me if it is known I have done +so. You don't know how rigid the rules of our society are. But you +haven't told me yet if you have the list." + +"Not I," he said. "I never heard of its existence. I suppose that +anonymous letter that came addressed to Uncle Douglas after his death had +something to do with that." + +"Did a letter come from Paris? They sent them to him from time to time. +It prevented his suspecting me. But you will give me the list if you find +it, won't you? It means everything to me." + +"Of course I will," he promised. "It is no earthly good to me, so far as +I know. But you, when you were looking for it, did you, among all the +papers you examined, ever come across such a thing as a will?" + +"No, never," she replied. "Mrs. Clutsam told me it could not be found. +You may be sure, if I had discovered one which did not leave you +everything, I should have destroyed it." + +"Dear little Julia!" Mark drew her to him and kissed her. "How sweet you +are. There is no one like you!" + +"Really? Do you really love me, Mark?" + +"Darling, of course I do." + +"Will you always? Are you quite, quite sure that I am the one girl in all +the world for you, as you are the one man for me?" + +"Darling, you are the only one in the world I have ever so much as +looked at." + +"Would you never, never forget me, or marry anyone else, no matter what +happened?" + +"Never," he assured her, "never." + +She sighed contentedly. + +"What should I do if you forgot me, Mark? I should die. But," she added +in a different tone, "I think I should kill you first!" + +Mark laughed a little uneasily. + +"Hush, hush," he said, "you mustn't talk so much about killing. A minute +ago you were talking of killing my poor old uncle. If I took you +seriously what should I think? It is lucky I love you as I do, otherwise +doesn't it occur to you that it might get you into trouble to talk in +this wild way?" + +"You can take me as seriously as you like," she answered gravely. "I am +serious enough, God knows. But I shouldn't talk about it, even to you, if +I didn't _know_ it was safe. You see, I know you are like me." + +"Like you? I'm dashed if I am! How do you mean? I am like you?" + +She looked at him squarely, and nodded. + +"Yes," she said, "you are like me. You would not hesitate to kill if you +thought it necessary. You think just the same as me on that subject. Only +you have gone farther than I have--yet." + +"Julia," he cried, "what do you mean?" + +"I mean that I know all about you, Mark," she replied gravely. "I know +what you think you have kept secret from me. I know it was you who killed +your uncle." + +With a muffled cry Mark shook himself free, and sprang away from her. + +"What are you saying?" he whispered hoarsely. "You are mad, girl! But I +won't have such lies uttered, I won't have it, I tell you." + +With terrified amazement Juliet saw his face change, become ugly, +distorted. But Julia showed no sign of alarm. + +"Why get so excited?" she asked calmly. "What does it matter? Do you +imagine I would betray you? I, who would sell my soul for you! I know you +did it. It is no use keeping up this pretence of innocence to me, who had +more right to kill him than you. Why shouldn't you kill who you wish? But +don't say you didn't do it. It is foolish. I saw you." + +"It is a lie. You can't have seen me," Mark declared again, but with less +assurance. "You were in the drawing-room all the time. Lady Ruth and +Maisie Tarver both said so. The drawing-room doesn't even look out on the +garden. There is no room that does, except the library, and you weren't +there then, anyhow." + +"I didn't see you fire the shot," said Julia, "but I saw you afterwards +when you went to put back your rifle in the gun-room. I told you that +after the first search in the grounds was over, and everyone had gone +up to bed, I slipped out of the house by the door near the gunroom, and +came round to the library to see if Lord Ashiel had carried the list on +him. When I came back, I let myself in quietly by the door which I had +left unbolted, and had just got half-way up the back stairs when I +heard footsteps in the passage below, and crouched down behind the +banisters. I saw you come along the passage, carrying an electric +lantern in one hand and your rifle in the other. I saw you look round +anxiously before opening the gun-room door and going in. When you had +vanished, I hurried on up to my room, for it was not the time or place +to tell you what I had seen, but I left a crack of my door open, and +after rather a long while saw you pass along the passage to your own +room; this time without your gun. I knew, of course, that you had been +cleaning it and putting it away." + +She spoke with the indifference with which one may refer to a regrettable +but incontrovertible fact, and Mark seemed to feel it useless to deny +what she said. + +"You had no right to spy on me," he exclaimed angrily when she had done. + +"Oh, Mark," she cried, dismayed, "I wasn't spying. It was the merest +accident. And I think it's horrid of you to mind my knowing. Why didn't +you tell me all about it before. I might have helped you, I'm sure." + +But he would have none of her endearments, and threw off the hand she +laid upon his arm with a rough gesture. + +"Mark, oh, Mark," she wailed, "don't be angry with me! You know I can't +bear it. I can bear anything but that. Don't, don't be angry with me." + +She had but one thought; it was for him, and he who ran might read it +shining in the depths of her great eyes. After a few minutes of sulking, +Mark relented. + +"No one could be angry with you for long, Julia," he declared. + +Instantly she was once more all smiles. + +"Don't ever be angry with me again," she urged, her hands in his. "And +now that you have forgiven me, tell me all about it. What made you do +such a dreadful thing, Mark? You must have had some good reason, I know. +I never would doubt that." + +"There's nothing much to tell," he said unwillingly. "I had a good +reason, yes. I must have money. It is for your sake, darling, that I must +get it. I can't marry you without it. I hadn't meant to kill him, if I +could get it without. He was ill, and had left his fortune to me. I +thought I should get it in time, by letting Nature take her course. It +was that or ruin, and I really had to do it for your sake, darling. I +didn't want to hurt the old boy. Why should I? It's not a pleasant thing +to have to do. But I had no choice--there was no other way of getting +enough money, and I simply had to get it. It was his life or mine. You +don't understand. I can't explain. It just had to be done, and there's an +end of it. Everything was going wrong. That girl, that Byrne girl, I +imagined he was going to marry her. You know we all did. That would have +spoilt everything. At first I thought she could be got out of the way, +but she seemed to bear a charmed life." + +"What?" cried Julia, "did you try to kill her too?" + +"Why, if anyone had to be got rid of," he admitted defiantly, "it seemed +better to go for a stranger, like her, than for my own uncle. Come, you +must see that, surely! She was nothing to me, and, anyhow, my hand was +forced. It's very hard that I should have been put in such a position. +I'm the last person to do harm to a fly, but one must think of oneself." + +Since it was no use denying the murder, he seemed to find some sort of +satisfaction in telling Julia of his other crimes. And yet, though he +tried hard to speak with an affectation of indifference, it was plain +that he kept a watchful eye upon his listener, and was ready to fasten +resentfully upon the first sign of horror, or even disapproval. For all +his efforts, the tone of his disclosures was at once swaggering and +suspicious; but he need have had no anxiety as to the spirit in which +they would be received. It was clear that Julia brought to his judgment +no remembrance of ordinary human standards of conduct. To her he was +above such criticisms, as the Immortals might be supposed to be above +the rules that applied to dwellers upon earth. What he did was right in +her eyes, because he did it, and she admired his brutality, as she adored +the rest of him, whole-heartedly, without reservation. + +"I had a shot at her," he went on, "one day on the moor when she was with +David; but I missed her. It was a rotten shot. I can't think how I came +to do it. Then when she fell into the river--I saw her standing by it as +I came home from stalking.... I had walked on ahead, and where the path +runs along above the waterfall pool I happened to go to the edge and look +over. There she was on a stone right at the edge, by the deepest part. It +looked as if she'd been put there on purpose, and I should have been a +fool to miss such a chance. It's no good going against fate. As a matter +of fact I thought I'd got her sitting this time. I caught up the nearest +piece of rock and dropped it down on her. That was a good shot, though I +say it, but it hit her on the shoulder instead of the head as luck would +have it, which was bad luck for me. However, in she went, and I thought +all was well and lost no time in getting away from the place. If it +hadn't been for that meddling fool Andy!... Well, then, at dinner, Uncle +Douglas came out with the news that she was his daughter, not his +intended, and everything looked worse than ever. Afterwards when she went +to talk to him in the library, and passed through the billiard-room where +I was knocking the balls about and feeling pretty savage, I can tell you, +I happened, by a fluke, to ask her if she knew where David was. She said +he'd gone into the garden. + +"Then I saw my chance, and it seemed too good to miss. Why should I let +my inheritance be stolen from me? I ran off to the gun-room for a gun. I +meant to take David's rifle, but I found he hadn't cleaned it, so I left +it alone and took mine, as the thing was really too important to risk +using a strange gun unless it was absolutely necessary, and his is a +little shorter in the stock than I like. I nipped back and let myself out +of the passage door into the enclosed garden. It was a black night, +though I knew my way blindfolded about there. But the curtains of the +library were drawn, and I couldn't see between them without stepping on +the flower bed. I knew too much to leave my footmarks all over them, but +I had to get on to the bed to have a chance of getting a shot. So I got +the long plank the gardeners use to avoid stepping on the flower beds +when they're bedding out, from the tool-house behind the holly hedge +where I knew it was kept, and put it down near the hedge. It is held up +clear of the ground by two cross pieces of wood, one at each end, you +know, so there would be no marks left to identify me by. + +"When I walked to the end of the plank, I could see straight into the +middle of the room; but they must have been sitting near the fire, for no +one was in sight. I could see the writing bureau and the chair in front +of it, and dimly in the back of the room I could make out the face of the +clock, but that was all. + +"Well, I stood there for what seemed a long while. You've no idea how +cramping it is to stand on a narrow plank with no room to take a step +forward or back, for long at a time. And I don't mind telling you I got a +bit jumpy, waiting there. If anyone chanced to come along, what could I +say by way of explanation? I couldn't think of anything the least likely +to wash. And somehow, in the dark, one begins to imagine things. I saw +David coming at me across the lawn every other minute. And it seemed so +hideously likely that he should come. I knew he was somewhere out in the +grounds. By Jove, if he had, he'd have got the bullet instead of Uncle +Douglas! But he didn't come. Those beastly shadows and shapes and +whisperings and rustlings that seemed to be all round me, hiding in the +night, turned out to be nothing after all. But when I didn't fancy him at +my elbow, I imagined he was in the gunroom, wondering where the dickens +my rifle had got to. + +"Oh, I had a happy half-hour among the roses, I tell you! A rifle is a +heavy thing too. I leant it up against a rose-bush and tried to sit down +on the plank, but it wouldn't do, and I saw I must bear it standing, or +Uncle Douglas might cross in front of the slit between the curtains +without my having time to get a shot. You must remember I'd been on the +hill all day, so that I was very stiff to begin with. It got so bad that +I began to think it was hardly worth the candle at last--and it's a +wonder I didn't miss him clean--when, just as I was on the point of +giving the whole thing up and going in again, he came suddenly into my +field of vision, and actually sat down at the table. + +"I took a careful aim and fired. I saw him fall forward, and then I +jumped off the plank and hurled it back under the hedge before I ran for +the house. I had left the door ajar, and I just stayed to close it, and +then darted into the empty billiard-room and thrust my rifle under a +sofa. It was a quick bit of work. I had counted on Juliet Byrne waiting a +moment or two to see if she could do anything to help him before she +roused the house, or it roused itself, and she was rather longer than I +expected. I don't mind owning I got into a panic when minutes passed and +no one appeared, and I began to think I must have missed the old boy +altogether. I was within an ace of going to make certain, when the door +opened and in she came. Oh well, you know all the rest. That silly old +ass, David, was still mooning about in the garden, thinking of her, I +suppose, which was very lucky for me." + +Julia had listened with absorbed interest. + +"I think it is wonderful," she said, "that you should have gone through +all that for my sake. I shall always try to deserve it, my dear. Was it +all, all for me, that you did it, truly?" + +"Yes," Mark assured her, gruffly monosyllabic. + +"But how was it," she asked caressingly, "that Sir David's footprints +were found all over the rose-bed. What was he doing there?" + +"That was an afterthought," Mark admitted. "It was a tophole idea. After +every one had gone upstairs, I crept down and got my Mannlicher from +where I had hidden it, and took it to the gun-room, where I cleaned it +and put it in its usual place. It was lucky for me that David had left +his weapon dirty. It was jolly unlike him to do it. I was thinking what a +good thing it was, and how well things looked like turning out--for I +thought I could manage the girl if she was able to prove that she really +was a McConachan--and it struck me I ought to be able to contrive that +the business should look a bit blacker against poor old David. Every one +knew he'd had a row with Uncle Douglas about his beastly dog, and if I +could only manufacture a little more evidence against him I knew I should +be pretty safe, one way and another. I was going back to the garden to +put by the gardener's plank, when I thought of using his boots. It didn't +take long to find them among all the boots used that day by the +household, which were ranged in a row in the place where they clean them +in the back premises. His bootmakers' name was in them. I took them, and +when I got to the garden door I put them on, and went out and trampled +about among the roses till I was pretty sure that even the blindest +country bobby couldn't fail to notice the tracks I'd left, though of +course I couldn't see them myself in the dark. Then I got the plank out +of the hedge and put it away where I'd found it. After that, I took the +boots back, and went to bed; and very glad I was to get there. Now you've +heard the whole story." + +"How clever you are," murmured the girl. "There's no one like you," she +said, "no one." Mark smiled rather fatuously. He evidently shared her +opinion that his brains were something slightly out of the way. "And +everything happened just as you'd planned," she went on admiringly. "They +suspected Sir David from the first. I should have, myself, if I hadn't +known it was you who had done it." + +"Yes," said Mark, "they suspected him, the silly idiots! They might have +known he hasn't the initiative to do a thing like that. And the girl +can't prove her relationship to Uncle Douglas, just as I expected. I +thought there might be some difficulty about that. But I wish I could +find the will he made in her favour. I should feel safer then, for she +told me he said he'd worded it so that she should get the money whether +she was proved his daughter or not. And who knows what other mad clauses +he may have put in it. Lately, for some reason I could never make out, I +felt sure he had changed towards me. He let fall a hint one day that his +legacies to me were conditional on my good behaviour. I don't feel easy +about it at all. Some one must have been telling him things--poisoning +his mind. But I've hunted high and low, and found nothing. I'm sick of +looking over musty old bills." + +"Oh, we shall find it between us now," said Julia hopefully. "I wish I +had some idea where the list I want is, though," she added. + +"There's that detective, too," pursued Mark. "That fellow Gimblet. I'm +rather fed up with him. Not that he seems any use at his work, though +he's supposed to be rather first-class at it, I believe." + +"Gimblet! Is that who it is? Mrs. Clutsam told me a London detective +was here, but I didn't know who it was. I have met him before, and +found him very easy to manage. I don't think you need be afraid of +anything he may do." + +"I shall be glad when he's off the place, anyhow," said Mark. + +"I shall be glad when the whole business is over and forgotten," Julia +rejoined. "I wish we could be married at once, Mark darling. But why +can't it be given out that we are engaged. I don't understand why we +should keep it a secret now. I can't stand seeing so little of you as I +have these last few days." + +"Be patient, darling, wait just a little longer. There are reasons, as I +have told you. I must get my financial affairs straight, for one thing, +before I allow you to tie yourself to me. Suppose I turn out to be a +beggar? I couldn't let you marry me then, you know." + +"Mark!" Julia's voice was full of reproach. "You know perfectly well how +little I care about your money. I would be only too glad to marry you if +you hadn't a penny. But perhaps you mean that if you were poor you +wouldn't want to burden yourself with a wife?" + +"You know how I adore you, Julia. How can you suggest such a thing? I +couldn't even dream of a life without you. You show how little you know +me. But, believe me, it is wisest to wait a short time longer before we +are publicly engaged. You must take my word for it, and not made me +unhappy by imagining such cruel things. Come, let us look for this list +of yours. What were you doing--searching among the books?" + +"Yes," said she, rising, as he went towards a bookshelf, and following +him. "I thought it might be hidden between the leaves of one of these old +volumes. One reads of such things." + +"I wonder," he said absently. "The will, too, may be here. Is there a +Bible anywhere? I believe that's a favourite place of concealment. Then, +when the heir is virtuous and reads his Bible, he gets the legacy, you +know; while, if he isn't, he doesn't. A sort of poetic justice is meted +out. If I find it in that way I shall take it as a sign that I am really +the virtuous one and that Heaven absolves me from all blame." + +He spoke mockingly, but Julia answered very seriously: + +"Of course you ought to have it; and if I don't blame you, why should +anyone else?" + +"Well," he said after a pause, "at all events I mean to get it, whether +or no, if I have to pull down every stone of the place. That reminds me," +he added, "where is the secret entrance you use? Through this old clock? +Who would have thought it?" + +In a moment Juliet realized that she was going to be caught. She had +been so absorbed in listening to the dreadful revelations that had been +made during the last half-hour that not till now had she considered how +dangerous was her position. + +As he spoke, Mark threw open the door of the clock case. Too late, she +turned to fly; he caught her by the arm and, with a stifled oath, dragged +her into the room. + +"How long have you been there?" he cried, and fell to swearing horribly; +while Julia stood by, not speaking, but looking at Juliet with an +expression which frightened her more than all his violence. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +It did not occur to Juliet to deny that she had overheard their talk. She +had been found in the act of spying on them, and it was inconceivable +that they should believe she had not done so. Besides, she was raging at +the thought of what she had heard, and her anger gave her a courage she +might otherwise have found it hard to maintain. + +"I have been there all the time," she declared stoutly. "I heard all you +said, you wicked, wicked man. A murderer! Oh, how horrible it all is!" + +Julia laid a hand on Mark's arm. + +"She will tell what she knows," she said, trembling. + +"She shall not," Mark stammered furiously. He seemed to be half +suffocating with rage. "She shall not go unless she swears to say +nothing. Swear it, I say!" + +He seized Juliet by the shoulder and shook her violently to emphasize +his words. + +"I won't swear anything of the kind," she retorted, trying to break from +his grasp. "Do you suppose you can kill me, too, without being found out? +There is a detective here now, and Sir David Southern is not at hand to +lay the blame on. You coward! How dare you touch me!" + +The truth of her words seemed to strike home to Mark, for he left go of +her suddenly, and stood, biting his nails and scowling, the picture of +irresolution and malignance. + +Juliet lost no time in following up any advantage she might have gained. + +"I can't help knowing that you care for him," she said, addressing +herself to Julia, "though I wouldn't have listened to that part if I +could have helped it. But how can you? How can you? I can't understand +how you can feel as you do about killing people, but at least if you did +such a thing you would imagine it was for the good of your country, while +this man thinks of nothing but his own selfish ends. Money, that is all +he wants! How can you condone such a crime as his? To kill Lord Ashiel, +that good, kind man who had treated him like a son all his life, who did +everything for him. And just for the sake of money! It's not even as if +he wanted it really. He's not starving. He had everything, in reason, +that he wanted. If he needed more, urgently, I believe he had only to +tell his uncle, and it would have been given to him. Oh, it is beyond all +words! He must be a fiend." + +Indignation choked her. She spoke in bursts of trembling anger, her words +sounding tamely in her own ears. All she could say seemed commonplace and +inadequate beside the knowledge that this man was her father's murderer. + +Even Julia, indifferent to every aspect of the case that did not touch +upon her relations with her lover, was shaken by the scornful disgust +with which the broken sentences were poured forth; and, if her +infatuation for Mark was too complete to allow her to consider any +action of his unjustifiable, still she realized, perhaps for the +first time, the feelings with which other people would view the thing +that he had done. + +"You don't understand him," she faltered. "He didn't want money for +himself alone. It was for me he did it. He was too proud to ask me to +marry a poor man. You could never understand his love for me. How can I +blame him? How many men would run such risks for the girl they loved? I +am proud, yes proud, to be loved like that!" + +"You believe his lies," Juliet cried contemptuously. "You believe he +loves you so much? Why it is not two days since he came to me and asked +me to marry him." + +"What!" Julia spoke in a panting whisper. Her face had suddenly lost +every particle of colour. "Say it's not true," she begged, turning +miserably to the man. + +He made an effort to deny the charge. + +"Of course. Not a word of truth in it. Damned nonsense," he blustered. + +But his eyes fell before Juliet's scornful gaze, and Julia was not +deceived. + +"It can't be true, oh, it can't," she moaned. "No man could be so vile." + +"No other man could," Juliet amended. In spite of herself she was sorry +for the girl, whose stricken face showed plainly the anguish she was +undergoing. "Forget him, Julia; he is not worthy to tie your shoe-lace. +He came to me after they had taken David away, and asked me first if I +would take his inheritance even though I couldn't prove my birth, which +he must have known perfectly that I should never dream of doing, and then +proposed I should marry him, saying that he was very fond of me, and that +in that way justice would be done as regards Lord Ashiel's money, +however things turned out for me. I thought it honourable and generous at +the time, and so did Lady Ruth when I told her--oh yes, she knows about +it and can tell you it is true--but now I see that all he wanted was to +be on the safe side, and, if I had accepted him and had turned out to +have no claim upon his uncle's fortune, he would have broken the +engagement on some easy pretext. Can you deny it?" she demanded of Mark. + +But he could not face her, though he made an effort again to +brazen it out. + +Every word she had spoken seemed to strike Julia like a blow. She shrank +quivering away, and threw herself down on to a chair, her face hidden in +her hands. Juliet went to her and touched her gently on the shoulder. + +"Don't think of him any more," she said. "Presently you will hate +yourself for having cared for a murderer. Just now, I know, your love for +him makes you gloss over his crimes, but when you are yourself you will +see how odious they are. Poor Julia, I hate to hurt you so, but it is +better, isn't it, that you should know? You will forget this madness. He +is not worth your wasting another thought on. Think how shamefully he has +deceived you. Think of all his lying words, of how he told you he had +never looked at another woman." + +Julia raised her head and showed a face, white as chalk, in which the +great brown eyes seemed to burn like fires of hatred. + +"Yes," she said in a hard, even voice. "I am thinking of it. I shall not +forget him. No. Instead, I shall think of him day and night, be sure of +that. I shall laugh as I think of him; laugh at the thought of him in +his place in the dock, or in his prison cell. I shall laugh when I give +my evidence against him, and most of all I shall laugh on the day when he +is hanged. If his grave is to be found, I shall dance upon it. Oh, it +will be a merry day for me, that day when the cord is tightened round his +false neck!" + +She went near to Mark, and hissed the last words into his face, leaning +forward, with one hand on her own throat. But he seemed to shrink less +before her vindictive passion than he had under the colder scorn of +Juliet's denunciations. + +"Come, Juliet," said Julia, calming herself a little, although hate was +still blazing in her eyes, "let us leave this place. We must send for +the police." + +"Julia," said Mark, stepping forward, and speaking with some of his +former assurance, "you condemn me unheard. Why should you believe this +girl before me? It is not like you, Julia. It is not like the girl I +love. For I do love you, darling, in spite of what you may think; and, +till a few moments ago, I thought you loved me too. But I see now what +your love is. One whiff of suspicion, one word of accusation, and without +proof or evidence you condemn me, and your so-called affection +disappears. Julia, I think you have broken my heart." + +Juliet gave vent to a derisive sound which can only be called a snort; +but it was plain that his words, and more especially the manner of sad +yet tender reproach in which they were uttered, were not without their +effect on the other girl. Her eyes wavered uneasily; she twisted and tore +at her handkerchief. + +"I have heard what you have to say," she murmured. "I saw that you could +not deny what Juliet told me." + +"I did deny it. But what is the use of talking to you when you are in +such a state? You are determined beforehand to disbelieve me. And I have +no wish to justify myself to Miss Byrne, though I am willing to swallow +my pride and do so to you." + +"Well," she said after a moment's hesitation, "justify yourself if you +can. No one shall say I would not listen. God knows I shall be glad +enough if you can clear yourself." + +"To begin with," said Mark, "I admit that, superficially, there is truth +in what you have heard. But only superficially, for the person I deceived +was not yourself but this young lady. I certainly, as she suggests, never +had the slightest intention of marrying her. For one thing I was +absolutely certain she would refuse me, but it seemed a good +precautionary move to make what might appear a generous proposal, and at +the same time get a sort of mandate from the possible heiress herself to +stick to my uncle's fortune. You may be sure I should never have given it +up, in any case, but it is as well to keep up appearances. The business +was only a move in the game I am playing, and no more affects the +sincerity of my love for you than any of the social equivocations we all +find necessary from time to time. I love you, Julia, and you alone. How +can you doubt it? I love you so much that I am willing to overlook your +want of confidence in me, and to forgive the cruel things you said just +now. Darling, how can I tell you, before a third person, what I feel for +you? You are everything to me; and, if you no longer love me, I don't +care what happens. Give me up to the police if you like. The gallows is +as good a place as another, without your love." + +Long before he had finished, all traces of resentment had vanished. When +he ceased speaking, she gave in completely, and threw herself upon his +breast, sobbing passionately, and begging his forgiveness for having +doubted him for an instant, while he soothed and comforted her in a low +tone. Juliet did not know what to do or which way to look. The two stood +between her and the door, and she felt an absurd awkwardness about trying +to pass them. Was it likely she would be allowed to go out free to +denounce them? She was afraid of trying. + +At last Julia was calm again, and there came a silence, during which the +pair glanced at Juliet and then at each other. + +"What's to be done?" Julia asked at length, and then suddenly, without +waiting for an answer, "I have an idea, Mark, that will save you. If her +mouth can be stopped for a time, will you be able to get clear away?" + +"I shall have to try, I suppose," he replied, with a trace of his former +sulkiness. "To think that everything should miscarry because of a slip +of a girl!" + +"You had better go to Glasgow and get on board some ship there which will +take you to a place of safety. I shall have to stay behind till the +matter of the list is settled one way or the other. But then, when I have +reported to my superiors, I can join you, and we can begin life together +in some far-off country. I shall be as happy in one place as in another +with you, Mark; are you sure you will be, too, with only me?" + +Mark hastened to reassure her on that point, but his tone as he said it +did not carry conviction to Juliet. Julia, however, seemed satisfied. + +"Miss Byrne can choose," she continued. "Either she swears not to say a +word till we are both safe away, or else we can shut her in the dungeon +of the castle. I know where it is, in the wall of this tower. She will +never be found there, and I can take her food from time to time till I am +ready to join you. Isn't that a good plan?" + +Mark considered. + +"I don't think we will give her the option of swearing not to tell," he +said presently. + +"As if I would ever promise such a thing!" Juliet interrupted, indignant. + +"But," he went on, ignoring this outburst, "otherwise I think your idea +is good. Where is this dungeon? We may be disturbed at any minute, and +enough time has been wasted already." + +"I will go first and show the way," said Julia. "I have an electric +torch," and she stepped into the clock and lowered herself through the +trap-door. + +Mark motioned to Juliet to follow. + +"Ladies first," he said with a sneer. + +Juliet turned and made a dash for the door. + +"I won't go! I won't! I won't!" she cried desperately, though in her +heart she knew she could not resist if he chose to use force. Perhaps if +she screamed, some one would hear. Oh, where was Gimblet? Why did he +leave her to the mercy of these people? "Help! Help!" She lifted up her +voice and shrieked as loud as she could. + +With a vicious scowl Mark sprang upon her, and clapped a hand over her +mouth. Then, as she still continued to produce muffled sounds of +distress, he stuffed his handkerchief in between her teeth and, lifting +her bodily in his arms, thrust her before him into the clock, and +pushed her roughly down the hidden stair. Half-way down she lost her +footing, and fell to the bottom, where Julia was standing with her +little lamp in her hand. + +Mark was following close behind, and between them they picked her up and +hurried her, limping and bruised, along the narrow passage. She was +allowed to take the handkerchief out of her mouth, for no cry could +penetrate the immense thickness of these blocks of stone. At the point +where there was a break to right and left in the walls of the passage, +Julia came to a standstill. + +"Here it is," she said, turning her light on to the opening in the wall +on the left-hand side. "The door is gone, so you will have to fetch +something to block it up with." + +It seemed to be a small, cell-like chamber, built into the side of the +tower. It may have contained a dozen cubic yards of space, and had +neither door nor window. + +"There are some slabs of stone at the end of the passage," said Julia. +"They are heavy, but you are strong, you will be able to bring them. We +must leave a little space at the top of the door to admit some air, and +for me to pass food through to our prisoner." She laughed with a feverish +merriment. "It will be like feeding the animals at the Zoo," she said. + +Mark signified his approval by a nod. + +"And is this the way?" he asked, turning round and starting off in the +opposite direction. + +"No, no!" Julie cried, laying a detaining hand upon his arm. "I don't +know what there is down there. I think it is a well. See, you are on the +very edge." + +She cast the light on to a round dark opening in the ground some six feet +in front of and below them. From where they stood the floor began to +slant suddenly and steeply downward, so that if Mark had taken another +step, it looked as if nothing could have prevented his sliding down into +the gaping circle of blackness at the bottom. + +Julia shuddered violently. + +"Oh," she cried, "if you had gone over! Come away, do come away!" + +"It's a funny sort of well," he said, "Looks to me like something else. +Did you ever hear of _oubliettes_, Julia?" + +Juliet, as she heard him, grew white with terror. + +"Julia, Julia," she cried, "you won't let him throw me down there?" + +"No, no," said Julia. "He would not. There is no reason.... Mark," she +urged, "come away from here." + +But he only laughed shortly. + +"Don't be so hysterical," he said, and continued to bend his gaze upon +the hole at the bottom of the slope. It seemed to have a sort of +fascination for him. Finally he picked a piece of loose mortar from the +wall and threw it down into the gap. A second later there was a dull +sound which might have been a splash. "Perhaps it is a well after all. +Did you think it sounded as if it had fallen into water?" + +"Yes," said Julia, "I am sure it did. Do come away. I hate being here." + +And indeed she was shivering from head to foot, and not Juliet herself +seemed more anxious to leave the place. + +"Just one more shot," said Mark. "Here, Julia, stoop down, and roll that +bit of stone slowly down the slope, while I hold on to our prisoner. We +shall hear better that way. Give me your lamp." + +Anxious to satisfy him, Julia picked up the fragment he had knocked +from the rough wall, and stooping down stretched out her hand to set the +stone in motion. But, as she did so, Mark loosened his grip on Juliet, +and bending quickly behind this poor girl who loved him seized her by +the shoulders and threw her forward on to her face. The steep pitch of +the floor finished what the impetus given by his onslaught had begun. +Julia shot head first down the slope, and disappeared into the black +chasm of the well. + +One long agonized scream came up to them out of the darkness, and rolled +its echoes through the lonely passages. + +Then the distant sound of a splash; and silence. + +Back against the wall, Juliet cowered, her whole body shaken by great +sobs. She was petrified with terror of this fiendish man, but her fears +for herself gave way before the horror of what she had seen. + +"Oh, what have you done, what have you done?" she wept. + +Mark tried to summon up a jeering smile. The lantern threw no light upon +his white and twitching face. + +"You don't suppose I meant to let her go free, after the taste she gave +me of her temper?" he asked, in a voice he could not keep from shaking a +little. "Do you suppose I like having to do these things? You women have +never the slightest sense of common justice. The whole thing is perfectly +beastly to me. But how could I live with a girl who would be ready to +threaten me with the gallows every time she got out of bed wrong foot +first? It's not fair to blame me for other people's faults." + +He spoke querulously, with the air of a much-injured man. Though Juliet +was beyond any coherent reply, he seemed afraid of meeting her eyes, and +looked resolutely away from her, his glance shifting and wavering from +the walls to the floor, from the floor to the stones of the low roof; up, +down, and sideways, but never resting on her. At last, as if drawn there +irresistibly and against his will, they fell once more on the dark circle +of the mouth of the pit, and he started back, shuddering violently. + +"As if I hadn't enough to bear without being saddled with hideous +memories for the rest of my life!" he cried with bitter irritability. "If +you had an ounce of common fairness in your composition you would admit I +could do no less. Why, any day she might have got jealous, or something, +and flown into a passion again, and denounced me to the police. Besides, +I have no wish to be obliged to fly the country. Why should I? She was +the only person who knew the truth; except you. That is why you must +follow her." + +"No, no!" cried Juliet despairingly, but without avail, for her feeble +strength could offer him no effective opposition, and he thrust her +easily on to the slope. She felt instinctively that at that angle the +merest push would make her lose her balance, and sank quickly to her +knees, catching him round the ankle with one hand, and clinging +desperately. + +He swore furiously, and bent down to unclasp her fingers from his leg. +Then he flung her hand away from him; and cut off from all assistance she +began instantly to slide backwards, slowly but irresistibly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Juliet dug her nails into the cracks of the stone floor with all the +energy of despair, but in a moment her feet were over the edge of the pit +and she was falling. Her fingers gripped the edge with a fierce tenacity, +and for some minutes she hung there, minutes that seemed longer than all +the rest of her life put together. + +And so she hung, her knees drawn up in a frantic effort to pull herself +out of the depths, till her muscles refused any longer to contract, and +she felt herself gradually straightening out and growing, it seemed, +heavier and heavier, till she knew that in one more second her fingers +would slip from their hold, and all would be over. + +But as she dropped into a straight position, and wearily abandoned her +efforts to raise herself, one of her feet suddenly touched some firm +substance beneath it. Something narrow it was, for the other foot as +yet still hung in space, but some blessed solid thing on which it was +possible to stand. As, with a feeling of thankfulness and relief such +as she had never before experienced, she allowed her weight to rest on +it and found that it did not give, she felt a sharp blow on the +knuckles of her left hand, which made her withdraw it quickly and lean +against the wall to steady herself. Mark was throwing stones at her +fingers to make her leave go sooner. Another missed her narrowly, and +shot over her head. + +She drew down her right hand, and still leaning against the wall felt +about with her other foot for a support. + +She soon found it, a little farther back it seemed than the first +foothold; but more experimental investigation showed that it was really +part of the same object. There appeared, indeed, to be several of them +about, all near to the wall, so that it was plain that poor Julia, as she +shot over the brink, had fallen outside, and beyond them. What the bars +were that she seemed to be standing on, Juliet could not at first +imagine, and it was not till Mark, growing tired of waiting for a splash +that never came, reached the conclusion that his ears had deceived him, +and took himself and Julia's lantern off to other spheres of usefulness, +that she perceived that a faint light penetrated into the upper part of +the pit. When her eyes had become accustomed to it, she was able to make +out that she was perched upon a portion of the roots of a tree, which had +grown in through holes in the wall. + +Three great roots there were, curling into and across the shaft of the +pit and disappearing down into the darkness below, where Juliet did not +dare to look. + +She managed, with great caution, to stoop down and catch hold of the +highest of the roots, and so to settle herself in a fairly comfortable +position, sitting on the middle root of the three, with her feet on the +lowest, and her back against the top one. + +"They might have been made on purpose," she told herself, her naturally +high spirits and brave young optimism coming nobly to her rescue again. + +And she set herself to try and enlarge one of the holes in the wall; but +she could not make much perceptible difference there. What it had taken +centuries, and the growth of a great tree to effect, could not be much +improved on in an hour by one young girl, however strong the necessity +that urged her. + +By the time she had exhausted her efforts and must needs lean back and +rest awhile, the biggest hole was just wide enough to put her hand +through, and she saw no prospect of enlarging it further. + +Through it she could see a corner of the loch and the grey foot of Ben +Ghusy, but that was all. It showed, however, on which side of the tower +she was, and she remembered the great beech that clung to the precipice +below the place where the foundations of the castle sprang from the rock. +At least she had always imagined it was below the foundations, but now +she knew better. + +She thrust her hand out and waved it, but did not dare leave it there. +The terror Mark had instilled in her was too recent and too real If she +put out her hand, he would see it, and perhaps shoot it off; or at least +know that he had failed to kill her as yet. Better he should think her +dead, like poor Julia. But was Julia really dead? + +She leant over and called down into the darkness: + +"Julia! Julia!" + +But no answer came, although she waited, holding her breath, and called +again and again. + +Then she had fallen into the water? She must be drowned even if the fall +did not kill her. Poor, misguided Julia. Better dead, after all, thought +Juliet, with eyes full of tears, than alive, and at the mercy of that +terrible man. What disillusionments must have come to her sooner or +later; final disillusionings that could not be explained away. How +horrible to find that the man you loved was like that. Nothing else in +the world could be so appalling. Yes, Julia was better dead. As Juliet +thought of the dreadful manner in which death had come to the unfortunate +girl, she forgot her faults, forgot her strange views upon the +justifiability of taking human life, forgot even that she had approved of +Lord Ashiel's assassination and contemplated bringing about his death +herself, and remembered only the frightful nature of her punishment. + +And while she sat there, clinging precariously to the twisted roots of +the beech tree, Juliet's tears streamed down into the watery grave. + +Hours passed, and darkness fell upon the world without. In the patch of +loch that was visible to her, she could see a star mirrored; it cheered +her somehow. What there was comforting about it she could not have said, +but in some way it seemed to be an emblem of her hopes. She wedged +herself tightly between the roots, laid her head down upon the uppermost +of them, and, such is the adaptability of youth and health, slept on her +dangerous perch like a bird upon a bough. + +With the day she awoke, stiff and hungry. How long would it be before she +was found? She felt braver under this new stimulus of hunger and more +ready to risk detection by Mark. After all, he could hardly get at her +here, and someone else might see her if she signalled. She took off her +shoes and stockings and pushed them through the hole in the wall, then +her handkerchief, and finally the white blouse she wore was taken off and +thrust out between the stones. She kept her hold upon one of the sleeves, +and wedged it down between the wall and the beech root, so that the +blouse might hang out on the face of the rock like a flag and catch the +attention of some passer-by. From time to time, too, she squeezed her +hand through the gap and fluttered her fingers backward and forward. She +knew that the path by the burn ran below, and it was used constantly by +the ghillies and by the household. Only of course so early in the morning +there was not likely to be anyone about. And she remembered with a +sinking heart that people seldom look up as they walk. + +Yet in the course of the day some one would surely see it. She sternly +refused to allow herself to expect an immediate rescue. She would not, +she told herself, begin to get really anxious about it till evening. It +would be long to wait, of course. She looked at the little watch which +Sir Arthur had given her on her last birthday. It was six o'clock. She +must be patient. + +But in spite of all her forced cheerfulness the time passed terribly +slowly. She found an old letter in her pocket, and a pencil, with which +she scrawled painstaking directions for her rescue. She would push it +through the hole, she thought, if she heard any sound of voices above the +clamour of the burn. After that there remained nothing more to do, and +the hours seemed to creep along more and more slowly, till each second +seemed like a minute and each minute an hour. She tried to divert herself +by repeating poetry, and doing imaginary sums; and it was about eleven +o'clock, when she was in the middle of the dates of the Kings of England, +that she heard Gimblet's voice hailing her in a shout from below. + +It was not till after her rescue, not till after she was given safely +over to the affectionate ministrations of Lady Ruth, that Juliet gave +way under the strain to which she had been subjected, and broke down +altogether. + +Up till that moment, the urgency of her own danger had prevented her from +feeling as acutely as she would have in other circumstances the terrible +fate of the Russian girl; but, as soon as she herself was safe, the full +horror of it settled upon her mind till thought became an agony. She was +shaken by alternate fits of shuddering and weeping, until Lady Ruth, who +had a scathing contempt for doctors, was on the point of sending for one. + +The arrival of Sir Arthur, an hour or so after her release, did much to +calm her. He had started post haste from Belgium as soon as he heard of +the tragedy, which was not till three days after it had occurred, and had +spent the long journey in incessant self-reproach that he had ever +allowed Juliet to go alone among these murderous strangers. The sight of +his familiar face was full of comfort to the distracted girl; and the +knowledge that Mark was arrested and powerless to harm her, with the +gladsome news that David was free again, combined to soothe her nerves +and restore her self-control. + +The fear of one cousin began to give place insensibly to the dread lest +the other should find her red-eyed and woe-begone; and soon the +importance of looking her best when David should return occupied her mind +almost to the exclusion of the terrors she had experienced. Thus does the +emotion of love monopolize the attention of those it possesses, so that +individuals may fall thick around him and the surface of the earth be +convulsed with the strife of nations, and still your lover will walk +almost unconscious among such catastrophes, except in so much as they +affect himself or the object of his affections. + +But not yet was Juliet to see David. His mother's health had broken +down under the distress and worry of the accusation brought against +him, and it was to her side that he hurried as soon as he was released +from prison. + +While Lady Ruth carried Juliet off at once to the cottage, there to be +comforted, fed, made much of and put to bed, Gimblet and the men who had +assisted him in the work of rescue stayed behind in the walls of the +tower, to rig up, with ropes and buckets, an apparatus by which to +descend to that lowest depth of the _oubliette_ where poor Julia's body +must be lying. + +They had little hope of finding her alive; nor did they do so. She was +floating, face downwards, in the water at the bottom of the pit. + +In a grim, wrathful silence the men raised the poor lifeless body, +and with some difficulty brought it back to the light of day. When +the gruesome business was done, Gimblet returned to the cottage, +tired out with his night's work; for, like all the men on the place, +he had been scouring the moors since the previous evening, when +Mark's derisive words had first sent them, hot foot, to assure +themselves of Juliet's whereabouts. As he reached the cottage, the +daily post bag was being handed in, and among his letters was one +from the colonel of Mark's regiment: + +"MY DEAR SIR," it ran, "I have sent you a wire in answer to your letter +received to-day, since in view of what you say I see that it is necessary +to disclose what I hoped, for the sake of the regiment, to continue to +keep secret. But if, as you tell me, the innocence and even the life of +Sir David Southern is involved, and you have such good reason to +consider McConachan the man guilty of his uncle's death, it becomes my +duty to put aside my private feelings and to confess to you that I am +unable to look upon Mark McConachan as entirely above suspicion. When he +was a subaltern in the regiment I have the honour to command, he was a +source of grave worry and trouble to me. + +"From the day he joined I had misgivings, and, though his good looks, +lively spirits, and recklessness with money made him popular with others +of his age, I soon discovered that his moral sense was practically +nonexistent, and considered him a very undesirable addition to our ranks. +Still, I hoped he might improve, and for a year or two nothing occurred +to force me to take serious notice of his behaviour. Unknown to me, +however, he took to gambling very heavily, and must have lost a great +deal more than he could afford, for he appears to have got deep in the +clutches of moneylenders long before I heard anything about it. So +desperate did his financial affairs become, that shortly before he left +the regiment he was actually driven to forging the name of a brother +officer, a rich young man, with whom he was on very friendly terms. The +large amount for which the cheque was drawn drew the attention of the +bankers to it, and in spite of the extreme skill with which, I am told, +the signature had been counterfeited, the forgery was detected, and the +matter was brought before me. + +"The victim of the fraud was as anxious as myself to avoid a public +scandal, and it was arranged that nothing should be done for a year, to +give time to McConachan to refund the money; if, however, he failed to do +so within that time, there would be nothing for it but to make the matter +public. These terms were agreed on and McConachan was told to send in his +papers at once. + +"The year allowed is now drawing to a close, and the money has not been +forthcoming, so that there is no doubt that Mark McConachan's need of +obtaining a large amount is extremely pressing. My knowledge of his +character obliges me to add that I consider him one of the few men I ever +knew whom I could imagine going to almost any length to provide himself +with what he so urgently requires. + +"Please consider this letter confidential unless you obtain actual proof +of his guilt.--I am, sir, yours faithfully, + +"T. G. URSFORD, + +"Colonel commanding 31st Lancers." + +Gimblet put the letter away with the other items of evidence of Mark's +guilt: the telegram from the analyst in Edinburgh, the measurements of +the footprints on the rose-bed, and of those other marks near the hedge +by which he had at first been mystified. It was another thread in the +thin cord that, like the silken line Ariadne gave to Theseus, had led him +to come successfully out of the bewildering labyrinth into which the +investigation of the crime had beguiled him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +It was after dinner that night, as he sat in the little drawing-room of +the cottage with Lady Ruth and Sir Arthur, that his hostess asked him to +explain to them how he had contrived to detect the way in which the +murder had been committed. + +"You promised to tell me all about it," Lady Ruth reminded him, "if I +would keep silent about your finding the papers in the statue." + +"Tell us the whole thing from the beginning," Sir Arthur urged him. + +"I will willingly tell you anything that may interest you," Gimblet +consented readily. "Every one enjoys talking about their work to +sympathetic listeners such as yourselves. It is a bad thing to start on a +case with a preconceived idea, and I can't deny that when I first came +here I was very near having an _idée fixe_ as to the origin of the crime. +I tried to deceive myself into thinking that I kept an open mind on the +subject; but I don't think I ever really doubted for a minute that the +Nihilist society to which Lord Ashiel had formerly belonged was +responsible for the murder. Even after my conversation with the new peer, +which showed me that things looked blacker against Sir David Southern +than I had expected, I was far from convinced that he was guilty, though +I was obliged to admit that there was some ground for the conclusion come +to by the police. + +"But what was the evidence against him? Sir David was known to have +quarrelled with his uncle; he had even been heard to say he had a good +mind to shoot him. But that was more than twenty-four hours previous to +the crime, and the words were uttered in a moment of anger, when he +probably said the first thing that came into his head. Was he likely to +have hugged his rage in silence for the hours that followed, and then to +have walked out into the garden and shot his uncle in cold blood and +without further warning? It did not appear to me probable, but then I did +not know the young man. + +"He was not to be found when the deed was discovered, and a hunt +instituted for the murderer. Well, he had an answer to that which fitted +in with my own theory. He said he saw some one hanging about the grounds, +and went to look for him. But it was said that the night was so dark as +to make it improbable that anyone should have been seen, even if there +had been anyone to see. That cut both ways, to my mind. For it would +account for the intruder making his escape undiscovered. + +"Then there was the matter of the rifle, which he had told Miss Byrne he +had cleaned that evening, in which case it had certainly been fired since +then. He owned that he had locked it up and that the key never left his +possession afterwards, but now denied that he had told the young lady +that he had cleaned it. I asked young Lord Ashiel if he could put any +possible interpretation on these facts except the one accepted by the +police, and he replied that he could not. That, for the first time, made +me wonder if he were really anxious to believe his cousin innocent. For I +could put quite different interpretations on them myself. + +"In the first place, though it was possible that Sir David lied in +making his second statement to the effect that he had not said he had +cleaned his rifle, it was equally possible that the first statement that +he _had_ cleaned it was not strictly accurate. For some reason, which he +did not care to divulge, he might have told Miss Byrne he had been +cleaning his gun when he had been really doing something entirely +different. But had he told her he had cleaned it? His words, as repeated +by her to me, were, 'I went in there to clean my rifle,' but not, 'I have +been cleaning my rifle,' which would be another thing altogether, he +probably had not yet begun cleaning it when he heard Miss Byrne coming +and went out to speak to her; it is possible some feeling akin to shyness +might make him reluctant to confess this afterwards in public. Indeed I +now feel quite sure that this is the explanation of the matter. Later on, +when I questioned her again, she did not appear certain which of the two +forms of words he had used; but there was, at all events, a considerable +doubt. There were other possibilities also. Some one might possess a +duplicate key to the gun-cabinet. It seemed to me impossible that none of +these considerations should have occurred to young Ashiel, if he were +really reluctant to believe in Sir David's guilt. But at the same time I +remembered the almost incredible lack of reasoning powers shown by most +members of the public where a deed of violence has been committed, and +knowing that there is nothing so improbable that it will not find a host +of ready believers, I did not attach much importance to the circumstance +until later. + +"Still on the whole, after talking to young Lord Ashiel, I felt more +disposed to believe that there might be some truth in the accusation +that had been made than I had previously thought likely. But on that +point I reserved my opinion till I should have had an opportunity of +examining the scene of the tragedy for myself. So I prevailed upon the +new owner of the castle to leave me alone--which he was the more ready to +do since he had urgent need to be first in examining some papers of his +uncle's which were in another room--and proceeded to make a cast round +the garden from which the shot had been fired, in the hope of lighting +upon some trifle which had escaped the notice of Macross. + +"It was when I came upon the footprints in the rose-bed which had done so +much to prove the guilt of Sir David Southern in the eyes of his +accusers, that I began to be certain of his innocence; and a very little +examination convinced me absolutely that whoever had shot Lord Ashiel it +was not his youngest nephew. For the tracks on the flower-bed left no +room for doubt. + +"It is true they corresponded exactly with the shooting-boots Sir David +had been wearing on the day the crime was committed. I had provided +myself with a pair that I was assured was exactly like those particular +boots which fitted the tracks and which the police had taken away with +them, and I found that there was indeed no difference, except for the +matter of an extra nail or two on the soles. There was no doubt that Sir +David's boots had made those impressions, but to my mind there was +equally no doubt that Sir David had not been in them when they made them. +For the track which was so plainly distinguishable on the soft mould of +the flower-bed had certain peculiarities which I could hardly overlook. + +"There was first a row of footmarks leading from the lawn to the middle +of the bed; then more marks as if the wearer of the boots had moved from +one position to another hard by; and finally, a track leading back again +to the mossy lawn at the side. Now all this was well enough till it came +to the last row of footsteps, those which led off the bed, and which had +presumably been taken after the fatal shot was fired. But was it +conceivable that a man who had that moment committed a cold-blooded +murder should leave the scene of his crime with the same slow, deliberate +footsteps with which he had approached it? Surely not. + +"And yet this is what the wearer of the boots had done. The imprints, as +they advanced towards the lawn, were deep and well defined from toe to +heel. Not only that, but they were, if anything, closer together than +those which preceded them. Now a man, running, leaves a deeper impression +of his toe than he does of his heel, and his steps are much farther apart +in proportion to his increase in speed. I, myself, ran from the middle of +the bed, to the lawn, alongside of the footmarks of the soi-disant +murderer, and though I am a short man, while Sir David's legs are +reported long, I left only two footprints to his five. To me it was as +certain as if I had seen it happen that the wearer of the boots trampled +his way off the rose-bed as slowly as he had trampled on. Those +footprints had been made by some one who was determined they should be +seen, not by some one whose only thought was to get away from the place; +not, in short, by a man who had that moment fired a murderous shot +through the darkness. The tracks had undoubtedly been made as a blind and +with the intention of diverting suspicion to the wrong man probably after +the deed itself was done. + +"I was satisfied, then, that the shot had not been fired from this +particular part of the rose-bed, and I proceeded to search for other +footprints farther down the bed. I did not feel much hope of being +successful, since, if our man had had the forethought to leave so many +traces of some one else's presence, it was unlikely he would have +neglected to ensure that his own should be absent. And as I expected, I +found none. + +"But at the end of the garden, where it is bounded by the holly hedge, I +came across something which puzzled me. There were two narrow depressions +on the flower-bed, about an inch wide by less than a foot long. They were +parallel to each other, and at right angles to the hedge, and separated +by a distance of six or seven feet. Near one, which was almost in the +middle of the bed, was another mark which I could not understand. It was +only a few inches long and, in shape, a narrow oval. I could not at first +imagine what any of them represented, and it was only quite suddenly, as +I was giving it up and going away, that the truth flashed across my mind. +I had been looking regretfully at the track I myself had left by the side +of the hedge on my way to and from the middle of the bed. + +"'What I want,' I said to myself, 'is one of those planks raised off +the ground by two little supports, one at each end, that gardeners use +to avoid stepping on the beds when they are going through the process +of bedding out,' And even as I said it, I realized that the same idea +had occurred to some one else, and that the marks I had been examining +might have been made by just such a contrivance as the one I was +thinking of. A short search showed me the plank itself, kept in a +tool-house conveniently near the spot, and, with a rake taken from the +same place, I seized the opportunity of raking out my own footmarks +from the rose-bed. + +"And now who could this be who had so carefully manufactured a false +scent, and so cleverly avoided being himself suspected? My previous +theory, that some envoy of the Nihilists had been lurking in the +neighbourhood, seemed not to meet the new conditions. For how could a +mere stranger have gained possession of the misleading boots, or how +returned them to their proper place? And how, for that matter, could a +stranger have obtained the use of Sir David's rifle, if his rifle had +indeed been used? + +"That brought me to consider again whether after all there was any proof +that his rifle had been used by anyone. Supposing, as I saw no reason to +doubt, he spoke the truth when he said that Miss Byrne had misunderstood +him and that he had not cleaned the weapon since coming in from stalking, +was I driven back on the theory that some one possessed a duplicate key +to the case where the guns were kept? Not in the least. The shot might +have been fired from a rifle that had never, at any time, been within the +walls of the castle. Certainly, the bullet fitted Sir David's Mannlicher +rifle, but that, as young Lord Ashiel said himself, was equally true of +his own rifle, or probably of a dozen others in the neighbouring forests, +since a sporting Mannlicher is a weapon in common use in the Highlands. + +"The shot, then, might well have been fired by my hypothetical Russian as +far as the rifle was concerned; but he would have found it difficult to +borrow Sir David's boots, and it seemed unlikely that any stranger would +not only have dared to do so, but afterwards have had the audacity to +return them. No, on the whole the footmarks seemed to clear the +character of the Russian nation from any reasonable suspicion of being +directly concerned in the crime. + +"And yet, in spite of reason, I could not help feeling that the Society +of the Friends of Man must be at the bottom of the whole thing in some +way I had not yet fathomed. I made every inquiry as to whether any +foreigner had visited the castle or been seen in the neighbourhood, but +the only strangers among the visitors had been Miss Julia Romaninov and +Miss Juliet Byrne's French maid, both of whose alibis appeared so far +unimpeachable. I had it on Lady Ruth's authority that Miss Romaninov had +been in the drawing-room with the other ladies at the time of the murder, +and all the servants were at supper in the servants' hall. Otherwise I +should have been inclined to look on Julia Romaninov with a suspicious +eye, as being the only Russian I knew to be on the spot. The last word +the dying man had been able to pronounce, too, was, according to Miss +Byrne, 'steps' which might very well have been intended for steppes, and +have some connection with the enemies he dreaded. + +"With these considerations running in my mind, I made my way to the +gun-room, not indeed with much expectation of its having anything to +tell me, but as part of the day's work of inspection, which must not be +shirked. I took down young Ashiel's rifle to examine. He had told me it +was of the same description as his cousin's, and I was not very +familiar with the make. It was owing to my wish to see for myself with +what kind of weapon the deed had been done that a very important clue +fell into my hands. + +"As I put the rifle down on the bare deal table which forms the +principal piece of furniture in the gun-room, I saw a grain of something +dark, which looked like earth, fall off the butt end on to the boards +beneath. I picked up the rifle, and looked closely at the butt; it was +criss-crossed with small cuts, as they sometimes are, with the idea of +preventing them from slipping, and in the cuts some dust, or earth, +seemed, as I expected, to be adhering. I knocked the rifle upon the +table, and a little shower fell from it. Except for the first grain, it +might have been nothing but the ordinary dust of disuse, but I could not +help thinking it was of a darker hue than the accumulations of years +generally take upon themselves, and, further, I knew that the rifle had +lately been used for stalking. It was, moreover, specklessly clean in +every other part. I felt certain it had been leant upon the ground at no +distant date; and I remembered the mark I had not been able to account +for at the foot of the rose-bush, near the place where the plank had been +used and, as I was persuaded, the cowardly shot actually fired. If a gun +had been leant up against the large standard rose that grew there, it +would have left just such a mark upon the soft ground. + +"All this, of course, was a mere surmise, and rather wild at that, but +the deer forests of Scotland are not muddy, whatever else they may be, +and I felt an unreasoning conviction that the rifle had not accumulated +dust while engaged upon its legitimate business on the mountain tops. The +peaty moorland soil on which the castle stood would hardly be the best +thing in the world for rose-trees, I imagined, and it seemed not too much +to hope that some other kind of earth might be artificially mingled with +it. I carefully collected the dust in a pill-box, and promised myself to +lose no time in obtaining the opinion of an expert analyst, as to +whether or no some trace of patent fertilizer, or other chemical, could +not be traced in it. + +"It was now for the first time that suspicion of young Lord Ashiel began +to oust my theory of the Nihilist society's responsibility for the +murder. He had, as I remembered, struck me as taking his cousin's guilt +for granted with somewhat unnecessary alacrity. His rifle, I already +believed, perhaps in my turn with needless alacrity, had fired the fatal +bullet, and it seemed perfectly possible that it was his finger that +pressed upon the trigger. He was, I knew, in the billiard-room, and +alone, both before and after the murder was committed. It would have been +quite easy for him to fetch his rifle, place the gardener's plank in +position, fire his shot and return to the house, provided Miss Byrne did +not rush immediately from the room. He knew her to be a brave girl and +not likely to fly without making some attempt at offering assistance. +But, if she had rushed from the spot and met the murderer outside the +library door, it would be simple enough to convey the impression that he +had heard the shot, and that he was either dashing to their help, or +making for the garden in the attempt to catch the villain red handed. The +rifle was the only thing likely to provoke an awkward question, but he +could have dropped it in the dark and returned for it afterwards without +much fear of detection. As it happened, he thought it safer to risk +carrying it indoors, and hid it under the billiard-room sofa till he had +a chance to clean it and take it to the gun-room, as we now know. + +"You can imagine the scene: Lord Ashiel falling forward upon the +writing-table under the light of the lamp; the scoundrel leaping from +his post upon the plank, but not so quickly that he did not see the +girl throw herself on her knees at the side of the fallen man. I can +fancy the frenzied haste with which McConachan thrust the plank into the +hedge and ran like a deer towards the door, which he had no doubt left +open. I imagine him, then, tiptoeing to the door of the library and +bending to listen, every nerve astretch. What he heard, no doubt +reassured him; it may have been the voice of the girl calling upon her +father, or it may have been the thud of her body falling upon the floor +when she fainted. Perhaps, even, he may have stayed outside long enough +to see her sink to the ground. Then he would steal back, shut the door +as gently as he had opened it, and not breathe again till he found +himself in the empty billiard-room, his tell-tale rifle still in his +hand. No doubt he wished he had left it in the hedge at that moment, for +he must have opened the billiard-room door with most lively +apprehensions. Supposing the shot had been heard, and the household was +rushing to the scene of the disaster? Supposing he opened the door to +find the room full of people demanding an explanation of himself and his +weapon? What explanation had he ready, I wonder? It must have taken all +his nerve to turn the handle of the door.... + +"But no one can deny the man his full share of courage and decision. + +"I felt more and more sure that in some such manner the crime had been +gone about; and yet there were many complications, and more than once it +seemed as if my convictions had been too hastily formed. Later that same +afternoon I found, upon the sand of a little bay below the castle, marks +that told me as plainly as they told one of the keepers who joined me +there that a strange man had landed from a boat on the night of the +murder, and even, if our calculations were right, not far off the very +hour in which the deed was done. From the tracks left by his boots, which +were large and without nails and extraordinarily pointed for those of a +man, I felt sure that here one had landed who was no native of these +parts, and the theory of the unknown Russian seemed to take on new life +and vigour. The tracks, as we now know, were no doubt those of the member +of the Society of the Friends of Man who was living at Crianan, and who +hoped to have word with Julia Romaninov. It was no doubt he whom Sir +David saw lurking in the grounds, and it is natural to suppose that when +he perceived himself to be observed he retreated to his boat and made +off, abandoning his proposed meeting for that night. + +"I was to be further bewildered before my first day of investigation +came to an end. Young Lord Ashiel had spent the day in searching for the +will; and, if my inward certainty that he himself would prove to be the +guilty man should turn out to be right, I could very well understand +that he was anxious to find it. For, from what his uncle had said to +Miss Byrne, it seemed possible that he had so worded his last will and +testament, that whoever succeeded to the great fortune he had to +bequeath, it might not be Mark McConachan. But the will was not to be +found, and there was no doubt to whose interest it was that it should +never be found; so that I felt pretty sure that, if the successor to the +title were once able to lay his hands on it, no one else would ever do +so. However, he hadn't found it yet, or the search would not be +continued with such unmistakable ardour. + +"Now I had a fancy myself to have a look for the will. I took the last +words of the dead man to be an effort to indicate how I was to do so, and +I had no idea of prosecuting my search under the eye of his nephew. Young +Ashiel was to dine at the cottage here, with Lady Ruth; so I excused +myself under pretence of a headache from appearing at dinner, and hurried +back to the castle as soon as I could do so unobserved. I got in by a +window which I had purposely left open, and made my way to the library. +The words that Lord Ashiel, as he lay dying, had managed to stammer out +to his daughter, were only five. 'Gimblet--the clock--eleven--steps.' I +had decided to take the clock in the library as the starting-point of +investigation. He might, of course, have referred to any other clock, but +only one could be dealt with at a time, and a beginning must be made +somewhere. Moreover, I had noticed a curious feature about that +particular timepiece. It was clamped to the wall, which struck me as very +suggestive; and I thought it quite likely I should be able to discover +some kind of secret drawer concealed within, or behind, the tall black +lacquered case, where the will and other papers of which Lord Ashiel had +told me might be hidden. But in spite of my best efforts I came across +nothing of the kind. + +"I then examined the floor of the room at spots on its surface which were +at a distance of about eleven steps from the clock, in the hope of +finding some opening between the oak boards; but all to no purpose. I +began to think that by some specially contrived mechanism the +hiding-place might only be discernible at eleven o'clock, and though the +idea seemed farfetched, I don't like to leave any possibility untested, +so I sat down to wait till the hour should strike. + +"While I was waiting, I suddenly heard footsteps which appeared to come +from inside the wall of the room, or from below the floor. I concluded +instantly that there was a secret passage within the walls although I had +failed to find the entrance, so I left the library quickly and quietly, +and made my way to the garden, from which I was able to look back into +the room through the window. By the time I took up my post of observation +the person I had heard approaching had entered. To my surprise it was a +young lady about whom I seemed to recognize something vaguely familiar, +but whom I was not aware of ever having seen before. She was occupied in +examining the papers in Lord Ashiel's writing bureau, and after watching +her for some time, I concluded that she must be Julia Romaninov; partly +from certain foreign ways and gestures which she displayed, and partly +from her present employment, as I knew of no one else who was interested +in the papers of the dead man. I imagined that she knew of the possible +relationship which Lord Ashiel supposed might exist between himself and +her, and that she was searching for evidence of her birth. Whether she +was staying at the castle, which I was told all visitors had left, or +whether, like myself, she had made her way into it from outside, was a +question I could not then determine, though the next day I discovered +that she was stopping with Mrs. Clutsam at the fishing lodge, near by. + +"The fact of her being still in the neighbourhood, the business I found +her engaged upon--an unusual one, to put it mildly, for a young girl--and +the hour, at which she had chosen to go about it, all gave me much food +for thought, and I felt sure she could tell me news of the stranger who +had landed in the bay and who wore such uncommonly pointed boots. When I +recognized in her, on the following day, a young person who had, a few +weeks previously, made me the victim of a barefaced and audacious +robbery, I could no longer doubt that she and the unknown boatman were in +league together; and, since no Englishman would be likely to wear boots +so excessively pointed at the toes, I did not hesitate to conclude that +they were both members of the Society of the Friends of Man, a conclusion +which became a certainty when I subsequently saw them together. This +discovery rather shook my belief in the guilt of young Ashiel, although I +had an inward conviction that in spite of everything he would turn out to +be the murderer. Still, I was after the Nihilist brotherhood as well, and +I determined if possible to put a spoke in the wheel of that association +when I had finished with the first and most important business. + +"In the meantime, as I stood in the dark garden, watching the girl +ransack the private papers of her dead host, I felt no fear of her +finding what she was looking for. Lord Ashiel had convinced me that he +would hide his secret affairs more carefully than that; and, as I +expected, the time came when she gave up the search and departed the way +she had come. And that way, to my astonishment, was through the +grandfather's clock I had spent so much time in examining. No sooner had +she gone than I returned to the library, where I soon discovered that the +hidden entrance lay through the one part of the clock I had not +investigated. A trap in the floor could be opened by turning a small +knob, and I found beneath it the top of that flight of stairs which we +now know leads out to the door under the battlements. There were fifteen +steps in the flight, and my first idea was to examine the eleventh one of +them. I was rewarded by the discovery of a concealed drawer, which in its +turn disclosed a single sheet of paper. + +"On it were written some words that I could not at first understand, but +of which finally, by good luck, and with your help, Lady Ruth, I was able +to decipher the meaning. They referred, in an obscure and veiled fashion, +to the great statue erected by Lord Ashiel in that glen of which his wife +had been so fond; where the beginning of the track used by the cattle +drivers and robbers of old, which is known as the Green Way, leads up +over the hills to the south. Guided by Lady Ruth, I found on the pedestal +of the statue a spring, which has only to be pressed when a door in one +end of the erection swings open, and discloses the hollow chamber in the +middle of the pedestal. At the far end of the cavity was the tin box, of +which the key lay temptingly on the top. I lost no time in springing +towards it, for here I felt sure was all I wanted to find, but as I +inserted the key in the lock the door slammed to behind me and I found +myself shut in the dark interior of the pedestal. Luckily Lady Ruth was +with me, and quickly let me out. I found that the door was controlled by +an elaborate piece of clockwork, which is set in motion by the pressure +upon the floor of the feet of any intruder, causing the door to shut +almost immediately behind him. But for you, Lady Ruth, I should be there +now. But the incident gave me an idea. + +"I returned to the cottage with the papers, and found two telegrams. One +was from the analyst in Edinburgh to whom I had sent the grains of dust +collected in the gun-room, saying that among other ingredients lime was +very predominant. Now there is no lime in a peaty soil such as this, and +the gardener, to whom I talked of soils and manures, with an air of +wisdom which I hope deceived him, told me that the rose-bed outside the +library had received a strong dressing of it. There was also, said the +report, traces of steel and phosphates, of which there is a combination +known as basic slag, which the gardener had mentioned as being +occasionally used. I considered that it was tolerably certain, therefore, +that young Ashiel's rifle had been the weapon the imprint of whose butt +was still discernible on the bed when I went over it. + +"The second telegram contained an answer from the colonel of his +regiment, to whom I had written asking if there was anything in the +record of Mark McConachan which would make it appear conceivable that he +was badly in need of money, and likely to go to extreme lengths to obtain +it. I had told the colonel as much about the case as I then knew, and +pointed out that the life or death of a man whom I had strong reason to +think innocent might depend upon his withholding nothing he might know +which could possibly bear upon the matter. The telegram I received in +reply was short but emphatic. 'Record very bad,' it said, 'am writing,' +This was enough for me. I went over to Crianan, saw the police, and +imparted my conclusions to the local inspector. I then proposed that a +little trap should be laid, into which, if he were not guilty and had no +intention of destroying his uncle's will, there was no reason to imagine +young Lord Ashiel would step. The inspector consented, and I returned, +with himself and two of his men, to Inverashiel. You know how successful +was the ruse I indulged in. I simply went to the young man, and told him +I had discovered the place where his uncle had put his will and other +valuable papers. I explained to him where it was and how the pedestal +could be opened, but I said nothing about its shutting again. Neither, I +am afraid, did I confess that I had already visited the statue and taken +away the documents. I said, on the contrary, that I preferred not to +touch the contents except in the presence of a magistrate, and suggested +he should send a note to General Tenby at Glenkliquart to ask him to come +over and be present when we removed the papers. This he did, and I then +left him after he had promised to join us at the cottage in a couple of +hours. I knew very well where we should find him at the end of those +hours; and, as I expected, he was caught by the clockwork machinery of +the pedestal door." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +Sir Arthur Byrne took his adopted daughter back to Belgium on the +following day, since, although she would have to return to England to +give evidence against Mark in due course, some time must elapse before +his trial came on, and he judged it best to remove her as far as possible +from a place whose associations must always be painful. + +Then ensued a series of weary long weeks for Juliet, in which she had no +trouble in convincing herself that David had forgotten her. She heard +nothing from him directly, though indirectly news of him filtered through +in letters they received from Lady Ruth and Gimblet. He had not, it +appeared, taken his cousin's guilt as proved so readily as Mark had +affected to do in his own case, refusing absolutely to hear a word of the +evidence against him, and maintaining that the whole thing was a mistake +as colossal as it was ghastly. + +Only when he was persuaded unwillingly, but finally, that it was Juliet's +word which he must doubt if he were to continue to believe in Mark's +innocence, did he give in, and sorrowfully acknowledged himself +convinced. + +All this Lady Ruth wrote to the girl, together with the fact that Sir +David was still in attendance on his mother, now happily recovering from +the nervous shock she had sustained. + +From Gimblet, and from Messrs. Findlay & Ince, they heard that by the +will which the detective had found all Lord Ashiel's money and estate +were left to the adopted daughter of Sir Arthur Byrne, known hitherto as +Juliet Byrne, with a suggestion that she should provide for his nephews +to the extent she should think fit. + +The will, though not technically worded, was perfectly good and legal, +and Juliet could have all the money she was likely to want for the +present by accepting the offer of an advance which the lawyers begged to +be allowed to make. + +Gimblet wrote, further, that the list of names of members of the Nihilist +society entitled the "Friends of Man" which he had discovered at the same +time as the will and, contrary to Lord Ashiel's wishes, sent off by +registered post to Scotland Yard, had been communicated to the heads of +the police in Russia and the other European countries in which many of +those designated were now scattered, with the result that a large number +of arrests had been quietly made, and the society practically wiped out. +The foreign guest of the Crianan Hotel was still at large. The name of +Count Pretovsky was not on the list and nothing could be proved against +him. He had moved on to another hotel farther west, where he was lying +very low and continuing to practise the gentle art of the fisherman. A +member of the Russian secret police was on his way to Scotland, however, +and it was likely that Count Pretovsky would be recognized as one of the +persons on Lord Ashiel's list who were as yet unaccounted for. + +Gimblet told them, besides, that he had succeeded in finding the widow of +the respectable plumber named Harsden, whom Julia had mentioned as being +her father. Mrs. Harsden corroborated the story, and said that it was +certainly the Countess Romaninov to whom Mrs. Meredith had consigned the +little girl they had given her. + +Widely distributed advertisements also brought to light the nurses of the +two children; both the nurse who had taken Julia out to Russia and the +woman who had been with Mrs. Meredith when she took over the charge of +the McConachan baby, quickly claiming the reward that was offered for +their discovery. There was no longer any room for doubt that Juliet Byrne +was the same person as Juliana McConachan, or that Julia Romaninov had +begun life as little Judy Harsden. + +All this scarcely sufficed to rouse Juliet from the apathy into which she +had fallen. To her it seemed incredible to think with what excitement and +delight such news would have filled her a few months earlier. + +Now, since David plainly no longer cared for her, nothing mattered any +longer. Her depression was put down to the shock she had suffered, and +efforts were made to feed her up and coddle her, which she +ungratefully resented. + +She had nothing in life to look forward to now, so she told herself, +except the horrible ordeal of the trial which she would be obliged +to attend. + +It was in the dejection now becoming habitual to her, that she sat idly +one fine October morning in her little sitting-room at the consulate. She +had refused to play tennis with her stepsisters, not because she had +anything else to do, but because nothing was worth doing any more, and +because it was less trouble to sit and gaze mournfully through the open +window at the yellow leaves of the poplar in the garden, as from time to +time one of them fluttered down through the still air. + +How unspeakably sad it was, she thought to herself, this slow falling of +the leaves, like the gradual but persistent loss of our hopes and +illusions, which eventually make each human dweller in this world of +change feel as bare and forlorn as the leafless winter trees. + +On a branch a few feet away, a robin perched, and after looking at her +critically for a few moments lifted up its voice in cheerful song. + +But she took no heed of it, and continued to brood over her sorrows. + +All men were faithless. With them, it was out of sight, out of mind, and +she would assuredly never, never believe in one again. The best thing +she could do, she decided, was to put away all thought of such things, +and forget the man whom she had once been so vain as to imagine really +cared for her. + +And just as she told herself for the hundredth time that she had given up +all hope and had resigned herself to the rôle of broken-hearted maiden, +the door opened, and David was shown in. + +By good luck, she was alone. Lady Byrne was not yet down, and her +stepsisters were out; so there was no one to see her blushes and add to +her embarrassment. + +In the surprise of seeing him, all her presence of mind vanished, leaving +her speechless and trembling with agitation. + +For his part, David approached her with a confusion as obvious as her +own. + +"Juliet," he stammered as soon as they were left alone together, "I know +I oughtn't to have come, but I simply couldn't keep away." + +"Why oughtn't you to have come?" was all she could ask foolishly. + +"Because I know you can't want to see me," said the absurd young man, +"though I do think you liked me pretty well before, didn't you? when +Maisie Tarver tied my tongue; or ought to have, I'm afraid I should say. +But she had enough sense to drop me when I was arrested. She couldn't +stand a man arrested for murder any more than you or anyone else could?" + +He said the last words with an air of shamefaced interrogation. + +"Why," said Juliet, who was being carried off her feet on the top of a +rapturous flood, "what nonsense! You were as innocent as I was. What +would it matter if you were arrested twenty times!" + +"Well, I shouldn't care to be, myself," said David, without apparently +deriving much satisfaction from such a suggestion. "Once is enough for +me. And anyway," he added inconsequently, "you can't very well marry a +fellow who is first cousin to a man who's as good as hanged already!" + +"Oh, David, David," cried Juliet; "as if that mattered! But who do +you suppose I am--don't you know that he's my first cousin just as he +is yours?" + +"By Jingo," said David, "I never thought of that, somehow. Then +we're both in the same boat!" And he stepped forward and caught her +by the hands. + +"Yes, David," she said, as he drew her to him tenderly, "both in the same +boat. And what can be nicer than that?" + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Ashiel mystery, by Mrs. Charles Bryce + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASHIEL MYSTERY *** + +This file should be named 8ashl10.txt or 8ashl10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8ashl11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8ashl10a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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